Trying To Catch Up

In between feedings, screaming fits, naps, and the other chaos in my day I have been working feverishly to try and catch up on my blogging. I am not fully caught up, but it is a start check out what has been going on by clicking here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. Hopefully I will get it all caught up by the end of the week. ENJOY!

The Gift Of Gab

Already I can tell Hannah is going to be a social butterfly with her friends. I caught her sharing the latest gossip with her octopus friend. She sure had a lot to say!

3 Months Old

Hannah is 3 months old and so much fun. She loves to smile and coo. She has not quite figured out how to laugh, but when she does watch out she will be giggling all the time. I guess that is fitting considering she is a girl...isn't that was girls do? I am slowly getting the hang of being a mama to two kiddos. It doesn't take quite as much thought to plan an outing, however, I still am dog tired by then end of the day! I am sure if she would sleep through the night I would have a little more energy, but that has yet to happen. Oh well, Jack didn't sleep through the night consistantly until he was 14 months old.

Bigger Than A Breadbox

I am not sure what he was doing, but it sure looks like he was trying to climb into the breadbox. Guess what? He is now bigger than a breadbox.

Beach Bums

Now that we live in sunny SoCal we find it hard to stay away from the beach. We met up with some friends for a Friday night cookout. By the end of the night Jackson was covered from head to toe in sand. I am sure he had more sand in his belly than food that night too. He LOVES the beach. I think we are brewing another beach bum. If Dan had his way he would have Jackson out on a boogie board. But Mom is the party pooper and says NO!

Little Climber

Jackson "Danger" Jernigan is living up to his nickname. He loves to climb on anything he can. So needless to say I wasnt completely surpirsed when I came out of the laundry room and found him in the middle of the diningroom table. He is such a daredevil...gee I wonder where he gets that from...will he wrestle alligators? probably. Will he jump out of an airplane? Probably. Oh the things I have to look forward too.

Beach BBQ

Some of Dan's buddies from Engineer School drove in from 29 Palms, CA for the weekend to camp at the beach. We met up with them for a little beach BBQ. We took Jackson down to the water, but he was not real excited about the idea of getting in it. One of the guys, Steve, plays guitar and brought one along for the trip. Jackson face lit up when he started playing. Steve was kind enough to let him play a few cords. Jackson went at it in pure August Rush style (if you haven't seen the movie August Rush go out and rent it and you will know that I am talking about). I think we have another musician in our midst.

She Finally Sleeps

Today has been a long day full of screaming! Hannah has been rather upset today. I am not sure what I ate that is not agreeing with her, but she has been telling me about it all day. So imagine my joy when she FINALLY fell asleep. It is a good thing she is cute!

God Made Dirt! It Don't Hurt!

When we moved in the flower bed was less than desirable, so Dan and I spent the weekend sprucing it up. Of course, Jackson had to get in on the action and get as dirty as possible. At the end of the day we stripped him down and hosed him off in the yard. Little boys love to get dirty!

You Should Try This! It's Good!

I sat Hannah in her Bumbo seat for the first time today. Jackson wasn't really sure what to make of her sitting up in the middle of the living room, but he decided to seize the opportunity and try to get Hannah to eat his Goldfish. It was great to watch him share his food with her. He also wanted to give her kisses...ok so they were more like headbutts, but it is the thought that counts right? I am looking forward to watching these two little ones develop a great brother/sister relationship.

2 Months Old

On one hand it is hard to believe Hannah is two months old, on the otherhand it seems like she should be much older than that. She has just started to smile and interact with us. She is a bit of a drama queen and a little more high maintenance than Jackson was. She likes to eat every two hours and will be glad to make her needs known for a long time! She has a bit of a stubborn streak and has been know to scream for quite sometime before giving up. But when she smiles her face lights up and it makes all the frustration worth every minute. She is truely a blessing!

Always On The Go!

Jackson would play outside all day if I would let him. He loves to walk around collecting sticks, rocks, and any other treasure that he can uncover. He especially likes our daily trips to the park. Somedays he could care less about the playground equipment and spends his time hunting for the biggest stick or rock he can find. When he finds one bigger that the one he currently his he tosses the inferior stick aside and continues the hunt. However, on this particular day with a little prompting from mom, he devoted his energy to the playground equipment. He is always BUSY BUSY BUSY!

Mr. Destructo

The floorplan of our house allows for us to have a playroom that is off the kitchen and livingroom. We have gated this little room off and allow Jack to go crazy with his toys in there. It also allows me a little freedom to get things done knowing he is safe in there and not getting into things in other parts of the house. I know it has been a good play session when I come to find Jackson perched in the middle of all his toys. We are working on teaching him how to clean up but I think he prefers making the mess.

How Does This Thing Work?

We have recently started to give Jackson a fork or spoon to eat his meals. He usually gives it the 10 second try and then resorts to using his hands. This is exactly what he did today with a HUGE bowl of applesauce. He quickly became frustrated with the spoon and then tried the old standby of his hands. He was met again by frustration when he was unable to get a healthy mouthful using his hands. What a mess!

Quick Catch Up

Here is a quick little catch up on what has transpired in our life in the past month or so.

On June 10th we made our way to California. The drive went well considering we spend 6-7 hours a day in the car with two young children.

When we arrived in California we were told it would be 6-8 months until we would get a house on base and oh by the way there is no room in the temporary housing facility. YIKES! We were either going to have to find an apartment in town or live in a hotel and fork out a ton of money. We decided we would wait it out bt go to the housing office and see what we could get.

Long story short there was a three bedroom house available that day for us to move into. It is not in the most ideal location on base, but the house and neighborhood are really nice. It is a ranch style house (YEAH NO STAIRS!) which has been gutted and renovated in the last five years. There is plenty of room for our little family. We back to open training areas which is great! So all in all it is a great place. We have to drive about 30 minutes either way to get off base and Dan has a 30-40 minute drive to work, but we are really enjoying it so far.

Jackson is getting so big and LOVES that the weather is so nice here that he can play outside everyday. We don't have any grass in our back yard yet, but he still likes to play in the dirt. We have started the habit of taking him to the little neighborhood park after dinner everynight to let him run around. We are making the fun transition to one nap a day and have not found the ideal time for it yet. Hopefully we will get it worked out soon.

Hannah is such a joy. She is a little fussier than I remember Jackson being. Her little tummy seems to bother her quite a lot, but we are trying to work that out too. She is getting bigger and probably weighs about 8 lbs. She is finally into her 0-3 month clothes. It is so fun having a girl to dress.

Dan and I are slowly figuring out how to be the parents of two young children. I get my first try at it solo when Dan heads to 29 Palms for two weeks. Wish me luck!

Sorry there are no pictures! I can't seem to find my cord for the camera in the mess that is our house right now. As soon as i find it I will send pictures.

I Am Ready to Meet My Fans

I snapped this picture of Hannah in her first of many dresses. It is so much fun to dress a girl, but also a little more time consuming. First you have the dress, then the little spanky/undies things, a sweater, matching socks, and a little hat (not pictured). With Jack it was pants, a shirt, and socks and we were out the door! I will have to get used to the time it takes to dress a little gal.

Daddy's Little Girl

Little Hannah has certainly stolen her father's heart. I absolutely LOVE this picture. Funny thing is right as I was taking it she was peeing all over Dan. Now that is love!

One Month Old

It is had to believe little Hannah is a month old and what a month it has been. She popped out and two weeks later we were carting her across the country to her new home in CA, just to find out we had no home waiting for us. She has lived nearing a quarter of her little life in a hotel or in a house with no furniture. She has had to learn rather quickly how to be flexible. She is such a joy. Our family would not be complete without her.

Meeting Uncle Adam & Aunt Kristy

My brother Adam and his wife Kristy came by to meet the newest addition to the family. Don't they look like naturals?

First Haircut

It was high time Jackson had a hair cut. His curls could no longer be tamed and he had a little rat tail going in the back. We took him to Cool Cutz for Kidz. He got to sit in a chair shaped like an airplane and watch Madagascar while a friendly stylist trimmed his baby locks. I guarantee it was more traumatizing for me than it was for Jackson. I can't believe my little guy is old enough to be getting haircuts. Isn't he handsome!

Sibling Love

It has certainly been an interesting adventure to be a mother of two children under the age of 18 months! YIKES! Jackson has surprisingly done really well with the addition of his baby sister. He went through a day or two of wanting to constantly be sitting in my lap and being really fussy. He has certainly tried to test his limits getting into all sorts of things he knows he is not supposed to touch. This morning was the first time he really paid attention to Hannah. He was showing her toys and just sitting next to here babbling her ear off. He has recently become obsessed with a toilet brush...a NEW toilet brush that has never been used...and decided he should share it with his sister. We had a great time with him this morning. He is certainly a one man show and quite the ham. I look forward to watching the sibling love develop over the years.

Hannah Has Arrived!

Our Memorial Day turned into a "Labor" Day...a LONG Labor Day. But in the end we were blessed with a beautiful, healthy, baby girl with a strong set of lungs.

Hannah Grace Jernigan was born on May 26, 2008 at 5:39pm. She was 6 lbs, 11 oz and 20 inches long. It has been a long week of no sleep for me, but we are all settling in pretty well. It has been an adventure having a baby that is just 24 hours old at home. We had to wait a week for Jackson to come home.

I will do more updating later and give you more scoop, but this is all my sleep deprived mind can handle at this point.

Fun Family Week

We have now had the privledge of being a family for the past week. Dan arrived in Colorado Springs last Saturday evening. It was wonderful to see him. Jackson certainly is loving all the attention and wrestling time with Daddy. I am enjoying not being the only parent of our active little boy.

Unfortunately, Dan got the stomach bug we were cursed with a few weeks ago. It took him out of commission for two days. He FINALLY is among the living and feeling much better. Luckily the bug was not passed back to any of us.

Lastnight we had a big get together of family and friends at Dan's mom's house to celebrate Dan's 30th birthday and his gradutation from Combat Engineer School. It was a great time to see everyone.

The answer to the big question in your mind is...NO BABY YET! I thought maybe yesterday was it when I started having pretty regular contractions every 8 minutes. I occuppied my time with the party, but by the time bedtime rolled around the contractions were irregular and spacing out. So far this morning I am still having contractions but nothing that is regular. This little girl will come when she wants. I am now 38 weeks...the longest I have EVER been pregnant! We are hoping she will come soon, but more importantly that she will be healthy! We will keep you all posted!

Finally Among The Living

What a week we have had! It all started Tuesday night when Jackson began vomitting. Then Wednesday I started in....four hours later my mom followed! For those of you who have never experienced it, vomitting when you are 35 weeks pregnant is NOT FUN!!! I was up the whole night having contractions every 3 minutes due to dehydration. I also had the pleasure of having a low grade fever that amplified every ache in my body. Finally by Saturday mom and I felt much better and decided to venture out to do some errands. Unfortunately Jackson picked this outing to begin vomitting again. Nothing like a sick child in the middle of the Costco food court. So needless to say we have been laying low for the past week! I think we are finally in the clear, but I thought that on Saturday too...lets see if we make it through the week.

I reached a big mile stone today...This is officially the longest I have been pregnant. Jackson was born at 36 wks & 5 days at 4:43am. So now at 12:25 I am setting a personal record! I continue to have contractions 1 or 2 per hour. She is riding VERY LOW...so low at any point I think if I squat down she will just fall out. Of course I am sure this is an exageration but that is how it feels. Dan is supposed to be here by Sunday night so I hoping I can hold her off until then. I am taking it easy and not being very active. In fact many days Jackson and I do not get out of our PJ.

Speaking of PJs here is a cute picture of Jackson...he looks just like Dan in this picture. He is growing up so fast!

Hannah...what?

I have surpased my 35 week mark and am skating into the last month of this pregnancy. Dan will FINALLY be in Colorado around May 18th (2 WEEKS!) at which point I feel I can relax a little. The later half of this pregnancy has not been easy. I have spent two evenings in the L & D for monitoring, but luckily all is well. I am REALLY having to take it easy which is not easy for me. I like to go, see, and do. I just can't do that.

So, I have been starting projects and trying to get things settled in here. My mom and I FINALLY made it out to pick out the quilt fabric for Hannah's room. I had intended to decorate her room in blacks, whites, and reds, but once I got to the fabric store I changed the room all together. Luckily I had not purchased anything for her room yet so it was a clean palete. As I was walking through the store a particular collection called Fresh Squeezed caught my eye. LOVED IT! It was so bright and fun and really something that could grow with her. Here is a little taste of what the colors look like.

So after a complete room change up I feel I am truely excited about putting her room together and it all seems real.

HOWEVER, this poor little girl has no middle name! Dan and I can't seem to decide so I am asking your help. I am going to add another poll to the side and include these names (in no particular order):

Hannah Grace

Hannah Isabella

Hannah Cristina

Hannah Elizabeth

Hannah Kate

PLEASE let me know if you have any other really good ones and I will add them. I just don't want it to be too sing songy. Something that is strong so when I say it she knows I mean business :) THANKS!

Danger's First Trip To The ER

We had our first of probably many trips to the ER with Little Jackson "Danger" Jernigan. He once again tried to touch something with his head rather than his hands. Unfortunately he lost in his little scuffle with the space heater which resulted in a nice gash on his forehead. I had my mom come home to look at it and when it began to swell and separate further we decided a trip the the ER was in order. Better safe than sorry. Well, during our FOUR AND A HALF HOUR WAIT in the ER the gapping wound began to look more like a scratch. By the time we FINALLY saw the doc he glued it together and sent us on our way! Jackson was a trooper! He did not cry once! Not even when they gave him a cute little hospital dress to wear.

The Kelly Twins Turn 6!!

We were so excited to learn Julia and Keith (Dan's sister and her husband) would be coming to Colorado and while they were here Kendal and Aiden would celebrate their 6th birthday! It was a fun day of celebration. Jackson loved chasing around his three cousins! Of course, in my prego brain state I did not get a picture of all of four kiddos together! Diann had a cake made special for the kids and we ate homemade lasagna for dinner. Fun was had by all!

Happy Birthday Kendall and Aiden!

New Additions

In the last month we have had two new additions for our family.

The first was an addition to our Marine Corp family. Richard and Melanie Sala are now the proud parents of Lidia Mae Sala. Lidia was born on March 12, 2008 at 5:10am. She weighed 5 lbs 10 oz. I was very excited she was born before I left Virginia! I was able to see her a few hours after she was born and then after she came home. What a cutie!

The second addition was to my extended family...well Cristie is my cousin, but more like the sister I never had...so I will say I have a new niece! Jillian Johanna Baron was born on March 30, 2008 at 3:36am and weighed in at 8lbs 10 oz. My aunt and uncle were thrilled they were there to see her. Little Jillian held out until a short 48 hours before their departure. I can't wait to meet her!

Easter with Grammy

Unfortunately, Jackson was sick the first weekend we arrived. He started running a fever and producing some really not so fun diapers...if you know what I mean. So, when it came to putting him in the adorable Easter outfit I got for him it was a no go. Diann (Dan's mom) had invited me and my mom over for Easter Brunch. She had set a beautiful table and prepared WONDERFUL food! It was a nice relaxing low key day. Just what we needed after a long drive.

I think Jackson enjoyed his place at the head of the table!

Thanks for a wonderful Easter Brunch Grammy!

Let's Catch Up...

So the big move to CO is out of the way! HIP HIP HOORAY! Here is a little recap of the trip...
On March 13th we had the packers from H$@*. A 60+ year old man and a woman who spoke no English showed up at the house to pack our belongings. It took him 3 1/2 hours to pack just my kitchen...I would like to say that is due to the fact I have a gourmet kitchen with many precious items, but that is not the case. They arrived at 10:00am and did not drive away until 7:00pm!! Needless to say it was a LONG day! The movers that arrived the next morning must have been sent directly from God! They were wonderful and did a great job getting our things loaded. Mom and I then set about to clean the place! We didn't get as much done on Friday as we would have liked due to sheer exhaustion so we finished up the next morning. We skillfully packed the truck (as you can see Jackson did not have much room) and set out to Camp Lejeune to see Dan.









The 6 hour drive to Camp Lejeune went smoothly. We past through some pretty interesting back woods towns. When we finally arrived I was STARVING so we decided to treat ourselves to dinner at Outback...Big Mistake...BIG...HUGE! We thought we were great because we called ahead. So it saved us 20 minutes of waiting for a table, but then we proceeded to wait another 2 HOURS for our food! Yes you read right 2 HOURS! Needless to say I had long turned it to the Hungry Prego Mama Monster and Jackson was quickly behind me with the Hungry Toddler Monster. Finally I told the waitress to pack up the food to go and we left. Luckily we did not have to pay for the meal, but it certainly was not the relaxing dinner we had hoped for. The next morning we headed out to the beach. I had to see the ocean! It was a chilly blustery day, but nothing was going to detour us from seeing the waves. We did not stay very long, but Jack had a great time blowing in the wind.





We said bye to Dan and headed to Winston-Salem, NC. We arrived without incident and FINALLY enjoyed a relaxing evening. The next morning we got up and pushed on the Nashville, TN. The only incident was Jackson taking a tumble at a rest stop and getting a bloody lip! Oh little Danger what will we do with you. In the late afternoon we arrived at my Uncle Clay and Aunt Kim's house. I was pleasantly surprised to see my cousin Caitlin was home from Georgia. We had a wonderful Irish Stew for St. Patty's day. Jackson had a great times playing with their two dogs and running FREE!













The next day was the longest day of the trip. We started out the day with Jackson taking another good tumble and busting his lip wide open! He had quite the fat lip. Then we fought high winds all the way to Memphis! In Memphis we ate lunch with my college roommate Candice. What a treat to see her! We had good old southern food at Cracker Barrel!









From Memphis we fought more wind as we headed to Little Rock to have coffee with my other college roommate Kelly. As if Jackson did not already look like I beat him on a regular basis, he took a nasty header onto the conceit and developed quite the goose egg. Gotta love it when they first start walking!










Little did we know the WORST of the drive was yet to come on the short three hour trip between Little Rock and Ft. Smith, AR. We continued to fight the high winds, but added to that HEAVY rain! I was certainly glad my mom was at the wheel. I am a wimp for driving in adverse conditions. That night we arrived to our hotel hoping to take Jackson down to the pool for a little swim. We all get decked out in our swim trunks and headed down to the indoor pool. Well this pool was colder than any pool I have ever been in. Jackson shivered and cried to get out. So our fun end to the day just turned out to be cold and no fun at all.





The next morning we headed to Amarillo, TX. Another fun day of fighting high winds across Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle. We finally arrived at my Uncle Craig and Aunt Donna's house. We were greeted by my cousin Colin's two and a half year old son, Triston and his new baby sister Annie. We had a wonderful dinner with them and Jackson had the best time chasing Triston around the house. In fact they were on the move so much I only got one lousy picture with both of them in it.


The next morning we set out for Colorful Colorado. We have driven the stretch of road between Amarillo SO MANY TIMES we practically did it with our eyes closed. We finally made it home! That evening after partially unloading the car, eating dinner, and putting Jack to bed. I started to have contractions regularly every 12-15 minutes. YIKES! After about two hours they finally spaced out and then stopped completely. When I mentioned this to the Nurse Practitioner I saw the next day at the Air Force Academy she immediately wanted to to go down to the hospital at Ft. Carson to be monitored and checked! After about two hours on the monitors and a cervical check later we left knowing nothing had changed and little Hannah was just fine. I have been told to take it easy and not lift a lot of things! So it looks like we may have a drama queen on our hands.

Well that was the extent of out lovely trip across the country. I have much more to add, but will do that in separate posts as to not overwhelm everyone.