December/January Videos

This first video is of Jaden and Coco on Christmas Eve:

These are Jaden's dance moves:

Jaden likes to sing to us now:

Head, shoulders, knees and toes:

Playing Possum

Jaden continues to do incredible in his new bed. I keep waiting for a bad night -- it hasn't happened yet. (I'm sure it will though)! It is funny to wake up to different sounds now though -- when he slept in his crib, we would wake up to his shrieks and talking and his yelling for Mama or Da-da. Now if he does wake up earlier, he just rolls out of bed and starts running around his room. There are some pillows in his room that are shaped like a football and baseball, but to him they are just regular balls - not pillows. So he loves to throw those around when he wakes up and is trapped in his room! I'm grateful he hasn't learned how to open the door yet on his own... that will be a new challenge!

Last night however, he was a little extra hyper when we put him to bed. So a few minutes after we'd left him in his room and Cody and I were in the living room, we heard a lot of noise coming from his room. I was almost positive he'd gotten out of bed so Cody went in to check on him. When Cody walked into his room, Jaden was lying on his tummy on his mattress with his head in the pillow and his eyes shut. Cody walked over closer to him and leaned over him for a little while. After a while of staring at Jaden, Jaden opened up one little eye, peeked at Cody from the corner of his eye and gave him a big smile as if to say - "Gotcha!" Cody just told him to go to sleep and walked out of his room laughing. There was complete silence after that :) I don't think Jaden had gotten out of his bed at all - I think he was just jumping or rolling around a bit. Stinker.

Jaden's other thing he does a lot lately is to say "I don't know" when he can't find something or doesn't know where something is. Usually it means he's looking for his blankie -- or he'll say it when we ask him a question about something such as, "Where's your shiny football??" We always get told - "I don't know!" And then when he finds it, we always hear "There it is!" But lately he's been taking his "I don't knows" to a new level. Like this morning. Cody had to be out moving snow very early so he wasn't at home when Jaden and I woke up and were getting ready for the day. After a while Jaden realized Cody wasn't there and started walking around the house shaking his head and saying, "I don't know Da-da! I don't know Da-da!" because he didn't know where Cody was :)

Big Boy Bed and Baby Room

On New Year's Day Cody's parents came to town and helped us get things ready in the baby's room even more. My parents had helped me paint about a month ago, and on New Year's Cody and his dad put up the chair rail. We're still waiting on Jaden's bedroom furniture to get here, but his parents got us the mattress for it so when they were here, we were able to move the crib into the nursery, and Jaden spent his first night on his big boy mattress! I was completely prepared for this to be a rough transition with him fighting us every step of the way. But so far -- (knock on wood) -- he has been perfect! Once we put him to bed, he stays in bed and seems to sleep really really well. We can't believe how lucky we are with such an amazing little boy! I'm sure there will be nights where it isn't so easy or when he decides to become more strong willed.. but so far, we have had no issues at all. I'm anxious to get his full set of furniture so that I can start decorating it. Right now his room is just kind of blah while we wait to get his bedding and decor, etc.

Since we were able to move the crib into the nursery, I washed the baby's bedding and started organizing all the baby clothes in his closet, etc. I'm very excited to move the dresser in there so that I know exactly where I want to hang things on the walls, etc. Jaden likes to go into the room and look at the crib -- a couple of times he has wanted to get into it, but I think we're getting past that now, too.

Christmas Break

Just like last year my company decided to close between the Christmas and New Years holidays so I was able to have an entire 11 day break without having to use PTO days and while still getting paid. It was Heaven! But of course so hard to come back to work now.

My vacation time was busy enough that we didn't get bored and relaxing enough to actually feel like vacation. It of course started off with Christmas Eve. We were supposed to have a Christmas at Cody's Grandma Grayce's house, but the weather was bad so that got postponed. With the weather forecast saying it was going to be worse on Christmas day we decided to head to Aplington to do Christmas with Cody's parents, sister and niece on Christmas Eve night. That left Christmas day to just spend the morning at home and then head to my parents without worrying about having to head out of town at all. I thought Jaden would be more into opening presents this year, but he still wasn't all that interested. Although he did think that every time we opened a new present, we had to get it out of the box right away before opening another one. We had Christmas with my mom's side of the family a couple of days after Christmas and just wrapped up our last Christmas at Grandma Grayce's yesterday.
Jaden and I on Christmas day -- such a cuddle bug!:
The rest of break was spent working on the baby's room, doing some shopping and hanging out as a family. Cody was able to have a few full days off as well, which was nice after all the snow removal he'd had to do over the last month. I did take Jaden to daycare two days just so that he would be able to keep somewhat of a routine and not get too attached to Mommy --- although we failed at that because he is now more attached to me than ever. There are many days where he doesn't even allow me to leave the room and cries for Mama, Mama whenever I'm not in site. He is such a little sweetie, and every day he becomes an even bigger punkin! He loves giving out kisses and hugs now, and I can't get enough of him!

For New Years Eve, Cody, Jaden and I as well as Cody's parents and our friends Terry and Jeri Noonan gathered at my parent's house for what was supposed to be a "game" night. We didn't play one single game, but shared lots of laughs! I was teasing Cody as we were heading home at 1:00 in the morning . This was our fourth New Years together, and we've yet to have a very exciting one ;) Our first year I was a senior at UNI, and we had gone out late the night before so on New Year's Eve we were both asleep on the couch by the time midnight rolled around. Our 2nd year I was pregnant with Jaden and asleep before midnight. Last year and this year we went to my parents' house. Maybe next year, Cody and I will hit the town together??! ;)

Now being back at work, I'm really struggling. I wish this baby was due at the end of January like Jaden was. Coming back from so much excitement and fun makes March 5 feel like a very very long time from now. And this extremely cold weather is really making me anxious for nice mild spring nights when Cody and I can take BOTH our boys for walks outside in the double stroller.

I forgot to mention -- I had to be tested for gestational diabetes on Christmas Eve morning and the results came back negative. Whew! What a relief that was -- though the test for that is an absolute pain in the butt :) I also had a doctor's appointment on the 28th, and the baby is measuring exactly where he is supposed to be. Although I do think I've had a few very minor contractions -- including one in the back. But they are usually so mild that I probably wouldn't feel them if I weren't sitting down. The doctor is seeing me every two weeks now, and at my 36 week appointment she will start checking to see if I am starting to dialate. (I'm at 31 1/2 weeks now). Getting very anxious to meet this little one!

Christmas "Blessings" of '09

Now that the Christmas season has officially come to a close (well, actually we still have on more Christmas to go to tomorrow, but we're close) -- Cody and I took down the decorations yesterday, and it's on to the next chapter of our lives. Looking back on this Christmas, we received some very nice gifts, and I wanted to have a record of them - for myself if anything ;)

Some of our favorite gifts (but definitely not all):
Both of our parents are splitting the cost of getting us a brand new double-stroller. This is awesome as it definitely would have been a big expense for Cody and I to take on by ourselves. The nice strollers - the ones that allow the older child to be sitting in them up to 50 pounds (which is necessary for us since Jaden is a BIG boy!) - cost at least $250.00. We don't actually HAVE the stroller in possession yet, but it is picked out, and I am excited for it.

Cody's parents purchased us a new video camera. This was somewhat a sigh of relief for me. My dad had gotten us a video camera two years ago when I was pregnant with Jaden, and we loved having it, but it unfortunately stopped working all together a few months ago, and I was starting to feel really sad about not having one to capture the same moments for our next little guy. Not to mention the fact that Jaden is doing all sorts of cute and new things all the time - I wanted to be able to capture it on video.

This might seem silly to some, but one of my favorite gifts this year was from my parents - a set of "Christmas" pillows for the couch in our living room. Now they aren't technically Christmas pillows - but they are the right color to match our Christmas decorations. Normally our living room's main color is a deep purple, but during Christmas I like to switch everything over to blues, silvers and golds for the whole month of December. The pillows on our couch are normally purple, so I had been looking for a couple of months for pillows that I could use only during December - blue ones - that wouldn't cost me a fortune. I wasn't willing to spend $40.00 per pillow for pillows I could only use one month out of the year - at least not this year with a baby on the way. I failed to find nice inexpensive pillows on my own, but my mom found the PERFECT pair. The blue color matches our decor perfectly, and the best part about it is that I don't have to store them during the other 11 months of the year because they actually match our bedroom colors, as well. So -- now that Christmas is over, they are displayed on our bed :)

Cody's mom picked out some new perfume for me this year. She gives us perfume/cologne every year which is awesome because again - this is an expense that I don't like to take on for myself. I always feel spending that much money on perfume could be better spent somewhere else (like on something the whole family really needs) - so it's nice to look forward to a new bottle every year. This year I had mentioned a couple of months ago that I loved Jessica Simpson's new perfume, and that is what she got me. I love the smell, and it came with a complimentary purse that I really like as well. My mom got me my other favorite perfume that I always have on hand but had recently run out of, and she put in my stocking. I am now stocked up on perfume, and very happy with both choices :)

My parents got us the new best baby thermometer. It's the one that you just swipe across their forehead really fast, and it gives you a reading right away. It's the new one most recommended by hospitals/doctors, and it is so fast and convenient. You can even do it when they're sleeping, and of course it works on adults, too. Another relatively expensive but necessary tool.

My grandpa got me a Target gift card, which I used completely on baby things. (This wouldn't excite Cody - but I love shopping for baby things, so this was a fun little shopping trip for me!) I hadn't bothered saving any of Jaden's bottles because they had been used and washed a million times. All of his pacifiers have vanished into thin air, etc. I went out and bought new bottles, new pacifiers, a new bottle washer, some 0-3 month and 3-6 month sleepers (I never felt Jaden had enough of these during those first few months when they like to poop, pee and spit up all over their clothes countless times a day). I also found really cool new teething rings that are much smaller than the ones Jaden had. When they're really little those big round teething rings can barely get into their mouth, and when they start getting teeth further in the back of their mouth, Jaden was never able to get the teething ring far enough back there to make it work. The ones I found I never saw when Jaden was a baby, and I think they are the perfect size. My cousin Michelle stocked us up on some new bibs and burp cloths, so we are pretty much set. All we need now are some diapers, one thing of formula in case nursing doesn't work right off the bat like it didn't with Jaden... and I want a new bouncer. But regardless -- so much less to buy the second time around!

Cody and I also both got mall gift cards, which I love because then you can go on shopping sprees without worrying about your bank account! I found some really nice things on sale for the house, and Cody used a lot of his on a brand new set of knives that were originally expensive but he found for half off.

I didn't mention everything, but these were some of the highlights. Thanks to our Moms and Dads and family members -- I now feel like I am prepared for what's to come in about two months!

2009 In Review

The year started out slightly stressful but ended on the up side through lots of prayer... and a little patience ;) Here are the highs and lows of our first full year of marriage - 2009.

Low: Cody had to go on unemployment to end 2008 and start 2009. Last winter was a rough one with lots of disappointment when trying to find a new job. It was very hard on him to be stuck at home almost every day.

High: Cody went in for an interview with the owner of Royal Turf in March and got hired on the spot. What started out as an hourly position quickly turned into salary. He started off having to do some work with the mowing crew, but now is one of the main landscape employees and even has drawn up some designs for Royal Turf customers. The company loves him, and Cody loves the company. So far - so good on the job front for Cody!

High: Getting pre-approved to buy our first house. There were many lows during this process as well as the house hunt got frustrating at times, and we went through a period where we decided to stay in our apartment longer. This was hard on me, as I knew I wanted to try and get pregnant again over the summer so that our kids would be two years apart. I didn't think we should have another baby in our apartment so I had to prepare myself to put all of our original plans on hold. However - such is life right??!

High: Finding and buying our house! Sherry Padavich was our relator and did a great job for us. She knew what we wanted and what we couldn't and shouldn't settle for. The house we bought had two other couples look at it the same night (it had only been on the market for three days), and one of those other couples made an offer at the same time we did. They accepted our offer, and though it was one of the most terrifying nights of my life -- it has definitely been a reward that was worth all the risks! We were able to move out of our apartment and into our house at the end of May, and though it is not a house we will be content to stay in forever -- we feel very blessed to have found this house as our first one and as such a young married couple. There is very little that HAS to be done to it... for us, it was move-in ready. That definitely helps the pocket book a bit!

Low: Cody's parents house suffered a devastating fire in Aplington around the same time we were moving into our house. Though the house is being restored - the fire was bad enough that they pretty much had to gut the whole thing and lost a lot of special mementos in the process.

Low: The shooting and death of Coach Thomas. Enough said.

High: Two days after Coach Thomas was shot, we found out that we were pregnant. This was definitely planned although we didn't expect it to happen within the first month of deciding to go for it! I had taken a pregnancy test early in the week, and it came back negative. I admit to crying a little bit, as I prepared myself to go through the whole process of being disappointed month after month if that was what God's plan was. However, that test was wrong, and when I took the test again a few days later (in my work bathroom!) -- I was ecstatic to get a positive result. What an up and down week that was.

High: Our first Christmas season in the house. It was wonderful being able to put up our own tree and outside lights on the house. We had a wonderful four-day Thanksgiving weekend as a whole family, and it was fun watching Cody get into the Christmas spirit. He really got into all the decorating - especially the outdoor lights!

We are very grateful for our healthy family, including the baby that's still growing in my tummy, and pray daily that our safety and health continues to be a highlight of every year. Though life is about to change again with the birth of our second child, and though we are somewhat nervous as to how we will be able to handle this change, we couldn't be more thankful or excited. Bring on 2010!

Dec. 23, 2009 Videos

We finally have a video camera again!! Our old one stopped working months ago after only having it for a little over a year and a half. Finally I can catch things on film again :)

"Up??"

Jaden is doing something so cute right now that I have to share. He's done this for a while now off and on... but now it is becoming a daily thing. And many times a day really. And he seems to be getting better at it.

Whenever he wants to be picked up for any reason... he looks up at me (or Cody), turns on his "cuteness" look, holds both arms up and says, "Up???" "Up???" And he says it in the sweetest voice -- it would make God cry :)

No matter what I'm doing or where we are or what's going on... when I hear that sweet little request, "Up???", I immediately drop what I'm doing and pick him up. I don't want him to grow up. I want him to stay small enough so that I can always pick him up :)

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a fantastic four day break during the Thanksgiving holiday. Cody and I both got Thursday and Friday off, and it was so nice to spend all of that time together with Jaden. On Thanksgiving day we hung out around the house in the morning, and we were actually lucky enough to get Jaden to go down for an early nap around 11:15. With all of the events going on the entire afternoon I was worried he'd never nap at all. After we woke up him from his nap, we headed to my cousin Jodi's house in Cedar Falls for Thanksgiving with my side of the family. The food is always tremendous there! Between Jaden and my cousin's kids, there were seven kids there ages first grade down to 7 months :) It's always a roudy time at my family events! Jaden was so preoccupied by everything and everyone that he didn't even want to take the time to eat his Thanksgiving meal!

This is Jaden on Thanksgiving morning. He looks like such a big boy! :)

After spending a few hours at Jodi's house, we headed to Alison for Thanksgiving at Cody's grandparents. It was us, Cody's parents, his sister Cassi and her daughter Ella, Cody's grandparents, and Cody's aunt and uncle and two cousins. Jaden had a good time there, too but again was too preoccupied to really eat anything. Although he definitely made some time for some strawberry and banana pie! ;) I was so full from our first meal of the day that I didn't really eat much at the second stop -- which was probably a good thing :)

On Friday after Thanksgiving, we woke up pretty early. This has always been the day that my family has put up our Christmas tree and decorations so I definitely wanted to stick with tradition this year. I was SO excited to decorate my own house for the first time. Cody had been saying for weeks that he didn't really feel like having to put up outside lights (bah humbug) -- but by Friday he'd agreed so we set out around 8:30 in the morning to pick up some essentials. We stopped by Toys R Us first to see if we could find any good deals on Christmas presents for Jaden. After picking up a couple of things there, we went to Target and got all of our lights for our tree as well as our outdoor lights. I also picked out a shelf piece for our living room so that I would have more places to put out decor. Once we got home Cody headed outside to put the lights on the front of the house, and Jaden and I played outside for a little while also. When Jaden went down for his nap, Cody went and got our new tree from my parents' house. My parents got a new one last year, but the one they had been using was in storage this whole time -- and is an awesome tree. I absolutely love it, and we are so lucky that we get to call it our own now. After a few mis-haps (couldn't find the tree stand and had picked up non-matching lights from Target) -- we had everything we needed to start decorating. We also completely rearranged our living room to fit the tree in the best possible spot for it, and now we think we're going to keep our furniture like this all the time. We finished decorating right at about 5:00 and then headed to downtown CF with my parents to eat some supper at Toad's. Our downtown area was hosting its first ever "Holiday Hoopla" -- and they had a GREAT turn out, and this is definitely a tradition I hope to keep every year -- especially as the kids get a little older. They had a live nativity scene with real animals and a real baby playing Jesus. Santa's Workshop on one corner that is awesomely decorated. They had live entertainment outside with instrument players and a big stage set up for live singers singing Christmas music. They had a lighting of a special Christmas tree, Santa made his grand entrance off the top of a building and then they had fireworks. They also had characters walking the streets as snowmen and elves and reindeer handing out goodies to kids. We didn't stay for the fireworks because Jaden was too young yet to be patient and wait for them - and it was cold. But it was such an awesome event with thousands of people and a really cozy small-town Christmas feel. We got Jaden home and enjoyed sitting cozily by our fabulous tree.
Here is a picture of our tree and four stockings and the new shelf I got from Target that day. You can't really get a good idea of how neat and real looking the tree is... but we love it :)

Some more of our decorations. I hope to add to our Precious Moments Nativity over time. Cody's mom got me the beginning pieces of the set for my birthday (which is a week before Christmas) my senior year of college shortly after Cody and I started dating. I'd love to have the whole set one day. I can't wait to go out after Christmas this year and see what kind of decorations I can find on sale so that I can add more and more Christmas decor to our house every year. This seriously is my favorite time of the year!!

On Saturday we spent a LOT of time outside. After Cody had hung up the lights on the front of the house, we had a few boxes left. He woke up Saturday morning and had gotten really into the spirit of things ;) So he decided to hang lights up on the back part of our roof as well as all the way around our back deck and up the stair rails. Since we live on a corner lot with a street that goes behind our house, this part of our house gets seen just as much as the front of our house. I'm so grateful to him -- he worked so hard that weekend on making everything look nice and he got just as into it as I did. Our first Christmas in our first home has already been a special one :) Jaden enjoyed the weather outside that day -- it was beautiful out, and he didn't even need to wear his hat. He did a great job of running around, throwing his balls all over the place. At one point when I was sweeping up the driveway and Cody was on the ladder, Jaden took it upon himself to climb the steps of our deck, open the back door and go inside all by himself. I asked Cody, "What's he doing?" Cody told me to give him a minute and sure enough, a minute later Jaden walked back outside by himself carrying one of his footballs. Such a grown up moment for him to decide to do this all on his own without even saying anything! After his nap on Saturday we took Jaden to the park, and he played on all of the slides. The big long slide - the twisty slide - all of them. He had a ball. Cody would wait for him at the top of the play equipment and Jaden would race up there giggling and smiling and shrieking the whole way. I would wait for him at the bottom of the slides to catch him. We've decided we're going to use that park a lot this coming spring and summer to have cookouts, etc.

We ended our weekend Sunday by having a pretty laid-back day. Jaden did get a little crabby that day. I think he was worn out from such a busy weekend and was missing his friends at daycare a little bit :) Cody's parents came over that night and helped measure the walls of the baby's room because Cody's dad is going to put up a chair rail in there for us. We also tested out our two paint colors in the nursery and I loved them both! Next step is to paint the whole room so we can get the chair rail up. Jaden's bed has been ordered and we should have it by January 7th. He also has a new dresser coming. In January we will move the crib and the baby's dresser into the third bedroom and start decorating for the baby! Finally our third bedroom will be all ready to go after not using it since moving in last spring!

I think that's a long enough update! Merry Christmas from the Ubben family -- we hope you are all enjoying your Christmas season :)

Molars and Words

I can't believe my first little one has almost reached a major milestone -- the end of teething. Jaden's first two two-year molars came in at the top of his mouth this week. It was a little rough for a few days, but I should have seen the warnings last week. The end of last week he had a horrible runny nose, but he he wasn't stuffed up and wasn't acting like he had a cold at all. He was a little more irritable over the weekend - which I attributed to his growing attitude as he gains more desire for independence. (Which I still feel that has something to do with it!) He also had a really sore bottom about the same time the runny nose started. Then on Monday night, he broke out into a horrible hour-long crying session. This has never happened. Eventually we were able to get him to take Tylneol, and he calmed down about 15-20 minutes later. Before we sent him to bed that night, he allowed me to stick my finger in his mouth and sure enough -- I felt the tip of his first molar poking through. That explained everything - the runny nose, the awful tantrum, the sore bottom... he'd also been pulling at his ears a lot. His ears were bothered because of his teeth. Well, a day later he was getting even moodier, and on Tuesday night he was crying so hard that I was able to see all the way to the back of his mouth - and saw the second tooth starting to poke out. He even pointed to his ear that night when he was looking at me and informed me that he was in pain. After having a rough day at daycare on Wednesday, he seemed much happier last night and this morning. I think we've gotten through the worst of his first two molars (knock on wood) -- now we get to wait for the bottom two to arrive. Once those are done though - he will have all of his teeth!!! No more teething for that little guy... seems incredibly hard to believe we've reached that point :) I hope the next milestone is potty training ;)

We also had another first this week - two full sentences! His vocabulary is quite extensive now -- I can't even list all of the words he can say regularly or tries to say regularly. (Some words he struggles with greatly even though he tries them. "Please" sounds more like "teeese.") :) But - one morning this week, we were getting his shoes and coat on and the Mickey Mouse cartoon started on the Disney channel. As soon as Mickey appeared on the screen Jaden said, "There he is!" Cody and I both looked at each other like -- "did we just hear that???" Cody realized Jaden was copying me, as I always say "there he is" when Mickey comes on because I know Jaden loves Mickey. Then last night my mom and I were playing with him in the basement, and Jaden was surrounded by all of his balls. He had one in his hand, and I asked him, "What's that Jaden?" He replied, "It's a ball." Another full sentence ;) He's a long ways from being able to hold a conversation... but he grows up more and more every day. The funny thing is Cody was admiring my ever-growing tummy the other night and said, "Wow -- I can't believe I have a second little child on the way. I still can't get over the fact that we have Jaden!" And it's so true - he and I both still have moments where we look at him in awe -- having trouble believing that he's all ours :)

I do have to mention some of his newest words that we laugh about all the time:
Bug (he at some point became incredibly fearful of bugs and notices them instantly if they are around)
Buc (Cody was teaching him how to say "go Bucs" -- he doesn't say it plural yet, but every time he sees the Tampa Bay logo he points and says, "Buc!"
Ella (he's able to say his little cousin's name so well)
TC (the Panther mascot's name - very proud of that one!) ;)