What's Going On Here???

It's time the truth comes out

2011-11-18T22:02:00.000-08:00

I let Lena watch morning cartoons...and on some days it's well past noon before I feel like turning it off because I needed her to be quiet

I have let Lena eat candy during breakfast because 1. I wanted it out of the house faster and 2. she is so tiny that she could use some extra pounds for the winter.

I have put Lena to bed and then after her screaming for a bit I realized she didn't have anything to eat for dinner (one of my proudest moments)

In the middle of "disagreements" with The Brenton I think of snappy things to say and sometimes I say it out loud even before I finish my thought knowing it was mean and unnecessary.

I have gone to bed angry

I have cried myself to sleep

I have cried in the shower so the noise of the water would block the sound

Sometimes I look up at the airplanes flying overhead and wish I was on it flying to my family back out west

I can't take very good pictures, I don't have an eye for anything

I use all purpose flour and cook white rice because I rather it taste better then be healthier.

The only pictures I think I look good in are my wedding pictures, everything else I can and do find a flaw

I am not a creative person, most of my inspiration comes from the internet

I have to stop myself from eating my feelings on an hourly basis

I am my worst enemy

I read other blogs and sometimes feel guilty that I don't have or do what they have or do

But that is no more...

I realized that everyone has problems...EVERYONE. Even those bloggers who have thought of every craft, made every delicious baked good, and done everything that looks to be super awesome...and the more I open up about it the more I find people like me, people who are just trying to do the best they can with the hand they have been dealt.

I am grateful for my problems because according to the things I see on the news...my problems are teenie tiny on the scale of how bad things can get....nano problems if you will.

I have

this

and

this.

I have the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I have faith that with every trial I am being shaped and formed to be something greater than I could ever try to be.

I am Lena's mom and Brenton's wife I am a one of a kind

There is no mold for me to try to fit into.

A Mother's love

2011-11-14T00:04:00.000-08:00

A mother sees that the energy level in the house is a little too high....so a mother's love takes the energy level on an hour long walk on the trail (the one with the big hill) and "forgets" the stroller so the energy must walk on her own.

A mother hears silence...so a mother's love quickly goes looking for an open basement door and a small shoeless/jacketless child who is playing in the 50 degree weather with the shovel that is used to remove the doggie poops.

A mother hears "Ok bye mama"and then the mother sees the door shut...so a mother's love understands immediately that the little one has found the ring on the side table and has plans to play with it elsewhere

A mother sees a potty training little one stop playing to get into a wide stance...so the mother's love goes to grab a rag and wipe up the urine that the little one just added to the floor

A mother is still sleeping when the little one wakes up...so the mother's love turns on whatever cartoon will keep her quiet for 30 more minutes...or more

A mother puts broccoli, spinach, asparagus and a tomato on the little one's plate....and a mother's love drenches it with ranch and promises whatever halloween treat that will get her to eat it.

A mother's love was tested this last week and luckily for the little one a mother's love continues to love

I dusted off the Ol' Computer

2011-09-15T18:44:00.001-07:00

Hello my readers (mom & Mer)

I know you guys are dying to read what I have to say, and for once....I have lots to say!
I am a "Day Time Mom" FINALLY!!! Hooray, hazza, Whoop Whoop and a big Yee-Haw

In a nut shell: I quit my day job and started working nights (not even all nights, just 4 nights and a Saturday afternoon/evening).

I get to be with my Lena Bug all day every day from the minute she wakes up until she goes to bed (minus Saturdays). I get to be home when The Brenton walks through the door from school/work, heck we even have had LUNCH together!

Lena and I have been to almost every park in a 20 mile radius, sometimes twice a day. Lena (and mama) have friends to play with! We get to play and nap and play again. But you know what else I get to do now that I am home:

The laundry
Clean the house
Walk the dog
Exercise
Cook dinner
Fight with the 2 yr old if she is having a crabby day/hr/moment
Fight the urge to just sit the 2 yr old in front of the t.v. all day because she is quiet then
Organize all those things that I said I was going to but didn't 'cause I was too busy

Dang it!! All of these things I have had a wonderful excuse to not have to do...don't get me wrong occasionally I did these, at least once a week, but now....it's my turn!

So far in my happiness to be home I have:

Had a clean kitchen sink for the majority of the day (first time in 5 yrs of marriage).
Cleaned the carpets from the winter mud....just in time for the fall rain to start
Sewed Peanut a dress (it's a spring/summer bright colored dress, but she will wear it all fall/winter, that's what sweaters and tights are for)
Dusted off the Jillian Michaels workout dvd
Changed out Lena's summer clothes to fall clothes, this time before fall is 1/2 way over
Started potty training the 2 yr old Diva! This girl works for m&ms
Planned out what I am going to be cooking a week in advance, and not once was it cereal

So there it is, one thing I have not been doing is taking pictures, which I know is the main reason why you all are here reading this...I think I can dig up a couple pics from the summer.

Mother's Day

The sign explains it

Oh Abe!

Yeah, she still hasn't really figured out which way they are supposed to go

My Lady's 2 yr birthday...Mickey brought to you by yours truly and The Brenton

The other pics of her birthday consisted of her with no pants, this is the best I could get...Mickey was MMmmmm good

Mama & Lena Love (plus proof that I got a tan this summer, heck yes!)

In case you are wondering, this is how she plans on
getting her man! I think it will work

It's not a summer in Maryland without Crabs dinnerLena didn't agree with the crab dinner, because they were still alive!
Okay she got a little more courageous Pretty in PInk

Proof that I can grow something...Snow peas, so good!

I had a great idea

2011-04-21T08:58:00.000-07:00

So I had this great idea for a birthday present for Grandma Jeana. Oh it was going to be so cute, Lena was going to hold up signs and I take pictures of what the signs say as she was wishing Grandma a happy birthday...so fun right???

How did I forget that I was not only working with a 2 yr old but I was working with MY 2 yr old...
It started off not too bad, I mean we could still see the words and she was smiling but it wasn't it...so we tried again

Oh yes give a child paper and it's crumpled in 2 seconds...nice thought Jazz

So maybe I ended up taping it to her

Oh this was her rendition of Head Shoulders Knees and Toes...
but it's called Head Shoulders Knees and Nose

I'm so proud

I know what that face is saying...do you??

And then I realized it was nap time!!!

Here is the final cut....Happy Birthday Grandma Jeana!!

Lost Dog

2011-03-18T14:56:00.000-07:00

For my local Maryland friends, this female yellow lab was brought to our clinic today. She doesn't have a collar and she is not microchipped!

(Yet another reason why you should have your dogs and cats microchipped!!)

She was found off Indian Hill Drive in Marriottsville. Call our office if you think you know her!

410-489-9410

or email:wfah@ comcast. net

(Yes I know you are thinking that this looks like my Chloe dog, and NO I am not trying to get rid of her, this girl is really a lost dog!)

It's Thursday

2011-03-10T09:42:00.001-08:00

It's Thursday here at the Livingston home, which means dad is at school all day and I get to be a stay at home mom for 24 hours!! For those of you still new to us Livingstons, or maybe I just haven't shared it...us Livingstons are still going through school....Masters???? We get asked that a lot, and we smile and answer..."no, bachelors" We're on the 10 year program, but hey at least we're still doing it. I/We refuse to not finish. Even though it would make life easier NOW for Brenton to be working along with me (stupid recession), we know that in the long run, I need a retirement! I need vacations! I need my pool boy Pablo to bring me diet soda drinks while my leathery tanned skin is sitting poolside for the 8th hour in a row (quite the visual no?) Which means The Brenton needs a good job, which means he need a degree or 2. So while he is working on those degrees, I am the bread winner, not something I love but it's what we both agreed to when we moved out here...So we continue on. The good news is, we're just one month closer to the cap and gown, we have 1 school yr left, or in my countdown 14 months!!

So back to Thursdays, I love them, I love Tuesdays and Thursday because that means that I get to be home with my Lena Diva ALL DAY. Some days I am begging for the work day to come to relieve me from the stress an almost 2 year old brings...but lately they have been wonderful. The weather has been good to us, so we venture out, yes it's still 40 degrees but the ice is gone and it's dry (except for today) so we bundle and get our legs moving. I love watching how much she loves to run. She points out the birds that she sees flying, the cats that are being fed by the cat lady across the street and of course the BUGS. She is such a girl.

Tomorrow I will return to work, and I will think about my girl all day, sometimes I cry when I leave and sometimes I just try to get through the workday so I can come home to my wonderful family. Our family has been blessed by the Lord in so many ways, I mean how many kids get to have their dad home with them ALL DAY 3 days out of the week? The Brenton knows that this is a rare time, and he probably won't get to have this with the other kids that may come, so he is soaking it up. I love that. I love that we don't have to pay for daycare because I have a wonderful job that works with my schedule when changes need to be made to fit Brenton's school schedule. One of us is always here for her, and as I have said many times in this post...I love that!

I love so many things about Thursdays,but mostly because NBC has funny shows starting at 8pm, like Community and 30 Rock, Outsourced is great too.

Okay now enjoy the pics:

This is how we do Valentines Day, Crab Legs, Cheesy potatoes, Old Bay,and FLOWERS. He's so good to me!

She is either a kitchen-get-in-the-way-er....or helper...here I think she was helping

It's hard not to love them

The Brenton makes FANTASTIC homemade bread. Stupid recession with their $4 a loaf, he makes it every week and it's just so much better. This bucket is FULL of flour from Costco for $6, you do the math!

This picture represents so many things, 1. She opens doors on her own 2. She gets things out of the garbage and 3. She is just getting too BIG. Flashback to the broken leg, this is a picture just min before we took it off,

(please excuse robo-dog)

She got a hold of the camera,I must say all the fat in her body is probably stored in her feet! Whoowza

The Brenton's Ladies, he's got it good!

East coast stink....bugs

2011-03-01T06:06:00.001-08:00

Do you see this jerk?

Well he is one of a bajillion million stinkbugs and they love it over here in Maryland. Rumor has it these buggers are Chinese origin and found there way here with some products that were imported in. They have NO known enemies and they are just taking over.

They are annoying and ate my mint I had planted last summer so we're not on speaking terms.

But this week I found value in these guys....My Lena is afraid of them!! Last year I would find her sticking them in her mouth...don't worry they were dead (yeah I puked a little when I saw her do it)And they are around all the time, but on Friday she had it....they scared her. She saw a bug on the stairs and would not move, even after I moved the bug she still sat there pointing saying "bug, bug, bug" So now I am thinking about when she is getting really clingy and I just need some space....I am going to hide behind a row of stink bugs so she'll leave me alone! I am even debating a stink bug t-shirt!

We almost did it

2011-02-06T18:38:00.000-08:00

Livingston Good News Moment:

For the last few weeks Lena had finally stopped saying her precious F word. We changed it to Fork, it was perfect.

That is until I was at Costco with Lena yesterday and I started saying "Fake" well that was just not right, and out comes that awesome word she liked to say so much. My Bad. I think I am just waiting for her to say it when everyone is quiet at church.

They missed the Mark

2011-02-01T10:53:00.000-08:00

So way back when,I went Christmas shopping, looking for a stocking stuffer for The Brenton. I found this great deal, it was a Nivea for Men gift set that included

1)Very Manly body wash
2) Very Manly shaving cream
3)Very Very manly aftershave lotion
(did I mention this was all for very manly sensitive skin? That was an oversight, The Brenton has regular tough manly skin)
and last but not least
4)very manly chapstick...and here lies my concern.

and mind you, I took like 4 marketing classes so I am a PRO at this stuff)

Now I can imagine it must be hard for the people who design and create these products to go from their main consumer group (oh yeah marketing terms..that's right!) of women and channeling it towards men. And I can see how they tried, I mean they made sure to make the chapstick "Non-shine" so it would appeal to men...BUT they really missed the mark on this because

they designed a chapstick for the man to use EXACTLY like a tube of lipstick! The Brenton likes the product but vows to never use this thing outside the house because it will look like he is applying makeup.So close but yet so off!

I'm ALIVE!!

2011-01-12T18:38:00.001-08:00

Holy cow where did my blogging go? I will do my best to catch you all up and get on a better blogging schedule (pronounce shed-ual).

October-The Brenton and I worked and went to school and parented...I worked,he schooled and we both parented. Adalena enjoyed her first real good Halloween and the meaning of way too much candy.

Nov-November, was pretty much like October, only difference was we really got into some good eating. Though family was not close by we still enjoyed our Thanksgiving. It was full of smoke alarms, burned arms and a delicious meal, and isn't that something to be thankful for!

Dec-wow!! What an amazing month, I don't remember much of it since it went by way too fast, but I must say that we were a very blessed family! We had work, we had our health and we had each other, so what more could we ask for? Oh yeah, a little girl with her first Tu-Tu, thanks Aunt Jamie!

Jan-The new year, so far it started with this pretty little picture

Spiral fracture of her right tibia! Sheesh! technically this happened in 2010, but the cast joined the family just yesterday. She is a trooper and has come to terms with the cast. It will only be on for 2 weeks, which gives her plenty of time to master her pirate walk. She pretty much walks like she has a peg leg. Tomorrow I am working on teaching her how to say "ArRRRR" with one eye closed. How did she do this you ask??

Well I will tell you, the girl is a climber! She was climbing on the coffee table and fell off, we x-ray-ed it that night with no sign of a fracture. But 2 weeks worth of limping, and 3-4 other trips and falls (which made my baby cry so hard) and I was ready to get it x-ray-ed again. This time we could see her leg healing from what I was told, by Dr. What's Her Face at John's Hopkins... a spiral fracture.

So there you have it 2011 startin' off with a bang. I am so excited for 2011 because 2010 kicked my trash. I enjoy trials/hard times only for the part that it makes me appreciate when there are no trials, so this year I am working on less trials, more enjoying. My New Year's resolution is to learn how to cook French food and to figure out how to get my 19 month to stop saying the F word. Yup you read that right, the one word that is NEVER NEVER used in this house, or by either of her parents and she has said it enough to fill a whole HBO show! I have my work cut out for me!

Happy New Year to you Blogging world, may all your wildest dreams come true!

2010-11-01T13:01:00.001-07:00

Find my work on facebook here

What's not to love??

2010-10-05T18:38:00.000-07:00

The MVA (DMV for everyone not in Maryland)

2010-09-28T12:19:00.000-07:00

Okay so today The Brenton and I had a morning/afternoon date....Brenton ditched school and we ended up ditching Lena and spent 2 1/2 glorious hours together at....The DMV!

Okay so here in Maryland, a little insight for all out "outsiders" is that the DMV here is called the MVA, yeah I get what it stands for and all, but why can't they be the DMV like everyone else?????

So anyway, we were there for 2 good hours so that means lots and LOTS of people watching, and with all of the watching I had about a trillion facebook status updates that I wanted to post...since we all hate when someone changes their status a trillion times in one day...I saved them all for one good blog post...so here we go

(P.S. it seems to be real tiny, so sorry if you have to squint)

It's nice to make new friends

2010-09-14T11:49:00.000-07:00

Chloe has found so many new friends here at the new house. Today she found herself a leaf bug. Now I am not going to say that she wanted to play hop scotch with this bug, rather she wanted to eat this green friend....but still a friend is a friend

Life Changing

2010-08-31T08:41:00.000-07:00

We moved, yes we did it again....Aren't you tired of reading about us moving?? Sheesh!

There are so many reasons why this move has bettered the life of our family and I can go on and on and on

but I will tell you one of the best benefits of this move

Ahh Mr. Microwave, welcome back!!

Mr. Microwave and I had a falling out

It happened in 2007, when we moved (the first move of many) to a great apt, everything was great, except...it was with no microwave

Why didn't we just buy one?? Well that is a question we debated for a long time, but my answer was that....we had NO counter space for a microwave, well I guess we had some, but if we added the microwave then we would have no place to set down the items that we were microwaving...see the problem???

And then we moved to a new apt here in Maryland that was also without microwave and little counter space

So for 3 very long non microwaving years, we lived in misery, but that misery has finally ended

And I can bring a new man into my life!

The invasion

2010-08-18T19:44:00.000-07:00

This is how it started, with just a few boxes here and there. Neatly organized and strategically placed so that the Diva could not get her tape pealing fingers on.
notice my poor insecure puppy Chloe on her pillow, she knows what brown boxes mean

We have to hide boxes on the patio so that both dog and child don't get into them!

This is the box inspector, she has to go through all the boxes to make sure they are up to code!

5 more days and then we are onto a bigger home with get this....SPACE! I am going to be carbo loading all week for our big move, gotta keep my energy up!

I hate Goodbyes

2010-08-17T06:12:00.000-07:00

I am a believer that God puts people in our lives for 2 reasons

#1) To make us a better person by giving us helpers, or little angels on earth, as I like to call them

#2) To make us a better person through trials because they are a pain in the butt!

So today I am talking about Rileigh Hansen, she is my category #1, angel on earth

Yesterday she and her amazing family packed up and moved to Oregon! Who does that??

Here is my summarized list of reasons why she is amazing

She always has a smile on her face...always
You always felt welcomed in her home
She loved my daughter like her own
Her frosting recipes were AMAZING, Ghirardelli chocolate and coconut extract..yeah so good!
Anything she baked was a work of art
She could dream up a themed party and it would be the greatest thing you've ever seen
To call her crafty would be an understatement
She knows movies, and in my family, that is a great characteristic
She is just one of those people that just makes you want to be a better person

She used her great photo-taking-skillz and took

Adalena's 1st birthday pics

Our first family pictures

She made this for Brenton's b-day party
Here she is handing out cupcakes for Brenton's Birthday
Isn't she just amazing??? Okay so Oregon, you better recognize what greatness is in your state now, and find this girl and just love her!! If not, there are many Marylanders who will gladly take her back.

4 Years of Pure Bliss

2010-08-05T07:29:00.001-07:00

It's been 4 years, 4 GLORIOUS years of marriage to this guy and it's been the best ever. Now I know some of you are wondering...."what is it like to be married to The Brenton?"
Well here you go, here is your insight to life with The Brenton

You will never be called by your first name...your first name will become one of many pet names....love bug, honey, sweetie, beautiful, sugar
Hugs and I love yous a hundred times a day, for no reason, just because he wants to tell you
Stress?? What is that?
Adventure, he is always up for a good adventure
I can only count on one hand how many times he has come home without a smile on his face, and in 4 years with me as his wife, that is pretty darn good!
If you ask him what he wants for dinner, he will always list off 3 choices, one always being a breakfast item.
Bread, rolls, and cinnamon rolls whenever you ask for it, homemade, made with love and they are OH so good!
You only have to ask him to do something once...that's it, not 2 or 3 times, this guy is on it!
Forgot where you put your glasses or cell phone? All you gotta do is ask and he will know where it is within 3 guesses.
He is so involved in his child's life
There is nothing he won't do for his family
Just being around him makes you want to be the best you that you can be, he just radiates happiness and love!

Marrying him was the best decision I ever made.For those of you who have met him, you will agree, that it doesn't get much better than this guy!

Farewell morning nap!!

2010-07-29T06:43:00.000-07:00

Oh morning nap, you will be missed! I don't know who decided it was time to say goodbye but all I can say is, it wasn't my idea! I enjoyed every single day with you! I enjoyed how you made peace come instantly into our home. I love how just with your presence my daughter was a happy girl from of 11am-2:30pm (then the afternoon nap would take care of the rest!)

I loved how I could count on you every single day, without fail, you would show up! I don't know what I am going to do without you!! Really, I feel helpless, alone, and very much scared. Lena girl doesn't quite know what to do without you either, which means that there is a lot of crying, some her tears, but mostly mine!

I hope you can understand that this isn't goodbye forever, you will be back, I am sure of it. Maybe not for Adalena, but maybe another baby Livingston who will make an appearance at some unknown time. I hope you know that you are always invited to my home whenever you would like, don't bother knocking, just come on in! I'll have a nice cozy bed waiting for you!

Adieu morning nap, may you make other mothers happy wherever you go!!

As for us here, I have a feeling that Mr. Timeout will be a frequent visitor to our home! (SIGH)

Finally

2010-07-26T07:53:00.000-07:00

I have been dreaming about the beach ever since the 3 feet of snow melted! It was a 100 degree day with ridiculous humidity, so it was either stay indoors or go to the beach....and the beach won! Hooray!

Adalena loves the sand!! She probably ate 1/2 the sand around her, but she was so happy who could stop her?

So again it was HOT, I am talking about 2nd degree burns on your feet from the sand..and this crazy lady was just lying there!!! Can we say skin cancer??? Seriously!!!! Even Adalena thought it wasn't smart!

We had a blast, and luckily Brenton didn't have the camera with him when I was knocked over by one of the waves and totally fell on my keester...don't worry all the people around us were laughing, so you can picture what I looked like, and then laugh too!

The beach is still calling my name, so there WILL be another visit before the end of summer, wanna come???

G-E-R-M-S

2010-06-30T18:19:00.000-07:00

Today my daughter crawled into our fireplace.

So that officially made the fireplace a non working fireplace this coming winter.

I have become one of those moms! The mom that as my friend Julianne once said, "sees the germ particles in the air" I wasn't always this crazy, I blame RSV really 'cause after I have seen what germs can do to my precious delicate baby...well I just don't tolerate it....kinda

I say kind of because I am a big supporter of taking baths daily, sometimes twice a day, washing hands after touching anything that the public has touched, hand sanitizer, Clorox wipes, Lysol spray and any other cleaning product that I can think of.

however.....I don't jump to the fact that she got a hold of a shoe and is gnawing on the bottom of it, I just sterilized her sippy cups for the 2nd time ever! I would be lying if I said Lena has never found a dirty diaper and was curious to how the outside tasted.(she had it for like 3 sec) She may or may not have shared her food with Chloe her dog

Ewww...I know

It's not Official

2010-06-20T18:26:00.000-07:00

Until there is a mug created with your picture on it

And this is why we get daddy mugs for his special day!

Doesn't it just make your heart melt???

Seeing Double

2010-06-10T18:32:00.001-07:00

One is my Chloe and the other is a friend's dog Lilly. They even have matching bark collars!

It's that time again!

2010-06-02T18:16:00.000-07:00

SummerTime!!!

365 Down

2010-05-24T19:51:00.001-07:00

I made this and yes I am going to hang it year round!!

I can't believe how fast 365 days can go when you have the greatest baby in the world!
Sadly I can't remember the first 2 months of Lena's life...and if I did then I would be able to remember where I put my wedding ring

Okay so the day has finally come and it was so much fun. On Sunday we had a rehearsal B-day party
As you can see the rehearsal was very much needed since she had no idea what was going on and why we were all singing to her, she kept looking at us like we were crazy.

Now all that practice the day before really paid off. I think today she was actually able to get all her cake on her face/head/ears/eye lashes/up the nose
Uhh Lena...you have something on your face

The moment she hit that awesome sugar high WALL she was dazin' for a few minutes

This picture brought to you by my friend Rileigh!! And the letter T
(All other pictures where taken by me and my "i have no idea how to take pretty pictures" skillz)

Lets just remember last year shall we:
me +hospital bed+the drugs=Happy
Lena+being taken from womb without her permission=not so happy

Here is to another 1 million ba-jillion more days my sweet love!! Next year's b-day theme...Casino night!

Welcome to the Family!!

2010-05-21T18:18:00.000-07:00

Brenton and I decided that we wouldn't purchase shoes for Ms. Adalena until she is walkin' around.

This last week she decided that she crawled long enough, and has been walking all over the place it's still so foreign to me.
You could only imagine my surprise when I didn't have to bribe my husband to let me go buy shoes, and he participated!!!

Her Smile lights up my life

2010-05-17T18:51:00.000-07:00

For the last 358 days this beautiful little girl has been in my life and her smile just melts my heart! I double dog dare you to look at these and not smile!

My first Mother's Day!

2010-05-14T07:30:00.001-07:00

I love this girl...no I really really love this girl.

I love that her eyes light up when either daddy or I come into the room. I love that she giggles whenever I touch her nose and make a honking noise. I love that she is so happy and smiles all the time, even when she is crabby and wants to cry she will still give us courtesy smiles or laughs whenever we try to make her happy.

I love that she loves to dance, and if she hears anything from itsy bitsy spider to a commercial jingle she will shake what her mama gave her.

I love that she is a great sleeper, and she will lay quietly in her bed until we come and get her in the morning. I love that when it's nap time she will go lay down quietly in her bed and even if she is not ready to sleep she will just talk to herself and then sleep.

I love that she is adventurous and will eat almost anything I put in front of her, so far she has rejected bananas due to texture and red bell pepper was a test and of course she didn't find it yummy. I love especially that she knows that the ice cream carton looks like and comes booking it over to get some.

I love that no matter where we go she feels that people are there to adore her and she eats it up. She can play shy or just be outright adorable, girl can work a crowd.

I love when she gives me slimy Lena kisses and snuggles, they don't happen too often so you always feel special whenever she gives them. I love that if I walk through the door and don't go immediately to pick her up she will throw a fit, needy is an understatement!

There are so many things that I love about my Adalena, most of all I love that I get to have her forever and eternity! I would have never thought that my life would change so much with one tiny little girl, but it has changed and all for the better.

Sunday movie

2010-04-25T18:04:00.000-07:00

Reason #647 Why I Love My Brenton

2010-04-20T18:15:00.000-07:00

To all his ex-girlfriends....Nee-ner Nee-ner Nee-ner!

This Year's Halloween Costume

2010-04-19T08:02:00.000-07:00

A BOTTLE OF PEPTO BISMOL

In Other News:
I am having a difficult time trying to figure out how to teach Lena that the word NO should mean for her to stop what she is doing....
(my mom just smirked and thought something on the line of payback)

See she has this thing for the electrical sockets
Note they are covered, which only added an additional challenge to her, but did not stop her. This picture is taken right after I had just said, "Lena No!"
(in my very serious mom voice of course)

The reach for it anyway

Then I give her again, the Lena NO! She will briefly stare at me with this face processing what I had just said. I am confident she is just counting to 10 before she will return to the socket.
At this point I go over to her and remove her from the area but then the hunt for the closest socket starts all over again...

And since The Brenton claims he was only spanked twice in his life and I...had been spanked a little bit more than that...it is proof that she is indeed my child!

I am still here!

2010-04-15T07:40:00.000-07:00

Hi There readers...if there are any of you left!

I know I have been horrific at blogging for the last year....and the only thing I can say is...

it's her fault!
Okay so I only feel that a post dedicated to catching you all up on us is due...so sit back and enjoy the Livingston Catch Me Up Post...

Okay so we have been in Maryland for exactly 9 months
(huh I could have had another baby by now!)
Here is us 9 months ago
and us now..
note since we do things usually by ourselves we do not have so many pics of us together..sad but true.

The Brenton has been working his tush off going to school as of now he is completing a Russian major and an Arabic minor...we hope to see a cap and gown in the spring of 2012.
If you recall he is going to the University of Maryland
GO TERPS!!!

We love living here in Maryland, it's so beautiful and full of things to do...but it's not cheap....so I have been a working mom (I know insert sad music here)
But it's all worth it because eventually The Brenton will make us millions and then I can sit by our pool and order the pool boy Paulo to bring me another lemonade!

I work at a veterinarian hospital which has been so great for us. And the rest of our time we sit and adore our Adalena...so now The Pictures
Grumpy or Happy??

Yup she was grumpy. I guess she doesn't like a random camera being shoved in her face..go figure!

She will be 11 months next week!! Here is a little video to show you awesome she is.

Okay well it was my idea

2010-03-23T07:08:00.000-07:00

Grow My Little Pretties Grow!!!!!!!
Basil..................Mint
Spinach.........Rosemary
Tomatoes.. ..........Zucchini
Empty.............Snow peas

The Brenton seems to think that since he planted them, they are his "pretties" BUT I thought of the idea and bought the seeds....I think I should get some credit here!

Annapolis, MD

2010-03-21T19:18:00.000-07:00

What I found on our day trip to Annapolis (35 min from home)

My next door knocker!! How cool is that? I don't even know how it works, but I want it!

The Naval Academy: Note: On our way there I did ask Brenton for Pre-forgiveness for oogguling the Navy guys, luckily the only 2 I saw[in uniform!! Hollar] looked to be 12![frown face]

The male fashion trend of cargo shorts with a button down collar shirt...Brenton gave it the thumbs down...I still don't know how I feel about it! I feel it's kind of like the mullet...businesses up top, party on the bottom.

I liked these two so much I asked if I could go home with them!

70 degree weather and a day by the water! Who wants to come visit?

9 month update (it's a little past due!)

2010-03-14T17:45:00.000-07:00

These are the stats from Lena's 9 month check up, given all in her %....

I still get confused on exactly how it all works, I think the % is based on her age and where she falls from 1-100%(??)

Now her weight % was double digits at her 6 month check up, as you can see we fell below the yellow line (Biggest loser reference) ..this girl is taking the term Petite to a whole new level!

100% her father!!!

The helpless mother

2010-03-08T06:54:00.000-08:00

Warning...the Following Post has Pictures that may just break your heart!

So we almost made it the winter without Lena getting really sick...almost being the key word.

Mr. RSV introduced himself to Lena and she didn't take it so well. Luckily it was taken care of quickly and she is home recovering....so here is my

Aftermath Observation"

1) Hospital baby cribs resemble cages, which I understand is for safety issues...but it's the saddest thing to see your baby inside this crib all enclosed and crying...needless to say, she didn't spend too much time in that crib!

2)The quickest way for a nurse to get body slammed by The Brenton, is to not notice that the IV kinked inside his daughter's delicate little hand and have it swell up to twice the size and almost turn blue! Poor girl looked like Popeye the Sailor man! 3) The quickest way for a nurse to get sucker punched by the mom is for her to have her parents hold their baby down while she takes 5 min of moving the needle INSIDE the baby's hand trying to find the vein...for the 2nd IV!
(now I know it's not an easy task, but really it took WAY too long)

Note: I am not angry at the nurse in anyway, She was just trying to do the best she could and she was very pleasant and helpful!!

IV #1
IV #2

4) It is odd to see the "head dr." come in, whistle at little Lena instead of talk to her, listen to her lungs, say "it sounds good" and then leave, to never be seen again. I am excited to see how much she is going to charge for that visit!

But really, the staff at Howard County General (sounds like a good TV show name!) was fantastic, they took extra good care of Lena and we are very lucky to have had them!

Lena now has issues with strangers, but it's nothing that can't be worked out with some good Therapy!!

Blizzard....again....again

2010-02-10T07:40:00.001-08:00

So we are experiencing our 3rd blizzard in the last 7 weeks (that is what the news reported)

Yesterday was pretty much sitting around the house waiting for it to start. As it started I decided to document the snow fall this time. They were calling for 10-20 inches of snow from Tue to Wed night.

So here is Tues or what I like to refer to..the beginning
Now this is Wed morning.

I tried to be all creative to show you how much snow we got. The first pic was the snow still left from this last weekend's blizzard, and then the pic on the right what this storm will drop.

Even though another 20 inches would be INSANE I am excited to see if it will actually get that high!

What I do 'cause I'm Snowed in

2010-02-06T17:45:00.000-08:00

Snow Storm Of 2010...Day 1

2010-02-05T14:30:00.000-08:00

(Don' Worry, Brenton Told Her To Look Terrified For This Pic)

It's Still A Toss Up If It's The Snow Or The Leopard Print That She Is So Pissed About...Either Way She Is Too Dang Cute!!

Where is all the bagged salad???

2010-02-04T20:56:00.000-08:00

We're due to have a great big snow storm starting tomorrow and going on pretty much until July.

20 inches they are calling for

I realized that I am all stocked up for the weekend (my birthday weekend if you were interested!)
But I do not have chocolate chips...I always want to bake when I am stuck in my house for multiple days, so I ventured out to the store (that will probably be closed all weekend!)

Everyone was there, buying whatever they thought they were going to need to get through this weekend....and apparently they all thought bagged salad was going to be their saving grace!

For me it was a bag of chocolate chips, a canister of Ghiredelli baking chocolate, Oreo's double stuffed Golden (in case I don't make cookies) and candles for my cake.....

Now let the snow fall!!!

Lena's Way of Saying She Needs A New Bed

2010-01-13T17:11:00.000-08:00

Oh and the Big Smile You See At The End Is Because Brenton Walked In Behind Me...She LOVES her Daddy
(and the bottle he was carrying!)

Oh Hello 2010 it's nice to meet you!

2010-01-01T20:38:00.000-08:00

One down, 364 days more. I can do it, I can do it!

This is my very first year starting off as a mom, and what better way to start off that year then with my little one going mobile. That's right, we went from just laying there, to rolling to now having to actually monitor where she is at all times. This is that responsibility thing everyone told me about.

I trained Chloe to go to her pillow on command, and I seriously thought about trying to train Lena.

Now 2009 was a good year, well it was a GREAT year. I started the year in the Mountain Time Zone and about this time last year we were in our second month of snow. Now I am in Eastern Time zone where everyone said, "Oh we don't get that much snow...and I just went through my first blizzard! Did I know I was going to be in Maryland last year? H-No, so who knows where I'll be next year.

2010 will bring good things and probably with that some bad things...for example, I will turn an age where if you were rounding, you would round to 3o, I am no longer young, youthful, spring chic. I am going to be older, wearing a pair of mom jeans, and trying to figure all the ways to get rid of these stretch marks.. (TMI??? )

On the good side, this year will bring me my 4th year mark with my love biscuit, that's almost a whole hand worth! I get to celebrate a 1st B-day with Lena,(we are already discussing cake flavors!) And this summer I get to actually go out into the sunshine and lets everyone say it together...GET A TAN!!

I love starting the New Year, and the only resolution I will be working on is trying to locate all the brain cells that I lost in '09. Hollar at me if you found any of them!

Good luck to you all...LET THE GAMES BEGIN

7 months old and a Merry Christmas to all

2009-12-28T06:25:00.000-08:00

Ms. Lena on her 7th month anniversary of life! And not a day goes by where she doesn't give me her judgmental face....bless her heart I think she gets it from her father!

Even though there were just two of us, doesn't mean we didn't get to feast. Brenton continued on his father's Christmas dinner tradition with Lasagna Italian style (with a white sauce) and a whole pan of rolls!! Merry Christmas carbohydrates, merry Christmas!

Even though it's hers, the high chair is actually a Christmas gift for me. No more fighting her in the little chair thingy!

I love the high chair! I can just stick her in it while I make dinner, instead of letting her wonder around the room and then having to play, "where is the scream coming from?"

There is a Mexican Grandmother laughing right now with this picture! This is her prized new trick, the raspberry!

Well that is it for now, Ya'll come back and see me ya hear??

Snowed in Day 2, 3, 4......the last week

2009-12-26T12:15:00.001-08:00

I don't understand why I can't remember to write in here more often. I wanted to do a day 2 of the blizzard, and I even got some pictures, but alas I forgot and now the effect is gone..sad.

To sum up the storm:

We got about 21.2 inches of snow, the average snowfall for the season is 18 inches!

Next time a blizzard is coming I am going to buy a shovel and/or ice skates because I was sliding around for a week!

The Brenton and I had way too many baked goods, impossible as that sounds, it's true!

Apparently when there is snow on the ground, other pet owners feel that it's ok to have their pets "mess #2" right on the sidewalk and they don't need to clean it up...Oh how wrong they are!!

I had come to the conclusion that I was too spoiled with my Utah snow removers, and if any of those snow removers would like to come to MD I have a great apt complex who needs some education on how to plow snow and lay down salt!

Today we have had rain come and wash the snow away, I can see grass and sidewalks again...Happy Days!

Snowed in....Day 1

2009-12-19T19:01:00.000-08:00

Well it was mid week when the news of the big storm started circulating

"Are you ready for the 6-9 inches of snow this weekend?" Mind you the last storm that had 2 inches people were very uneasy.

By Friday the number of inches of course only increased....10-12" then the best 20 INCHES!! No one was Christmas shopping on Friday, they were all at the grocery store, all the milk, toilet paper, eggs, and butter were off the shelves. (Snow freaks people out over here)

I tracked the storm on weatherchannel.com and it said that the snow was to start on Dec 18th around 9pm...and they were right. It snowed ALL night!

I had to work Sat morning so I warmed up Sheila and we headed out on our 20 mile drive to work. Now I would like the Maryland Department of Transportation to please contact the Utah Department of transportation and have a little chat about HOW TO CLEAR A ROAD!!! Poor Maryland I know you don't have to deal with snow a whole lot, but it would help when we are supposed to get double digit inches of snow if you knew how to use a snow plow!

So after only a few hours of work, (because everything in the state of Maryland shut down!) we headed back home, and home we stayed. I was so ready to get my bake on....meaning ask Brenton to whip up some of his cinnamon rolls, but sadly we didn't have enough eggs! Ugg talk about not being prepared.

So after a full morning and afternoon of snow and blizzard warning, I took Chloe out for a little snow adventure..aka Potty Break.

This is what our apt parking lot looks like. Most of these cars didn't move since the snow started, so you can really see how much we got! Sheila got recovered after I got home from work, poor girl I bet she is cold!

Oh Chloe...if she would smell something she would bury her whole head into the snow, weirdo!

Overall it was a fantastic day of fires in the fireplace, cooking, and we started our card game tournament, we played Phase 10 ( I don't want to talk about it)

Get this...Church has already been canceled for tomorrow.I love the concept of snowing means go home and you don't have to do anything, unlike the previous state I was in..>UTAH....where snow meant just get on the freeway earlier and get your butt to work...LAME!

Tomorrow is Day 2 of being snowed in and I am excited!!! Now if a dozen eggs would end up on my door step tomorrow!!

My Thanksgiving...Dedicated to Lena

2009-11-24T19:30:00.000-08:00

Well we did it...we survived 6 wonderful months with this beautiful little girl
You know what I say to all those women who are against having the "mom"label?
Foo-ee and Hockey Puck...that's right, hockey puck!!

These last 6 months...well last year I guess it started when I found out I was pregnant, I have had this overwhelming joy that is just...indescribable . There is nothing better then to hold your baby in your arms and think...I grew you! I like to look at her feet and hands and think, " here is all the spaghetti ( I LOVED LOVED spaghetti with this girl)that I ate!. And for some people to think that a career in the business world would be more fulfilling, well I say...Hockey puck!

Being a mom rocks...and to all of you who are reading this and are not yet moms, I am no way meaning to rub your face in it, so please keep reading. My purpose here is just to express my thanks to my little darling Lena, so here it is, the

Thanksgiving List Personalized for Adalena:
From Conception (yes I just said it) to 6 months

Thank you for announcing yourself to me in the form of severe cramps for 4 weeks, it prepared me for how pushy and bossy you are

**Note some "thanks" are sarcastic, but I promise some are serious**

Thank you for making anything sugary and sweet taste horrible during the 2008 Holiday season (this is a serious one) because I would have eaten enough for 4 babies
Thank you for never kicking my bladder hard enough and causing me to piddle uncontrollably
Thank you for giving me an easy pregnancy, you were the test run, and so yes you will have siblings
Thank you for coming early and allowing some healing time before we had to move across the country, that was very nice of you..oh and THANK YOU for sleeping while we crossed the country!
Thank you for sleeping through the night at 7 weeks!! (Yup, totally bragging!)
Thank you for bringing such joy and happiness to my Brenton, the first 45 min of your life were spent in his arms, and I am pretty sure the smile hasn't left his face since
Thank you for waking up every morning with a smile (even though you have chosen this last week to wake up screaming) but for the most part thank you for waking up happy to see me!
Thank you for getting good use out of your newborn clothes...even though you really ought to think about growing out of them by now, you are 6 months for Pete sake!
Thank you for teaching me patience (sound familiar mom)...I can be like those mom's I'd see in the store. Just off in their own shopping world while their child is screaming in the shopping cart
Thank you for allowing me to have the ultimate excuse when I have poor body image thoughts..."Well I did just have a baby..." and then I feel better
Thank you for teaching me that a good day is if I get a shower AND brush my teeth
Last but not least, THANK YOU for choosing me to be your mom.

I don't know how I did it, but I have 2 of the world's best people right here with me! I am a truly blessed woman!!!

Our Rejected Holiday card

2009-11-17T16:54:00.001-08:00

Stay Tuned for more....

My Weekend of Firsts

2009-10-27T08:14:00.000-07:00

First time I flew from coast to coast
First time Lena flew in an airplane
First time I flew by myself with a baby
So...basically my first panic attack!

First time all my siblings were all married *Congratulations Jake and Brenda*

First time in 3 years that I saw my Ashley

First time Lena met Kingston and Lincoln, I am pretty sure one of them will be her husband!

First time it took 1 hr and 14 min to fly from Sacramento to Salt Lake (it used to be 1 hr 45 min)

First time we didn't have the green binki (Lena threw it out the stroller in the Salt Lake airport bathroom, there was no way I was even going to try and recover that!)

First time I had to sit 2 hrs on an airplane just waiting...And trying to keep Lena quiet!!

First time the airplane I was in didn't have enough oil

First time the airline comped the $2 headsets to make up for the inconvenience, but still charged $6 for snacks?????

Saw my first Christmas commercial of the season while on the flight, thank you Crayola
First time a flight attendant slammed into my sleeping baby's head while walking by

The first time Brenton had his little girl back in his arms

And the last time I am ever doing that again!

How do you Spell Slacker??

2009-10-18T15:53:00.000-07:00

If you spell it J-A-Z-M-I-N-E well good, so do I. My blog is a slack slackie...Holy cow, if I could use my "I just had a baby" card then I am going to, because since I had Lena, I just don't have any creativity to share on the blog!

But okay, here we go giving it a try again.

The life of a 5 month old must be amazing...okay so she is not 5 months just yet, but she will be in 7 days...can you believe it? 5 months, my little peach ring. If you are wondering where the food is, it's in her cheeks, she is saving up for the winter.

Here we are doing our photo shoot. Brenton was at work and she was BEGGING me to take pictures. She has been working on her "faces", this is her serious "what is that camera in my face?" face.

We made it through the 4 month vaccinations. She was more upset about being on the table than the actual shots...

She is a 10lb 10 oz. and 23 in. long.. where is my little baby?

She is by far a daddy's girl. She doesn't have to see him. but all he has to do is call out here name, "Stinky!" and she just lights up. I get the screaming, puking and everything else, but he gets the smiles.
at least I still have Chloe.

I cried

2009-10-04T19:11:00.000-07:00

You have to watch the entire 5 min if you want a good laugh!!!!

What it's like

2009-09-19T17:22:00.000-07:00

Since I am a west coast gal, and Brenton is a west coast boy, living in the MD (it's my version of the OC) has opened my eyes to a new way of living

For example:
West Coast thrives on customer service. I mean if the hostess/check-out clerk/secretary doesn't so much give you a WARM over the top friendly smile, well then it's common to complain or vow to never return because you just didn't feel all warm and bubbly.

Well over here you are lucky if they say "hi how are you?" Because they don't care, No honestly, they don't, and get this...IT'S OKAY!!! No one complains, no one thinks to themselves "How rude!" or goes to the manager. As long as the job gets done, we are happy! :)

On the subject of rude: Okay so I have had east coaster's themselves tell me that east coast people are rude, so it's not just overly sensitive me. They know it. It's not like they are outright rude, it's mostly that everyone keeps to themselves and tries not to interact with anyone...EVER
I mean, some guy was blocking the walk way with his bag and I was coming through with the stroller, he moved it, I THANKED him, and he looked at me like I just kicked a kitten... I guess I was just supposed to keep walking....dang my manners!!!!

Lets see...oh merging lanes?? What did I just say, yes merging lanes. Do they have them here... umm No...well kinda. There is a road that goes to merge onto the freeway/highway, but the second it touches the freeway the lane ends and you then YIELD?? What?? The best is when you come to a line of cars trying to merge on the freeway, so you go from a dead stop to freeway speeds...WHO THOUGHT OF THIS??!!
Oh and they also choose not to give you those nice warning signs of when your lane is going to end, the only clue you have are the short dashed lines on the freeway. If you don't pay attention to those, bad things can happen!

The wildlife out here is crazy, anyone ever see a woodchuck standing on the side of the road?? It's CREEPY! It's like a mutant rambo squierrel the size of a medium dog.

Ahh...okay other than that. It's beautiful out here. The trees out here are like 5 stories tall and there are just mini forests everywhere. (Did you hear that Utah...TREES! EVERYWHERE!!)They are starting to change colors, and I am s-t-o-k-e-d for fall.

I promise now that I am settled and I think my brain is starting to work, that I will get some awesome pics of this place up here soon. For now...enjoy the woodchuck

Freaking-A

2009-09-05T15:54:00.000-07:00

So last night The Brenton and I were having a little dialog

Brenton: So what do you want to do tomorrow?

Jazz: Uh..I don't know, you want to go to the gym?

Brenton: Yeah, we can go to the gym

Jazz: (takes two steps out of the bathroom) and BAM SMACK CRUNCH...I immediately collapse to the bed and then curl onto the ground

Brenton: What happened??

All I could say, well not so much say, but more of cry was : MY PINKY TOE!

Yes,I kicked the "foot" of the baby co-sleeper and so help me I wanted to die. It caught just between the pinky toe and the toe next to it. The pain, the throbbing, lasted the whole night, I contimplated cutting my pinky toe off to stop the pain!

I didn't break my toe, but I very much jammed it.

Needless to say, we did not go to they Gym....

instead I ate double stuffed golden oreos...

Happy Labor Day Everyone!!!

Another reason to Gush over her

2009-08-29T18:04:00.001-07:00

This morning while on our bed, she threw her arm over her eyes and fell asleep. I guess I better go get her an eye mask so she can sleep now.

For the Grandmas

2009-08-21T18:50:00.000-07:00

Just 3 days shy of being 3 months old!

We are wearing our "Girl Outfit" today

You're Welcome!!!

Sweets for your Sweetie(s)

2009-08-18T20:24:00.001-07:00

Okay so this Sunday, August 23rd is

Make a sweet for your sweetie(s)Day

This Sunday, it's the day to say to your loved ones,

"Hey I love you, have some dessert!" 

Some of you might be thinking..."NO I can't, my diet" well then pick something sweet that works with your diet. Like Angel Food Cake Berries and Whip Cream! Or Sugar Free Jello and Whip Cream (can you tell I love Whip Cream?)

Take the rest of this week to plan for Sunday dessert, make it good!

I am a Flasher!

2009-08-13T19:51:00.001-07:00

If the art preserver people here noticed that the Declaration of Independence looks a little destroyed more today... well that is because....I Did it!!!!

I FLASHED the Declaration today. COMPLETELY on Accident

Okay see on the right of this picture the arm of a Security Guard, well I was busy talking to him, asking if he has a specific pose when people take pictures of the Declaration, because I wanted to get that pose. He was real nice.

Well when I turned on my camera I forgot the flash is automatic unless I turn it off, and again I was so excited to get a picture of the posing guard that I forgot to turn it off....and it WENT OFF

See the hands and camera of another lady taking a picture?? Yeah, she gasped...it's not like I ripped the Declaration or something

I apologized, and the guard said the rule is I can't take any more pics....but then he did a nice sales pitch for the museum store saying that I could buy a replica at the museum store ( DUh I watched National Treasure!)

ehh o-well I got what I wanted, and that is a distant picture of a piece of paper in a glass casing

We've only just begun

2009-08-05T08:50:00.000-07:00

Three years ago I thought marriage was going to be full of sunshine and roses

and I haven't been wrong yet!!

I have been blessed by being the wife to this amazing man for the last 3 years

...and he has learned how it is to live in a looney bin.

And now with our we are the parents of the cutest baby, this side of the Mississippi!

A Day in the Life

2009-07-30T20:07:00.000-07:00

I am a person of routine, kinda. I don't purposely put myself in a routine, somehow I just end up in one. Usually it's due to my school and work schedule, as well as Brenton's work and school schedule. Our schedules change every Aug and Jan. I try not to be so bound by the schedule, I usually catch on that my life is like the movie Groundhogs Day and at that point I quickly make a change. Sadly though, this is usually at the end of the school term, so it's too late.

My life BB (Before Baby) consisted of waking up no later than 6am, Brenton to the Train by 7:05am, Work by 8am, Leave work by 5pm, pick Brenton up at 5:20pm, School by 5:45pm (class started at 5:30) Class done by 6:50pm, pick Brenton up from class at 7:50pm, From 8-10:30pm it was dinner, walk the dog, check my email, facebook, homework that is due the next day and then lights out. Oh and grocery shopping if needed and spend time with my husband.....Then we do it all over again!

It's kind of a vicious cycle, we work hard to earn the money so that we can provide a good life for ourselves, but...when do we have time to experience it?

Finally a break of light through the clouds....We have found a life where we aren't running around, and we can actually...do what now?? Spend time together!! Holy cow is it possible? Oh yes it's possible! And I will tell you my secret, so that you too can live in such happiness.....are you ready? Get your pen and paper.....

The secret is...
Move 2000+ miles away from the life that you are currently living and both you and your spouse be unemployed!

That's it folks, do this and your life can be as carefree and lax-a-dazy as ours!

With this lifestyle you can do things like... go shopping in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday! I know you are shaking your head saying, impossible, but no it's true!

You can sit and stare at the pile of picture frames still waiting to be put up on the walls, and then tell yourself "tomorrow!"

I keep asking The Brenton his opinion on how we can both still live like this and get paid for it...after much brainstorming we have come up with the answer that we must have someone leave money for us in their will.....And since everyone lives to be 115 now a days, I don't think it's going to work out for us!

So off to the job interviews we go! Wish us luck!

Now for those of you saying, "Who cares, show us pictures of the baby....MOM...." here you all go!

Talk about a close call

2009-07-26T08:13:00.000-07:00

Wonder what you are looking at???

Well if you guessed a fallen tree, well you are right. This is the view from our patio this morning. We had a storm last night, it didn't seem too bad, rain, thunder and lightning nothing too crazy. This tree is right in front of our building and it fell without us hearing it...weird huh?

Can you see anything else? Well if you answered a car...you get 50 extra points. If you look close you can kind of see a hub cap underneath the branches.

How awesome is this?? Our car is the one just a space away from the fallen tree.

We are seriously rethinking where we park the car.

Thank you TLC

2009-07-24T16:13:00.000-07:00

I have my cable back which means I am catching up on t.V. Last week I saw commercials for this show on TLC.....
This is one AMAZING show. It's basically a bunch of mom's being dum dums on film. (Not saying that all pageant mom's are dum dums, but I am just saying THESE moms are). If you ever feel down on yourself and need a boost of self esteem...watch this show!!

The Brenton warns me that I am not allowed to pageant Adalena.

I think she could be a winner!!

Well anyway we have some time...Girlfriend is 2 months old today!!!! Happy day to you Baby!

It pays to sit and watch T.v.

2009-07-22T07:15:00.000-07:00

So we planned a trip to Philly for the cheesesteak...AND the history and culture and what not....but yeah the cheesesteak. The night before I googled all the fun things to see in Philly and of couse the two main things were the Liberty Bell

and the Rocky stairs that he runs up in the movie

So after 5 min of history we were done and ready to go eat some cheesesteaks. My little brother Jake had one in mind. He had a friend's recommendation, which came in the form of an address not a name, so when we looked in the GPS for the address and saw that it didn't exist, we thought...well the BOYS thought "Hey lets drive through Philly and see if we can find it!!!"

Yeah, so did I mention that we were all raised in Utah or Northern CA? And our views on life are golden sun rays of love. So driving through the city didn't really give us a red flag that maybe we shouldn't because there are some awesome scary areas that we don't know about...so off we went to find this cheesteak corner place that we had no idea what it's called.

So 20 min of driving through a neighborhood where we probably should not have been and we found the address and there was a corner deli...that had been closed for some time now...

So we went to two spots that I found...

Last year I started watching Food Paradise from the travel channel. They do a whole show based on one food...like donuts, hamburgers, and what not. Yes I love food can you tell?

So on one episode they did it on steak...I know steak and yes I watched the whole episode. And they showed a story about two competing cheesesteak spots in Philadelphia. They are literally across the street from each other.

There is

and

Brenton and I choose to go to Pat's. Jake went to Geno's

The Brenton showing off his "mushroom provolone without" from Pat's and Jake is showing off his "provolone with" from Geno's.(that is cheesesteak talk). They had a sign of how to order, and if you stalled the guy would yell at you. I got so nervous, but when it was my turn, I ordered like a pro.

Here is Pat's sandwich, a provolone with

yeah, the grease didn't stay on the paper...Mmmmm Philly Cheesesteak! Now after trying bites from both sandwiches we decided that Pat is King!

Oh and the history was cool too....

Home Sweet Home

2009-07-19T18:09:00.000-07:00

Well folks, 40 traveling hrs and we made it to Maryland. After crossing Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana I had a huge craving for corn. Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Maryland...beautiful states lots of foliage.

Brenton and I were blessed to have my brother Jake and my BFF Cassidy fly in from CA to help us drive. The boys drove the truck, and the ladies were in the car.
Here is the marvelous view Cass and I had for 3 days straight, the butt of a Penske!

These are my enemies..brown boxes!!

Now being here almost a week, I have figured out how to drive to the grocery store, the gas station, the Chinese restaurant, and DSW shoe warehouse. You know, all the important places. All other places require my lovely GPS navigator to help us get around.

Humidity....ahh humidity. So far it hasn't been that bad. Nebraska was probably worse than what we have had here, and the hair frizz...well I think I have that under control...Thank you Redkin Smooth Down!

I have been blessed with the world's best traveling baby. She handeled the drive so perfectly. She even let me sleep a good 7 hours two nights in a row after we got here. Cassidy was dubbed Mom #2 by Jake. I miss my mom #2!! Come back

After 4 days of driving and unpacking, we went out for our first D.C. experience. It was lots of fun...hotter than Haities, but fun. I think we were all sweating prufusly while we walked our way around the memorials, yet we still found time to pose for pictures...everyone say FACEBOOK!

Me and the Mr. We have the Washington monument behind us, and then behind that if you look closely there is the Capital. Directly in front of us is the Lincoln memorial and to the left of the Lincoln Memorial is the White house... it's a tourist dream come true!

Mmmm...seafood dinner! Don't let Jake's face fool you he enjoyed his shrimp

Jake as he strolls around the park (Obama's house in the back). See all the people in the park?? There were a million softball games going on. I thought for sure we were going to get tagged in the head.

So far, Maryland is a great home!

Oh! Heck NO!!!

2009-07-05T10:30:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of moms out there that let their daughters walk out of the house with practically NO clothes on...and I worry...Will I ever get to be that clueless?? I mean they say that having kids wipes out your brain cells, which I have seen first hand...but will enough brain cells be gone that I would let my sweet wonderful little girl out into the world looking like...like...like a little hussy????
This is a small example of the girls that I saw at our 4th of July parade

OH HECK NO!!!!

Blessing day

2009-07-02T15:16:00.000-07:00

Due to the fact that we are moving to a land far far away, Brenton and I decided to have the baby blessing in Utah while we still had family around. So last Sunday was our big day...

Note: If you would like to know more about an LDS baby blessing, find your nearest LDS member or flag down the missionaries in your area!

I was so frazzled that I didn't take any pictures, I had to redress her when everyone left and take some, so these are what I got...

She had heard a lot of America's Next Top Model while growing in my tummy, this is her "delicate" face..but she will never make it in the industry if she doesn't learn to put her hands down, every pic she looked like she was raising the roof!

Obviously I have a lot of work to do since we don't like headbands... accessories Girl!

I love this one...My sweet mother gave me my baby blessing dress, which as you see here comes with a bonnet. It was all a little big, but way cute!! The whole time she had the dress on I kept singing...."Pioneer Children Sang as they Walked and Walked and Walked"

The book is always better than the movie

2009-06-29T23:29:00.000-07:00

My life movie I have it all planned out, and during certain parts of the movie there will be a scene. And this scene is similar to how the old Disney movies used to start, with a room and a stand with a book sitting on it....well in my life movie, the book will be shown as in indicator of when certain chapters in my life will end, and we are moving onto the next chapter....

Lets skip all the youth and childhood chapters...and jump right into Chapter 5, we'll title this Chapter "Will she ever get a boyfriend?" This chapter is a slow read. It's filled with all kinds of boring junk like work and schooling, and "group hangouts" and a whole bunch of lame-butt boys that of course I crushed on pretty much all of them, but nothing really came out of it.

But then the hook, the one thing that gets us to keep reading onto Ch. 6....it's The Brenton

Ch. 6 Titled "My mother's prayers do come true"

I met the actual "Mr. Wonderful" and we date and get engaged which leads us to
Ch. 7 "LDS and engaged = people caring way too much about where I am at 11 o'clock at night" :)

Ch. 8-"Holy Crap I actually got someone to marry me!"

and just recently we started chapter 9...
"This is not a baby sitting job Jazmine, you're the mom!"

Chapter 10, I am looking forward to, it's titled " I just had a baby and moved across the country, of course I am going to break down over something stupid like what's for dinner"

This ch. will start in 12 days!! I look forward to documenting all the crazy! Stay tuned it's a page turner!!!!

The Ultimate Limbo

2009-06-25T22:01:00.000-07:00

Jazzy Presentable

Jazmine UGH

ThE DeBaTe

Jazmine Presentable: Umm...So Jazz it's almost noon don't you think that we should get ready for the day?

Jazz: Yeah, I think that's a good idea!

Jazmine UGH: What for? You are just going to stay around the house all day

Jazz: Oh right, that is a good point

Jazz Presentable: No it's not a good point, we can still be presentable even if we don't leave the house.

Jazz: Well I am used to getting ready every day when I had a job or would go to school, it did make me feel good.

Jazmine UGH: Remember though that the clothes that you wore to look presentable,,,well they still don't fit , and maternity clothes only look good if you are pregnant..sooooooo

Jazz: I hate you!

To be continued after I lose a million ba-gillion lbs

First one in the history books

2009-06-21T10:32:00.001-07:00

Another great first for our family. Brenton gets to celebrate his first FATHER'S DAY!!

Best Lookin' baby's daddy I've seen!! My girl is lucky to have him as her daddy, I only fear for the day when she realizes how whipped she has him!

And as always happy day to my mom, she has played the father for 22 yrs now and has done a spectacular job!! Love you mama!!

If I had a fan

2009-06-18T23:27:00.000-07:00

If I had a fan then whatever exploded out of my child tonight would have hit it!!

I appreciate a diaper blowout....I am actually relieved, (not as much as her mind you) because now she can rest peacefully

we were having issues trying to get to sleep.

I am such the proud mother, so much that I woke my sleeping ever-so-peaceful working man, but not for his help...no I just wanted him to see the awesome creation that was made before I cleaned it....he half consciously approved.

I am sparing you all the visual details, though I did glance over at my camera to consider taking a picture for posterity,,,,

Well it's 50 min later, we are clean, we smell all yummy, and we are asleep...

And I am proud to announce that I did my first official mom blog about poop! Congratulations to me!!!!

Stop that Rhyming I mean it!

2009-06-14T21:02:00.000-07:00

Oh....K

So all of the sudden I have found myself to be a Dr. Seuss

"Would you like a bink-a-mink?" or " How is my little snug bug/ honey-bunny/ or my personal favorite...chicken-mikken?"

I can tell by the looks that she gives me that she thinks I sound like an idiot...

but I can't help it

you know it's pretty surprising that kids don't start rhyming their first words

Where is the Trust huh?

2009-06-12T17:45:00.000-07:00

So a few months ago I had this thought...what if there was a weird defect in the baby and she came out looking like a different race

So I asked Brenton " If the baby comes out lets say black....would you believe that I didn't cheat on you?

Ya, the answer he gave me was No! Sheesh I thought he would at least have some trust in me! I mean weird things happen in science ALL THE TIME!!

Well I need not worry with this child she is all him! Everything physical about her comes from him. I am looking to see if there is anything that is mine, and so far ZERO!

It's not a bad thing that she is all his, but come on I carried her for 8 months, shouldn't I get some sort of proof???

Here is my Brenton, can you see my baby in there too?

I am afraid of the Dark

2009-06-02T21:16:00.000-07:00

Ok not so much the dark rather just night time itself

Night time and I used to be best friends, 3 years ago night time is when I would be out with friends, or The Brenton and there would be dancing or parties, or dark room movie snuggles....completely PG rated of course.

Then when there were no more parties and dancing (meaning I got married) I found that I could not stay up as late, really 10pm on a Friday was bed time, on a bad work week 8pm. I Loved sleep and I think that sleep really liked me

and then 9 months ago we had a falling out.

If it wasn't just being uncomfortable, it was a full bladder...or an empty stomach that just COULDN'T wait until the morning. I found myself being a night time person again, but not in a happy way like before.

And now I just flat out fear the night time, and the reason

She only looks like this if she is put in her bed and someone doesn't hold her every second while she sleeps, yes she gets that from me....but still it is exhausting.

So dear night time friend, I am sad to say it, but I like the day time a whole lot more these days! I will keep your number in case it doesn't work out with the day time!

We made it!!!

2009-05-30T22:03:00.000-07:00

Our first week is down in the history books, and we survived it. Our bodies have been good at dealing with the new sleeping cycle, which really there is no cycle, it's just sleep while you can!

This week The Brenton and I have started to figure out how to be parents to this wonderful tiny bundle of love. Adalena has been the perfect baby! When she is awake she is so alert, it's fun to watch her as she tries to figure out the world around her.

She has super human neck muscles and she picks her head up and moves it all around. While changing and feeding her, if she hears Brenton's voice, she will try to turn her head to find where he is.

And I think by far the best part has been watching The Brenton just melt over her day after day. The girl poops and it's the cutest thing to him....I am hoping he remembers this when she shows up to the house one day with Spike the biker that she met at the mall..I will have to keep a good record, that yes there was a day when she could do no wrong!

As for me, the recovery from the surgery has been "fine" This being my first surgery, I have no idea how recoveries are supposed to go. Drugs are my BFF, however I will enjoy the day when I will be able to make sense when I talk, and have complete and accurate sentenses. As for now, we all just chalk up my craziness to the drugs!

Okay well there you have it, here is a new picture of our little peanut. She is so tiny we had to go get her some premie clothes, and sad to say, premie pants are like Urkel pants on her...we are working on fattening her up that is for sure!

Thanks again to all who have shared in our joy and excitement this last week. We love our little girl so much, lets just hope she can survive her two crazy parents!

I love this picture, I caught her right in the middle of a hiccup! It makes me laugh! And if you are saying to yourself "she looks a little yellow" well you are right, we are currently working on her jaundice, it's a little high, but we think it will start coming down in the next day! Come on LIVER!!

The Queen has arrived

2009-05-27T17:29:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning around 2am: "Did I just pee my pants?"

Sunday morning around 8am: "Brenton, I am having some water issues, I either just peed my pants or my water just broke"

10:30am-Nurse "Yup your water broke, go walk around for an hour to get your contractions going"

1pm- Nurse "You are dilated to a 1" (mind you on Thur before, I was .5cm)

6:30pm-Nurse "You are dilated to a 2"

6:31pm-Jazmine "I want an epidural!"

8pm-Nurse "For some reason the baby's heart rate is dropping with the contractions, there could be a cord around her neck or around her shoulder being pinched. It's 'OK' but we are going to watch it

9pm-Resident "The baby's heart rate is still dropping, if we can't get it up we may have to go in and do a C-section"

9:15pm-Resident "Will you sign these papers, it's just to authorize a C-section if one is needed"

10:05pm-Nurse "The Dr. would like us to try a few things, we are going to
1) Give you medicine to stop your contractions to give the baby time to recover
2) We are going to put some fluid back up in there to give her some room and take some pressure off of the cord
3) We are going to give you an IV of sugar water to stimulate the baby and get her heart rate up

10:10- Resident "We are going to need to do the C-section....lets go"

10:25-Jazmine "Are you nervous Brenton? Brenton No... Jazz-me neither
(both of us were lying!)

10:31pm-She is here!

Hooray...oh but that is not all.....

10:45pm-Dr. "Okay Jazmine, I found a mass on your ovary and it is hard, I can either remove it now, or we can wait until you recover to figure out what it is

10:46pm-Jazmine (under a LOT of drugs) "WHAT????"
10:47pm....after considering the fact that we have insurance now that will cover it, they are already there and it's one less surgery I have to do, and the family history with ovarian cancer, we had it removed....I miss it already!

11:00pm-Dr. "There wasn't a cord around the baby, we don't know why her heart rate dropped."

11:10pm-Nurse "Your baby saved your life with this C-section, because who knew when they would have caught the mass on your ovary"

well There you have it....needless to say Sunday was a very unplanned and exciting day for The Brenton and I.

I now present to you our drama Queen!

My mom got her the mouse his name is Squeakers, she squeaks just as much as he does.

3 generations of Livingston!

This is a common look that she gives us, it's the "What are you doing?" stare

Brenton's mom with Ms. Thang!

Our little Peanut is so tiny 5 lbs 9 oz but with the cutest feet!

Ahh Yes, this girl has a set of lungs on her. The nursing staff got their share of screams from her!

I love this picture. This is right after we came back from the OR, can you just see the love in this daddy's eyes! Brenton mastered the "bundle" wrap

Their first official poopy diaper change, I did the first to show him the way, and he has picked it up very nicely! Well done!

A very drugged Jazmine, my arms were numb from the surgery, so it took some time before I actually held her. Look how swollen I am..sheesh!

I couldn't resist. This is after we got home. Brenton has been dreaming about the day when he could snuggle his little girl, and they were both out! I have the perfect family!

Confession

2009-05-20T10:10:00.000-07:00

I have been blog stalling for MONTHS now. I have had an awesome announcement to shout to the world!!...but The Brenton put a hush order over the news until further notice... and I got that further notice today...so here we go!!!

We are getting new neighbors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What? I know...how can that be good news....well our new neighbors are
Going........To..........Be..........

The OBAMAS!!

The Brenton, myself, brand new baby and Chloe are going to be

EAST-COASTERS!!!

Come this July you will find me not here

BUT Here
We are trading these guys

For This Guy

No more of this landscape

But This

See Ya Later

and
(P.S. We didn't attend either of these schools)

But We are now Proud to Be.....TERPS

TERP-short for Terripin, it's a turtle..a very ferocious and mean fighting salt water turtle that is found in the streams and rivers of Maryland...

I just told The Brenton he will be a Ninja Turtle...it's better that way!

Stay tuned to the blog, there are a lot of awesome things a comin'!!

Warning...I am bragging here

2009-05-19T15:06:00.001-07:00

Okay so they say pregnancy gives you lame-brain right???

Well apparently lame brain works for me......

Boo-Ya!!!
But I wonder if the teachers just gave me pity points for waddling my butt to class each week....either way, I will take it!

I also want to state that the Meteorology class was online, which means that I did the assignments on the very last day they were due every time! :) Procrastination is my game!

Ingredients

2009-05-17T11:22:00.000-07:00

This woman contains:

1- Baby girl

1-Lortab

1-Medium Size Red Mango Frozen Yogurt with mango slices YUM!!!

Thus explains the huge smile on my face!

36 Weeks!

Story Time

2009-05-13T07:45:00.000-07:00

It was a dark stormy night...

I awoke with cramps, weird huh? It took me a while to really realize what was going on. I got out of bed and started walking around the room, because it was a new pain to me. I soon realize, hey these could be contractions! That is contractions with a sharp constant pain in my lower left back.

I thought, "wait a min, contraction pain is supposed to go away" soooo we are talking KIDNEY STONES!!

Yup, a wonderful 5 hr stay at the hospital and many many many shots of morphine (3 to be exact) and we were feeling better. The scary part was the pain sent me into contractions that were 3 min apart..but the baby and I had a little talk, and we figured that now would not be an ideal time for her entrance....so she is still with me, and loving the drugs just about as much as I am!!!

So we are on day two of Kidney stones..AWESOME

Best Apt EVER!

2009-05-07T10:05:00.000-07:00

The Brenton and I have lived in two apts while in our married lives...the first one was "ok" The second one "FANTASTIC"

and it started great and ended great...why you ask??

Well during the last 10 months we have had a giant rat living with us

Here is said Rat:

Her Name is Chloe, but she also goes by Chlovie, Chlo Chlo, Rat, Ru and Rufis, I have even dropped a couple Rufio's

Now this 3 yr old terror has been the best training for parenthood that I could think of...she is demanding, whiny, stubborn, mischievous, she is a garbage eater, and I have to ask her 3 times before she will do anything

One of her many talents was sticking her fat face through our metal blinds to watch us as we would walk away to our car. It was always fun to hear our blinds rattle against the window, and then turn around to see half of a lab up in them.. Which resulted in our blinds looking like

For a while we were able to repair them, bend them back and all was well, but she didn't like that too much, so she bit them, and then bit the string that pulls them up so they had to be replaced

Well funny thing is, both of these windows are not a normal measurement so you can't just go to the local hardware shop and pick up new blinds.

So The Brenton and I had come to terms with this and just figured they would take it out of our deposit. So Brenton has a walk through yesterday morning, but the guy showed up about an hour late. Apparently he was in a good mood that morning, and said the only thing he could see that was an issue..the blinds..(apparently he didn't look at the carpet or the walls because those were nasty!)

He starts to write down the order form for the blinds and says

"Well I was an hour late, don't worry about the blinds"

Hooray, we get our Deposit Back!!

The Time Has Come

2009-05-01T08:49:00.001-07:00

Dear New Neighbors above us:

Tweet Tweet

Bark Bark

Yap

Tweet

Bark
Yap Yap Yap

Tweet Tweet Tweet Tweet

Please be aware that we have told Chloe that she has all the rights and privileges to eat any and all of your animals!
(2 DOGS! and a million birds!)

Sincerely, The Livingston Household

We are moving tomorrow so that is the only reason I haven't egged their apt!

it's finAlly over!

2009-04-28T20:32:00.000-07:00

Classes taking this term: 4 Classes completed to date: 2
HAllelujAh,

TodAy wAs the lAst dAy of my/our computer clAss...The Brenton And I Are thrilled to be done with this clAss.

I struggled A bit with the lAst test, but I pulled through becAuse I hAd An Awesome teAcher And he "helped" me with A problem I hAd, (helped meAning gAve me A "hint")....(hint meAning he told me the Answer!)

AnywAy, turns out that my overAll grAde wAs A slight bit higher thAn the Brenton's by 1%, don't bother Asking whAt I got because lAdies don't shAre their finAl grAde!

We also ended our world religions class today....not sure whAt I am Bound to get, CoulD be Anything....I will keep you posted as the countdown to this term ends!

B-day

2009-04-24T06:40:00.000-07:00

25 years ago (and one day...sorry I am behind on things!)

2 stubborn Livingston boys decided that 35 weeks was enough "fetus" time and they decided to join the world!

The first of these two stubborn boys is the one that I am now in charge of for the rest of ALL time and then some!

4 lbs and some-odd oz (mama Jeana you will have to help me out on the oz part!) was my or The Brenton!

25 years later... still doing everything on his own time and still stubborn...case in point

The B-day Ribbon

This Birthday Ribbon was purchased by an AMAZING wife, for The Brenton to wear shouting out to the world that it's his B-day!

"I'm not wearing that" said The Brenton

"Please!" a pregnant wife pleaded!
"Ya, no thanks!"
"For just part of the day?"
"Ehhh"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA! I WIN!

Well actually it was a compromise, we had 3 morning destinations to go to, he only had to wear it to one...he choose Breakfast where there were a total of 10 people in the whole place and no one cared about his ribbon!

Apparently he feels that this has started some sort of B-day tradition between us, who can embarrass the other one more and he says I can look forward to something on my B-day!

(Little does he know about the B-day cone hats that I plan on bringing when we go out to dinner tonight! BRING IT ON LIVINGSTON!)

Opposites Attract

2009-04-19T20:09:00.000-07:00

But that doesn't mean that you have to get along.......

Exhibit A:
I am what you call a "scraper" when it comes to eating ice cream out of the carton (yes it's my house I can do what I want!) Look on the sides, I had neatly scraped my scoops to keep things even!!

Brenton is a "digger"....diggers ruin everything!! See that gigantic crater in my ice cream? Do you know how long it will take for me to make it even again??

It's a good thing our marriage is not based on how you eat ice cream, otherwise we would be in deep moose tracks...(get it??? It's an ice cream flavor, but it also can mean poop!!)

Exercise 30 min 3 x a week!

2009-04-17T12:04:00.000-07:00

I heard this phrase at my first Doc's appointment

I was walking my dog twice a day for a half our each, so I felt I was getting that in just fine

And then winter ice roads/2nd trimester/just plain lazy kicked in

2 walks went to 1, and 30 min went to how ever long it would take for the doggie to poopy

Yesterday I was inspired to go walk the treadmill 30 WHOLE MINUTES!

AND NOW

I have scientific proof that exercise is not good for the body!! I would have been WAY better off laying down doing nothing.

Wake Up Call

2009-04-13T07:24:00.000-07:00

PLUS

Get it???

Okay so being woken up by such a horrific pain is AWESOME...which leads to the 245th reason why I love my husband!

The Brenton: So you were whimpering this morning

Jazz: Ya, that is when I got my Charlie Horse

30 seconds after thinking about it

Jazz: Funny how you heard me whimpering and yet you didn't turn over to check on me.

The Brenton: I thought you were having a bad dream

Jazz: What am I a puppy?????

The Brenton...just smiles!

It's a learning Experience

2009-04-07T08:13:00.000-07:00

First of all....this is Jazz typing....Nut Job has taken this week off and we are SOOOOoooo Glad....

Second I found that I like making lists...I am a list person, shopping list, lists for packing for trips, "things to do" lists...I just like 'em....

So today we shall make a list, a list of things I have learned in the last 30 weeks. Enjoy and contribute if you'd like...husbands are encouraged to participate!

Road Rage is never Ok, so when you feel that hitting someone would be a good alternative to driving behind them....that means you should have someone else drive ( I only drive when Brenton isn't in the car, he knows better than to sit shot gun with a crazy behind the wheel!)
Never go to the grocery store hungry and hormonal...you will only end up with cookies,ice cream and a bag of tortillas.
Elastic can be your friend one min and your enemy the next
If you don't have an obvious protruding stomach in the maternity store, you will get dirty judgmental looks
People look funny when they are 98% sure that you're pregnant, but are still too afraid to ask...you can see the internal battle of "Do I ask? But what if she isn't?"
If you have a full bladder, waddling is a natural occurrence, don't fight it...just go to the bathroom!
Cocoa Butter is a placebo...it's doesn't stop stretch marks, but magically you don't get upset when you do get them ( I don't want to talk about it!)
Will power is a success when you have fought the craving for more than 2 hrs.
Packing a snack for yourself is never the case, you must think of the Father-to-Be who will be with you, and plan on him eating your snacks too!
Sympathy from strangers lasts a whole lot longer than that of your spouse...You have about 6 months of awesome pampering and then 3 months of "whatever! Just stop crying"

She's Baaaaccckkkk!

2009-04-02T09:37:00.000-07:00

Jazz: Oh Hello there Coo-Koo nice to see you again!!!

Nut Job: (evil glare)

Jazz: Oh I see you have been making yourself comfortable this week

Nut Job: Ya, it's been a pretty productive week

Jazz: Yes, I recall! How was that break down of yours? Good?

Nut Job: Ehh...I have done better, but it did the job...I got that "I am married to a crack pot!" look from The Brenton didn't I?

Jazz: Oh yes, yes you did...it took me a day or two to get that look to go away, thanks!

Nut Job: No problem

Jazz: So what's your deal this week? Why are you hanging around so long?

Nut Job: There is just sooo much material around lately, I'm thinking about hanging out for a while

Jazz: Really? hmmm...I don't think that is such a great idea

Nut Job: Ya, it kinda is....

Jazz: I have noticed you have set in for the most innocent of people, maybe you should just lay low for a bit

Nut Job: That's the dumbest idea I have ever heard...

Jazz: See that is what I am talking about, stop saying what you are thinking!!!

Nut Job: Ya, it's kind of funny to hear you try to talk me out of saying it, but of course I am going to...I'm defiant!

Jazz: Right, got that...well do you think you can be quiet for the weekend? I mean I would like to have a day this week where The Brenton isn't considering running away.

Nut Job: I don't make any promises!

Jazz: Jerk! Oopps...

Nut Job: Ha ha ha ha ha

A Little Diddy-with New Verses!

2009-03-29T20:47:00.000-07:00

I realize that I haven't really given a good detailed update about the life situation of The Brenton and I...and so I figured that I should get on one...and to make it even more entertaining I will write it to that all time Jon Denver hit "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" (mind you may have to read it over a few times for it really to work right....)

Well Life in Sandy is kind of laid back, ain't nothin' a Cali girl like I can't hack, early to rise 10:30 in the sack, could some-one please rub my feet??

Well my office smells like it's in the middle of a farm, had a propane scare but it didn't cause no harm, can barely see my feet, I'm the size of a barn...can someone rub my feet?

Well I got me a fine life, I got me a hubby, he goes to school and I'm gettin' kinda chubby. I'm also going crazy but we're still in love-ieeee....could someone please rub my feet?

When our work is all done, and the sun is settin' low, we head off to school and still walkin' through the snow, we're expecting a baby girl as some of you know...could someone please rub my feet?

Well The Brenton and I are havin' lots of fun... prepping for our baby and hoping for some sun, we can't wait because Junes when I'm done.....can someone please rub my feet?

Well I got me a fine life, I got me a hubby, he goes to school and I'm gettin' kinda chubby. I'm also going crazy but we're still in love-ieeee....could someone please rub my feet?

The Brenton could trade his wife for golfin' or tools,
But he's stickin' by my side, I feel bad for the fool.
We're dreaming about the time we can lay by the pool!
Could someone please rub my feet?

Well being hormonal I can get kinda mean
He takes it like a Champ when I yell BRENTON DEAN
Living-ston you gotta keep this place CLEAN!
Could someone please rub my feet?

Well I got me a fine life, I got me a hubby, he goes to school and I'm gettin' kinda chubby. I'm also going crazy but we're still in love-ieeee....could someone please rub my feet?

AND STOP THE MUSIC!!!
(sorry going to bed, can't think of anymore rhymes!)

I'm a little confused and freightened

2009-03-25T15:21:00.000-07:00

Doing my daily Internet-ing and I see this on the side of my screen.....

Can anyone explain what that is? Is it a hoof? Claw?? Raptor like

thing-y???

Math Problem

2009-03-25T07:20:00.001-07:00

PLUS

x 8 (DURING WORK)

PLUS

Small Bathroom Stalls

EQUALS

eventually tucking my skirt into something it shouldn't be tucked into! Thank you strange lady in the bathroom who couldn't speak English, but still was able to tell me my skirt needs to be fixed....Bless your Heart!

There is Sunshine in My Soul Today

2009-03-22T13:44:00.000-07:00

For all of you who thank your lucky stars that you don't live in Utah, here is what you missed out on this Sunday Morning.
So HA!
We had SunBeams! BEAMS! I was just missing the background MoTab Choir going "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" (in harmony of course)

Modern Medicine

2009-03-20T14:58:00.000-07:00

Did the ol' Glucose/Checking for Diabetes 'Cause I'm pregnant test....

What Happens During the Oral Glucose Tolerance Test?
(WebMD Answer):

The oral glucose tolerance test involves quickly drinking a sweetened liquid (called Glucola)...A blood sample will be taken from a vein in your arm about 60 minutes after drinking the solution. The blood test measures how the glucose solution was metabolized (processed by the body).

Okay so this Glucola....umm it's Orange Crush Soda...they just poured it in a bottle and put some Latin medical term and made it look like it was medically important so they could charge $80 for it.
They tell you to drink it within 5 min, so I think I did it in 2...Why you ask? Because I was thirsty... it was cold, it was carbonated, it was refreshing....I offered some to The Brenton, but he didn't think it was a good idea.

I impressed the girl in the waiting room that I downed it so fast.....I told her it was because of my old drinking days

(Mom and Mama Jeana....it was a joke, there are no drinking days, no matter what any crazy says! )

So 60 min later I am jabbed with a needle to draw blood...Twice!! I got the, "Oh your vein moved" explanation... I think she was a liar, but she was nice so we are friends!

The End

Lord Almighty, I feel my Temperature Risin!

2009-03-19T15:36:00.000-07:00

So when they said, "You have a bun in your oven"

I took that as my womb would be a safe place while little thing cooks....not that I was LITERALLY going to be an

The Brenton (sorry mom, haven't found a name that I liked yet for him) is the heater in our relationship, it's perfect for cold winter nights....

But me, I could sleep with a down comforter year round, you just climate adjust, stick your leg out to balance out the temp right?

Well not anymore, I think we are the only apt in our complex that had our A/C running during the winter!

Today I have made a breakthrough at the office....see the problem is at 3pm it just gets too hot, and someone shut the vent off above my desk, sooooo I melt from 3-5pm every day. Well yesterday while looking for a heater for my co-worker (she works in the cold area of our office, we are a very fickle people) I found

THIS!!! HAZAHHHH!!

Sadly it took me until 4:45 today to remember that I found the fan yesterday!

It's a St. Patrick's Day Miracle

2009-03-17T20:08:00.001-07:00

If you were here but two weeks ago, you would have read about the mysterious Martha Stewart Living Magazines that were showing up to my house unannounced.

Today we received a THIRD one, and so I decided to make a little call to Martha's people.

And they told me that I get a full years subscription for FREE!!! HOORAY!!

You too can get a years worth of free magazines, all you need to do is get your husband (or yourself) to buy a Martha Stewart bouquet of flowers (they were my valentines gift, I got a good man!) from 1-800 flowers (plug) and the magazines come free! (or in the price of the very beautiful flowers!)

Thanks Martha........and Thanks Honey for remembering years ago when I said, "I would like flowers for either my b-day or Valentines Day"
Like my high school leadership teacher would say, you don't G-E-T if you don't A-S-K

P.S. apparently Brenton doesn't read completely what he is purchasing, so if any of you are selling something, maybe for your kids, just go ahead and throw extra stuff in there, he wouldn't know!

Happy St. Paddy's Day To Ya

2009-03-17T07:23:00.000-07:00

Happy Day to you!!!

How will you celebrate it today???

A Little Corned Beef and Cabbage????

A Little Irish Movie??? Sean Connery as a wee Lad! YES!

Playin' your Favorite Cranberries song? YEs they're Irish, remember?

Will you be here? It's Chicago, they do this every St. Patrick's Day!

Or the Ol' Irish Way???

This makes me smile!

I will be wishing my sister Morgan a HAPPY B-DAY!!!

My gift to you, is not posting how old you are!!!

I hope it skips a generation!

2009-03-15T19:52:00.000-07:00

Teenagers of the World...or South Jordan, Utah:

You bother me! Yes it's true, the majority of you bother me...when I am out with my husband on a lovely date, why do I have to hear you screaming something obnoxious in the parking lot over and Over and OVER again?? We get it...you are funny!

Why when I am shopping at Target, are there a MILLION of you crammed in one little isle, making the management nervous as to what you are doing over there...and Why out of that MILLION is there only one GIRL! Seriously, Chica Hello????

Oh and why when you, Chica, are with these millions of boys, you choose the scronny-est of them all to be all "cuddley" with and snuggle walk down the isle?? (You all know what I am talking about, the Prom Pose while walking) What happened to holding hands walking side by side??? BE NORMAL!!!!

And Why oh WHY are you guys parked in the Target Parking lot just "hanging out" right in front of my car?

P.S. Girl in the car with two other boys....IF you are going to be tough and lip something off to me because I starred at you (which I did only to make you nervous, it's a fun game I play with strangers), then TRY oh TRY to pronunicate your WORDS so that I can at least read them?? I only figured you were saying something tough because you had your ghetto attitude head shake. Which I must say was VERY good! I was afraid of you...seriously keep up the good work!

The one very up side to you all, is the constant enjoyment that the husband and I have at your expense, so Thank yoU!

Sincerely,

Jazmine's Hormones

Problem Solved

2009-03-12T21:16:00.000-07:00

Scene: Jazmine in the bathroom (for the 20th time that day) notices something on the back of the door. This is what she sees

Jazmine Thinks to herself: What could that be????

Taking a closer look

MYSTERY SOLVED!!!!

Jazmine: Honey, did you kill a spider against the bathroom door?

Brentonie: Oh ya, I thought I got it

Jazmine: So we are leaving it up there as an example to all the other spiders in this apt??

BRENTONIE: uH-HUH

And we have not seen a spider since!

Where did we go wrong????

2009-03-12T09:54:00.000-07:00

Parts of the Article that were cut out of this pic:

Gather up schoolbooks, toys, paper etc and then run a dustcloth over the tables.
Over the cooler months of the year you should prepare and light a fire for him to unwind by. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift too. After all, catering for his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction.
Prepare the children. Take a few minutes to wash the children's hands and faces (if they
are small), comb their hair and, if necessary, change their clothes. They are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part. Minimze the noise. At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer or vacuum. Try to encourage the children to be quiet.
Be happy to see him
Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him.
Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first-remember, his topics of converstation are more important than yours.
Make the evening his. Never complain if he comes home late or goes out to dinner, or other places of entertainment without you. Instead, try to understand this world of strain and pressure and his very real need to be at home and relax.
Your goal: Try to make sure your home is a place of peace, order and tranquility where your husband can renew himself in body and spirit.
Don't greet him with complaints and problems.
Don't complain if he's late home for diner or even is he stays out all night. Count this as a minor compared to what he might have gone through that day.
Make him comfortable. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or have him lie down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him.
Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in low, soothing and pleasant voice.
Don't ask him quetions about his actions or question his judgement or integrity. Remember, he is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him.
A good wife always knows her place.

Mystery Martha

2009-03-09T20:51:00.001-07:00

Dear Martha Stewart:

I wanted to let you know that I marvel at your creativeness, I love your Christmas wreaths made out of pine cones and gold spray paint. One day I plan on making the pumpkin snake that you had in your Halloween Holiday special 2 seasons ago. I am sorry that I did not purchase your magazine this last Holiday season, it's not like me I know, but my mind was still trying to wrap it's way around the fact that I was pregnant....do you have a magazine edition on that????

Today though, The Brenton and I got a lovely surprise in our mailbox when we received not one but TWO of your magazines. We received the Gardening Solutions and the Springs Brightest Ideas edition. I am excited to look through them, however I fear to. For neither The Brenton nor I ordered these. Did you send me these? Or will I soon receive a bill for $80?? I do love your magazines, but I do not like surprise bills. Maybe if I am really good, The Brenton will let me keep them, or maybe one!

Yours Truly,

Jazmine Livingston

iTunes song of the morning

2009-03-06T07:33:00.000-08:00

Kate Earl:She is in my "mellow" or "deep thought" music category while driving....me like-y...Thanks WaMu Megan for bringing her to our home!

Don't watch the video, just turn it up and have it play in the background

S-U-G-A-R

2009-03-05T12:14:00.000-08:00

Some may say that I am a stubborn person....(stop laughing mom!) It's true, if you tell me NOT to do something, of course I am going to do it, (except drugs... and a few others)

I read all the books about being pregnant and they go on and on and on about nutrition and being healthy for your baby's sake....

Things like:

Don't eat tuna more than once a week
Don't have too much caffeine......I have opt-ed for a caffeine free pregnancy, with the help of Brenton saying "You can't have caffeine....don't hurt my baby!") *and side note, yes I know that you can have caffeine while pregnant, you just have to monitor it, BUT they say the baby has a hard time metabolizing it...so we just say no.
Don't Smoke while pregnant
Don't Drink
Don't eat cold deli meat (I have missed that one)
Don't eat raw hot dogs...sad they had to actually tell people that
Don't eat soft, non pasturized cheeses
No sushi (except if it's tempura-ed)
No pills other than Tylenol

All this I have obeyed to make sure that Diva can be as healthy as possible

BUT lately I read that in the 3rd Trimester, "You should really lower your carb/sugar intake." Something about retaining water with all the salty crackers/chips and everything that is good and holy...and the Sugars, I guess too much sugar is bad, and I should eat a veggie or something!

I am sorry Peanut, but I just can't seem to get myself off the box or Bag...they told me NO.... But to use my own power against me, I have challenged myself to a

NO SUGAR THURSDAY.......

Wish me luck...I love candy oh and Brownies!