I Can't Wait for Tuesday!!

Alright BL Fans! This is the week! Here's the latest video of our two stud muffins, and I am so excited to see the big premiere on Tuesday. Hope you all can watch! Also, Blaine started a new blog-  biggestloserblaine.wordpress.com - feel free to check it out, add comments, and pass it along to friends.

Brecken's Early Christmas Present

BECAUSE YOU SMILED

I raised my head and saw you there

Across the room from me,

A smile had started in your eyes

And it was - good - to see.

One moment, then it reached your lips

And lingered for awhile,

I wonder - "Do you know the joy

That traveled with your smile?"

A smile is such a little thing,

And used so sparingly.

Sometimes - it's awfully hard to do,

But - Oh - it's good to see.

When I feel tired, or low within

As I often do.

It's good to look across the room

And have a smile - from you.

Jo Burford

(Brecken Joseph - First smiles - 2 months)

Catching Up

I decided to post a bunch of pics of Brecken just to catch up. The one where he's wearing the big boy jeans is the most recent. We went to the dr. the other day and the Chubby Bubby is already up to 14 pounds and he's only two months old!  I'm already getting a work out from this little guy. He's as sweet as can be though. I only wish he'd start sleep through the night a little better. Although he has been making up for it by giving up big smiles lately. Catching him in the act to get a picture is pretty hard though- soon I hope to get him grinning on camera.

Tonight's the Night!

Hey Everyone! The Biggest Loser website finally has clips of Blaine's season!!! Yippee! I can't say how grateful I am that he is on the show- it's amazing the difference it has made in his life as well as all of ours. Go Blaine! - you rock!

It's crazy that these guys are on national television. Have fun watching everyone!

It's been a while

This is my life.... feed baby, burp baby, change baby, sleep when baby sleeps.... then repeat. It's a dang good thing he's so cute!

Happy 9th Birthday, Whitterbug!

Whitney Traice is 9 years old today!!

I can't believe we are only one year away from ten- that's enough to make you feel like a really old parent. We celebrated early this year while we were in San Diego for Thanksgiving. Whitney got a really cool pink digital camera from her Dad and LaLa and pretty much tons of way cute clothes from everyone else. I'd say she's set for a while in that dept. We had a fun time bowling with all the family and she got a way cute ice cream cake (with imaginary candles :) I think she made out pretty good all in all.
Whitney I just wanted to tell you that you are growing up to be a beautiful young woman and I'm very proud of you. You have a great personality and a strong spirit that makes it fun to be around you. You continue to amaze me with the clever, funny and even strange things you come up with sometimes, and that is because you really are a very intelligent girl. I think Heavenly Father blessed you with all these amazing talents to help you become one of his strongest latter-day spirits. I can't wait to see all the awesome things you are going to accomplish in your life- you are one of a kind! I love you so much, my Little Bug. From the moment I first held you in my arms, you have had your hold on my heart. I am so glad that our friendship is becoming stronger every day, and that we will always be best friends.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUG! Love, Mom

Watch the Parade on Turkey Day!

Everyone be sure to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade for the first big announcement about Biggest Loser's new Season Seven!! Sometime during the parade there is supposed to be a commercial, and although we have no idea if they will show any of the contestants- this will be the first big announcement about Blaine's season airing in January. I am really excited about this- it's not everyday that you get to see your adorable husband on t.v! It's just so cool!!! 

Anyway, also we wanted to send a big Happy Thanksgiving to you all as well. Lots of love and hugs to all our family and friends- we are sooooooooo grateful for each one of you!

Halloween Pictures

Here are the fun Halloween pictures finally! The whole crew came to our neighborhood to trick or treat. I love the picture of all the adults trailing behind!

More Baby Pictures

Babies change so much in just the first few days! Here are some more recent ones we took this evening of Brecken.

Brecken Joseph has arrived!

Pictures of Blaine and Brecken

What a great couple of days we had together for Brecken's arrival! Here are a few of our now famous family members :) Blaine is doing great, and as hard as it was, he was ready to go back and continue to kick butt. He says hello to everyone and thanks for all the support you are giving him and all of us here at home. You will have to watch the show in January to see the few moments they will air of the whole exciting event! It was sooooooooooooooooooo great to get to spend even the few moments with him that we did, but I totally know that's where he needs to be. He's back to his energetic and happy self, and that's so wonderful to see the difference in him in just this little bit of time.

Holding until Tuesday

I went to the Dr. today thinking that maybe I would have at least progressed a little bit since my last appt. two weeks ago, but such is my life- nothing. I'm still not really even dilated to a one! Technically I'm still 14 days early so that shouldn't be so surprising, but the days are dragging by so slowly that I (being like every other pregnant woman in the world) am wishing that there's that chance that I would surprisingly jump into full labor and have the baby early. I know that sounds strange being that I have been waiting this whole time for Blaine to be able to be home when I have the baby, but then I think about how little time we will get to spend with him when he's here and more and more I am wishing I won't be stuck in a bed the whole time. Right now all I've heard is that he's getting here sometime on Monday afternoon or evening and then returning to CA either Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning. I know that the time is just going to fly by and he's only going to get to be with all of us just a few hours really, and that makes me so sad. I am trying hard to focus on the fact that it's such a blessing to get to see him at all during those special moments.

His last letter was really positive. He wrote it on General Conf. Sunday and I only finally received it yesterday, the 16th so it's like two weeks old already. He had just found out that he was going to get to come home for the baby and he said it was such a motivation for him to work really hard and he's already lost a lot of weight. He does feel bad that the kids, especially Jaylee and Ethan don't understand why he has had to be gone this whole time. All of the kids are really excited to see him though, I keep trying to prepare them for how short of a visit it really will be though. I hope it's not hard for them to send him off again. I'm hopeful for them, but really, I know it's going to be a rough couple of days again for me, just because I know myself. I am hoping that I can hold off the blues until he's gone at least. Thank goodness for all our family-- in advance....sorry I'm such an emotional person everyone!

Nothing Like a Phone Call

Yesterday afternoon, I was surprised to find out that Blaine earned the right to call home. He called last night and it was SO GREAT to talk to him! He sounds like he's doing really well, and that he's happy. He is off all of his meds. already and so he must be doing something right and trying to work really hard. I can imagine that after the "week 2 slow down" it must have been a rough week for him, but I hope that getting to call home was the boost he needed to keep on pushing along. I got my long awaited answer that YES, I will have a husband present for the birth of our baby. I do have to re-schedule my c-section for a few days later if possible and stay pregnant a little longer, but man, is it worth it. Yippee! Go Blaine- way to win that call home!

Yeah, our first lettter!!

Okay so I've been a little anxious to hear from Blaine, as if you couldn't tell. Anyway, I finally got his first letter and it was so great to hear from him. He said that things are going well, but definitely harder than he tried to prepare himself for. At first he was having a little bit of a hard time, but he said after getting all the results of his testing back it really made him change how he felt about everything and has really been re-motivating for him. He realizes how badly he needs to make these changes and get healthy. He is very excited about a couple of break-through's that he has made, although he can't tell me about them at all (details, details!). He is missing the kids like crazy of 'course, but that too is kind of helping him keep his focus on the goals ahead. He said the food is really good, but it's actually even kind of hard to eat all the calories that they are supposed to. Dane and him are still doing well together and they're getting really close, which makes me happy he's got someone there to lean on. He sounds like he's hanging in there, and I'm soooooo proud of him!!!
He hasn't really asked for anything I can send him except his bike riding gear (shoes, gloves, etc.) which he already has....I'm guessing he is on the bike a lot because of his knees. But one thing he did ask for was his passport- yikes! I don't like the sound of that. I really wish I knew when he was in or out of the country! Still don't know if we will see him for the baby- we'll have to wait and see!

"Are you lost, little boy?"

Okay, so some of you have heard this, but I still have to write it for posterity. Our big macho man, our big famous movie star forgot his own address and therefore could not write his patient, sacrificial wife a letter!
I was waiting and waiting to hear anything at all from Blaine thinking... oh, I'm sure that he's going to write me something as soon as he gets there, he wouldn't make me wait long. Well, yesterday I got a call from our little liason, go-between girl at BL and she said Blaine didn't know his own home address! Not only that, but he didn't even know a phone number to give her to call me- I understand that we all use the memory keys on our phones so we don't memorize phone numbers, but come on! They had to go and dig his cell phone out of the security box to get my cell phone number off of it to call me and get our address. "You're one pathetic loser!...No offense." Love you tons honey!

Big Boy on Campus

I am so excited to say that Ethan finally started Preschool today at a lady's house here in our ward. It's only two streets over so we can even walk- well, maybe once I don't have to waddle as I go and melt in the heat so bad. He is so ready for it and he absolutely loved going today. It is really funny though, he is so much bigger than everyone in his class. I'm sure his Daddy would be proud!

Unlikely Super Hero's

Ethan and Jaylee love, love, LOVE to dress up. I was able to grab a couple of snapshots of them while they were playing the other day- too cute!

Three Weeks...Not that I'm counting!

Yippee- It's October, it's finally here! Only 21 days left until we meet our baby- I'm so excited, I wish the days will just hurry up and fly by. It seems like every night now, I wake up in the middle of the night and think of all the things I need to be getting done before the baby comes though. I guess that is what makes this the nesting stage right? I'm glad at least that will keep me busy and keep my mind occupied until then. Still no word from Blaine :( Oh well, just keeping our chins up and praying for him!

Game Night

Well, yesterday (Saturday) was definitely one of the hardest days I have had since Blaine left. I feel like I need to write this more for him than anyone because he really wanted me to use this as a journal of what he missed while he was gone- be it good or bad. I knew I had to get the kids out of the house, Ethan has been going a little stir-crazy and they all needed to run out some energy. I particularly think Ethan has been going through a bit of a rebellious streak without Dad to be around to put his foot down...well, I think it's apparent in all of them that way a little bit. Anyway, so I thought we should drive out to Ikea so I could do a little walking myself and the kids love the play area there too.
Let's just say my good intentions for doing something the kids would like totally and completely backfired. When we got there, I realized that Jaylee couldn't go in the play area because she's not potty trained and "tantrum" doesn't begin to cover the fight she put up. I felt totally bad, but she finally pushed me enough and yelled "No!" enough that I basically threw her into the shopping cart. I hate it when my kids are total brats in public and I have to spank them or whatever to get their attention- that's always fun.
Well, at the end of shopping, my Mom and I decide to just get the kids hotdogs there before we go home. Jaylee was doing only so-so by then because she hadn't had a nap and all the kids were hungry. While we were eating she refused to share the soda with anyone and starts to walk off. I go get her and instead of grabbing her and carrying her back- which I know will lead to a total tantrum- I try to distract her and get her to walk back on her own. Finally, she starts to tell me No again and I just grab her when she refuses to give me the soda. I try to grab that from her too, but I can tell that it's just going to end up spilling so I let her hold it. While I'm carrying her she is still almost spilling it so I tell her- "don't drop it, you're going to drop it Jay"- what does she do but completely throws the cup on the ground. It splashes this little boy we were walking past and goes everywhere! I lost it- I spank her on the butt and plop her down in her chair. I try to go with the little boy's Dad to get stuff to clean up the mess and then, Ethan and Whitney think they need to come follow me and track the soda everywhere. I tell them like three times "go around" the spill back to the table- well no one is listening to Mom at this point and they try to jump over it. Ethan slips just like I knew he would and fall smack on his butt and starts to cry. My Mom is trying to contain Jaylee again so I just scream at the kids- "that's it we are out of here!" I didn't care about the mess anymore or if they had even eaten anything. Jaylee won't walk because she's crying and knows she's in big trouble so I have to carry her over the top of my belly and we drag them all out to the car.
Once in the car, I can't help but let the tears come and just think to myself that I am mad that Blaine has to be gone. It totally sucks at some moments to be a single parent. My Mom has been a tremendous help through everything so far, but it's just not the same as having a Dad there. It doesn't help that the kids are still totally pushing me on everything while they are adjusting to him being gone too. I know it will get better, well I hope at least, and I am trying really hard to be the good parent, but I feel like I'm just getting mad at them all the time for doing stuff they know they shouldn't be. I hope that we don't go thru all of this again if he gets to come home for a short visit a couple of times!
Well, back to the reason why I labeled this post game night...Taylor was sweet enough to come watch the kids for a few hours while my Mom and I went to get pedicures- I had the best foot massage, and it was worth every penny! Then Sharley, Ben & Cameron came over and we had a great time playing the Great Dalmuti. Thanks you guys so much for being a huge stress reliever for me- I needed it so much. I am so glad that we have so many of you living so close now- it's always fun to get together -- then the kids can bug you guys instead of me for at least an hour or two!! :)

Letters...

I just wanted to let all of you, my family, know that I am sure that Blaine would love to hear from you guys if you ever wanted to write him a letter. You can send it to me and I can include it the next time I send him something. We are allowed to write letters to him, but he may not get them immediately- may be even a bunch at a time. He told me he can write to us too, and that the show will be really strict about what he can tell us, so they will read everything we write back and forth. Still though, it's a huge relief to me to have at least this little bit of indirect contact with him.

I imagine by now, he's pretty dang sore, so any letter of encouragement would be appreciated I'm sure. Two days down... only like a hundred and fifty (give or take) more to go! :(

Good Luck Daddy!

Blaine got to tour the NBC studios a few days ago, here is a picture he sent me. He said it was really cool to go on the sets of Days of Our Lives, Jay Leno and a few other shows. This is the backstage entrance to Jay Leno's studio.


We got to send Blaine a package yesterday and these are a few photos we took to send to him. Just thought I'd share 'cuz I think my kids are so dang cute- I know I'm biased. Anyway, our last phone call was last night, and he has really good spirits. He's excited about all the new experiences he's gonna have, and a little nervous about the coming pain I think- who wouldn't be? All in all, I really feel he is ready to make the necessary changes he needs to in order to make this experience worthwhile. Specifically he's really ready to learn how to grow spiritually and emotionally through this to become an even more awesome husband, father and friend. I am really proud of both him and Dane that they are brave enough to go through this whole experience- I think I would be a little too chicken to put myself out there in front of everyone, but we all know how Blaine is great at being center stage in the middle of all the action.

We still haven't heard a straight answer if he can be home with us when the baby comes. Right now, I'm just hoping for yet another amazing blessing from the Lord. I need to remember that coming home could also be a real distraction to his focus though, so I'm just going with faith that the Lord will make the right thing happen for us.

Thank you again for all your support everyone! Keep praying for him okay? No doubt he's going to do great!

Skinny Thoughts

I wanted to take one last time to communicate with all of you. Things are looking really good (well not us but it). We have made all the cuts and we are waiting for the last one. I am so great full for the this opportunity. I can't imagine leaving my family for this long. I must be crazy. But I could not do it if it were not for all of you. Thank you for supporting us. Watch over my wife and kids. I will catch you on the flip side.

A good joke by Whitney

"Why do cows have bells?"

"Because their horns don't work!" hee hee hee!

Getting by...

Here is our official BEFORE picture- next time minus the bellies on both of us!!

We're slowly, slowly getting used to the idea of Daddy being gone for a bit. I think everyone who knows Blaine would agree that having him around always makes things more fun, so needless to say it's been kind of a rough week without him. Also, anyone who knows me, knows how easy it is to make tears come to my eyes, but in my own defense - I'm pregnant here!!! The hormones do not make it easy. Just when I think I have things under control and can keep my emotions in check, I get thoughts of what we would be doing if he were here. That just kind of starts me missing him all over again! I hate it!!!!!!!!! If only I didn't just adore being with him.....but I absolutely do, so what can be done? Just grin and bear it right?
This whole thing has been just an amazing blessing, and he has promised to make every minute worth it so that the sacrifice of being away will not go without it's rewards. I am trying my best to focus on how much better he will feel and how much healthier he will be when he gets back- so positive thoughts....

The kids are doing well, they have had their little moments here and there. I know Ethan will be the most affected- just about every day he talks about when Daddy comes home. "I made this picture for Dad and we can show it to him when he gets home"- stuff like that. He loves his Daddy! Whitney and Jaylee are good so far though. One time that I am sure I am going to be wondering why in the heck I ever let Blaine leave is during sacrament meeting. Jaylee and Blaine have become big attenders of the toddler foyer class during sacrament, and with my big belly now, I can hardly hold the girl on my lap anymore. Thank heavens for Grandma Joanne in those moments! At least Jay loves to go to nursery and doesn't cry when we leave her anymore, what a blessing that has been.

As for baby, I am 33 weeks- so just over 8 months now. We're counting down the days until Oct. 21st for two reasons now- although we still haven't gotten any final word that he will be able to come home when we have the baby, but like I said- still trying to think positively. I've completely put any other options out of my thoughts for right now. It will most definitely be a tender mercy to get to see him for that joyful event. Both baby and I are doing really well. Nothing to report really, but doing good.

Well, I feel like I'm complaining more than counting blessings here so I'd better go, but so far the report is that things are going well for them. The tests they have done have gone well and they still think their chances are great. He's still stressing of course until they go on to the next step, and he feels a little like the walls are closing in on them. I'm so glad we can still talk to him though. That helps a little I think because it keeps his focus in view. He sends his love to all of you and his gratitude for your support and prayers. Keep 'em coming, I know we can't do this on our own! 'Til next time!

We're all about Healthy...not!

Well I thought it rather appropriate that the kids, Grandma & I should celebrate Blaine's departure with a trip to Krispy Kreme. That's so bad isn't it?? What can I say, every kid loves a doughnut, especially when you drag them from sound sleep at 5:30 in the morning! We all needed a fun little perk after leaving the airport. It goes without saying that I have got to change my ways or I won't be able to keep up with the new, energetic, skinny Blaine when he gets home!
On that note... (in secret code)...so good so far. Only a few tears this morning and some this evening. I had to keep re-telling myself not to expect him to walk in the door this evening, and that it's a good thing for all of us. I'm such a baby! Time to put on my game- face and suck it up!!!- I know he'll have to do much more than that!

Also, a huge Thank You to everyone who called or checked on me today. All your support, love and prayers are greatly appreciated. I know Blaine appreciates them as well, and I know I wouldn't make it a day with out you all- especially my amazing Mommy!

I really am going to try to blog a whole lot more while he's away so that we have a good journal for him to catch up on when he gets back. I won't be posting anything about him though, but check back anyway to see how we are doing without our huge, lovable teddy bear. Chow!

San Diego!!!

We love Grandma Jean & Pappa Chuck! We just wanted to post a huge Thank You to them for allowing us to come visit for the whole last week in San Diego. You may have possibly saved the lives of three little kids, because the odds were not in their favor that sooner or later I would have strangled them after having to listen to them say one more time..."I'm bored!" It was a very welcome reprieve from the melting 116 degree heat and insanity. Thank you, thank you, thank you! We love you and we had a wonderful time! Can't wait to see you again soon!

It's hot!!!

Well, swim lessons are over tomorrow- the kids are sad, but they have learned a lot. Ethan will go under the water now with a little help, which is an improvement because he has learned how to hold his breath. Although today was rough for him, he was screaming about going under, but afterwards he said he still liked swim lessons. Whitney has learned the freestyle stroke and the back stroke a lot better, and she is starting to learn how to dive- as unwilling as that may be. She's a great swimmer though. I am glad that they are over just because Jaylee and I no longer have to sweat it out while we wait. It's been somewhere between 105 and 113 degrees, and that is at 10:00 in the morning! 

Sharley's Wedding

Whitney in her beautiful, grown- up dress.

Ethan

Jaylee

Me and the girls.

Daddy & Ethan- This one makes me chuckle quite a bit.