Merry Christmas!

Well, we are officially out of our house in Kansas, sort of. They came and got our cars last Tuesday and we have been driving a small smelly rental since. They packed up all of our stuff on Thursday and loaded the truck on Friday. All of our belongings now reside in Kennewick, WA thanks to a lot of help from Lance's mom. We, however are still here in Kansas, sleeping on the floor and getting a wake up call from Jack Jack about every two hours thanks to his ear infection, and now what I believe to be a bad case of croup. Lance and the boys leave on an early flight tomorrow morning (hopefully Lance will survive the trip!). I have to work this week, as well as clean the house from top to bottom, but will then meet them this weekend before Christmas. Doubt we will have much time to "blog" before then, so I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Celebration

Well, this week has been an eventful one, especially for Jack Jack. He celebrated his adoption finalization by getting circumcised! He has actually done great and had a much easier time of it than RJ did, although to RJ's credit he was almost a year older than Jack Jack is now. Besides a few tears at diaper changing time he seems to have made a full recovery.
We are getting ready for the move, however due to some bad pizza Lance and I spent most of Saturday just laying around and not getting much done, using all of our energy to keep up with the 3 kids we had here Saturday (RJ had his playmate of several years here one more time Friday night and Saturday). We are feeling much better and Lance has gotten a lot of packing done while I mostly watched the kids and got my Christmas cards done. Keep posted, as this week has a lot of changes for our family. The transportation for the car company comes and picks up our cars Tuesday and the movers start packing/moving on Wednesday, all while I am working at one of our most busiest times of year as well as trying to get together with friends in the area for that last time. It should be an interesting week!

IT'S OFFICIAL!!

Well, it took another big event in our life to get me back on my blog. Yesterday, 11/27/07 we made the adoption of our son, Jackson Danai Beeson official! It took all of 10 minutes in front of the judge and cost us another few thousand dollars in lawyers fees but it was worth it, as Jack Jack is officially ours and his name has been officially been changed.

We have had another big event take place since I last wrote as well. We are moving to Washington! Lance was relieved of his coaching duties this past spring (and to quote Forrest Gump, "that is all I am going to say about that!" lest I get myself in trouble with the current MNU football staff.). We decided to use this opportunity to move closer to our families. I found a job that looks very similar to my current one (which I love) in Richland, WA and it is very close to Lance's family, and only 4 hours from mine. I think it will all work out for the best to have the boys close to their extended families so they can get to know and love Grandma, Grandpa and all their cousins (a luxury I did not have growing up).

Wish us luck, our moving adventure starts 12/15/07 and I will try to keep you updated with our experiences, pictures of the boys, and our families so that those who wish to, can keep updated on our lives. I hope you all do the same, make sure you email me with your phone #'s and current email addresses so we can keep in touch!

Another Post Finally!

Well, it only took me a month this time to post another blog. A lot has happened to our family in that short amount of time. We went to Pasco, WA to visit Lance's family. His mother, grandmother and all of his cousins live in Pasco, and actually most of them live within one mile of each other. We had a nice visit and Jack Jack uncharacteristically slept great while we were there (good thing for Mr. Rich, Lance's stepfather, as he was the one who still had to go to work daily!). The kids had a great time and it was very nice to see everybody again. Jack Jack has taken a real liking to his grandma JJ!

I went back to work, and leaving Jack Jack all day almost everyday since has been one of the hardest things I have had to do. He got sick with a bad ear infection almost immediately, most likely because he does not sleep (still!) and is sleep deprived and then you stick him in with a bunch of little human petri dishes in daycare and what do you expect! Luckily, we have a wonderful doctor named Kristi Baker, MD at the Saint Luke's Primary Care (a free plug!) who worked him into her schedule at a very late notice after the daycare called to tell us to pick him up because he had a 103.5 degree fever! 24 hours after the antibiotics and all is well again, except the sleeping part. Lance does much better than I being sleep deprived so he takes most of the early morning duties, but it still wakes me up and I have trouble getting back to sleep. Probably all those years of having to wake up at the sound of my pager that has turned me into such a light sleeper. It is definitely more difficult to concentrate at work when you don't have enough sleep. I have learned that everything is taking me that much longer and I have become much less efficient, not a good thing when you are wanting to get back home to spend time with your kids before they go to sleep. Oh well, things are bound to get better, right? Hopefully my next post will not take a month so stay tuned I am sure there is more drama to come!

Adjustment Continues!

OK, I know last time I said I wasn't going to wait 2 weeks to post again, but as you all know, time flies! Also, I have realized that I am definitely not an author, nor do I have that many interesting things to say or any clever way to say them. We have pretty much been the same for the past few weeks. Jack Jack still does not sleep more than 2hrs at a time before he is fussing. We attempted to get rid of the bottle all together, but that did nothing for the fussing and in fact, only made it worse, but at least we don't have to worry about the bottle, milk, and a diaper change in the middle of the night any longer. I took him to the doctor for a check up, but he is very healthy and cannot find any medical reason for his sleep disturbances (praise the Lord!). She thought this is all still an adjustment period and that if he is still doing this six months from now then we could investigate further (if we can all last 6 months). We went and got pictures of the boys, (see above picture of them together). Our wonderful photographer (Melanie Hayes of H & H Photography) was able to find a lot of really cute pictures out of an hour session that I thought would yield none, the ways the boys were running around her poor studio. I start work again after we get back from Pasco, WA visiting Lance's side of the family, and am more than a little anxious for Jack Jack as he has gotten very attached to me (and I to him) so the separation may be a little tough for us both. It is time, however, to go back and I think that i am ready for the more mentally challenging side of life again. Talk to you all soon (at least those of you who still check in after my weeks of not posting!)

I am not sure anyone is reading this any longer, but for those faithful, here are some more pictures. It seems like every time I write on this blog that things are doing better, they take a turn for the worse so I am not going to say it this time. I did find a good book called the "No-cry leep solution for toddlers and pre-schoolers" which seems to be helping so far. I highly recommend it for anyone who may have a child with sleep issues. Once you read it it all seems like common sense, but none that you in your sleep-deprived state actually think of. I am enjoying my maternity leave and the extra time i get to spend with the kids, however, I am looking forward to working weekends this month so I don't get too "rusty", as well as a few hours of grown up time, even though the adults I will be spending time with will be sick! Hopefully will post more sooner than the 2 weeks it took me this last time, stay tuned!

Needing Bedtime Help!

OK, Jack Jack looks happy and is adjusting well, making strides every day, during the daytime at least. Every night however, he loses ground. He is so fussy at night, waking up almost every hour, sometimes not going back to sleep for hours. He cries, fusses and demands a bottle frequently. There seems to be no pattern, he does not wake up at certain times, there is not just one thing that he needs or that we can blame it on (such as being wet, needing a bottle, etc.). Lance and I are alternating nights so we can sleep at least every other night but we are stumped as far as what else to do. If anyone is still reading our blog, or has any suggestions, we are open to them, one and all!