Banana Flam Dam

Cody and Tony are always talking about this dessert they had in Mexico and how good it was. They found a recipe and thought they would give it a try. I was a little nervous when they started asking me for matches. It didn't turn out quite like they remembered it but they think they know what they can do differently next time.

Getting ready to start the banana's on fire!

Didn't work so they are trying it while the pan is on the stove.

It finally worked a little but we couldn't get the camera to show the fire on the bananas.

Finally a Hint of Spring!

This weekend I was trying to take it easy and just relax before the baby came. My doctor was also out of town and I didn't want to go into labor without him here. It was beautiful outside and almost felt like spring so we decided to take Taylyn to the park and have a picnic. She was in absolute heaven. She ate her lunch good and was off to play and play hard she did. She was up and down so many times and running all over the place. I think she has spring fever as much as her Dad does. I really enjoyed the fresh air as well, but I didn't do much playing.
Taylyn's favorite part was the twisty slide and the rock crawl.

What has been going on here?

There was beautiful sunset the other day so we took a picture of it. The weather has been so nice lately and Taylyn, Roxie and I have enjoyed being able to go outside. That is until I woke up the other morning to at least 6 inches of snow and it has been freezing ever since. Sometimes I really miss Florida but I do love the mountains!A whole lot of nothing has been going on here. We are just counting down the days until we have the baby. Cody still has to sit a lot to put his leg up, I am getting so uncomfortable I don't do much and Taylyn loves the attention she is getting because we are not busy with other things. She even convinced Daddy to paint her finger and toenails for her. Taylyn decided that Mickey Mouse needed to eat with her and asked Cody to put a bib on him so that he didn't get dirty. She is so much like me with getting dirty and O.C.D that it is a little scary. A funny new thing Taylyn has started it she loves to sing. She sings songs that we have taught her, ones she learned in nursery and has started making up ones of her own about whatever she is playing with. It is so funny to listen to her. For the last couple of weeks in church she likes to hold the Hymn book and sing with us. She sings words like Jesus, God, nursery over and over while we sing the correct words. Yesterday at church she decided she would sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star in her normal singing voice during the closing prayer. We were laughing so hard that I couldn't sing a word of the song.

Getting READY for the Baby!

Well I am down to 9 days until my induction date of March 19 and I am definitely ready to be finished. My Doctor said that he would induce me a week before my due date and put me on the books. I am hoping to go before then but we will see. I have been doing weekly checks on my fluid levels and baby heart tests for over a month now and I am definitely getting tired of them. I am starting to swell extremely bad and my joints in my hands and feet and not to pleased with the swelling. They have been so bad lately I can barely hold my toothbrush in the morning. My fingers have even started going nub when I used them a lot. I decided two Sundays ago I might be done going to church because nothing fits and I don't have any nice shoes that fit my feet. Last Sunday I decided it was nice enough outside I would wear sandals so my feet didn't swell. No luck, they were so puffy I had lines on my feet that showed the style of sandals I was wearing. This Sunday I wore flip flops and only made it to Sacrament meeting because I was so swollen. I have Kankles for ankles many times during the day. I was on my feet so much with teaching when I was pregnant with Taylyn that I never really had a problem with swelling. It is amazing how different each pregnancy can be. Here are a few pictures I thought in a few years might be funny for me to look at. However, they are much worse now, the pictures are a few weeks old.

Taylyn is very ready for the baby to come. She keeps asking me when Baby Jaxon will come home so she can put him on the changing table and change his bum. She helped Cody put together the changing table and crib and helped me put his clothes and blankets away so she just doesn't understand why he is still in my belly and not home. We will see how she feels once he is actually home and she has to share our attention with something else.

I am getting very excited to have him here and finally be able to hold him. I am a little nervous to have to start all over with the baby stuff but there is nothing like holding a new baby!!!!

What a Character!

A couple of times Taylyn hits me I tell her that it is not nice to hit people. Well she has caught on and Cody was teasing her the only day and she took his face in her hands and told him "that not nice Daddy!" with a serious look on her face. At least I know she is understanding what I am telling her. She also told Tony that he was not nice because he was throwing her Mickey guys. She gave him a look that could kill and informed him that he was not being nice to throw her guys!

Taylyn started out saying prayers so good when she first started. We have since then moved through a few stages of learning about prayers. At first she would repeat everything we said and keep her arms folded the entire time. Then she moved to it being almost a battle to get her to say them or fold her arms. She is slowly getting better if we ask her what we do during prayers before we start, but lately she will say half the prayers with us and then goes off on her own blessing the tiger in her belly to be healthy and strong and to sleep good. Cody and I try so hard to keep a straight face but she continues to say it waiting for one of us to crack. Then they other day at church was did a great job at folding her arms during the opening prayer and sacrament prayer. Cody and I praised her and she noticed that I still had my arms folded, she said not so quietly, "mommy unfold u arms, prayer all done." At this point she looks over and realizes that Maile, Linda and Rich still had their arms folded and loudly told each of them to unfold their arms. She can't quite figure out that talking quiet at home and talking quiet at church is the same thing. She will not whisper when we are at church and she is so loud.

She has really taken to singing. She loves to sing and knows quite a few songs to sing. Sometimes she will ask us to sing with her and other times she asks us to stop the she will do it herself. She loves to sing, The Wheels on the Bus, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, The Ensey Wensy Spider, I Am A Child of God, Old McDonalds, ABC's, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes (really fast), Once Their Was a Snowman, Bubble Gum! We put her in bed the other night about 8:30 and around 9:00 we could hear her singing all sorts of songs and talking to her Mickey Mouse guys. She sang for over an hour before finally falling asleep and not once did she call for us to come in. We just sat and listened and laugh at her. She sounded so cute.

Taylyn's Fishies!

Taylyn Loved Valentine's Day! In fact she is still telling Cody Happy Valentine's Day and giving him the card she made him at least twice a day. She had so much fun making him a gift and then giving it to him. We bought her stickers and balloons and she thought that was pretty cool to. Linda and Maile came over to take her to the store so she could pick out her own Valentine's gift. Cody and I stayed home for a few minutes to relax and take a nap. A couple hours later she came back home extremely excited and holding 4 fishies! Yes they bought her 4 fish, she had to have "one named Daddy, Mommy, me and one for Baby Jaxon!" She was so giddy and excited we just sat and laughed. Cody set up the fish tank and then she got to feed them, which was just as exciting to her. However, less than 24 hours later, her room and the hall stunk so bad that Cody had to flush one of the fish to see if we could save the other three. They lasted about 12 days and then I found one of them dead and the other was looking quite sick. I flushed the dead one and later that night Cody flushed the others because they looked so sick. Taylyn was telling everyone, "my fishies go in my bathroom to heaven!" I guess it is good she is still little enough to think it is that simple. We were just going to wait to get her some new fish but she kept telling us that Nana and Maile were going to take her to the Dollar Store to buy more fishes. Little does she know it wasn't the dollar store and they were not $1. So we took her to Walmart and she was in heaven again. She was loving the fish and wanted them all. We settled on a blue and pink fish and then a sucker fish to help clean the tank. The blue is Daddy, pink is Taylyn and I am the sucker fish. I see where I rank on her list. These fish seemed to be doing much better because there is only three of them and they are a lot smaller than the last set. Hopefully we can keep them alive. Taylyn is really good to remember to feed them before her nap and it is a good thing because I would have forgotten to do it many days if she hadn't reminded me. She checks on them frequently and tells us that, "they good just still swimmen!"

The New Me!

Well I finally made a change in my hair. I have been talking about it for 6 months but whenever I get there I chicken out and just get a little trim. I don't know if it was a pregnancy thing or what but I finally just said do it and then about had a heart attack when I saw how much was cut. I love it though and it is so easy to fix.

I went with Cody to adjust my braces and he decided to just take them off. What a great Valentine's gift!! It feels weird not to have on braces after almost 2 years but I am very happy with how they look.

As you can see my stomach is growing larger by the day. I am getting very uncomfortable and it is so hard to sleep. Cody said the other morning how he keeps getting better a little everyday but I keep getting a little worse each day. I am grateful everything is going well with the baby and I only have 5 weeks lefts so I can make it. At least I am used to getting up all night that hopefully a new baby who needs to eat every three hours won't shock me as bad as it did with Taylyn.

Month of Pictures!

With everything going on this month I have taken the time to keep the blog updated, nor have I taken many pictures. Here are a few from the last month!

Taylyn tried on Tony hat and glasses and then told him, "Rock on Tony, Peace Out!" and then ended with a "Check you self!"

Cody's family went to San Fransisco and got us an alligator sour dough bread to remind us of the last 6 years in Florida. Taylyn thought it was really funny that she was able to eat an alligator leg. It was the most amazing bread I have ever tasted. Taylyn has not had bangs for a couple of months because whenever I have tried to cut them she tells me, "no Mommy, my Bonnie do it." I finally made an appointment to get mine cut so her Bonnie cut her bangs. She did get a little nervous and wanted to hold my hand. I still haven't cut the rest of her hair because I am scared she will loose her curls if we do. Taesi came to play the other day. I think Taylyn was so excited to have someone besides grownups to play with. They played and played and then sat together to watch Dora and have a snack. This was the only time they stayed in one place for longer than 5 minutes, but they sure had fun.

Taylyn got some new Minnie Mouse pajamas and doesn't like to get out of them in the morning. When we are just staying home I usually let her keep them on until after her nap. Those are her favorite days of the week!

Cody has to do exercises at home to help build up the strength in his leg. Taylyn has decided she need to exercise with him as well every morning. She watches him to see what he is doing and then tries to do exactly what he is doing. It is so funny to watch. She loves to be just like her Daddy!Still trying to be like her Daddy!

With Church at 1:00 Taylyn doesn't get her nap so when we get home from church I make her lay down on the couch and watch a movie. On this particular day she needed her binkie, blanket and guys. I lay her down and went to see if Cody needed something and this is how I found her. Ten minutes later she was out cold with her guys still over her head.

I set Taylyn up a place on the ground to watch TV while I showered. She decided to have a little tea party with Mickey! and watch Dora of course!
Taylyn loves my niece Brittney. She made her sit by her and watch
TV the other morning when she came over. We had Brittney watch her the other night so we could go to a dinner where Cody's parents were being honored. As soon as Brittney walked in she grabbed her hand and took her right downstairs to her playhouse. When we got home Cody asked her what she did with Brittney and she told him,"we go see boys!" She said it like it was nothing and moved on to something else. We laughed so hard. Brittney had taken her to a Inter mural Basketball game to see one of her friends play. Cody didn't know how he felt about the fact that his 2 year old daughter we going out to check out the boys, but she sure had fun and keeps asking for "her Brittie to come back and play!" She sure loves her.

Getting so big

I can't believe how grown up Taylyn is getting. It sure has been nice lately with all that is going on she is getting independent . I have started putting her juice where she can reach it in the fridge so she can get it when she needs it if I can't help her. She has never once forgotten to shut the door when she is done. One day I told her that it was time for lunch and asked what she wanted to eat she said she wanted a little meal (lunchables for toddlers). I was finishing up getting something for Cody and came into the kitchen she had got the meal, a can of pineapples and the bottle of ranch and put them on her highchair. I guess she was hungry. I couldn't believe it. Sometimes I can't believe she is not my baby anymore.

She is becoming so polite. She usually says, "Thank you so much" whenever you help her or get something for her. She let out a big burp and looked at me, before I could remind her what to say, she said, "excuse me mommy." It is nice to see that she is learning the things I am trying to teach her.

Passing on the Lipstick!!

Tay loves lipstick or chap stick and asks for it many times during the day. If she is with Linda or Maile it is lipstick but with mean mom it is only chap stick. Whenever she uses chap stick she loves to put it on me as well. The other day she had put some on both of us and about 20 minutes later we were playing and she turned to me and grabbed my face with both hands. Then took her lips and rubbed them on my lips to give me more chapstick and said, "there you go Mom!" I don't know where she got that idea but I was laughing so hard I could barely talk. She is just so helpful!!!

Oh Toodles!!!

We were at Walmart grocery shopping and was telling Taylyn we were almost done but I couldn't find something. She got the funniest look on her face and yells quite loudly, "Oh Toodles!!!" For those of you don't watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse faithfully Toodles is a tool that helps Mickey and his friends solve problems. Taylyn saw we had a problem and decided to ask Toodles for some help. It was so funny I just wish Toodles could have helped me find what I was looking for.

A couple of days ago Taylyn and I were trying to figure out a puzzle and she said," Think, think think!!! She got that one off of My Friends Tigger and Pooh! I realized she must be watching too much TV. Normally I try to watch how much TV she watches but lately I have had so much going on I haven't noticed. At least she is picking up some good habits while watching. She is really getting into Dora and Diego, whom she calls "Mango" (not quite sure why), she will completely ignore you if you try to talk to her while she is watching. She is so concentrated on what is going on she doesn't want to be bother. She will even answer their questions when they ask on the TV. It is quite funny. She throw a massive fit the other day because I had to go somewhere and I turned off Diego before it was finished.

Worst Week Ever!!!!

Well it all started on January 14. Here is the worst week we have ever had in our marriage. It has continued on for about a month now but hopefully things are slowly looking forward instead of on a constant backwards track.

It started out with me going to St. George for a Doctor's Appointment with the specialist. Everything was looking good and then the Doctor came in to do a few more things with the ultrasound. As he was testing some things with the baby's heart he noticed an pulsation in the heart beat which usually indicate that the left side of his heart was not working as fast as the left side. He couldn't understand why and was not too concerned because everything else looks so good and they have never seen any problem. However, he told me I needed to go to the hospital in Cedar once a week to have a stress test and ultrasound to check my fluids. I felt like things would be fine but at the same time that is not something any mother wants to hear. I called Cody and he also felt that things would be fine. I have had 4 weeks of test and they have found nothing, but are continuing with the weekly testing just to be safe. I went back to the Doctor in St. George on Feb. 3rd and he couldn't find anything either so he said that I no longer needed to go down to St. George unless something else comes up. We feel very grateful to know that he is doing well and continuing to develop.

After the Doctor I did a little shopping for the baby and then headed home. We had dinner and then Cody went to go play his weekly basketball game with some friends. He had a long day at work and was excited to get a little exercise. About 9:00 with Taylyn in bed and me ready for bed I got a call from his mom saying he hurt himself playing. I asked if I needed to go get him and they told me he was on his way to the ER. I knew that was not a good sign because I can never get him to go to the Doctor for anything. They told me they would call me when they found out what was going on. A few minutes later Tony called and told me that he was not doing well and in a lot of pain and to call his girlfriend Azita and she would come over the watch Taylyn for me so I could be with him. When I got to the hospital Tony and Chad met me outside and said it was not looking good. I rushed in to see him and was finally able to get back where he was. He was sure he had torn his right leg ACL. He had done his left leg about 6 years ago and knew what it felt like and what he the next couple of months would be like. After some X-rays and painkillers his worst fear came true and he had torn it. We brought him home and thanks to a family friend we were able to get him to the same doctor that had done his other leg the next day. They did the MRI and were told he would definitely have to have surgery. The Doctor got us on the schedule the following Tuesday, less than a week after he had messed it up, so they we could get it over with. I had made arrangements for my sister in Panguitch to take Taylyn on Tuesday morning and keep her overnight so I wouldn't have to worry about her. Well she called Tuesday morning and said that her daughter woke up with over 100 temperature. She said she would still take her but I didn't want to risk her getting it and me having to take care of her being sick and Cody down from surgery. I called my other sister that lives in Cedar and she said she would watch her but she needed to go into work and her son had his Pinewood Derby that night. She said she would figure it out but I felt bad to add one more kid to her schedule. The hospital called and they postponed Cody surgery about 1 1/2 hrs. I called my mom in tears she said she would figure something out and be up there as soon as she could. She watches my brothers daughter on Tuesday so after she dropped her off at school her and my Dad headed up. Melissa watched her until they could get here, and then she was able to finish out everything else she needed to do in the afternoon. We finally got to the hospital and still had to wait awhile. I went and did my first stress test and went to my Doctor's appointment. Luckily things went good there or I might have lost my mind after such a hectic morning. When I got back he was just about ready to go in for surgery.

Cody was not at all amused that Maile took a picture of him.

I went and got some lunch and then came back to wait. It didn't take as long as expected because they gave him an epidural he didn't' have to be completely knocked out for the surgery. So he came back from surgery awake and alert and didn't have to go to recovery area. I finally got him home about 7:30pm. Taylyn had a blast with my mom and dad and was extremely sad when they left. She wanted them to stay and play with her. She thought Papa's dinner was better than hers.I had been worried about Cody laying on our bed during recovery because it hurts his back so bad. Cody's father had gone out and bought us a bed for my birthday and what a wonderful surprise it was. Cody was up most of the night throwing up from the drugs in his system. It was a long night, but at least the 2 hours we got to sleep the bed was amazing and neither of us woke up with a sore back. Cody even got a new Flat screen TV out of the deal so that he had something to look at while laying in bed for a couple of week. Tay loves to get up on the bed and watch her shows with him.

He started physical therapy that next morning and was in ruff shape. After he got home from therapy I was helping him get on the bed and noticed his ankle was horribly swollen. He said it hurt really bad and he thought it might be broken. I called and get him into the Doctor and luckily it was not broke but it was sprained. He has an ankle brace as well as his knee brace but we are just grateful it wasn't a break. Things are slowly getting better and he is up moving around without the use of crutches or a cane. He has even gone back to work.

During these last couple of weeks many more things have been thrown at us. Taylyn tripped and the side of her face hit the hinge of an open door and gave her a huge rash on her cheek. The next day she trip again and fell into the corner of the wall on the same side of course. Then two days later she wasn't watching where she was going and walked into the corner of a glass table at Linda's house and got a big cut right below her eye and once again on the same side. I didn't dare take out Cody or Taylyn at the same time or people might start to think I am abusive.

If you look closely you can see the left side of her face is a little beat up. Poor girl. Luckily it healed fast with no scar.

And it just kept getting worse. We found out that the toilets in our condo in Florida needed to be replaced because they were leaking. We finally found someone to replace them but we had to buy the toilets and he would just pick them up. I was worried about the size but the guy seemed to think it would be fine. He went in to replace them and the water had not been completely turned off and had been leaking and flooded the master bedroom, living room and spare bedroom closet. So we started calling to find out who could replace the padding and carpet. Then the Plumber got both toilets installed and in the extra bathroom he could get the lid to fit because of the counter top. So he had to figure out a way to sand down the lid or counter top so he could make it fit. Finally we thought everything had been worked out and we got a call letting us know that the master closet and mold and we needed to get it treated and repainted. What a mess!! We may rent for the rest of our lives!!!!! We finally had a young dental couple move in so hopefully they can catch anything that goes wrong before it gets that bad. It sure looks good now. There isn't much more that we need to replace now. Hopefully that will sell it quicker if the market ever turns around.

Well that sums up our last month. I have been blessed with the energy and health to take care of Taylyn and Cody without throwing my back out again. I am starting to feel very pregnant and thankful for Cody's hard work to heal quickly to take the pressure of everything off me. He has felt so bad to have to rely on me so much with me being 7 months pregnant but he promised I can pretty much ask for anything after the baby is born and I will get it. He will continue with Physical Therapy for at least a couple more months but is moving around and gets better each day.

Thank you to all the family who has helped so much the last month with babysitting and running around town so I wouldn't have to. We are so glad this all happened here where we had so much support from family. I owe you guys!!!!!

"Me Have Tiger in My Belly!!"

I was at Melissa's House and needed to get home to finish dinner. Taylyn didn't want to go so I was trying to avoid a battle and convince her she needed to go. I told her she would be getting hungry soon and we needed to finish cooking dinner. Melissa was trying to help and told Taylyn that she could hear her belly growling because she was hungry and then asked her if she had a bear in her tummy that was growling. She said, "no me have a tiger in my belly." That is all it took to convince her she was hungry and we went home. She had to tell Cody all about the tiger and that he was hungry and ready for dinner.

It has been over a month since that happened and the tiger is still there. It lets me know when she is hungry and when she is full. She even told me that it was kicking in her belly the other day and when people ask her what is in my belly she makes sure they know that she has a tiger in hers. She will even pull her shirt up and show you where it is (I take blame for her having something in her belly that kicks but pulling up her shirt to show it off she didn't get from me!!!)

Then last night I was helping her say her prayers and she decided to add her own thoughts, "Please bless my tiger to be healthy and strong." Cody started to laugh under his breathe and she knew she had him so whatever I said for her to repeat she ignored and blessed her tiger again.

She always keeps us laughing!!!

Funny things

About a week after Christmas we were getting ready to help Taylyn with her night prayers. We helped her with about two sentences and then she took over saying as she turned Cody's head to face her, "Santa ate my cookies and Milk." We tried not to laugh but we couldn't help it. Needless to say prayers ended a little earlier than planned.

Taylyn has started called us something other than Mom and Dad. I am referred to as "Babe" and Cody is now "Cody" when she wants us. I still get Mom quite often but we don't hear Daddy to often. It was hilarious at first but Cody would like to at least get Daddy half the time.