President's Day at Grandpa Great's

One of my most favorite places in the entire world is my Grandpa's house. People in Jay's generation call him Grandpa Great. I love visiting Grandpa, making him food, doing small chores that will make his next few weeks a little better, watching BYU sports, and participating in anything else he would like to do. We watched the weather forecasts throughout the week and when Friday arrived, we decided it looked clear enough to head up there. We grabbed a gluten-free pizza on our way and headed out. Getting out of the house on time with a little one, especially for a weekend trip, was a little tricky but we were only a few minutes later than we were hoping. Up until last year, I never had any qualms about going up there, but after two accidents while on our way I get nervous. Luckily, it was a beautiful day with very few clouds and M let me drive to see if that might help my nerves be lessened. With much prayer and positive self-talk along the way, we made it.

First family rode trip, and Jay's first time out of state.

Jay did amazing in the car, he slept all the way to Grandpa's house. I was so excited to be able to introduce my baby to Grandpa Great. He's one of the greatest men on earth, and how grateful I am that Jay got to meet him. It was so sweet to see their first interactions, both of them were smiling and happy...even Jay who was crying in the car just before we pulled up.

Grandpa had a frozen pizza ready to go in the oven for dinner, and we cooked my gluten free one right afterwards. The rest of the meals I made, and it was nice that the first dinner was super easy with little dishes. M does the dishes after every meal at Grandpa's (and our house), and Grandpa loves it. He often jokes that it's like being at a restaurant, he gets food served, then it gets cleaned up and he doesn't have to do anything. He's the most easy person to please. One evening while M was studying, Grandpa and I watched Andy Griffith for some good laughs. The other evening, we watched the BYU basketball game at Aunt Karen and Uncle John's house. Sunday night, we had our Come Follow Me discussion with Grandpa. It was wonderful to have a spiritual lesson and discussion together and to share our testimonies with one another. We also pulled out photo albums and looked through lots of pictures, which is so fun.

Grandpa loves to hold happy babies, and sleeping babies. 

Jay likes to pull whatever he has in his hands to his face, so here he is with his thumb blanket from Oma.

Grandpa Great & Jay

Saturday night feels after eating.

We were up pretty early every morning with Jay, and this particular morning was beautiful!

3 of my favorite men, Grandpa often went to check on Jay wherever he was

Jay after our car ride home, happy to be stretching.

I usually try to do something a little extra to help Grandpa, and this time he wanted me to thread Grandma's sewing machine because he was trying to stitch a sheet back together and couldn't figure out how to get it threaded right. I went downstairs and tried to sew first a patch together with some rag material, and then finally sew it to the sheet. In the process, I realized it wasn't just not threaded but the needle wasn't picking up the bobbin thread as it should. Sadly, after trying for a while, I couldn't figure it out and we had to call it quits. Both Grandpa and I were disappointed, and I'll do some research so maybe next time I can fix it. I HATE leaving a job undone, especially one I should be able to figure out!

Grandpa asked me one evening if I thought Grandma would be excited to see him again. I told him "Of course!" I know she'll be so excited to see him again, I don't think she planned on going as quickly as she did so I am sure she misses Grandpa a lot, as I know he misses her. Their love is sweet, and I can always tell how much Grandpa loves her by the way he talks about her. I miss Grandma too, and sometimes being at her home without her is so hard. But, I am so grateful Grandpa still welcomes us and lets us visit. Visiting helps me miss Grandma a little less because I get to hear stories about her and see photos and reestablish my testimony of eternal families.

Time at Grandpa's always goes too fast! I think it's because we unplug from technology since he doesn't have internet, and we just focus on relaxing and truly taking a vacation. We're also removed from the busyness of the city and surrounded by people we love, that's why we love it there and why it is always so hard to leave.

The Beginning of 02-2020

Get it, it's February 2020 so the beginning of 02 - 2020...I don't get to write the date much since I'm not working so I'll take the opportunity to include it in my post of the weekly highlights from the Blaylocks.

One of the major things I have started to do in February is working out. The first 15 minute beginner cardio workout that I did, I had to take a break for water 3 minutes in and a few more breaks throughout. I am trying to be very consistent every day, and my ability is increasing each time. I don't need water breaks anymore, and I am not quite a sore. It's been good for me mentally to work out too. It gets my energy out when I can't really leave the house, and often it's cold and dark outside.

On Fast Sunday, we went out to Aunt GayLynn and Uncle David's for dinner. We made fancy caramel rice crispy treats to share for dessert. Lisa and her family came out, and so did Rebekah and Spencer. It was great to see everyone, and it's really fun to see how much Clara and Hugh just adore Jay. They are always concerned for his well being, and for the most part are very gentle with him.

Over the weekend, my friend/co-worker from Colorado came to visit with her husband. When I was expecting Jay, she asked if she'd have to come visit or if I was going to bring Jay to Colorado after he was born. When I told her we wouldn't be coming until we moved out there, she said she'd look into taking a trip. At the time, I thought she wouldn't remember or actually come. I was wrong and it was so fun to have Rachel and Chris here with us on Saturday. They are such great people, and it's always interesting spending time with them. They are both around the age of 50, don't have children of their own, and are not members of the Church. When they arrived, they noted how many churches were around here and asked if we attended out here (they knew we went in Colorado). Rachel also asked for help to know how to hold Jay, which was so surprising! She didn't know exactly why you had to burp a baby either, so it was fun to teach her and she did great. We had a fun afternoon chatting, playing Parcheesi, and making curry for dinner.

Playing Parcheesi 

On Sunday, Nathan and Michela brought us a feast of a dinner with salmon, asparagus, dulce de leche, and lots of Taiwanese treats. We played Forbidden Island, and enjoyed chatting and laughing with them through the evening. It's fun having family close by and we need to cherish all the moments we can while we're here!

Nathan as he was leaving with all their stuff, we were laughing about the tiny mittens.

Here are a couple pics of recent Jay moments. We're loving this little guy and we're so grateful he's part of our family. Sometimes Jay doesn't want to take naps, so we have to get creative in holding the pacifier so we can go and do other things. I also occasionally pack him up in my carrier and carry him around the house if I need to.

We have a very talented elephant named Griffy who helps take care of Jay.

Jay and Matthew playing on the floor together, it melted my heart.

Sunday Selfie because M was gone at meetings ALL day long. 

January Journey

January seems to always be a journey, hence the title of this post. I keep seeing quotes like "January was a tough year, but we made it." And, that seems somewhat accurate this year, it feels like forever since M started back to school and Grandma Blaylock was here helping us, which all happened the first week of January.

For the majority of the month, I've been learning how to be a mom and I feel so blessed to have paid leave from work that allows me to do it. So far, the most challenging part has been figuring out the feeding/eating. Jay suddenly decided to nurse only for about 10 minutes, then would stop and not be interested, but still act hungry. After seeing two lactation consultants and trying everything I could, I determined nursing every feeding was no longer worth the stress and began pumping. As we have started to get into a routine with that, it's been so much better. I feel like I am able to enjoy Jay now, loving his giggles, smiles, and play time. He's such a good baby and is starting to sleep for about 5 hour stretches at night, which is AMAZING! There is something to be said for consecutive hours of sleep. One of my favorite parts about being mom is having M as the dad, and getting to work together to help this little one. Whenever M is home, he changes diapers and helps with feeding now that Jay eats mostly out of a bottle. Jay's cuteness melts both of our hearts, and we feel so blessed to call him ours.

Most of our days follow some pattern of feeding Jay, eating breakfast, sending M to school, napping, eating, playing, and repeat until Daddy returns. One evening event that we've done a lot recently is watch an episode of Good Witch. It's been a fun series, and it's helped me remember how engaging TV series can be and how they suck you in to want to watch the next one and the next and the next. One date night, we played Dominion, which is one of M's favorite games. He destroyed me with almost triple the amount of points I had...I realized when playing strategy games for the first time with M, I just need to be prepared to not win and then my expectations will be better suited for the likely outcome.

Jay reached 1 month during January, which was a big milestone!

We also had MLK day in January, which was a great three day weekend. We enjoyed having Nathan and Michela over for the BYU vs. Gonzaga game on Saturday evening, and they brought some yummy snacks to share. Then, on Monday, M, Nathan, and I went to the church to play basketball. Because I hadn't been medically cleared for physical activity at that time, I shot around and joined the boys for a couple games of pig. The crazy thing was that I actually got sore from shooting around, that just goes to show how out of shape I am...which makes sense because I've gone the longest stint in my life without working out, while gaining more weight than ever before. Because it was just us playing basketball, we took Jay and he watched/slept.

Learning to be like M

The last week of January was filled with lots of fun things! I got cleared by the doctor to resume physical activities, so Friday I did my first workout. It was a 15 minute beginner workout that Sisterbug recommended to me that was online. I was excited to try it out, and about 5 minutes in, I was already sweating, thinking I couldn't do anymore, and wanting water. I got my water, and kept moving for the 15 minutes, and enjoyed laying on the ground when I finished. My goal is to get back in shape for the summer so that we can go on bike rides and hikes, and do all the fun summer things.

On Friday, for our date night, we made caramel apples. Many people think of caramel apples as something you do in the Fall, but M and I have been making them since we were dating and each time we learn. This time, I was melting the caramels in the microwave and not paying attention, and they boiled over..oops! I pulled the caramel out of there, dipped the apples, and scraped the overflowed caramel onto a knife and basically painted the apples with it. One thing that went better this time was getting the candy on the apples. We found the trick is to dip the apples in the chocolate, then refrigerate for a few minutes to get the chocolate somewhat hardened. Then, as you roll the apples through the crushed candy, your chocolate stays smooth and your candy sticks beautifully! We always do Reese's on the apples, it's our favorite.

Saturday was a day full of normal chores like cleaning and laundry, but it was also a beautiful day with temperatures in the high 40's and low 50's. So, we went for our first family walk! We bundled Jay up in a warm little football outfit, threw him in the stroller and walked. It was therapeutic to get out of the house and we enjoyed the sunshine, conversation, and moving our bodies. M and I are high achievers, meaning we really like to make lists and check things off...so on our walk we talked a lot about how we need to learn to manage this better with now having a little baby. It's been challenging! The first step being recognizing we can't do all that we used to be able to do, and certainly not in the time we used to be able to. We are learning and practicing, and oh, how grateful I am for a husband who is constantly willing to help me with feeding, changing diapers, rocking to sleep, etc. And, what a blessing it is that M is in school right now and has such a flexible schedule and can be around so much more than he ever will be for our next kiddos. We are treasuring these special moments! That night, my friend from Colorado, came to visit with her new boyfriend. It was fun to meet him, and we played Balderdash. I was SO bad, Tabitha won and I was only 5 steps from the bottom! It was a fun evening and great to have friends over.

Family Walk!!

One of my favorite things about the past month is Jay learning to smile, and smiling more when prompted. It's so much fun!

This was the very first time we actually got a smile on camera. 

I said "Smile for Daddy" and he did this, so awesome!

Chillin' waiting for Daddy to come home.

Jay and M in their matchy-matchy outfits

Jay in the cutest warmest outfit that's still very big for him.

Playtime

Those are the highlights from January as I can remember, and now for 2020 I am caught up and am now hoping I can stay on top of it.