Five.

Five years ago today, I was a nervous wreck! I was having my first baby. At first I was so excited, and I was ready, it was time, and I couldn't have been happier. And then I walked into the hospital the night before. People were screaming. This was it. It was real. And then I didn't so much want to have a baby. He was fine inside of me. The pain was bearable, I wasn't at screaming point by any means, and I was fine with that. I asked Adam if we could just go home, but nope. We're were going to have a baby. And then I felt too young. I felt too poor. You know, I felt all those things that you're supposed to feel BEFORE you think about having babies! But, deep down I was still excited. I always wanted to be a mommy.

And so 12 hours after I first walked into the hopsital, walked around the hospital for a few hours, pushed for 2 hours, he was finally here. I got to hear my sweet little Noah cry for the first time, and hold his little tiny body, that was covered in so much birthing crap, but it wasn't gross to me at the time. This was my baby. My first perfect child. It was an overwhelming day, a day that would change the rest of my life. I'm so grateful for that day.

But, now I have a 5 year old. Me, I have a 5 year old? Oh, goodness. I thought about this last night, I was an emotional wreck. I couldn't stop thinking about it. I even missed going to New Moon because I couldn't stop thinking about it {sorry, Rach!} My baby boy is so grown up. I should be so excited. And I am, it's just sad to watch him grow up and get so much more independent, and so mature, and so smart.

Noah is so great, though. There is never a dull moment with this kid. He loves to have fun, and has fun doing anything. Just recenlty his toys have been dwindling down to almost nothing, due to consequences from not cleaning them up. But he doesn't care much, his imagination is far to extreme to care about that. He adapts to everything, and has fun with the most random things. He has the most contagious laugh. It's hilarious. He always wants to make people laugh and smile. He's got a few good jokes up his sleeve. He is a clever little booger. He pays attention to the tiniest details. He remembers EVERYTHING. He will thank you for a present you gave him 3 years ago, but he remembers that you gave it to him, and what it was for, and what he said to you afterwards. It's pretty funny. He is also very sensitive. We have to be careful sometimes. But, Noah is the best 5 year old there ever was!

WE LOVE YOU, NOAH JON! Here's to another great year. May we have time to play alot, have many dance parties, sing lots of silly songs, learn many new things, and just have fun!


{for more pictures of this handsome birthday boy, click here}

Super Charged

I took the boys into the doctor on Monday. They had both been sick, and their fevers just weren't going away. For Noah, that's scary. Usually fevers mean seizures, too. I had been giving him Ibuprofen and Tylenol simultaneously to kick that fever in the butt, but it wasn't working. I had just barely taken Noah to the doctor the week prior, but that doctor was fired, for other reasons, too...but we went to a new doctor who was able to tell us right away that he had strep throat. And from the looks of it, had had it for a while. Dang doctor. But, the nice new doctor wanted to get rid of it fast, and so she gave Noah this antibiotic with some extra stuff in it. {Yeah, I am really technical. } We aren't strangers to medicine, so I gave it to him, thought nothing of it. And then he started acting hyper. Not just average Noah hyper. Like crazy, literally bouncing off the walls, hopping around kind of hyper! It was crazy. He went from his sickly, poor little guy, to this monster! And so I googled the medicine. What on earth would we do without google these days anyway? And yes...sure enough, this medicine causes hyperactivity in children. It is super charged...and it super charges most children, too! EVERY dose has caused this. EVERY one. The next 7 days aren't looking so good...we've got a 19 hour car ride to throw into the mix, too. Goodness.

11 months.

Holy crap. Eleven months old? I say this every single month, but where has my baby gone? I forget how fast time just flies by. Next month my little baby will be one! Can you believe it? ONE!?!? I don't think I'm ready for this quite yet!

Last year at this time, I was cursing, you, Jacob! I didn't want to be pregnant anymore, I wanted to hold my sweet little baby in my arms rather than in my belly! But, now I can put off the first birthday just a little bit longer!

Jacob is and always has been a good baby. He rarely cries. And he smiles ALL of the time. He's been sick this past week, but has still managed to give some pretty good smiles. He still is big, but has slowed down dramatically. He only weighs 27 pounds. He's slowed and lost some. He is always on the move. Usually he's moving to the stairs. He's quite the stair climber. Quick. Very quick. He laughs the whole way up because he thinks he's getting away with so much! He is a tricker, and always laughing about something! His wave is probably the cutest thing I have ever seen. He's the best baby ever. If I could just clone him and send him to everyone, I would. You have to get the whole Jacob in full effect. He's great. We love him a lot, and don't know what we would be doing without him! All of his facial expressions, laughs, giggles, it's all just so great!

WE LOVE YOU, JACOB MAXWELL!!

photographer.

We really need our family pictures taken. Our last actual professional photo shoot was December 2005. Macie wasn't even really thought of yet, Noah was still a youngin...and now two kids and 4 houses later, I think it's fine time for it! But, then walks in the photographer search. I don't know how so many people get their pictures taken on a regular basis...it isn't cheap! Goodness. The photographer style that is around these days is so great. I'm loving it. And then, I found one that I loved here. I actually found a link from a friend on facebook, and what do ya know? The photographer is doing a contest to win a free session. And, I am going to win! ;-)

I really love her photography. It's just my style. And even if I don't win, I think that this photographer will be our pick when we finally do get our acts together and get our family pictures done. We really need them. We really need more money, first {come on, who doesn't??} But, until then, I'll just stare at my empty frames that are on our wall, just waiting to be filled! And, why don't you go check our her website. I'm sure you'll like her, too.

tooth.

One Wednesday morning, in February 2005, my sister, Erin came to Rexburg to watch Noah, like she did every week while I was in class. The night before, Noah had been crying a lot, and we didn't really know why. We just thought it was colic. I came home from class expecting to hear that he had cried all morning. But, Erin informed me that he had two teeth. Two teeth had come through on the bottom. I didn't believe her at first. I mean, he was just barely 2 months old, there wasn't any way he could have two teeth. But, sure enough, there were two little teeth on the bottom. I hurried and called the doctor to see what on earth I should do. I thought it was way too soon, and got a little worried. The nurse assured me that it was normal, and fine, but he could probably only have Tylenol, since he wouldn't be able to hold on to a teether yet. And that was the start of our teething experiences.

Nearly FIVE years later, those little teeth that came in so early are coming out. That's right. The first tooth has come out! I tear up as I write this. My baby boy is so grown up! He will be 5 on Friday, and has already lost his first tooth! He was so good. And he loves to feel his hole with his tongue. He is very excited for the tooth fairy to come. In fact, he wants to pull all of his teeth right now! This is quite the momentous occasion at the Christensen house. YAY, NOAH!!

{please excuse the pailness of poor Noah...he's been sick this week...}

Happy Veteran's Day!

To all the veteran's who have served our country. We owe so much to them, that this one day a year holiday isn't really enough to honor them. I am so grateful for everyone who has sacrificed their own lives to help fight for our freedoms, as well as the freedoms of people of other countries.

But, especially, I'm grateful for my own Dad who showed to me how great it is to serve your country when he went to Kuwait for 9 months in 2007. We were so sad and so scared, but he did it. Dad, we are so proud of your service.

Surprise!

{Ashlyn, Dad and Jacob}

I am embarrassed. My Dad's birthday was October 6. Yeah, who's a slacker? That'd be me. So, to surprise my Dad on his birthday, Erin and I loaded up the kids and drove to Idaho. It was a long drive to say the least. We had intended to leave at around noon. Erin had been in LA with her friend Natalie for a few days prior, so the noon departure would give her time to get back, and then it would be perfect because the kids would sleep. Sounds easy, right? Well, nothing is ever easy at the Christensen house.

I left for Target to get a few last minute travel needs. Like snacks. I got out of the car, with all three kids, and realized that my back tire was completely flat. Flat. It was awful. We have had that car for just a few months and have already had to replace two tires. There was a little slash in the side wall of the tire. It was slashed. Who slashes tires, I mean, really?! So, I called Adam. He came to my rescue and changed the tire, but it obviously not repairable, and the closest place that had another tire was in a town about 20 minutes away, and we had to wait until 3 to go. So, we waited. We drove to get the tire and waited there. We didn't finally get on the freeway until 6. It was late, and not a good start of the journey.

I started out driving, but Jacob kept screaming, so after mulitple stops, I finally let Erin drive, and sat in the back with Jake, and fed him and kept him entertained. We drove all through the night, and only stopped to get gas. We rolled in to Idaho Falls at about 10:30 in the morning. It was a long drive. We took turns napping, and I drank tons an tons of Dr. Pepper, and we made it. We slept for a few days after, trying to catch up what we lost but it was useless!

But, we did surprise Dad on his birthday! It was all so worth it to see the look on his face when he answered the door and he saw Noah and Macie standing there. It was great! They love their Pa. They were so excited. Jacob attached himself to Pa very quickly too and gave him a huge smile right off. It was so cute. We were glad we were there for his birthday! We love you, Dad! We hope that you had a good day!!

{October 1, 2009}


For Erin's birthday, I surprised her by getting tickets to see Conan. She loves Conan. {I have the best ideas, huh? ;-)} So, we all made the trek to LA. We were able to leave our children with the Snows, our friends in Torrance, while we went to Hollywood. It was the first time I've left Jacob for that long. I was a nervous wreck. He had enough milk. He had food. But I was so nervous about him the whole time. And it turns out, he didn't care much. He was a good boy!

The show was a lot of fun. You park, walk, and then get in line. We waited in a line for about an hour, if not longer, before we got into the studio. The studio is so much smaller in person. We kind of were in the back, but not the very back. The very back got to be on TV. But that's okay, I spilled ketchup on my shirt at lunch anyway, so it's a good thing I wasn't on TV! Conan is so much taller than you would think, too! It was a pretty fun experience! It wasn't like the best show ever, we didn't really know the guests, Kate Walsh and the kid from Zombieland {I don't even remember his name. His little sister was that curly haired Pepsi girl...}And we're not big country fans and the musical guest was Brad Paisley. But it was still fun to go.

I would even go again. I have an idea...if anyone comes to visit, I'll take you there, too. Just let me know 4 weeks in advance. If my cute kids aren't incentive enough, we've got Conan as back up {Ellen, too}! Whadayasay?

Macie's Minnie Party

{September 19, 2009}

Yes, I know...two months later I get this on here finally! BUT...Macie had her first friend birthday party. We opted to invite only girls. She wanted a Minnie Mouse party, so inviting just girls seemed logical! It was a lot of fun. Little girl parties are a lot of fun! Macie invited her friends from nursery and loved every second of it. She loves playing hostess. However, she is not very keen on the idea of actually sharing her toys with the kids she hosts! But, we brought down the playhouse and everything was okay! We started by coloring Minnie Mouse pictures while we waited for everyone to get there, and then it was lunch time. On the menu were Mickey shaped chicken nuggets {thank you Costco!}, string cheese cut in pieces, grape tomatoes, and olives. Did you notice the trend? Not only was everything round, but it followed the red/black/white color scheme of Minnie. I thought I was pretty clever! Then we played "Pin the bow on Minnie", and played for a bit while the mom's talked, and then it was pinata and present time. The pinata came yellow and pink, but that just wouldn't do for the theme of the party, and so it was painted, of course! I liked the idea that the "3" on its side was an "m", but we couldn't get the hanging thing out, so it remained a 3. It took forever to break the pinata. Three year old girls aren't the strongest! Macie used it like a pool stick, and tried to poke it that way. Eventually, I just banged it up against the wall, and the candy all fell out. It was a fun party. But, so much work! Thank you to my mom, though, for making the Minnie dress, that did save time out of the planning/decorating. Next year it's Alice in Wonderland. We like to plan in advance.

sad blog...

My poor blog. I am sorry. You are the neglected child. I have all these intentions for you. I really do. I even have things prewritten. But, our computer is so gosh dang slow that putting the pictures on takes ten years. Don't you worry, though...have patience, my friend. I will get to you. I will.

Follow the yellow brick road

the wonderful Wizard of Oz! I don't think I have really dressed up for years! But, this year Adam and I had full costumes. It was fun! And of course, we followed the Wizard of Oz theme. I am actually very proud of Adam's costume. I just whipped it together Saturday morning. Yeah...I "whipped" it! All from my little head! And it cost a whole 10 bucks! I am the witch. The not so wicked witch. I wanted to be green, however, if I would have put green make up on my overly too sensitive skin, I would have looked pretty scary later on. I would have broken out and puffed up, it wouldn't have been a pretty sight, so I opted out of the greeness, but you get the idea anyway! We had a few people want to take our picture. Just random people. It was kind of funny. I enjoyed the compliments...all my hard work paid off...{yes, I'm still fishing for them...just kidding.}

We had a fun Halloween, though. We went to the ward's trunk-or-treat, which is by far the best thing ever for little kids! They didn't get too much candy, but that's alright with me. They don't need it anyway! And yes, we had a bag for Jacob. And it's all for him! ;-)


I've already started on next year's costumes. Well, started THINKING about them. I know what they will be. Now it's just a matter of getting them done in time for Halloween. A year may seem like a long time, but not for a procrastinator! {that'd be me...} And I know you're DYING to know what they will be, huh? Well, May the Force be with you...