Living like squatters

Well friends, we are 3 days away from our big move! And you know what that means? It means that we are living like squatters in our own home. 

Because Ryan has been working in Fresno for the last 3 weeks, he's been able to pack his car full of stuff and unload it down there each times he goes. But that means that we have hardly anything left up here. 

 TV on the floor? Toys and junk everywhere? Check. Check.

Toy-less playroom? Check.

Empty kitchen cabinets? Check.

Using patio furniture as indoor furniture? Check.

Disposable plates, cups, and silverware? Check.

Mattress on the floor? Check.

We are very excited and ready to get into our new house! We are currently waiting for escrow to close. So for the next week, we'll be staying at my in-laws' house (while they are on vacation in Hawaii. Luckies.) We are scheduled to get our keys on March 1st and then the unpacking and decorating will begin!

And just so that this post doesn't only have pictures of my tornado house... here's a picture of this sweet thing. I love her so. 

Valentine's Day

Our day started out really early... like 4:55am early. Jax came into our room dressed in his Valentine's clothes and ready for the day. What is wrong with my kid?! We stuck him downstairs in front of the babysitter TV, gave him some yogurt and went back to bed until Lexi woke up at 6:15. Ryan had to get on the road for work, so it was just the kids and I for the morning. 

Jax opened his presents... a new cup, the game UNO, and a new shirt with a cape! He loved that!

We had heart shaped toast, heart shaped strawberries and berry milk in his new cup for breakfast

(Side note- I make my own berry sauce for milk, plain yogurt, etc. Just put 2 cups of berries, 1/4 cup of water and 1/3 cup of pure maple syrup in a small saucepan over medium low heat. Simmer for 10 minutes then puree with an immersion blender or pour into a regular blender. Strain through a fine sieve and store in an airtight container in the fridge. Super easy and yummy)

I dropped Jax off at school, came home to put Lexi down for a nap and nurse her, then went back to school for Jax's Valentine's party. The teachers did a great job making everything fun for his class.

After school, we went to Chipotle for lunch then ran a few errands. I made coq au vin for dinner (chicken and wine, my grandma's recipe... Ryan's favorite) and Jax and I surprised him with this fun set up. Please excuse our patio table and folding chairs. We're bare bones living until we move in 12 days.

I also made Ryan's favorite dessert- carrot cake. It's not my favorite, but this was a new recipe and it was actually pretty good. And it was heart shaped, of course. 

I took this quick picture of my two lovies this evening. Please excuse Lexi's shirt that is COVERED in drool. Teething sucks. 

I didn't get any pictures with the hot guy who gave me these two babies ;) But I sure do love him a lot. 

I hope ya'll had a great day!

Teacher and Preschool Valentines

I spent a few days searching around Pinterest for some cute ideas for Valentines that Jax could take to his preschool class and teachers. I pinned quite a few ideas, gave Jax some choices, then we made our own version of what we saw. I love how they turned out! And best of all, they were easy and cheap!

This is what we did for his classmates.

I bought the balls ($3 for a 12 pack) and bags ($1 for 20) from Target, and my hubby created the tags (can you tell? ;) ) and we printed them on cardstock ($3 at Michael's). We needed 34 valentines, so it cost us a grand total of $15 for everything. 

And this is what we did for his teachers.

I used the extra bags I had bought at Target and inside I put a Starbucks gift card (whatever amount you choose) and an intensive repair lotion from Target (teachers wash their hands A LOT). I made the tag this time... can you tell it's much more girly?! I also got the twine from the dollar section at Target. Don't you just love that place? 

We'll be bringing these to class tomorrow, which also happens to be Jax's last day before we move. 

So bittersweet!

Happy Valentine's Day, friends!!

The one about moving home

We are right in the middle of getting everything packed and ready to move home at the end of the month. As long as everything happens on time, we get our keys on March 1st. We are planning on doing a lot of back and forth between now and then, slowly taking loads of stuff down there. We borrowed Ryan's grandpa's truck and trailer so that we can take a big load of things sometime over the next week. 

(Her first time on the swings. She loved it!)

So my days consist of taking things off walls, out of closets and cupboards and into organized piles, boxes and bags. We're not doing a lot of "packing" because it's only 2.5 hours away. After just moving a year ago, I have no desire to completely pack and then unpack all of our belongings. So most things are being transported in piles. Ha!

(He wanted to sit in the baby swings with his sister. Love it.)

Jax has been such a great helper. He keep grabbing things and saying "Oh, we'll take this. I'm gonna pack this" and adding it to a pile. I've been trying to prepare him for leaving, but I don't think he fully understands it all. I've told him that next week will be his last week at school and his response was "Ok, then we will find a new school in Fresno". Which is true, but I don't know that he understands that means we won't see our friends up here anymore. To him, Fresno is always fun and family and good times. That excitement overshadows any sadness he might otherwise be feeling. I've really been praying that the excited doesn't fade as we start to transition and fully move down there.

Overall, we are so excited and SO ready to get this move over with and just be HOME!!!

7 Months

Lexi Nicole is 7 months old today!

She has been such a joy over this past month.

This is such a fun age and we are soaking it all in! 

She loves to sit and play with anything she can get her hands on. She usually prefers if it's not actually one of her toys, but one of Jax's... or a piece of tape or a kitchen tool or anything else random that isn't intended for a baby. 

She LOVES to bounce and is always bouncing around even if she's not in her jumper or excersaucer. It makes for very interesting meal times because we can't get her to sit still!

We are working on getting her on a more consistent schedule. All the travel and sickness over the holidays really did a number on her sleeping, so I'm finally trying to get her back on track. The last few days have gone really well! Here's what her typical day looks like (or at least what I hope it looks like)...

5am- wake up and bring her into our bed, half sleep until Jax wakes up around 6/630

630/7am- nurse

8am- breakfast (fruit and rice or oatmeal)

930am- nap 

1030am- nurse

12pm- lunch (fruit and veggie, sometimes with rice or oatmeal, water)

1pm- nurse and nap

230/3pm- snack (puffs or freeze dried fruit)

4pm- nurse

5pm- nap

6pm- dinner (veggie and chicken, sometimes with rice or oatmeal, water)

7pm- nurse and bathtime

8pm- bed

At this point she's usually waking up twice at night and I'm nursing her during those times. I'm hope that this new schedule will help her to sleep better at night. If not, we'll be doing some (more) sleep training once we move back to Fresno. 

For her food we're also doing a little bit of baby led weaning, so she gets lots of bites of whatever we are eating. I also give her chunks of fruit and veggies that she can feed herself. 

Some stats from the past month-

*She weighs 15ish pounds

*6 month clothes

*Size 3 diaper

*She started feeding herself finger foods

*She started drinking out of a sippy cup (but only one sip at a time)

*She got her first tooth! It took 2 LONG weeks to come through. Ugh!

*She sat in a swing at the park for the first time

*She sleeps on her side with her head arched back. Super weird.

*She launches forward from sitting, up and over her knees, and smoothly lands on her tummy

Happy 7 months Lexi girl!

Insta-Randoms

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed with everything that's been going on. However, I'm super excited and looking forward to getting into our new house in a month!

For now, here are some recent iPhone/Instagram pictures. If you want to follow me, I'm @jennahansen. Just send a request and I'd be happy to add you!

Daddy and Baby Girl. I LOVE this picture!

Found these old school blocks at my parents' house. Can't wait to put them to use for newborn pics once we have another baby!

She's attempting to (sorta) creep/crawl these days. What?!

She's getting so big!

Love being able to bath them together now. It's so much easier.!

Went on a baby food making frenzy last week. This isn't even all of it. I'm pretty sure I won't need to make anymore baby food for Lexi.

Trying to distract Lexi at our realtor's office. Baby Tylenol syringe in one hand, plastic bag in the other. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

My whole world is wrapped around these two lovebugs.