Merry Christmas!

I last posted when I was 13 weeks pregnant, now here I am almost 36 weeks pregnant, wow how time flies! I can't believe in just about a month we'll be meeting Cameron's little brother Tyler. What a beautiful time of the year to be pregnant. How I've enjoyed this pregnancy, feeling little Tyler kick and move around, listening to his heart beat, and knowing that we've been blessed with a miracle. How wonderful it's been, not to worry about how many calories I'm eating, I know I shouldv'e probably eaten less, but how I've enjoyed indulging my donut cravings! This is also the time of year where you just feel like being home, all cozied up on the couch and since I don't have any energy to anything else, it's perfect! I'm sure little Tyler is providing an extra layer of warmth, which is nice too, cause I'm always cold. Lastly this is a time of year when our family reflects on the miraculous birth of babe born in Bethlemen. Little baby Jesus. I think about the joy and awe that Mary felt being chosen as the mother of the Son of God, and the promises fullfilled in her son's birth. It brings to mind a hymn our children sing at church (Mary's Lullaby):

Lullaby, lullaby, my little one.
Lullaby, my child so dear.
Thy precious life has just begun;
Thy mother holds thee near.
While Joseph watches through the night,
A star reflects thy radiant light.

Thy gentle head shall wear a crown,
For thy Father is the King.
Thy tender hands, so tiny now,
Have blessings great to bring.
Let all creation join my song,
For peace and love this night are born.
Lullaby, lullaby, my little one.
Lullaby, my child so dear.

I can't wait to hold my little one in my arms. I've been reading how this image and reminder during labor can make labor go more smoothly, with less pain :o) I can't wait to hold his tiny hands in mine, to feel his soft skin on my chest, and to look into his beautiful eyes. I know that just as Cameron has been the greatest blessing of our entire lives, little Tyler will share that space in our hearts and together they will be a great blessing to us.

Last night when Cameron woke up at 9:30 pm, just a couple hours after falling asleep, I decided to bring him out in the living room with us (where we were watching the Sing Off-since Cameron loves music so much). The only light came from the Christmas lights, and Cameron looked so sweet in his baby blue pajamas. Marty and I just stared at him, his cute little face, and big bright blue eyes watching the musicians perform on the television. He walked excitedly between the two of us, smiling all the way. I don't know if Marty was just tired, but it looked like his eyes might have been "moist." We were experiencing pure joy watching our son. Our hearts were full. Our cup runneth over. Very soon our joy will be doubled. We are already accustomed to sleepless nights, changing poopy diapers, picking up endless messes, and doing countless loads of laundry. But at the end of the day, it's all worth it. When your little one stares up at you with that innocent look on their face, lays their head on your shoulder, or smiles, the joy you feel is indescribable. It is worth every sacrafice. We know having two little boys will be quite the change, but it's a change we are anxiously anticipating.

This year we have been blessed indeed. How grateful we are for eachother, our children, our home, family, and friends. May you all see and feel the blessings in your lives is our prayer this holiday season. If you are lacking, may you be filled, if you are feeling down, may you be lifted. We love you!

Love,

The Mickelson's

13 weeks on July 13th!

I've been waiting for this day for a while now, well years really, but when I realized I´d be 13 weeks pregnant on the 13th of July I was pretty excited. I'm really into the 2nd trimester now, and still pregnant! Whenever I'm tired, suffering from sore breasts, food aversions, feeling faint, dizzy, or dying from the heat, I get excited because it means by little sweet pea is still growing inside me. It's hard to believe that she's now 3 inches long. Today I had Marty take pictures of me and my new protruding belly at the beach in Altea, Spain. We rented chairs and umbrellas and relaxed by the sea for a few hours, it was heavenly!

Ladder ball laughs

Ok, I know 2 posts in 1 day, a little much, but I had to post about our exciting news and this video was just too cute, NOT to share!

We took this little clip yesterday, Cameron was watching Marty and his mom play ladder ball (Ashlea, my assistant is holding him), and he was just cracking up. He laughed just as hard when we were playing the game at Ashlea's house a couple weeks ago, so we thought we better get a set of our own :o) He loves when the balls get wrapped around the bars. It's hilarious! He also laughs like this when watching basketball. Not with softball though. I think we may have a ball player on our hands!

I believe in miracles

I think we've all witnessed miracles in our lives. I know I have at various times in my life. The impossible can be possible with a little time, faith, and work. I didn't think I'd ever be able to get pregnant on my own. I thought it was impossible, but apparantley it's not! Yes, without even trying, at all, I'm pregnant! My naturopath thinks it may have been the diet I've been on--no gluten, sugar, etc. for the last 5 months. I think it corrected my Polycystic ovary syndrome, and along with the weight loss, and various supplements to balance my hormones my body was able to function normally and apparantley felt ready to carry a baby! Of course I've been completely satisified being the mother of one adorable little boy and planned to add to our family through another round of IVF next Winter, but I guess God had other plans for our little family, or this little pea pod spirit REALLY wanted to come to earth and live NOW! She was like, no I'd like to be BORN in the middle of winter! (Marty thinks its a girl!) Our baby is due January 18th, just 4 days after Marty's birthday and a week after his mom's birthday.

How I found out:

I had thought my cycles were just thrown off because of the diet I've been doing, and that finally when I took a pregnancy test it must have just been a false positive because of the HCG shots, since that's what the test is actually reading, the presence of HCG. I kept taking the tests everyday, and everyday--Positive! This was a new sight for me, I'm used to seeing a big fat negative. I thought the test must just be broken! I really didn't think it could mean I was actually pregnant. A couple days later when I met with the naturopath she said she'd never seen anyone read a false positive on a pregnancy test and that I was most likely pregnant. The next day she called me with the results of the blood test, 97,140 mIU/ml HCG levels! Non-pregnant levels should be less than 5! Quite a bit more! She told me I was already 8 weeks pregnant. I've pretty much been in shock since I found out, and nervous about telling anyone until things were confirmed with an ultrasound. Yesterday we had that ultrasound and sure enough there really was a little fetus growing inside me! Not in the tubes, but right where its suppose to be with its little heart beating! Marty and I had tears of joy in our eyes, and I cheered and patted my belly--"good job little pea pod, you're right where you're suppose to be!"

Though this was an unplanned miracle, we couldn't be happier. Cameron will be about 15 months when the baby is born. I think he already feels a connection, he'll pat my tummy, then burry his face in and lick my belly! He also loves to say "ba ba ba." Must mean "Baby!" Meanwhile besides a sore chest and extreme exhaustion, I feel wonderful.

I'll be keeping you all posted! Thanks for all your continued love, support and friendships!

Love you all!

Lazy Saturday

It's been a while since I had a Saturday with nothing to do. No trips off island, softball tournaments, endless chores, or people to see. Of course I could spread some bark on my flower beds, paint the trim on the new wall downstairs, go for a walk, finish the last 4' of my irrigation system, mop the floors, fold diapers, or unload the dishwasher, but so far I've done none of the above.

I slept in, thanks to Marty taking Cameron for the night, took a long shower with no one waiting on his bean bag for me to hurry on out, played with my baby, made beef fajitas thanks to Thriftway's meat dept. everything was cut and seasoned so it took me less than 5 minutes, finished a book, and caught up on my friend's blogs. Seems like they've been MIA as well. Glad I didn't miss much. It's kind of a dreary day around here, no rain, but no sun either. I always find it so hard to be motivated without the sun! I'm so tired too. I take Cameron on the weekdays since Marty's been going into work, and it's a good night when he sleeps 3 hours at a time. Even after a good night's sleep Friday night, I'm still exhausted. Not that I'm really complaining though, just using it as an excuse for being unmotivated. The other night he was fussing, and so I took him out of his bed and in with me, he quieted right down in my arms and went right back to sleep. As I layed there looking down at his sweet sleeping face I thought, "Life doesn't get better than this."

Still when I think about the priviledge it is to be a mom, to be Cameron's mom, I want to cry. There is nothing that brings me more joy than that little boy! He's the happiest baby, always smiling, clapping, laughing. I think he's going to be one of those kids that talks to everyone in the grocery store. He's so social, and prefers watching children or people to just about anything. He'll watch people in the store, smile at them, and wait for them to smile back, when they do, his smile grows even bigger. Just last night the bagger was putting the groceries in the back while I was buckling him in, he was just staring at her and smiling, waiting for her to look at him. When she finally did see him, she started smiling, and he started trying to talk to her, "ahh! ahh!" he said, and smiled some more. What a sweet disposition he has. I can hear him right now, waking up from his nap (with daddy) laughing. We are so blessed!

When he's unhappy, all you have to do is sing and he immediately breaks into a smile. You can just make up a song on the spot too like "what's the matter, what's the matter, what's the matter, huh?" sung to sort of rap tune. We still get the biggest giggles out of "Take out the paper's and the trash" (yakety yak, don't talk back). He loves that and "who let the dogs out, who? who? who?" He cracks us up.

He hasn't reached a lot of milestones though and at 8 months he's finally able to sit up without toppling over instantly, he claps his hands together, signs "milk," rolls where he wants to go, and is getting his first tooth. Oh and he's 20 lbs now! Sometimes he'll eat 2-3 jars of food at a time! Big boy!

So I know what you really want to see is pictures, so here they are....

Eating his toy--probably feels good on his tooth, and Mr. Peas face!

Manda's graduation, and Cam loving Morgan's little dog Boggie.

With grandma on mother's day, smiling at either daddy or Boggie. Later mom and I went to the James Taylor and Carole King concert, it was awesome!

Love his chunky thighs in this picture and the way our eyes are glowing. Its funny 'cause when we look in the mirror, I seriously think his face is as wide as mine! I love my chunky monkey! Oh and P.S. I'm 2 lbs away from reaching my goal weight which will mean a total of 40 lbs lost once I get there! Crazy huh! Sorry no pictures of Marty, he's the one who takes all the pictures! He's doing good though, still at Adobe, staying busy, and may even teach FLEX part-time at UW (he has an interview on Tuesday). He's come highly recommended. He gets to go to San Jose for the day next week.

My preschool is doing great! We have new kids starting all the time, and we're nearly completely full! Going to have to start a waiting list soon! Its nice though because I can afford to have 2 full-time assistants which means I only have to work when we're at our busiest, usually between 9:30-1, and I take Monday's totally off. Of course there's still all the admin stuff-payroll, scheduling, emailing people, but now I can do it during the day while Cameron naps and my afternoons/evenings are free for softball, gardening, and family time!

I know some of my dear friends are struggling right now, life is not going as planned, and my heart goes out to them. I don't know why life for us is so good right now. I don't have a single thing to complain about and feel very very blessed. I have the greatest husband, live in paradise, and have the sweetest most adorable son in the whole wide world! I know my life has not been without challenges and I can feel the disappointment of what some of my friends are going through. I know that this too shall pass, and that hard times certainly make the sweet times that much sweeter! Hang in there friends, love you! --Jenny

Becoming the old me again

BEFORE December 25, 2009

AFTER March 8, 2010

Well I decided to blog about my recent weight loss. I HATE this picture of me taken at Christmas. I can't believe I had gotten so fat! I guess if I hadn't seen this picture though, I wouldn't have been so motivated to lose weight. Today I'm actually in jeans I wore 2 1/2 years ago. So in a couple months I've taken over 2 years of weight off my body. That feels good! I've lost 25 lbs and have 14 lbs more to lose to reach my goal of where I was 4 1/2 years ago.

So as I said in the title I'm becoming the old me again. Not just in the weight department either. I feel happy again, really really happy. I have more confidence, am more motivated, and don't mind being around people. I used to be so depressed, embarrassed of my body, I never wanted to leave the house. The change really started with adopting Cameron, and filling that void in my heart that I used to just fill with food. Now its filled with the joy Cameron brings to our lives. I have a new motivation to be healthy, raising a healthy boy!

Here's a picture taken a couple days ago of our happy little boy, laughing at us as we sing "Who let the dogs out, who? who? who?" Makes him laugh everytime, that and "Yakety yak, don't talk back." He's also taken to rolling on his side, but that's about as far as he gets. He gets to start eating solids in just a couple weeks, so we were testing out the highchair. He's just the best baby! We love him dearly! Truly the greatest blessing and miracle of our lives!