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!

Adoption Finalized

Just wanted to post a few pictures from the courhouse, where the adoption was finalized yesterday December 17, 2009. It was short and sweet. Cameron fell asleep while we were waiting to go in, but awoke as soon as the judge started talking. It was really cute. We feel so ecstatic! We were even able to do live video stream from Marty's cell phone so his parent's could be "with us" in Oregon. Love technology!

Making up for lost time!

I think its been about 2 months since I last blogged, wow! That's the longest I've ever gone! A lot has happened and at the same time nothing has changed. Just to clear up the record on Bea. I knew Bea from caring for her for her aunt whom she was living with. When her aunt could no longer care for her, Bea's social worker asked if I knew anyone on the island willing to take her. I eagerly volunteered. The social worker really wanted her to stay on the island, so she could have her weekend visits with her dad. So we were able to be her guardians without being licensed as foster parents. However, after 2 months with us, she's now returning home to live with her dad, tomorrow.

Cameron changes everyday, and as he does we fall more and more in love with him. I love motherhood more than anything in this whole world. I love to wake up and see Cameron smiling at me as he lays next to me in our bed. I love how he tries to talk to me with his ahhh gaaa, oooo, and fake coughs. I love that he lets me dress him up in cute outfits, hats, and shoes, then take a thousand pictures of him. I love that Marty is such a great daddy--changing poopy diapers, using the cloth diapers even though he thinks its gross, taking Cameron for all or 1/2 the night every other night so we both can be rested. I love the way he stares up at me with his big blue, blueberry eyes when I feed him. I love that I can bring him to work with me and that he gets plenty of auntie Manda time, as well as gets to watch and learn from all the children. I love watching him learn new things- pulling his bottle towards and away from him, lifting up his head from his tummy, holding his head up, etc. He's making his milestones before I have time to read up on them. I love that he has soo many family members that love him! I don't think there's anything about being a new mommy that I don't love. I don't even mind getting up with him in the middle of the night to feed him. It's amazing how waiting your whole life for something changes how you feel about things. :o)


He's gotten to see many members of his birth family, as well as taken a road trip down to Oregon to see Marty's family. Marty's mom loved having him, and held him any chance she got. When they came up a week after he was born, she didn't get to hold him nearly as much :o) Shirley made the best Thanksgiving dinner, and Cameron looked adorable in his My Little Turkey outfit. Incidently, Cameron's birth dad's family live 30 minutes away from Marty's parent's, so they were all able to come have lunch with us over the weekend. A couple week's before that we had Cameron's birth mom's dad and step mom over for dinner, which they loved, and a month before that Cameron's birth mom's mom and sisters were up visiting from Spokane for her sister's baby shower and they got to meet Cam for the first time.

Now its back to just us, my mom who he sees him regularly (being that she lives right next door), and my sister of course, who works with me at the preschool. I really feel like the more people that Cameron has to love him, the better it will be for him. I think it makes things easier for his birth family as well, to know and to see how blessed Cameron is to be with us, how happy and content he is, and to know of our grattitude for giving us this sweet, sweet boy. I know Cameron's securely attached to us his mommy and daddy. If Manda is holding him, and he hears my voice, he stops what he's doing, and turns towards my voice. When he sees Marty giving him one of his big silly smiles, he almost always breaks into a grin. I can tell by the way he looks at me that he knows I'm his forever mommy. The other night, I decided to take a bath as Cameron had fallen asleep for what I thought was the night. Marty still had Bea, but they were all doing fine, so I brought the lap top in with me to catch an episode of Law and Order while I soaked. After 45 minutes I heard the loudest cry Cameron's ever made. I hopped out, and found that Marty had been doing everything he could to calm him--bottle, diaper change, bouncing, etc. (turns out it was most likely due to trying to give him breast milk we'd just gotten, after a month on formula, poor baby's tummy just wasn't happy). But, I just held him against my chest and sat with him in the glider, and he instantly stopped crying and feel back asleep. I thought back to when he was born and the doctor placed him on my chest, and how I sang to him and he stopped crying. He must know I'm his mommy, and I will comfort and love him whenever he needs it.

Speaking of forever... we have a court hearing on December 17th to finalize the adoption!! Yay! Then on the 22nd we will go to the temple to have Cameron sealed to us for all eternity, and finally, he'll be blessed at church by his daddy, and grandpa's on the 27th. December will be a special month for the Mickelson's! Not to mention it's Cameron's first Christmas, and to celebrate we went out and cut down a 10' tall Christmas tree! Its really sweet to celebrate all the first's with Cameron, his first Halloween, Thanksgiving, and now Christmas. These holidays always remind me of family, and now we have our own little family, can build traditions, and celebrate together. I think I'm the happiest I've ever been. God has truly blessed us. Ok, sorry this has been such a long post, I'll try to post more regularly, so they won't be so long :o) I do add pictures to our picasa web album regularly, but don't always get to the writing of the blog :o(

We love you all, and if we don't tell you before then, have a Merry Chirstmas! We'll sure miss our little Bea, but are excited that she gets to live with her daddy whom she loves and misses.

If Bea learned anything from us, its how to multi-task--look at how she can feed one baby, while holding the other!

First excursion with Baby Cam

Marty and I have become guardians for this little angel named Bea. She's 3 and sweet as can be! We took her and Baby Cam to the Aquarium yesterday. Cameron managed to sleep the entire time. It was his first time in the Ergo. I think he likes it! Marty and I couldn't be happier or prouder parents! Cameron is our little cuddle bug, and Bea is our little helper. We love them both! Cameron loves Bea too, he'll just sit and listen to her as she talks on and on. Its really cute.

Oh and yes I am feeling 100% better after having my appendix out last week. Luckily it didn't rupture, and thankfully Marty is still off of work. We found out we were getting Bea the day after I got out of surgery. Never a dull moment around here! At least we had a couple of weeks to get used to parenthood ;o)

Little Cameron

Happy 1 week Birthday little Cameron

One week ago we received the best gift of our lives, a little baby boy, we named Cameron Edward. He was born at 3:18am on Thursday September 24th at the University of Washington Medical Center. He came after a long labor, but was perfectly healthy and calm upon arriving. When the Dr. placed him on my chest I thought I'd died and gone to Heaven. I think it was the happiest day of my life. His birth mom was incredibly strong and patient as we awaited Cameron's entry into this world. She was the calmest laboring woman I've ever seen. We then spent the next 2 days at the hospital receiving excellent care and help with breastfeeding. They gave us each our own room and we took turns sleeping and caring for little Cameron. Maranda and I ended up rooming together the second day so we could both breastfeed. Then she came home to Vashon with us to recover and allow her milk to come in. It was pure bliss bringing this little angel home.

He is a very content and happy little boy. He hardly cries and loves to be held and cuddled. I can't help but spend my every waking moment staring at him. He has the biggest almond shaped blue eyes, a very distinct nose, and tiny little lips. He's got lots of dark brown hair and a perfectly shaped head. He has long feet and toes, and his skin is a little flaky from being in the belly an extra 2 weeks. I was able to shower with him today which he just loved, feeling the warm water against his back, he almost fell asleep. It was sweet.

I will write more later and post more pictures, but right now I'm going to take a quick nap while Cameron sleeps in grandma's arms.

PS If you haven't seen it, here's some video from Cameron's first moments of life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN-DbHlbczE

Still nesting, no baby yet :o(

So what do you do when you're waiting around for a baby to be born? You decide to decorate your house by making curtains for all the windows. I've been wanting to add some color to our home for some time, and have felt an urgent need to do so before the baby arrives, along with cleaning the house from top to bottom, and now drying plums. So NOW the baby can come, but not until after 10:00 am tomorrow morning, because I'm getting inspected by the department of early learning so I can be a licensed child care provider. It's been 3 months since I turned in all my paperwork, so I really don't want to reschedule. Come on baby, just another 12 hours, then you can come! We also decided to move the new glider out of the nursery so we can get more use out of it. We figured since the baby would be co-sleeping, it didn't really matter where the glider went, and if we put it in the living room we'll use it a lot more. Ahhhhhh it's so nice! Marty loves it, which I'll use to my advantage in persuading him to get up with the baby in the middle of the night :o)


This was the fabric I had wanted to do the curtains in, but it was a little too bold for the style of my living room, but it goes perfectly down in the preschool.