My Three-Year-Old Boy

My baby boy is 3. I can hardly believe it. I don't know why but this third birthday is hitting me hard! I feel that this year will be full of changes for our little buddy. First potty training, then moving into a big boy bed, moving to Connecticut, and starting preschool in the fall. He is also officially binky free. I had been dreading the day when we took the binky away because he sleeps with it every nap and night, but one night he just told Tyler he didn't want it. After a couple days he stopped mentioning it completely. My toddler is turning into a big preschooler and it's making me want to freeze time!

At age 3 Jackson is really starting to communicate better. He now speaks in full sentences and knows what most words mean. He still mumbles and is a little hard to understand for others but I can understand him all the time now. He also has gotten very imaginative in his play, which makes things super fun. He loves pretending there are alligators chasing us or that we're on a boat, or a beach etc etc. He loves his cars, trucks, and trains most of all, but also loves pirates, animals, dinosaurs blocks and balls of all kinds. He loves playing outside with his bike, scooter and digging with his shovel and dump trucks. He loves puzzles and can figure them out way faster than I would expect him to and still loves books and has recently started "reading" Abbie stories. 

He is such a good big brother. Even today on his birthday he allowed Abbie to play with some of his new favorite toys. When Abbie cries he will stop what he's doing to try and make her happy, he usually succeeds. While in the car he can always make her happy just by saying, "Be Happy Abbie!!" and then he does this silly shake with his head. She laughs at him more than anyone else.

He is getting better with his coordination. Playing with play-do, painting and coloring are becoming more fun and right now he loves drawing faces. He can climb up rock walls and ladders at the park and loves the slides, climbing up and sliding down. At joy school he is learning to interact better with others and is sharing better than ever. We still have our moments but I'm seeing a maturity in him starting to peek through. Last week at the park a boy was crying because he didn't want to leave. Jackson went over to him handed him a car and said, "no cry no cry" and wiped his tears, just like he does with Abbie. The boy was a little surprised at his gesture but it showed the softer side to Jackson I love so much.

He loves his daddy and playing chase with him is one of his favorite things ever. They have so much fun together and always have a special bond. They laugh together so much and Jackson is developing such a cute little sense of humor.

Two-year-old Jackson and I had our challenges. We had some hard moments with tantrums, hitting and all that other fun classic two year old behavior. I kept waiting for him to grow up, to learn to talk better, to learn to share better, to learn to listen better. But I'm beginning to realize more and more that I need to just focus on the positive moments with him and enjoy this little boy while he's still so innocent. Another joy school mom mentioned that seeing Jackson reminds her of her 5 year old son when he was that age, and it made her miss that boy's stage. I look at her son and his friends around kindergarten-age and they really are so different than Jackson already. I love that when I go to pick up Jackson from nursery or a babysitter he will run to me and yell an excited, "mama!" I know that won't last too much longer so I will take it while I can. I love how he gets excited every time he sees a truck drive by or a cow in a field. I love how he gets excited for treats and yells "yoo hoo!" with his hands in the air. I love how silly he can be and I love how he says, "That's silly" in his cute little voice. Wow. I love that boy!



I'll have to post more about our trip to Connecitcut (buying a house, selling a house and buying a car in 3 days) and Jackson's birthday events later. But for now I'm having a great night thinking about my little boy and how I'm so lucky to be his mommy. I am so excited for this year with three-year-old Jackson!

Tyler's To-Do List

Last night I asked Tyler if he was stressed about finals and finishing up his MBA program next week. He told me, "yeah that's on my mind but it's probably number 8 on my list." Then we stopped to think about what he's really got on his mind right now and it's kind of ridiculous how much he's got.

Just for documentation purposes, so we all see what's up in his mind this month...

1. Figure out where to live in Connecticut (considering the best city, neighborhood, ward, home, how much we can afford)
2. Sell our home in Florida (hopefully our good friends are buying it, just have to make sure it all goes through with paperwork, inspections, etc)
3. Focus on new job at Legrand, start doing research and coming up with ideas (impress boss!)
4. Finish job with Wattstopper and train the replacement (whenever they hire one!)
5. Buy a new car (we're turning in the company Ford Edge and most likely buying an Odyssey)
6. Finish school (one weekend left of MBA program and then graduation in May)
7. New calling as assistant ward mission leader.
8. Oh yeah, be a husband and father
9. Be a friend
10. Sleep if there's time

Dang anything else??

The big move

This month we hit our 4th anniversary of living in Florida. We really weren't sure what to expect moving here, but it's really when the real world began for us. We had been married 2 years and had been focused on school, work and enjoyed living near family and friends. We'd been living mainly in our 1 bedroom apartment and were just starting to imagine a life with kids, and in a larger place. I never would have guessed how different our lives would be 4 years later. First, we moved into a 3 bedroom townhouse that felt absolutely huge at the time! Now we live in an amazing home, in a wonderful neighborhood and even have sunset views of the lake from our backyard every night. Tyler's job took him all over the South and I got to experience it with him. We have driven around this entire state together, know all the best beaches and have even driven to Mississippi, Alabama & Georgia. The Florida lifestyle of theme parks, beaches and being outside year round has been a really fun one to get used to.

I became a mother in Florida. We have an almost 3 year old son and an almost 1 year old daughter. That has got to be the biggest change. They are my life and I love them so much. Before moving to Florida my normal day consisted of school, studying, hanging out with Tyler, family, friends and then working full time. Now my normal days consist of feeding, dressing, changing diapers, playing, stroller walks, shopping, bathing, and bedtime. I'll take the latter any day. We are a family of four and love it.

We have made great friends here, and since Tyler and I don't have work friends or family, all of these friends have come through the church. In the past couple years so many young families have moved to Windermere. At first we were quite a bit younger than the average family and having no kids, also set us apart from most families in the ward. But now we are more in line with the majority of the ward. There are about 10 kids who would be in Jackson's primary class and class at school, same with Abbie. There are some great people who we have grown to know and we are sad to say goodbye to our new friends already. We are almost certain we won't find what we have here, in Connecticut. 

But it's time to end this chapter of our lives and move onto another adventure. We've always known that living here was just a temporary thing, but now that we've grown to love it here - it is hard to say goodbye. For a while we were hoping that Tyler's new job would allow him to live here and keep working from home. We thought maybe he could take a different type of national sales job and keep living here, but alas those options did not work out in the end. This job is requiring him to be in Connecticut and so we are heading off.

When Tyler first mentioned that Connecticut was an option for us to live I wouldn't even consider it. I didn't even let him talk about it with me because I didn't want it to happen. After months of thinking we'd be moving back west, to California, I didn't want to hear that we'd be moving across the country in the wrong direction. But eventually it was inevitable that we'd be moving there so I finally let him talk about it with me. I think that same day I decided to look at a map, because I had no idea where Hartford even was in the state.

December was when things got real. While I was at home during one of the roughest weeks of motherhood (both kids had ear infections and Abbie wasn't sleeping or nursing at nights) Tyler was meeting with Legrand here in Orlando at their national sales meeting. It was that week that he found out that the job was officially offered to him and we had to move to CT. 12.12.12 was a memorable day for us because I was at the doctor with both kids and Tyler was meeting with the Presidents and HR Directors about details of the job. They said they'd get him a formal offer after the new year. Well fast forward to February and FINALLY we got an offer that we agreed to and signed. That was a long waiting month. While we knew it was probably happening. We couldn't publicly announce it for weeks. While I still wasn't thrilled about the move, I was so excited when the offer finally came through that the uncertainty was over and we could start moving forward.

Tyler has been up to CT three times this year already and the kids and I are heading up this weekend for the first time. We've spent hours looking at homes, neighborhoods, and cities and still aren't sure where we will move. We have a realtor and Tyler has spent a couple days looking at homes already, but it is still overwhelming. We did have a favorite house, but that one just went under contract. We have some other top contenders but I'm still anxious to get up there and see for myself. We are looking in to towns of Avon, Simsbury, Farmington, and Burlington. They are all on the west side of the city, since Tyler will be working in West Hartford. Who knows where we will end up, we are even thinking of looking at some additional cities this weekend. It's just such a change since most homes are much older and such a different style than we are used to. There are some really beautiful homes though and we are anxious to get a house with a big yard full of soft non-Florida grass (while it's not covered with snow that is).
I hope that soon we can post pictures of our new house on the blog, but until then - let the search continue. 

When I stop to think about moving I really start to get sad and tear up, but with so much going on at the moment, luckily I'm not stopping too often. For now I'm enjoying my time here while it lasts.

On to the next adventure ...

Connecticut

Well I guess we're private now. If you're reading this I must have done something right to add your email successfully.  I know that for me, I only click on a few of my friends' private blogs every now and then because I never know if they updated or not, so I just look every couple months or so. That might be the case with you all now. I think maybe now the blog might be a place to be a little more personal than I was before because it is private. I'll be a little more specific about things perhaps. But we'll see what happens. For now I should write a post about the fact that we're moving to Connecticut.

Tyler and I have told our families, friends, and made announcements on Instagram and Facebook. But for those who have missed it, we are moving to Hartford, Connecticut in May. Tyler has been offered a job to work at LeGrand headquarters and has been assigned to be part of a new initiative. I'll try to explain it simply here.

Right now Tyler works for Wattstopper (http://www.wattstopper.com), they manufacture and sell lighting and energy control products (ex. the sensors that turn off lights when a space is empty or the panels that control a large building's lights, such as an airport, university, etc). His company is owned by Legrand (www.legrand.us) which is the world specialist in products and systems for electrical installations and information networks, offering solutions for use in residential, commercial and industrial buildings. Legrand owns several companies that provide lights, wiring, cables, information systems and data communication - basically all the tools that bring power to homes and buildings.

He is the Southeast District Sales Manager for Wattstopper. When he started in 2009 he was over Florida, Alabama, Mississippi & Louisiana, so yeah a bit of southern travel was involved. Now since Florida's business has grown so much, he is just managing Florida and the Caribbean (thanks to his handy Spanish speaking skills). It's been a great job and he has done great things for the company in Florida. Every year he has been one of the top producers for his company and in 2011 he was the company's leader in sales. Four years later, though, he is ready for a change, ready for a promotion, and ready to be out of sales. Since his company is not based in Florida, however, a promotion or new job within the company will mean we need to move to one of their offices across the country. So we knew this day was coming but we've never known where we would go from here.

Wattstopper has offices in Alabama, Texas, Carlsbad, California & Livermore, California, and the headquarters are in Santa Clara, CA. So we figured we'd most likely be in one of those offices, with the most likely option being Carlsbad or Santa Clara. Last summer he interviewed for a job in Carlsbad with product management and we were optimistic that he would be given that job. However he was told by the CEO that while he would have been great at that job, they had another role in mind for him. Then we waited for a few months, a long time it felt like, to finally find out what this other role they had for him involved.

In August he flew to Connecticut for meetings at LeGrand headquarters. It was his first time there and while he was there for a trade show he also got to meet with some of the leaders of the company. He learned about a special project the comapny was finishing called Adorne. A team of 5 employees from the different residential based companies were brought together to combine their products into one product line. There is a youtube video here that shows some of the prodcuts they came up.

While in CT he heard they were likely starting a similar project with their commercial companies and making a new product line. He was interested in this new development but didn't think about it all that much. But in the coming months he realized that he was the company's choice to be the Wattstopper representative on this project. After lots of emails, phone calls, and visits with the VPs of Legrand it was made offical that Tyler would be joining 4 others to begin this special project, which will be based at Legrand's headquarters in Hartford, CT.

He is so excited for this opportunity. It's basically like he's starting a new company and and with his strong entrepreneurial side to him he's in heaven. And I'm in heaven because unlike an actual startup company, we have the backing of Legrand and still get a salary. For the fist time in our marriage he will be working in an office, with normal hours, and much less travel! He officially starts in April and we will be moving in May.

This explanation is getting long so I'll wrap it up for now. That is the details the black and white, I'll have to save my emotions about the big move for another post.

Wedding Weekend

February 15, 2013 - Michael & Annika were married! We flew to AZ very late the night before and got in really late! The kids slept a little bit on the plane but were both wide awake when we got to my parents house. Jackson immediatly ran into Steven's room to get his trains, lugged them into the family room and said, "tada!" Silly boy was crazy at 1 am Florida time. But we eventually put the kids to bed and hung out with the family and Michael before his big day!!

One of my favorite engagement pics

Their wedding was in the morning at the Mesa Temple and it was a beautiful day! They were sealed by Brother Perkinson who also sealed Tyler and me as well as Paige & Ben. He is my good friend, Jill's Grandpa, and Annika had known him from her ward growing up. He performs such an amazing ceremony and the spirit was so strong. I'm grateful to have been able to be there and for Steven and others who watched Jackson and Abbie outside during the event.

Annika was beautiful and Michael didn't look too bad himself :) She was actually wearing the same veil I wore at my wedding which I thought was really cool :)

I really didn't take that many pictures because I was holding Abbie the whole time, so I got these from other family members and friends!

My mom has now thrown two wedding receptions, but this was her first time with a wedding luncheon. They decided on a luncheon rather than a dinner mostly due to the fact that the night before their wedding was Valentines' Day! So we went straight from the temple to Stonebridge Manor for an amazing luncheon!  I should have taken more pictures, Jackson and Abbie were home with a babysitter so I have no excuse really. But I did take a couple. The flowers, food, and location were all perfect. It was a great party!

My place setting

The reception that evening was amazing as well. It was held in Annika's backyard and they had recently redone everything back there and it was so great!

Tented off eating area, colors of gold cream and mint

Driveway where you walked up, sign in table.

Jackson wore his suit and tie all night and looked so handsome

Abbie was in the cutest little dress, but was so crazy all night from lack of sleep!

The only picture I got with his boutonniere, he ripped it off right after

Love these people

How Jackson spent most of the night!

This frame is made of fresh flowers

Cake Cutting!

It was such a great night and so well attended, the place was packed! That's what happens when two kids from the same city get married :)

Thanks for sending me emails, for those who have! I've got to now just plug them all in and the blog should be private in a couple days.

Time to go Private (sorry!)

We just came home from a great weekend in AZ for Michael & Annika's wedding! It was perfect and we are so happy for them! But before I do a post with pictures and details I need to share that we are going Private on our blog.

With lots of hits from Russia (and other countries in which we have no connection) recently it's unsettling with us. Unless a long-lost friend in Russia comes forward with an admittance to checking our blog recently, we will be going private by the end of the month.

I really don't like doing this because I love blogs and being able to keep in touch with family and friends easily but internet safety (especially with our children) is more important.

So please leave your email in the comments, or contact us in any way with your email.

Thanks so much

Life Lately

Well I'm finally caught up with the blog and can now share some thoughts and pictures from our life so far in 2013. We've been back in Florida for a month and we've had a great time! Abbie has been sleeping at nights much better than on our trip. She still wakes up, but its such a welcome change from the every hour or two for a month straight! One nice thing is that the kids have started waking up later. Ever since traveling the kids wake up around 8 every day. I love it :)

One of Jackson's main presents he wanted for Christmas was a helmet. I'm not sure what gave him the idea but he mentioned it all the time that he wanted one from Santa. SO finally he was able to put his Christmas present to use. He can even put it on by himself, taking it off is a little trickier. But he loves riding around our cul-de-sac and has a routine of the things he sees and touches each time. We play outside pretty much every day and have been loving this mild Florida winter.

He has gotten so great at riding his bike!

But he's even faster on his scooter :)

While Abbie takes her morning nap Jackson and I do puzzles and toys that normally are a little tougher to do with crawling baby trying to get into. He loves his magna-tiles he got from Nana for Christmas and his Thomas puzzle he got from Grammy. With Abbie asleep it makes playing with them much easier :) After playing we'll go outside and let him ride around on his bike and scooter. He also has a dump truck he got from Mom and Dad and loves playing with that recently too. As soon as Abbie wakes up we'll either go run errands or if nothing is on the agenda, we'll go to the park.

My walk buddies, Jackson was checking out some cool cranes and ducks.

He sat in the stroller, buckled himself in and wanted to go to the park!

 There is a new park in the neighborhood that Jackson loves to go to. It also has baby swings so Abbie is in heaven, she could sit in a swing for an hour if I'd let her :)

Collage from a recent park day

We've also been going to Disney A LOT! I think we've been to magic kindom 3 or 4 times, Epcot twice and Animal Kingdom once just this month. We've also gone to a few different resorts and have enjoyed checking out all Disney has to offer! One of our recent favorites was the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Tyler had never been and I'd just been once at night, so we loved being able to see the giraffes, zebras and gazelles roaming the grounds.

Giraffes are one of his favorites :)

 We went to Epcot one morning and met up with our friends, the Myers. Jackson and Madeline are just a couple months apart and this pose was just too cute in front of the car.

Looks like they're heading out on a date

Both kids loved the new Little Mermaid Ride at Magic Kingdom

At least mom and dad are smiling :)

This year Tyler and I want to be better at going out on dates, we didn't get out alone as much in 2012 after Abbie was born. So we had set a goal to go on a date every weekend in 2013 if possible. But after she had such a rough time in AZ & UT going to other people, we were a little scared about this goal. But luckily since we've been back in FL she's gotten so much better. We have gone out 3 times (once a babysitter got sick last minute) and are keeping up with our goal! For our dates so far we've gone to a new Italian place, the temple, and Epcot. Since she's still nursing, we're still coming home by 9 to put her to bed but it has been great to get out and we're so proud of Abbie for being better going to others!

Riding the new Test Track

Waiting for our pizza in Italy @ Epcot

Last weekend we visited Tyler at school for lunch. We hadn't been in a few months and the kids loved seeing Daddy! We got my favorite Pita Pit sandwiches for lunch and Abbie even tried (and loved) lamb from the gyro. (Jackson just liked the chicken, haha). He only has 3 more weekends before he's earned his MBA!

Jackson ready for school!

While Abbie is still not walking, she has learned to climb up the stairs! It happened the start of February and once she climbed, she went all the way. Now it's a bit of a problem because she climbs up every chance she gets! No falls yet, but it's probably time to get a baby gate or something.

She is so fast and can get up in a matter of seconds!

She is an expert walker with her new stroller toy

This sweet boy turns 3 next month and already says he wants a BIG Buzz Toy.

Eye patch or bow? We still really like pirates around here