Beck's Bowling Birthday

Roman's little buddy, Beck turned two on Saturday, so our good friends Korbi and Stephen invited us to a bowling b-day party for him. Jason and I hadn't been bowling since we lived in Rexburg which was almost 3 years ago, so our skills were a little rusty, but we still had a fun time. Roman LOVES balls, so he was in 10th heaven with all the colorful bowling balls around. There's the birthday boy with Korbi and Stephen and their neices.

Roman loved pushing the ball down the lane, but then he wanted to run after it.

Beck and Roman...BFFs. Korbi and kept trying to keep them away from the balls because we were afraid they'd get their fingers smashed, but they just couldn't stay away.

I found the cure

In my last post I was complaining about how clingy Roman had been lately, and how he wouldn't let me do anything unless I was holding him. So, yesterday I was talking with two of my friends and they said, "Have you tried letting him watch TV?" I actually had tried that and it never worked. In fact, yesterday morning I tried it and he ran up to it and turned it off. So, today when I got back from the gym, I was feeling especially tired and I didn't want to have to deal with his antics that occur when I'm trying to take a shower, blow dry my hair, and do my makeup. The past couple of days he's been making me hold him while I do my makeup and it just doesn't end up looking too good. So, I thought I'd give the TV another shot. I turned on Sesame Street and got him all cozy on the couch and to my surprise he LOVED it! I don't know what has changed in the past 24 hours, but all of a sudden he's a fan of Big Bird and the gang. So, I proceeded to get myself ready for the day and every once in a while I would hear him growling (he likes to growl at Oscar, he must know he's a grouch) and I even heard him laughing pretty hard a few times. Admittedly, I used to be one of those moms that said I wasn't going to let him watch any TV until he was 2, but I say desperate times call for desperate measures. I'll try to limit it to about 30 mins a day though, but I might end up fudging on that a bit too. So, maybe I won't win the "mother of the year" award that I so desperately wanted, but at least I can do my makeup with two hands again.

See how happy he is watching TV? I love that cheesy grin.

To all those moms that know more than I do...

So, let me just start by saying that I know I'm no expert at this mothering thing which is why I'm posting this. I'm hoping that those of you who know what you're doing can help me out.
Everyone knows how much I love my little Romie. That's a no-brainer, but today he's been driving me crazy! I don't know what to do. He literally wants me to hold him all day long. First of all, that's just not feasible for anyone (especially someone who's 16 weeks pregnant). Everytime I would put him down he would throw a huge tantrum (see below for a visual). I'm racking my brain to try to find out why he's acting like this because he's usually really easy-going. He did have an ear infection and I took him to the doctor on Saturday and he gave him some antibiotics and they seemed to start working really fast. He's not acting like he's sick (no fever or runny nose anymore.) So, I had convinced myself today that maybe the antibiotics were just making him kind of crazy. I decided to cowgirl up (that's one of my Wyoming sayings) and just hold him pretty much all day long. Luckily he did take a long nap, so I was able to rest for a little while. When he woke up I just tried to make dinner one-handed. It was a little difficult, but Jason came home half-way through and relieved me. Anyway, as soon as Jason got home, Roman's whole attitude changed. He was laughing and playing with Jason. It was like he was suddenly "cured". Jason was like, "I don't know what you're talking about. He seems happy to me." So, what's with him? Why is he all clingy and grumpy all day long with me, but as soon as someone else is around then he's fine? Is he just bored with me? Even when I tried playing with him today it didn't make him happy. I don't know what to do.

Vacation!

Jason and I just got back from a fabulous trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. One of the company's Jason buys a lot of equipment from sent us on the trip and it was at an all-inclusive resort, so we didn't have to pay for anything! Anyway, we had tons of fun. We sat in the sun, relaxed, and ate a lot of fabulous food! We missed our little Roman a lot, but thankfully Jason's parents and Sean and Amber all watched him and he did great. In fact, when we got home he wasn't even happy to see me. He kind of gave me the cold shoulder...ouch. Maybe he had too much fun without me. Here we are on the balcony in our room.

We did a lot of sitting in the sun and got a little sun burnt.

This was the view form our hotel room.

We rode a boat to Las Caletas to go snorkeling. On the way there we saw two whales. By the way, snorkeling was really fun, but Jason got bit by something :( He had all these little red dots on his skin, but he was pretty tough about it.

Here we are at Las Caletas. It was so pretty there. The whole time we were there the weather was sunny and in the 80's. When we came back to Moses Lake it was like 25 degrees and we had 6 inches of snow and our pipes were frozen! We're definitely not in Mexico anymore!

Snug as a Bug

Every night before we go to bed, Jason and I go in and check on Roman. For a while now, he's had some interesting sleeping positions. Usually he's kicked off his blanket and he'll have his face smashed up against the crib rails. It looks terribly uncomfortable, so I always move him away from the bars and reposition him, so he at least looks cozier. So, for the past few nights we've gone in and he's got his little buns straight up in the air.

Jason was concerned because he thought Roman looked far too uncomforable. He wanted me to reposition, but I was a little leary because I thought I might wake him up. But, I decided to stratighten him out. He didn't wake up, but he curled his little legs back in like it was reflex. Oh well, whatever works for him... just as long as he keeps sleeping through the night!

A Friend for Roman

Well, I would like to officially announce that I am pregnant with baby number 2! We're all pretty excited about it. I'm 13 weeks along, and my due date is July 19. Besides my roaring appetite, weight gain, the never-empty bladder, and feeling very sleepy, I've actually been feeling pretty good. Luckily I dont get sick, so that's nice. I've been having some interesting cravings. I've been loving sugary cereal like Lucky Charms and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I've also been eating a lot of trail mix (but it has to be the salted kind... don't get me started on the nasty unstaled), and I also crave blueberry bagels with cream cheese...yummy! I'm getting hungry just typing about it. Anyway, I thought I'd better let those of you who didn't know that we'll be adding another Jenks to the bunch. Just for the record, I think I'm having a girl. I don't mean to jinx myself, but I just feel like I'm having some motherly intuition that this one is definitely a girl. Actually I really don't care either way. We'd just be really happy with a healthy one.

Merry Christmas

Here's a picture of Roman and his cute cousins. Aren't those the cutest little Christmas outfits? This picture doesn't actually do them justice. I should have made them stand so you could get a better look. Well, we had a somewhat Merry Christmas at the Jenks residence. This was the first time I didn't spend Christmas with my family, so I was a little sad but at the same time happy that we didn't have to make the long, treterous 12 hour drive to Powell. So, on Christmas Eve we had a fun party with Jason's extended family. Toward the end Jason started saying he didn't feel so well. I just figured he had eaten too much and didn't think much of it. Well, that night he hardly slept and on Christmas day the poor guy had a full blown case of the stomach flu. I felt so bad for him. We've been married 4 years and I had never seen him this sick. And it had to happen on Christmas day!? He was a good sport, but I could just tell he wasn't himself. Anyway, we invited Jason's parents and his brother Chad to come over and eat breakfast and open presents.

Roman was spoiled by both grandparents and got lots of fun toys. Everyone was busy assembling them.

Roman still didn't quite grasp the whole Christmas thing. I think he enjoyed the unwrapping more than the toys themselves. Once they were assembled though, he liked playing with them. So, Christmas ended up being a pretty good day despite the illness. We went to my in-laws and had a delicious dinner. Roman was fine all day, but later that night he got sick too. And a few days after that, I got it. It really was the Christmas gift that just kept on giving! We're glad that we're all better now.