Luzzi Cookie Party (& Ella's Birthday)

I've been so far behind with blogging. But for good reason! It's been quite wonderfully busy since we left for Colorado. Sadly, Christmas has already come & gone. But we are so grateful for all of God's continued blessings in our lives.

First, a prayer to my 2nd cousins, the Morgan family. Especially Laura. They were in a car accident a few days before Christmas, and it has been quite a recovery process. Uncle Newnie fell asleep while driving his wife Robin & daughter Laura to Robin's mother's funeral, and he fell asleep at the wheel. Robin, although had some injuries, is recovering nicely and out of the hospital. But Laura is still in the hospital, has not woken up, has a jaw broken in several places, a broken spine, and is still not conscious. They are unsure of the brain damage or if she will be paralyzed until she wakes up. So, it is a waiting game.

With that in mind, there has been a bit of a cloud over the holidays this year, but we are confident in God's grace, love & understanding. He has an ultimate plan, and we are so grateful the Morgan's are finding peace with Him.

Well, on to happier news, and a quick update on baby #2 before I even get to to the cookie party. Our appointment was on the Thursday before we left for Colorado, and we have a heartbeat! Baby is growing great and is now the size of a prune. We are 9 1/2 weeks along & due on July 28th!

July 28th is going to come WAY sooner than we think! Thank you God for this tiny little blessing.

Our annual (or we try to be annual!) Luzzi Cookie party was the first day we got into Colorado. Megan, Aunt Heidi, Lori, Kathryn, Ella, Lisa, Jessica, Kaylee, our Nana, my mother, Aunt Missy, and myself all made glorious cookies at Kathryn's house, listening to Christmas music and just enjoying time together.

I can only explain the day via pictures. It was also Ella's birthday celebration in the evening (She's already TWO!) and we had a great time eating cupcakes and laughing while the kiddos played.

Jackson and his xylophone right before nap time. Of course. 

A goofy picture of Jackson eating a fork.

The glorious cookies. 

Kaylee playing with Jack on the rocking...elephant... :) 

Jack & I watching Ella open presents!

She loves her owl. 

Princess for the day!

The beautiful arrangement. 

Kaylee, Ella & Jack dancing to the Hot Dog song. Jack needed some support from the table.

Nana, Aunt Missy, Kaylee & Ella decorating cookies. I have no idea what I'm doing. 

All the girls!

Megan, Kaylee & I talking about crushes in school. 

Jessica & Austin for Ella's bday party!

Jessica & Kaylee decorating cupcakes, Nane eating cookies. 

Christmas Eve & Day photographs to come as soon as I can.

Happy 27th birthday on the 27th to me today. I have the best hubby in the world. He let me go to the Four Seasons in Vail and get a massage. It was a glorious morning to spend by myself relaxing, having a message, and reading magazines.

We leave January 3rd, and it's going to go by quickly! Next Dr. Appt for #2 in January 8th. Hoping & praying for more good news.

Since I can't say this for very much longer...Merry Christmas!!

I found this in my drafts...

From little Jackson. I wrote this but never published it. God is good.

****************************************************************************

Hi little Avocado! You're 15 weeks and 2 days old today.

To already be on my 16th week is an incredible feeling. We still have yet  to take any baby bump pictures yet. I can't decide if it's because I'm not quite sure how this belly thing is feeling or we have just been too busy to actually sit down and take a photograph. I'll be sure to post one soon enough. Seeing other blogs shown the progression makes me excited to look back on ours!

14 more days until we find out if our little bean is a boy or a girl. Aaron and I have both been feeling lately that it's a boy. Either way, we'll be so excited. I have already warned him multiple times that once we know, I don't know if he can restrain me from buying things. It may become a serious issue!

We went sailing this last weekend with the six of us. Jessica and Erik came out for Mandy Colafrancesco's baby shower. (It's hard to believe she's due in a month with little Abigail!) While on the boat I was sitting hunched over, and swear that I felt a little flutter in my belly warning me to sit up straight! I think baby bean didn't have enough room to wiggle around in there. I was so excited to feel it! Needless to say I haven't felt anything since, but it makes me so excited for the days and weeks to come!

So since I have no other pictures to show you, here's the photo from our last ultra sound at 12 weeks 4 days. We saw him wiggling around in there! His heart was strong at 168 bpm. It's hard to believe he's grown twice the size since then!

14  days...we just can't wait!

Faith...lots of it

....or not enough? Hey, I'm trying!

I'm beyond blessed. I sometimes wonder why God decided to give me this wonderful husband, an unbelievable son, a good job, and a beautiful house. Not to mention all the extra goodies like good health, food on the table, and an abundance of family and friends.

I'm learning today to be content in that; in knowing that God has always has a plan for our future. I need to be happy in the present moment.

After the Dr.'s, I picked Jackson up from the most wonderful Nanny Kate in the world, and played with him & his soccer ball. I turned on the Christmas tree & just loved on watching him.

Something I try to do daily, just soak him in at this (or whatever) stage, but something I feel I never do quite enough.

Today is December 5th. My first Dr.'s appointment with lil' number two. I've been praying for God's wisdom & peace in my heart all day.

Well, who am I really kidding? All week!

Alas, no heartbeat. The sweet pitter patter of reassurance that I heard with our sweet Jackson, I longed for today.

The Dr. told me it may be too early. The location is in the right place and the size she thinks is about 5 or 6 weeks.

We scheduled a radiology appointment for next Thursday (the day before we leave), to see if they can get a beat prior to us leaving for Colorado for 3 weeks.

In honor of tradition, attached is a picture of Bean #2. See that black circle? Yup...5 or 6 weeks old.

My heart is at peace knowing that God has a plan for His little bean. And all I can do is trust in Him.

I remember that feeling when I was pregnant with Jackson. I have to re-read old blog posts a million times and then stare at my sweet boy knowing all turned out...just the way God planned. I thank Him every day that His plan happen to fit into mine. :) Okay, sense the slight humor in that last sentence.

So....we wait.

Little Bean...we already love you so!

Thanksgiving & Thankful Surprises

I don't feel like we have ever truly recovered since our visit to the ER with Jackson on Halloween eve. My cold has taken weeks to overcome and I took a turn for what I thought was the worst on Tuesday of this past week. I woke up feeling so sick.

I threw up while making Jack breakfast. Yes, I know that's too much information.

The rest of the day I felt so incredibly achy and awful. Shocked I didn't throw up any more all day. Thankfully, Jack was an angel all day.

My boss said it was morning sickness. My cousin texted me, "maybe you're preggers?!" I responded with a "not even possible! I haven't even started  any sort of cycle to make that happen! It's SO unlikely!"

Well, I bet we all know where this story is headed...

Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I woke up still sick. So, before work I say, heck, why not see if they're right.

And no, this is not the picture from May of 2011 when we found out Jack was coming into the world (although they are pretty similar looking.) 

Hello baby #2! Hello so many crazy awesome excited freaked out emotions!! 

It's a bit sooner than we had expected, but we knew we were taking this risk. Since it took us so long the first time to conceive Jackson, we wanted to leave this one up to chance a bit more. God has His plan for us. And it looks like my body bounced right back into baby makin' mode...even without a cycle! 

I'm still in a bit of shock of how to take it all in and them being so incredibly close in age. Also, the same wave of concerns of pregnancy come into play as well. The anticipation of the first heartbeat, the first major ultra sound at around 20 weeks, the labor, all of it! My first Dr. appointment for #2 is December 5th. 

Despite the exhaustion of 1st trimester woes, sickness & a hectic work week, we kicked off the 4 day weekend with our last trip to Disneyland before our passes expire for the year. Not sure if I'll be renewing with being pregnant...which makes me so sad! 

The Christmas decorations were so  beautiful and so much fun to see. It was insanely busy though so we ended up just getting dinner and walking around both parks. It was, as always, magical. Yes, I know I am cheesy. 

We had a wonderful & fantastic Thanksgiving dinner at our Aunt & Uncles house in San Deigo. Michael, Lisa, Mandy & sweet little Abby were there. It was so much fun to watch Jack and Abby (15 months) interact and play. 

Then the next day, Aaron woke up with a really bad stomach bug. After Aaron passing out and me freaking out, it was to the ER for Aaron & I  by recommendation of Kaiser while my parents watched Jack. He desperately needed fluids because he could not keep even water down. Two trips to the ER in 4 weeks is quite enough for me thank you very much. Thankfully, he's all better now and it was a quick bug. Sad news, it is highly contagious and Jack & I are still susceptible to it until around Tuesday. Thankfully, neither of us are sick...yet....

We put up a small amount of Christmas decorations today, despite the fact that we will be gone for 3 weeks starting mid-December. It just wouldn't feel like the holidays if we didn't. We ended the very crazy, stressful weekend with a calming day at home. 

Home-made. 

Helping us put on the lights.

Finished product.

It's Monday tomorrow. Boo. I feel like we need a weekend from our weekend! I'm very anxious for my first work trip away from Jackson. Friday through Monday. With just finding out I'm pregnant, I now really do not want to go. I'm praying for wisdom and strength from God for it to go quickly. 

10 month old turkey

Okay, I'm talking about Jackson.

I had to get that corny joke out of the way. Our little man turned 10 months old on Thanksgiving day!

We can now...

--Point to lots of things
--Stand up and walk around the coffee table....or the mantle...all the time...
--Look at mom and say "mamama" more intentionally
--Look at dad and say "dadada" more intentionally
--Has stood up by himself not holding anything for a second or two
--Walks behind his walker all over the house
--We say, "How big is Jackson?" he holds up his hands high as we say, "So big!"
--Claps a lot
--Learning the word, "gentle" when petting the cats. We think he may think the word for cat is "gentle," we say it so many times!
--He has 5 upper teeth and 2 lower. He refuses to let me even come close to taking a picture of them.
--He plays "roll the soccer ball" when we sit in a circle together

Sorry I don't have more pictures. It's been a crazy month.

Jackson is extremely independent at this age. When he is in an environment he's comfortable with, the world is his oyster. He loves calming walks in his stroller, facing only out at the world. In new environments he does get very clingy onto Aaron or I. He also is clingy with things he's unsure of in the house, like when we turn on the fire place.

We read him Charlie Brown Christmas every night, and it has buttons with certain tunes or sayings from the story. He loves to talk at the book when pushing the buttons, and we think it's the most adorable thing ever.

He sweetly talks to himself and buries his head in his stuffed animals while playing. He is becoming more of a picky eater, but we are noticing he will eat more non-baby food if we are all eating at the table together.

He loves to walk and climb as much as possible. Our bet is that he will be walking by Christmas time.

We love you, our sweet little penguin.

It's been awhile...

And for good reason!

In the last two weeks we have dealt with...

An ER visit on Halloween for Jackson
Five teeth coming in
Daylight saving switch
A concert with cousins
Planning our extended stay in Colorado (3 weeks!)
Very, very stressful & long work days
Hosting 11 family members for a pre-thanksgiving
A severe cold for me that has taken over a week to overcome
MOPS!

I'm going to be cliche and say, "I can't BELIEVE Thanksgiving is less than a week away!" Okay, I got it out of the way.

But all of this has not stopped us from taking pictures and enjoying the sweet little milestones of our man. I'll save the list of awesome accomplishments for his 10 month post next week.

We celebrated my dad's 55th birthday with a nice dinner at the Cheesecake Factory & the tree lighting at Fashion Island, which included a visit from Mickey Mouse from Disneyland. Of course, I was all on board for this. Here are a few photos of our time.

I also have to log the photos of our first trip to the ER. Jackson came down with a serious case of the croup at 11:30 pm Halloween eve. Being first time parents and not knowing what croup was, we rushed to the ER due to Jackson having labored breathing and a 103 degree temperature. After some very difficult days and teething at the same time, we are now (almost) completely healthy. Thank you Lord for my husband & my parents during this time as I almost fell apart working and taking care of him.

At the ER.

Halloween Day. No dressing up. 

My Sweet, Sick boy. 

I'll finish this with a couple of pictures from the Halloween event at church right before Jackson got sick. 

One with Carson, a friend from MOPS, and one of Jack and I. It was so hot that day! Almost 100 degrees. So we improvised his costume a bit. Yay SoCal.

My sweet little Jack-O-Latern

Nine months & growing!

Happy Nine months, my sweetness!

It seems like 9 months is a "full circle" before his first birthday. To know he's been here with us as long as he was inside of me is just a crazy thought. The pregnancy seemed to last a lot longer than the last 9 months while Jack's been here!

Some milestones of 9 months:

-We officially have a crawler! He is all over the place.
- He sits up on his own
-He stands up on his own and stays there for some time. He also likes to let go and have you catch him by his hands. (I assume this is the first step to walking!)
-He imitates splashing in tub, clapping on occasion, ba ba ba & ma ma ma
-Eating more and more adult foods, including meatballs, pasta, tortillas, chicken, and cupcakes! (okay, small bites of cupcakes)
-He's starting to offer things to you that he's holding

Sleeping has changed as well. Once he started to stand up on his own, he began waking up in the middle of the night standing at his crib. After two weeks of exhaustion, trial & error crying it out, we really had no solution.

Then came MOPS. Thank God. A sleep training expert came into speak with us. She suggested different methods of coaching him back to sleep. Now, he sleeps through the night again, and mommy & daddy are happy!

Before this incident, I used to nurse him to sleep every night. Since Jack had refused to nurse during the day starting about two months ago, this was a very cherished time for me & him. I knew the days were numbered.

Now, of course he doesn't even want to be held to fall asleep. It's so wonderful to see my boy growing up, but so hard at the same time to lose the connection of nursing him. He's now 100% on formula.

I guess I can't have my cake and eat it too. As hard as it was to let go of nursing. Sleep over rode my ultimate decision.

The time just flies. Literally.

The day after his flu shot. He was so peaceful all day. 

I just adore this onesie. 

And I end this post of Jackson at 9 months acting like his crazy self. 

Excuse my "Mitt Romney" talk, I was going to say "Barack Obama" as well, Jack just never let me get there. Can you tell I'm ready for the election to be over?

Love you to the moon & back.

Pumpkin Patch & Fun times with Auntie & Uncle

MOPS has been such a joy to our lives. I sincerely love every girl that is a part of our group. We all have kids close to the same age, which is such a blessing.

Geni decided it'd be great to go to the pumpkin patch. Needless to say, all we really wanted to do was take pictures of our darlings with some great fall backdrops. So, that's what we did today for an hour and a half. This was the result.

Jackson and Carson, just days apart in age. My lil' man is TINY!

Eating hay. I freaked out and grabbed it out of his mouth. He swallowed some. I'm expecting to see it in his poop any day now...

I LOVE the sequence of events in the following pictures. We just couldn't get everyone on the same page.

The wonderful girls and the little loves. 

Micah (2.5 months old) wasn't a fan of the hay anymore. 

My lil' pumpkin head. 

Jessica & Erik came out from Colorado for a short visit last week. It was so wonderful to have them here. We just hung out, went shopping, and of course, did a quick trip to Disneyland & Club 33. It was amazingly memorable. It's so wonderful to see my sister interact with Jackson. 

I know the flash isn't great & makes my eyes creepy, but it's proof we were at California Adventure @ 8:00 a night with a sleeping baby. 

At Lucille's BBQ the day they left. 

CLUB 33! Jack has now been there TWICE in his short life. Three times if you count the time I went while I was pregnant. Lucky boy.

So excited for Halloween & the holidays to come. Hopefully Aaron will do more of the picture taking, they seem to be better quality. 

Life is just full of so many happy memories right now. 

Yay for that.