Does anyone know anything about computers?

Well, thank heaven above Jason bought his laptop. I was happy about it in the first place, but now I'm really happy. Want to know why?

Since being back in Rexburg, our desktop has been AWOL. We've gotten it to turn on all the way like... twice, and every other time it just shuts itself back off because of a "thermal problem". What does that even mean??? Does anyone know how to fix something like that?

In the meantime, I will be coming to you from Jason's computer. (Hurray!)

Andrew's birthday yesterday was... not too special. Since we had just gotten back into Rexburg, there were a lot of errands needing to be run, and with Jason working at Melaleuca again, he had to go in yesterday. I went ahead and made a cake, but it wasn't anything special, and we didn't eat it until today anyway.

When we did give Andrew a piece of the cake, oh, you should've seen it. At first he was probably thinking, "What in the world is this chunk of stuff?" That's what his face looked like anyway. He started poking at it with his pointer finger, then noticed that the icing stuck to his fingers. He tasted the icing, and loved it. It took him the longest time to notice that there was something to eat beneath the icing, but when he did, he stuffed it into his mouth. I think the cake was probably his favorite part of today. I took a ton of pictures. It was priceless. Once I get the pictures on here (probably once Andrew's asleep because he loves grabbing at the cords), I'll share them with you.

Alright, I should let you go because Andrew is trying to pry his way to the keyboard. We're trying to teach him not to touch it (or the tv. Or the heaters. Or the dishwasher when it's open), but for now, we're just trying to use it sparingly around him.

Later.

We're Back!

After almost 4 months being in Ohio for a great internship, and then spending 2 weeks in Washington with Jason's family for Christmas, we're finally back in Rexburg! We packed up everything yesterday because we had to be out the door at 4:30am (ish) for our flight that left at 6:45am. Yuck!

The flight wasn't that bad. Total, we were only traveling for about 3 hours, and Andrew was pretty happy a lot of the time. Also, we flew into Idaho Falls, so the drive back up here was really short. Thank heaven.

I'd post pictures or something, but we're still kinda unpacking and getting readjusted to being here again. We'll see what I can do in the next couple days.

Speaking of the next couple days, a few important things:

• Jason starts up work again tomorrow. He works the 30th and 31st from 5-10pm, which isn't all that bad, just late. I'm just glad that he has a job to come back to. For a while we weren't sure if there was going to be anything, and if he would have to start the job search again.
• Andrew turns 1 year old tomorrow! He's getting so big. I know that any day here he could be walking. He's saying a few words (even though he still doesn't know what they really mean). When he plays, I can see his mind actively working. It's amazing. On Christmas, I was thinking about how next Christmas will be so different for him because he will be so different. *sigh* Anyway, I'm not quite sure when we'll be celebrating his birthday, partly because everyone is gone and partly because Jason has to work tomorrow, but when we do celebrate, I'll definitely post pictures.

Random fact about Andrew: Jason's sister Shauna weighed herself holding him, then again without him. If her math was correct, Andrew weighs 28.4 lbs. No wonder my back hurts!

Alright. I think that's about it. Just wanted to let you know that all is well. :)

Ok, so I lied. Here's one picture of Andrew. It was taken the day after Christmas, and he's wearing his new 24-month size pajamas! The pants are a little long, but it fits him everywhere else. Crazy. (The lower part of his face looks darker because of my shadow. Don't worry - he doesn't have any skin issues or anything!)

What a happy boy. :)

Moving

Well, it's happened. We've officially moved again.

Jason and I packed up everything (well, at least everything we could find) this last week and now we're in Washington state for Christmas! On the 29th we'll be back in Rexburg.

What a whirlwind.

That's why I haven't updated recently.

I have pictures of Andrew, but I don't want to save them to Momma McBride's computer, so you'll just have to wait for those until we get back to Rexburg.

In case I don't update before then, Merry Christmas!

I'm so happy!

If you've ever watched the tv show "The Biggest Loser", you know how addictive and intense it can be. Up until this season, I've only caught an episode here or there because Jason and I didn't get stations on our tv. Now that we're here in Ohio (until next Tuesday, at least), we've kinda made it a family thing - coming together and watching "The Biggest Loser". All while eating junk food. Haha.

Throughout the season, I've had my favorites to win: Sean, Abby, Shay, Rebecca... And then it came down to the final 4: Liz, Amanda, Rudy, and Danny. Danny was my ABSOLUTE favorite. He was just so nice.

The season finale of the show was on tonight, and Danny won! They compare them to each other by seeing how much body weight percentage they've lost, and Danny lost 55.5% from the beginning to the end. More than half of what he used to be is GONE! That's crazy! He started at 430 lbs and ended up tonight at 191 lbs. That is just... flabbergasting. Amazing.

Congratulations to him. I just wanted you to know how HAPPY I am for him! Yay!

Also, Rebecca, one of my favorites who was kicked off earlier in the season, won the at-home contest. I think she started out at 273 lbs (I think!), and she ended at around 133 lbs. Just crazy. Go Rebecca!

Maybe sometime soon I'll get myself into shape. I don't have that much weight to lose, but it'd be nice to get toned, you know? When we get back to Rexburg, I'm going to get myself some "Biggest Loser" workout dvds and work out at home every once in a while. Anyone want to join me?

PS. Random: I have some pictures that I want to post sometime soon from the last month. (I haven't posted any in that long???) Stay tuned for that.

*add title here*

Just some random thoughts:

• Andrew is 11 months old, as of yesterday. I can't believe it. Crazy, man. I'm sure it's probably getting old, me talking about this every month he gets older, but I can't help it. I'm always telling Jason that I can't wait for Andrew to do walk, or talk, or be potty-trained, or something-or-other. Really though, I'm happy with how he is right now. He's such a happy boy, and I wouldn't have him any other way.
• I can't believe it's December already. I remember last December like it was yesterday. I was very pregnant, and couldn't wait for Andrew to be born. Jason had just started working at Melaleuca, and suddenly spent a lot more time at home than when he had a landscaping job an hour away. We couldn't go anywhere for Thanksgiving and DEFINITELY couldn't go anywhere for Christmas, being so close to my due date, and it was pretty depressing. This year, we're in Ohio (for the moment), Jason just finished an internship, and Andrew is nearly a year old. And we're all still alive and well. Thank heaven!
• I also can't believe that we're about to leave Ohio! I was looking forward to being out here for MONTHS because we'd be with my family, and now that the time has come to get ready to leave, I'm not sure that I'm ready yet. There are things I'm looking forward to, like having our own place again with our own rules, but I'll miss my family a lot.
• The moving part of leaving Ohio is what I'm really not looking forward to. I hate trying to pack up everything, making sure we have all the things we need and not leave anything behind. It'd almost be easier to just pack up everything and move completely, but since we're living at my parents' house, that's not going to happen. We'll just comb the house for anything that might be ours, and hope that we've got it all!
• I am looking forward to Christmas! We're celebrating it with Jason's family for the first time since we've been married, and I'm really excited. Normally the family goes to Oregon to celebrate at Jason's grandma's house, but that's not happening this year. One of Jason's cousins is getting married the day after Christmas, and Grandma is going to it. Anyway, we'll still be celebrating with some of Jason's siblings at his mom's house, and I'm looking forward to it. I love Christmas!

I think that's about it. Rambling is something I do well, especially when I can't think of anything of real importance to say.

Keeping Busy

I've been away from the blog for a couple reasons:

1. I've been diving into the Twilight books. I finished Twilight in, I think 3 days... 4 days? I can't remember. And I finished New Moon in 2 days. It was pretty ridiculous. I'm not sure where to find the next two, so I'll probably just wait to read them until I get back to Rexburg.

2. Thanksgiving came. It was great! Jason's brother and sister-in-law, Paul and Jennifer, came up from North Carolina to celebrate it with us. They're foster parents to a 6-year-old boy name Jalal, and he was pretty energetic! He kept us on our toes trying to keep up with him for the weekend. We had Thanksgiving lunch at the church with several other families, decorated sugar cookies (that I made!), attempted to brave the crowds the afternoon of Black Friday, decorated gingerbread houses - where the roof of mine and Jason's caved in! And we went to the zoo. The Columbus Zoo has what they call "Wild Lights", where they decorate the entire zoo in Christmas lights and keep the zoo open later than normal so people can enjoy the lights. It's pretty cool. It's been a fantastic weekend.

3. I had the blog under construction for CHRISTMAS! I'm officially socially allowed to have my blog all Christmas-y, so I've done it. I've been listening to the music for ages, so it's about time! I'll be changing the music here soon (hopefully), so keep an eye out for that.

I don't have any new pictures, but I'll post a couple cute ones of Andrew from our family pictures taken in October:

Uhhh...

So I saw New Moon the other night. It was the midnight showing. I just felt like going (with a group of others) when the opportunity arose, so I did it, not expecting too much because I hadn't read the book. I'd only read Twilight once and had seen the movie twice and thought it was a little strange.

I loved the movie.

Please don't make me say it again!

Now I'm re-reading Twilight, and when I'm done with it, I'll start reading New Moon. And then the rest of the series, I'm sure.

Dang it. I didn't want to get in on all this Vampire hype, but I guess it's too late now!

Too fast for me!

Andrew started crawling a little before his 8-month birthday. Since he's a big boy, it took him a while to get really good at it, and even then he still went pretty slow.



Recently he's been getting faster and faster, which means more of a workout for us! ...but only if we know he's crawled away.


This morning, I was doing something in the family room, and Jason was on the computer. Without either of us knowing, he climbed ALL THE WAY up the stairs, crawled into Carrie's (my sister's) room, and woke her up! I knew he loved his Aunt Carrie, but I didn't know he could go all the way up the stairs. Without falling. Without anyone noticing!


He's just getting too fast for me! Crazy.


Here's a video and a picture for you to enjoy of my speedy little man:






Having a fun time, sqealing at mommy like a happy boy.

Slacker

I've been a slacker lately with posting pictures of Andrew. To tell the truth, it's not because I don't want to post any, it's because I haven't been taking as many of him recently. My phone has been acting crazy, turning off every few minutes that I just haven't even bothered trying to upload any from it, and I rarely have my camera with me. :(

But here's one. I love his squishy looking cheeks, and that hilarious face:



Oh man, I love this boy.

Jason News:

• He only has 2 more days of his internship and then he's DONE! I can't believe the 10 weeks is just about over already. It doesn't feel like we've been here that long.
• Jason is studying hard for the LSAT that he's retaking on the 5th of December. Yesterday, he took a practice test and got a really good score, so we're hoping that the trend continues, and that by the time he takes the real test, he'll have a very competitive score.
• I might've mentioned this before, but Jason's brother and his wife, Paul and Jennifer, live in North Carolina. We wanted to see each other while we were so close in proximity to them, so they're coming up here for Thanksgiving! I'm so excited. I haven't seen Jennifer since Jason and I were married, and I love family and Thanksgiving, so it's going to be great this year.

Andrew News:

• He's done breastfeeding. He pretty much refuses to do it anymore, so we're done. I'm happy about it because it makes me feel like there are so many more things we can do now that we're not tied to each other for survival, but it's kinda bittersweet. I didn't think I'd miss it, but I know I will.
• We're starting to give him 1/2 formula, 1/2 whole milk in his bottles. I want him completely off formula by the time we go to Seattle for Christmas, so we're doing half and half so he can get used to the taste now.
• He hasn't been to the doctor for a long time, but everything he's doing right now seems to be normal (cruising like a fiend!), so I'm not too worried.

Anything else? Ummmm... nope. I think that's it.

Want-a-holic

Oh dear.

Because Jason and I are in Ohio for the fall, things have been a little crazy when it comes to planning for the holidays: How we were going to get to Seattle, how we were going to get everyone's presents, how we were going to get back to Rexburg after the holidays were over... It's been nuts.

To make things a little easier for the people who have to get us (well... ME) presents, I've already begun my Christmas wish list. When I first started, I had a pretty hard time thinking of things I wanted - mostly books or movies. They're pretty cheap, right? Then I started exploring online, and I've realized that I really want a LOT of things. Things that aren't cheap. Things that I'm living without right now, so that means I don't need them. Does that make me a want-a-holic?

I think part of the reason I'm finding so many things I want is because we're poor students and will be for at least the next 4 years. It's ok to want things when you don't have much, right? It's ok to kinda long for things you can't have now because you don't have the money to spare, but that some day you might be able to get, right?

To tell the truth, I really am content with what Jason and I have. I'm blessed to have a beautiful family, a nice apartment, and to live in a great ward in Rexburg. Jason's always reminding me that we have it really good. He served his mission in El Salvador and some people there live with dirt floors. A lot of times our minimum wage is more than what they make in one day.

Ok. What I'm trying to say is this: I feel guilty for wanting more because I already am blessed with so much. Is it bad for me to want more?

More confessions

I thought of more!

#1. I will eat cake for breakfast if it's available. Haha. I love sweet stuff.

#2. I am a list maker. Not because I'm really organized, because believe me, I'm not, but because I need to be a list maker. If I'm not, I forget EVERYTHING.

#3. Since being home, I like watching shows like "House Hunters". It's inspired me to think of what I one day want to have in my own home, like:

-An open floor plan

-Hardwood floor instead of laminate

-Granite counter tops

-A laundry room!!!

-An island in the kitchen

Etcetera. The list could go on and on.

#4. I was hanging out with a friend I had in high school today, and we looked through our yearbook and recalled memories we had about certain people. I realized a couple things: *More boys liked me than I ever recall liking me. Probably because I didn't like them back... *A lot of people used to be pretty mean to me. I had a REALLY long awkward stage where people weren't the nicest to me. I'm just glad I've just about grown out of that... *A lot of those mean people turned around and were nice after a while. I'm glad I got to see that, because I think I might've lost faith in them. I need to remember to stick around, even when they don't make me feel the best, because they could be struggling too.

*sigh* Sometimes it's nice to let people in on little secrets you don't mean to keep, you know?

Confessions.

I have confessions to make.

#1. You know how pregnancy makes you really emotional? Well, for me, the emotions are still there. Even after 10 months. Commercials. Anytime anyone talks about babies. I just start tearing up. Something is going on with me!

And no. I'm not pregnant.

#2. I LOVE to speed. The rush I get when I feel like I'm going faster than everyone else is crazy. I need to get over it, really.

#3. A decorator-a-holic is what I'm becoming. My mom and I went to this store earlier this week that sells decorations for your house, and we spent way too much money. I told Jason earlier that when we have our own house and some money to spare for it, I'm decorating our house for every big holiday and season. I don't want it to be overdone or anything, but it's going to be so fun!!! And the best part is that Jason is ok with it!

#4. I watch reruns of America's Next Top Model when they show the season marathons. I know it's a waste of my time, but I just can't help it! I get drawn in!

Have any confessions of your own?

Oh, and I lied. I changed the background again. It looked too Christmassy, and though I LOVE Christmas, I also love Thanksgiving and Autumn. So I changed it. :)

Finally slowing down! Right?

Well, we now know how much Andrew weighs and how tall he is. Not sure of the percentiles, because we found out at a WIC appointment, but that's ok.

He is *drum roll please*...................................

25 lbs 9 oz! And 29 1/2 inches tall!

He's gained 3 lbs 6 oz since the last appointment almost 4 months ago, and grew (I think) an inch and a half. I think he's starting to slow down! Maybe the crawling he's been doing the last couple of months has done it!

I love having a huge, chubby baby. The only problem is that my back is starting to hurt from holding him. Other than popping meds, do any of you have any solutions to back pain caused by holding you baby/child? He's too heavy to hold with one arm!

Our budding piano virtuoso! He loves crawling up to the piano, pulling himself up, then reaching for the keys. I can't believe he's big enough already!

I forgot!

How could I forget! Well, I didn't forget, I just didn't mention it: Andrew is 10 months old. As of yesterday, which I didn't mention in the entry I posted then.

Ridiculous.

The time has passed so quickly, and yet it's been the longest 10 months of my entire life. These months have been some of the lowest and happiest of my life, all blended together. I know the 10-month mark isn't exactly a huge milestone, but I don't think I can accurately describe to you how happy I am that I have this little boy in my life.

In the beginning of it all, I had a really difficult time. I felt completely overwhelmed by and afraid of all the things that I was suddenly responsible for. I didn't have any experience with babies at that point. I changed more diapers in the first day he was born than I had the whole rest of my life. Let me tell you, that was just the beginning of this huge learning process.

Now that 10 months has passed, I feel so grateful for everything that I've learned - about taking care of babies, doing things on my own, taking responsibility, and not letting the worry overtake me. I may need years of training, but along the way I'll just try to be the mom that Andrew deserves.

Yay for this milestone. I'm glad we've both made it.

Trick or Treat!

The city I grew up in is kinda strange with Halloween because we have what we call "Beggar's Night", a night separate from Halloween when the kids get to go trick-or-treating. We do it, I think, because Halloween brings out some creepy people sometimes, especially when the holiday falls on a weekend. Anyway, this year, it was last night, and I have pictures!

Before I post them, I must do some explaining. Andrew has had 3 Halloween costumes. The first one we bought before he was born because they were super cheap after Halloween last year. That turned out to be a not-so-good idea, because Andrew ended up being WAAAAAAY too big for it. It was really cute though. It was a pea pod, but it only fits babies up through 9 months. Ummm... Andrew's in 18-month clothes now. We gave it away.

A couple weeks ago, there was this huge sale going on at one of the local middle schools, put on by this group in Columbus made up of mothers of twins in the area. We found this cute lobster costume that looked like it would fit Andrew, and the size was 1T. 1T? What size is that? I've never heard of it before! Anyway, it might've fit Andrew when we bought it, but it was just a titch too small yesterday, when we tried it on him (which is why he doesn't look too happy):

Initially, he liked playing around with all the arms and stuff sticking out of it, but then I think it began getting a little stuffy.

Fortunately, my mom and I went shopping for some clothes for Andrew last week (because he was growing out of his 12-month stuff), and found a cute OSU jersey and matching pants that we thought might be able to double as a costume in case the lobster outfit didn't work out. Which it didn't. We put it on him, and he was ready to go outside to help mom, dad, grandma and grandpa pass out candy to the kids!

There's the whole group! Excluding me, of course, since I was taking the picture.

Later on, it got cold, so we had to put a jacket, a hat and gloves on Andrew to keep him warm, but he loved being outside!

Yay for Halloween!

As a side note, I only just barely realized that the colors on the background of my blog look really Christmassy. Well, it's going to stay! I love Christmas. I meant for the background to look fall-ish, so I'll be changing my background as soon as Thanksgiving is over to an obviously Christmas background. Haha.

New Background, Realizations, and pictures!

I seem to get bored of my backgrounds pretty quickly. I haven't updated lately because I've been working on coming up with a new top picture and background for the blog. I hope you like it! Oh, and I also just added new music. I felt like classical music, for some reason, so I hope you like that too...

Random tidbit: I have come to the realization that I want to be "Super Mom". I want to take care of everything, and do it perfectly: laundry, cooking amazing meals, baking homemade bread, cleaning, taking care of Andrew, decorate the house for holidays... you name it, I want to do it. The thing I need to remember is that I don't have to do it all. I CAN'T do it all. I mean, I could spread it out into a lot of days and maybe be able to do most of it at some point, but I don't need to put that kind of pressure on myself. I think at one point while I was in Rexburg, just after Andrew was born and Jason was going to school, I was just about the lone person to take care of everything in the apartment, and I really think that since I was cooped up inside all day (it was snowing outside) and Andrew was the only one I could talk to, I became kinda depressed that I couldn't do everything. I felt so overwhelmed by all the things I believed I HAD to do that I couldn't do anything. I'm glad that I know now that I don't have to be perfect and I don't have to do everything. If I don't make cute decorations for the house, it's not going to be the end of the world. If buying bread saves me the time I need to do something else that's more important, I'll do it.

Sorry about the rant, but I just had to get that out.

Picture time! I just uploaded pictures from my camera. Hurray! Most of these are from Hocking Hills.

We didn't have a hiking backpack for Andrew, and he wouldn't have been able to get around in the stroller on the trail, so this is how he got around! Grandpa loved carrying him around.

As you can see, Andrew loves his Grandpa!

Jason posing for the camera.

I love this picture of us!

Me and my sisters, Susette and Carrie.

The three of us again, close up.

We had a friend of Susette's take family pictures (not the ones on this blog right now... I took those), and hopefully she'll get done fixing them up soon so you can see some of them. She took some pretty fun pictures! If you want to see some of them, click here to go to her blog. She has a video of some of the pictures and a REALLY cute picture of Andrew on there too. :)

New Blog for Jason

Jason started his own blog about the LDS church. If any of you would be interested in taking a look, posting a comment, and passing the link on to friends, feel free! Here's the link:

http://jasonsmormonblog.blogspot.com

Ta da! Take a look. :)

Andrew pictures

These are from my phone. I have more on my camera from our trip to Hocking Hills, but those pictures will be reserved for another post. :) My phone may actually die before I get them all on here, but oh well.

This is what his face looks like every time we go outside. It makes me happy that he loves being out there so much, especially for fall out here. It's gorgeous.

We went outside to play, and he loved pouncing on the leaves.

Carrie, my sister, is a hairstylist, so she decided one day that he had enough hair to do something with it. This picture was the result! I think he looks just like Jack Jack from The Incredibles. Don't you think so?:

He still gets sleepy on long drives. And I love the hair. :)

He was having fun smacking the coffee table.

And last but not least:

Andrew fell asleep on Jason's lap, and then Jason proceeded to fall asleep. It was cute. :)

I love my boys.

It's been a couple weeks...

So I figured I would update. Not too much has been happening, which is why I haven't updated recently.

Well, Ohio is great. We're loving being here. The weather right now has been wonderful (except that it's raining today. Yuck!), and fall is in full swing now, I think. The colors of the trees just makes me want to take a deep breath and pull a blanket around me. Mmmmmm... :)

Andrew's almost 9 1/2 months old, and I'm continually surprised by how much he's learning and how big he's getting. He learned how to open the kitchen cabinets and keep them open the other day. We're going to have to baby-proof my parents house really soon! He can put food in his mouth, and loves feeding himself. He loves his puffs, but he REALLY likes graham crackers. He could eat them all day long if he wanted to. He also loves it when his grandpa shares his yogurt. Haha. I wish I could update you on how tall he is, how much he weighs and how huge his head is, but since Andrew doesn't have a pediatrician back here, we're just going to have to wait until his 1-year appointment. Which will be in under 3 months. That's crazy.

Jason's still doing well in his internship. He's enjoying interpreting in Spanish and the people he works with.

As for me:

• I stay home with Andrew and Carrie and we take care of him and each other. I've read 5 library books since I've been here, and I think I may begin two more Mitch Albom books here in the next little while.
• I'm loving having a tv again! Jason and I have a tv, but don't get any stations. My parents have DTV and have a DVR, so we record shows all the time and watch them later when we're all able to get together and watch them together. It's really fun.
• I'm drawing Halloween decorations to put up in the house. I haven't made very many yet, and I'm not the greatest artist, so I imagine that once Halloween is over the decorations will be coming down and going in the trash. *sigh* Oh well.
• The next couple days will be busy for me! Today, Carrie, Jason, Andrew and I will be going to this local hands-on science museum called COSI. I used to volunteer there a couple times a month one summer when I was in high school, and I haven't been there since. I'm excited to show Jason, and hopefully Andrew will like it too.
• Tomorrow, Carrie, Jason and I are going to Cedar Point! I've been telling Jason about the place since before we were married, so finally, after two years of marriage, we're going! It's supposed to be kinda chilly, but I don't care. I'm excited!!! Roller coasters, here we come!
• On Monday, my family is going to Hocking Hills. It's a beautiful part of Ohio, full of rolling hills. We're going to be having family pictures taken there as well, the first since before Jason and I were married. I'm happy that Jason and I will have pictures of our little family taken. We don't have any pictures of Andrew up around our apartment at all, which is upsetting to me, so we're going to fix that. Hurray!

Here's one picture of Hocking Hills that I found on google:

Things have been good. I've been terrible about getting pictures from the camera and my phone to the computer, so when I've done that I'll have another picture posting!

Crazy

It's weird to think that Jason and I have been in Ohio for nearly a month. I'm loving being home with my family, and I can already tell that I'm going to miss everyone and everything when we leave to go back to Rexburg in December/January.

Anyway, not too much is going on here. We've been making apple pies with the apples we picked, we made a mess of the family room so that we could paint the walls - a task that needed to be done years ago, we've been watching all the Ohio State football games, we went out to eat with my mom for lunch today to celebrate her birthday during her lunch hour...

Most days are kind of the same, but that's what life is like when you're a mom, right?

Andrew turns 9 months on Wednesday. I can't believe he's been around that long already. Life, I admit, has not been easy since he was born. It's a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. Sometimes I take breaks from him, and I'm glad I do because I get the chance to miss him and remember that he's pretty much the most important thing to me in the entire world.

He's getting so big. Since we're not in Idaho, we're not taking him to a pediatrician for his 9-month appointment. I wish we had a scale so that I could weigh him! Everyone's always asking how much he weighs, and I just have to guess most of the time. 2 1/2 months ago he was 22 lbs 3 oz, so I'm assuming he's somewhere around the 24 lb mark because he gains 2 lbs every time we go back to the pediatrician's! It's ridiculous.

And he's getting so... old. I don't know how else to say it. He's saying mamamamama and dadadada and all sorts of other sounds. He rolls over, sits up alone, crawls, and pulls up on everything ALL the time. He hasn't quite figured out the cruising thing, but he's working on it. He just hasn't figured out that moving his legs is the fastest way to get somewhere. He's got his pincer grasp just about down and can grab his puffs and stick them in his mouth by himself. He's doing so much nowadays sometimes I wonder if he was ever not able to hold his head up. That feels like so long ago, and yet yesterday.

Life is crazy.

And here's my crazy 9-month-old baby, having fun with his grandma.

Picture Time!

So. I finally found the cord that connects the camera to the computer, and we also now have decent batteries in the camera. That means it's picture time!

My family came out to Idaho on a road trip, and here are some of the pictures from that:

My grandparents in Idaho Falls took us out to eat, and it was my mom's personal mission to make sure Andrew was fed as well.

Carrie and I got to sit next to each other. She's crazy. I love her. <3

Jason got to have some man-to-man time with my dad, not something he gets with me!

Susette and Joshie boy!

Some explanation for this next picture - Andrew was having some difficulties with *ahem* easily pushing his bowel movements out, so here is a resulting picture...

Hahahahaha!

Yay for Grandma and Grandpa! We love them.

After visiting with Grandma and Grandpa, we went out to Yellowstone, taking the route through Jackson Hole. I only got one picture of Jackson, and we were moving fast in the car, so here's the picture:

The famous antler arch!

The weather was beautiful that day, with a clear blue sky, so our view of the Teton Mountains was amazing!

Andrew rode in car with my parents and Susette and Josh, while Carrie rode with us in our car. Andrew loved being with my family, especially his grandpa, as you can see in this picture:

Family picture! This is the entire Budge family, so far.

We only saw one animal on our drive through Yellowstone - a bison, which moved very, very slowly....

This isn't really a geyser like Old Faithful or anything, but I thought the steam and hot liquid running down into the river looked really neat.

This is where the steam was coming from. I thought it was beautiful!

And then we left for Ohio! Hurray!

We had a barbecue before the Ohio State-USC game, and Andrew loved being outside. The fire was especially interesting!

He loves playing with his aunt Suzi...

And with his uncle Josh...

And with aunt Carrie!

We went out to eat at a restaurant called Schmidt's in German Village for my birthday last Friday, and here are some pictures from that:

Family picture! It was bright out, so all of us were squinting, but that's ok!

Andrew with his daddy!

There was a duo music group - an accordion and a tuba - that Andrew thought was interesting... sort of...

And now we're here! Hurray! You've been caught up. :) I might add pictures from my phone soon...

Apple picking and my birthday

This last week here has been pretty interesting.

Last Friday, my mom had the day off from work, so she took Jason, Andrew and I to this place called Lynd's Fruit Farm to pick apples. They had three kinds available for picking that day: Gala, Macintosh, and Honeycrisp. They're all really yummy. My mom makes applesauce and apple pies from the apples she picks from this place, and it always turns out great. She's been working on applesauce all week, and today we're going again to pick the apples that she'll need to make her famous apple pie.

My birthday was the 16th of this month (Wednesday), and it was a pretty chill day. We just hung out around the house, and that night we had some yummy cake. Last night, to celebrate with all the family, we went to this place in Columbus called German Village, where Germans settled as they moved here. There's a restaurant in that part of town called Schmidt's, and they serve traditional German food. It was really good. They even had entertainment from a duo, one man playing the accordion and one playing the Tuba. My sisters told them that it was my birthday, so they played happy birthday for me and took my picture. I'll add the picture later, because I currently can't find it....

My family gave me a present - a $50 gift card to H&M! I am really excited to use it because as I said in my last entry, I have a hard time finding clothes that fit that I can actually buy because it's usually too expensive for us. A lot of my clothes are yeeeaaarrs old. I'm in desperate need of an update.

Other than that, it's been pretty relaxing. I don't have much to do other than take care of Andrew and help around the house a bit. And when Jason's gone with his internship or studying, it's nice because there's usually someone here to keep me company. It's been great.

I love my family. :)

Ohio!

So. I got new batteries for the camera. I put them in. Turned it on. Well, attempted to turn it on. The new batteries don't work. Totally lame. So no new pictures this blog either. *sigh*

To make up for it though, Jason, Andrew and I have made it to Ohio! The trip was kind of a whirlwind. We left Rexburg last Thursday. I really thought we were never going to leave. We had so much cleaning and packing and laundry and everything to do before we left, the thought hit me that we might not be able to leave until the next day, but we made it happen.

We stayed with my uncle Lynn and aunt Janice in Sandy that night, then drove to Provo for a tour of their law school. We had been there for a couple hours, and by the time the tour came around, Andrew was asleep on the floor in a remote corner of the building, so Jason went on the tour by himself. I was kinda sad at first - I wanted to see everything with him! - but the tour ended up just being of their extensive library, so I guess that would've been kinda boring for me.

While in Provo, we picked up Jason's younger sister, Katie, who had been there for an old mission friend's wedding. We hadn't seen her since July, so it was fun to see her. We drove up to Salt Lake, where we stayed with my uncle Rod and aunt Jeanene for Friday and Saturday nights, and Jason's older sister Shauna met up with us there on Friday night. We talked for a long time, enjoyed Pupusas (native food to El Salvador, where Jason served his mission), watched tv, and watched several episodes of a tv show called Parker Lewis Can't Lose, a favorite show of Jason and his sisters growing up.

Saturday we lounged around my aunt and uncle's house for the morning, then spent the later part of the day shopping! We went to this store similar to REI or Dick's called Kirkham's for Shauna, then we went to the Gateway Mall and spent a good long time there. Jason and I didn't get anything, although a couple times I really wanted something. I hate being poor! You end up not even being able to replace a thing that needs replacing! ...such as jeans with holes in them. *sigh* Oh well. Oh, and I've realized that shopping for clothes after having a baby is completely different from before having a baby. My body is shaped differently, even though I didn't know it. Things don't fit correctly anymore!

Sorry for complaining. Moving on.

Jason and I flew out here Sunday, but we missed our flight! We thought it took off at 11:14, but it took off 10:38, so we got there just in time for the plane to be taking off, just about. Whoops! We talked with someone and got it worked out, so we arrived in Columbus 2 1/2 hours after our original time, but I think it worked out better for everyone. My parents had just gotten done with a fireside celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the Columbus Ohio temple, where my mom would've had to rush to pick us up and get to the fireside if we had taken our original flight. It was fun though because both of my parents plus Carrie and my friend Rachel were able to come to the airport to get us! We had a great ride home.

There was a family reunion on Monday in Kentucky, so we had more traveling. I didn't recognize a lot of the people because it was a reunion for my great aunt Pete (her name is a completely other story), my grandpa's sister. We spent 8 hours in the car and 2-3 hours there. It was a long day, especially for Andrew. Poor guy.

We've been relaxing for the most part since Tuesday. My sister, Carrie, is a hairstylist, and she gave me a new haircut yesterday, which is cuuute - I actually have bangs that are nice instead of those super-long ones that just barely don't fit behind your ears. Then we met up with a friend of Jason's from Washington that's out here for dental school. It was pretty fun.

I have plans to meet up with one of my friends today and just take a walk around the neighborhood to catch up.

Can I just say how much I love being home? I think I started to miss it more and more out at school, especially when I got married and the idea that I may never go back to Ohio to stay got into my head. Going to school in Idaho and marrying a guy from Washington state makes it hard to come home at all. I'm so excited that Jason, Andrew and I get to be here for several months for Jason's internship, that my parents get to be grandparents, that my sisters get to be aunts, and I get the help with Andrew that I've longed for these months on end.

Yay for Ohio!

Pregnancy Survey and BUSY-NESS!

WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED? Sorta. We weren't sure if I was going to have trouble getting pregnant at first, so we weren't trying to get our hopes up in case nothing happened, but it did!

WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME? Yes

WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? I was really happy. It wasn't until the end of the pregnancy that reality hit that I was going to be having this little human that would, at least for a few years, completely depend on me.

WAS ABORTION AN OPTION FOR YOU? No way, Jose!

HOW OLD WERE YOU? I was 21 when I found out I was pregnant, and 22 when he was born

HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? Well, we were moving into a new apartment, and I kept having these cramps like I was going to have my period, but the period never came. We bought some pregnancy tests, and when I took them, it showed the second line just barely 2 different times, so I wasn't sure if I was pregnant or not. I went up to the school's student health center for a test, and that's when I officially found out I was pregnant!

WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST? I was at the student health center by myself, so the first person I told was Jason. Haha! After that, we both called our moms and texted everyone else in the entire world, just about.

DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? I think I would go insane from curiousity and lack of appropriate preparation if I didn't find out. We found out in August of last year that Andrew was a boy.

DUE DATE? December 29th, but he wasn't born until the 30th.

DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? Yeah. It was persistent nauseousness that wouldn't go away. Fortunately I didn't throw up from morning sickness... I threw up in my last trimester because of really bad heartburn! Thank heaven that went away when he was born.

WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? French fries every day, and cake, ice cream, candy bars... anything sweet just about every day.

WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? When spouses were mean to each other. It made me cry. But everything made me cry when I was pregnant, stupid hormones!

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX? A boy

DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING? No. I've heard that boys are easier to take care of! Good gender to begin with when you have NO experience with babies. Sometimes I wish I had a girl just because I grew up with only sisters, but oh well. Heavenly Father tossed me into the pool of testosterone, and I'm just hoping to survive the swim!

HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY? 17. I had a hard time gaining enough weight.

DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? I did I did! My mom flew me out to Ohio for a week for fun with my sisters, pampering, and a baby shower. It was great.

WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? Well, I had to fly myself home for it, so I definitely knew. Haha.

DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? Just really bad heartburn, and pinched nerves in my legs from Andrew's head being so low the last month. That's about it.

WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? Madison Memorial Hospital in Rexburg

HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? From the time I had my first contraction to the time he was out, it was pretty much exactly 9 hours. Yay for inductions.

WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH? Jason and the nurses. My family wasn't there and it was over Christmas Break at school, so no one was even in town to come if they wanted to.

WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION? It was a vaginal delivery, if that's what you mean by "natural".

DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? Heck yes. You couldn't pay me enough to go without an epidural. I'll have one for the rest of my babies too.

HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? 8 lbs 6 oz. Big baby!

WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN ? December 30th, 2008 at 5:14pm

WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER? Andrew Tyler McBride is the boy's name

HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY? He's almost 8 months old! He'll be 8 months on Sunday.

Ok, on to the real post. And sorry, my camera's batteries are dead, so for now there aren't any pictures.

This past week (and the next week) has been complete busy-ness! My family went on a road trip across the country, and when they got to Utah on Monday, Jason, Andrew and I went down to meet them. We went on a tour of the conference center in Salt Lake, went out to eat... I don't remember what else we did... Anyway, that night we went down to Sandy to stay with an aunt and uncle that live there, and to have a family get-together for my dad's side of the family. All my dad's siblings were there except one, and none of my cousins were able to make it, but that's alright. It was really fun anyway.

Tuesday, we drove back up to Idaho Falls. On our way, we stopped in Logan to hang out with my cousin Michael who just got back from his mission in Iowa, and is now attending school at Utah State. We had lunch and got the famous Aggie ice cream. It was good. :) Then we drove up the rest of the way to my grandparents' house, and spent the rest of the evening with them - including going out to dinner - until it was time to go to bed. Jason and I drove back up to Rexburg to sleep because there wasn't enough room for all of us to stay with my grandparents.

Wednesday, my family drove up here to Rexburg, and we spent the day together. We walked the temple grounds, showed them around campus and walked around the University Store together. We went out to eat at Frontier Pies for lunch, and it was fabulous. We hung out at the apartment for a while, shipped some of our stuff to Ohio since we're going there for the fall, and my sisters and I went shopping. :) I love shopping. We went out to dinner, then watched the Hannah Montana movie afterwards while Jason had his Wednesday stake meetings.

Yesterday we went to Yellowstone! It took forever to get there because we drove there through the Tetons, and there was a TON of construction on the roads. It was annoying! We got there and ate lunch, and walked around a few different places. We got to Old Faithful just in time to watch it go off! Actually, Susette, Carrie and Josh were able to watch it go off, but the rest of us were parking our cars... Jason and I got home around 8pm, and we were exhausted. It was a long day.

For the rest of the time that we're here (until next Thursday), I'm making details "to do" lists to make sure that everything that needs to get done around here actually gets done. I'm getting really excited, but really nervous that we'll forget something. I mean, being gone for 4 months is no short time. If we forget something we really need, I guess we can just buy it when we get there, but I don't want to forget anything. I'm just glad that we shipped half the things to Ohio already. Yay. I'm going to keep myself B-U-S-Y over the next week.

Crossing my Fingers

I changed the background on my blog to autumn-y stuff. I'm crossing my fingers that it comes soon!

I haven't been outside yet today (kinda sad, eh?), but apparently it's supposed to be stinkin' hot the next couple days. Oy! Fortunately for me, our apartment is pretty cold most of the time, even without air conditioning. We just leave our windows open all night and then shut them when we wake up. It keeps things pretty cool. Thank heaven.

Anyway, just thought you should know. :)

Nice Weather + Roaring

I'm not a fan of being hot. Probably because I don't like sweating and feeling wet and sticky when I didn't shower or anything. Yuck. It's been pretty hot around here lately.

But the last couple days have brought a little bit of a respite from the heat. I love 75° weather. Mmmmm...

Andrew and I went outside to play today. I took some pictures and wanted to share.

Also, the other day, I found a new thing that Andrew likes to laugh at: when I roar at him. Oh, the things we do to make our kids happy. Here's a video: