MERRY CHRISTMAS:

Jett loved the Christmas tree this year.  He stood in front of it oohing and saying "pretty."  He was pretty good about not touching it too which surprised me.

Here are a few pictures leading up to our Christmas celebrations:

We had a really pretty snow a few weeks ago and Jett had fun sledding for the first time.  He had a hard time walking in all the snow gear but loved throwing snow.

Jake and I only got one big gift for Jett this year.  He got a train/lego table.  One side has a train track and the other side has legos (obviously).  He is very in to "choo choos" and was pretty excited about it!  I gave it to him a few days before Christmas because we really needed something new to entertain him.

Jett and Jake reading about the birth of Jesus:

The weekend before Christmas we went to my Grandma's house to get together with my mom's side of the family.  It was great to see everyone.  After that we got together with some of my high school friends and their kids.  It was so much fun to see the kids interact and great catching up with everyone.

Christmas Eve morning in his jammies:

Before church on Christmas Eve:

Showing Jett the key we were going to leave for Santa:

After church we headed to Wahoo to get together with Jake's family.  First we went to his Grandma and Grandpa's to see all of the extended family and then we went to Mema and Papa's to open gifts with the immediate family.  The pajamas were batman themed this year!

On Christmas Day we headed to my parents to spend the day with my immediate family.  We were grateful to all be together.  My dad was in the hospital all week after a heart attack and some other health issues.  We didn't think he would be home on Christmas but he was.  People tend to get caught up in so many different things around Christmas time (shopping, busy schedules, etc).  But when you have someone in your family who is struggling with health issues it truly puts it all in perspective.  If you have your health and you have your family, you have everything. 

Grandma and Grandpa with the Simanek grandkids (Jett was sleeping):

Jett playing with his cousins on Christmas:

On another note, Christmas is kind of EXHAUSTING with a one year old.  Jake and I were so wiped out last night.  So many great moments and then some not-so-great moments:):

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your families!  We still have one more celebration to go on Saturday!

AND THEN THERE WERE FOUR:

I'll be changing the name of this blog soon.  If you haven't already heard, our family is growing!  Check out our announcement video here:

https://lightt.com/share/B8APX9p-VIq4MPWQJLE84y/?awesm=ligh.tt_r6gD

Here is the story:

On November  13^th I started thinking that maybe I should take a pregnancy test.  I didn’t really think I could be pregnant but I had been constantly hungry and a little fatigued for a few days.  Google told me that I was either pregnant or had diabetes.  I put the test off for a few more days (just because I really didn’t think it was anything).  On the 15^th the feelings I was having became more familiar.  It is hard to explain until you actually feel it but the nausea/empty stomach you feel during pregnancy is not like regular nausea.   I knew I was a little late but I honestly hadn’t been paying that much attention to my cycle (things never got completely back to normal after nursing Jett so it was just harder to predict).  So over my lunch I went and picked up a pregnancy test (will that ever stop being embarrassing?).   I came home with groceries but stopped to pee on the stick first.  Since the results take a minute, I brought the groceries up into the kitchen in the meantime.  Then I went back to check the results.  Negative.  I was a little surprised at that point because of the way I had been feeling that morning but shrugged it off.  Then I put the groceries away and started making lunch.  I decided to go back to the bathroom and throw my test away and I noticed that the test had turned positive.  Crazy!   Of course the next step was figuring out how far along I was. I was shocked to realize that I was actually two weeks late. That is pretty unheard of for me and I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed sooner.    This also meant that I was already over 6 weeks pregnant.  Not only that, but when I figured out my due date it was none other than JULY 9^TH (Jett’s Birthday).   To tell Jake the news, I took the picture below of Jett and it said, “Mom says I might be sharing my Birthday with my new little brother or sis!”

Since then I've had a lot of dejavu moments!  Just the fact that the timing is exactly the same as it was two years ago blows my mind.  It’s funny how you completely forget what being pregnant is like and then as soon as it happens, every feeling is so familiar.  I guess it is kind of like when you are sick and you can’t think of what it’s like to feel normal and when you feel good, you can’t think of what it feels like to feel sick.   One would think that getting pregnant the 2^nd time would be less overwhelming than the first.  For me that is completely false.  I think knowing exactly what is in store makes it slightly more intimidating.    The hormones are also doing crazy things.    I’ve noticed that in some ways getting pregnant with #2 is making me mourn Jett not being the baby anymore.  I know that sounds silly because we are so blessed.  And I firmly believe that one of the best gifts you can give your child is a sibling!  But it just takes some time to wrap your mind around your family dynamic changing.  It seems like we are still wrapping our minds around being a family of three sometimes!

This time I haven't felt quite as good as the last.  I've definitely gotten sick more and have less energy.  I think part of that may be that I have someone else to take care of besides myself this time around.  Now that I am 12 weeks, I am hoping the energy will start to come back.  I am also showing WAY MORE this time.  Possibly 8-10 weeks ahead of where I was last time.  We had our first appointment a few weeks ago and everything is going good so far!

 To sum everything up, Jett is going to be a big brother and Jake and I are going to be parents of two little ones.  We know this was completely meant to be.  We used to always say we thought two years apart was the perfect gap and it’s also great timing for me to be on maternity leave with my job.  Although we know it will be an adjustment going from 1 to 2, we are so excited to love another baby more than we ever thought possible.  We are excited to see Jett with a sibling.  And we can’t wait for the extra love and laughter that this baby will bring to our home.

THANKSGIVING AND MORE:

Jett is talking a ton now.  If he's in the right mood, he'll repeat almost any easy words and he is constantly babbling/telling us a story.  He'll often bring a book over to one of us to read and then he'll end up "reading it" himself.  I can't say I mind:).  

Other new things:

-Blowing Kisses: My fav!

-Body Parts: Pointing out eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and pee pee (whether we like it or not)

-Imaginary friend: we promised ourselves we wouldn't encourage this but it's too hard not to.  He continually talks about a person named "Joey."  There is no Joey at daycare and we have no idea where it came from.  When he gets in trouble a lot of times he'll say "Joey" after.  And when he's talking on his toy phone it is usually to Joey.  

-Choo Choo: He is loving trains.  The boys at daycare are all older than him (and so sweet with him).  He no longer gets sad when Jake drops him off and just runs right over to the boys.  He plays trains with them all day which has given us some good ideas for Christmas gifts!

-Climbing: I regret that I ever started letting him climb on the furniture because now that is all he wants to do.  But I guess it's inevitable.  Besides, Jake says it is good for his motor skills. 

-Music: He would listen to music all the time if he could.  He loves snapping his fingers and moving back and forth to pretty much any beat.  During Michael Jackson songs he lets out an occasional "Whoo."

-Smoothies/shakes: Every morning Jake makes him a smoothie for breakfast.  When he sees Jake starting to make it he hold up his cup and desperately says "shake" over and over.  They are his favorite.

Here are a few pics from November:

Fun outside with cousins:

One of his favorite thing to do..push buttons on the dryer:

Reading with Mema:

Enjoying sushi for the first time (loved):

We had a great Thanksgiving.  Jett is going through a stage where when we are in big groups he tends to cling to Jake and I.   I know it's just a stage and is pretty normal for his age.  Sometimes it's annoying and sometimes it's nice that he actually wants to be held for once.  

We had Thanksgiving with Jake's side of the family on Thanksgiving Day.  It was a lot of fun catching up with all of his extended family!

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we went to my mom and dads to celebrate with my immediate family.  It was such a gorgeous day on the farm.  We played four square, soccer, spoons, and the kids did a craft project outside on the porch.  

We have so much to be thankful for in our lives including those of you who are reading this blog!

We woke up this morning to snow on the ground.  Jett loves looking at it but unfortunately we won't be paying in it with these temps!

FRIENDS:

Jett has gotten to meet and play with a lot of new friends lately!  A few weeks ago we met Cooper Moore.  He slept the whole time we were there and was such a sweetie!  Jett also had a lot of fun playing with Cooper's big sis, Kenley and all of her fun toys!

That same weekend Jett's cousin came over to spend the night.  But lets be honest, it was really a play date for Jake (not Jett).  Kieran and Jake played "guys" and video games for about 8 hours straight.

Jett was excited to at least get in on some of the action!

The next day Jett went over to play with the Simaneks while we went to watch our niece Mady in "The Little Mermaid" musical.  She did a fantastic job and was born to perform.  We could have predicted this at our wedding when she was 2 years old and singing on the microphone during our reception!

We took more advantage of the good weather and all of the leaves on the ground this past week!

We watched the football game this last Saturday with Andrew, Libby and Georgia.  Jett had so much fun with Georgia and it is so fun to see them interact now that they actually acknowledge each other!  They will have a lot of fun together in the future for sure.

Looks like the colder temps are here:(.  Time for the winter coat every day!

One quick story to end the blog. Jett's latest thing is shushing himself.  But he doesn't do it after he does something loud.  Instead, he shushes himself before he is going to do something loud (almost like he can't control himself and he is warning us).  Makes me laugh every time!

WRAPPING UP OCTOBER:

October is always a busy month for us.  It's my busiest travel month for work and when you throw in Jake's work events, Halloween, and all the other fall stuff, there isn't a lot of free time!  Here is a little recap of what we've been up to.  

A few weeks ago Jett got to spend the day at Mema and Papa's and I got to have a fun day shopping with my mom and sisters.  A win-win situation in my opinion!  While Jett was there he got to hold his cousin Korbin for the first time:

He also got to play on the new deck with his bigger cousins:

Mema took these next two pictures while Jett was watching Wheel of Fortune (his new favorite show...notice the clapping). This was one of the first times where I saw a picture of Jett and really thought he looked like me.  

Last Sunday we did the Breast Cancer Walk in Lincoln with the Excel Chiropractic team.  It was Jett's first time sporting pink but it was for a great cause!

Later that day we headed to Brittney and Zach's for Marek's 5th B-day party.  SO MANY KIDS NOW!!

Birthday parties are obviously exhausting!!

We've really been enjoying going outside with all of the leaves to play with!  Jett gets so excited.

Yesterday was Halloween and Jett dressed as a Golfer.  It only made sense since Jake and I are such great golfers:).  

I had the morning off so we visited dad at work.  Yes, Jake wore this to work:).  

Believe it or not, he is eating seaweed here.  It is one of his favorite snacks!

At night we visited Jett's cousins before they went out trick-or-treating.

We also stopped by a few other houses and Jett loved seeing everyone.  Holidays are the BEST!!