Update!!

So i guess i jumped into our present life without filling in the gap from a whole year! SO MUCH has happened to our little family. We moved out of our studio apartment above Nancy and Lynn Labrum's garage - (i have missed her everyday, locke too, she completely became my second mom. miss you and love you nancy.) and moved into the farmhouse. Not before we moved Lane's parents out and completely gutted the inside. I'm talking a complete gut job. Probably the hardest work i've ever done! we took out all the carpets, ripped out all the old baseboards, and kitchen cabinets. Since then we have installed new carpets, new hardwood in the kitchen and down the hallway (by ourselves!! i'm so proud...) installed all new baseboards and a bunch of crown molding (done mostly by our brother in law - thank you troy!!!!) put in ALL NEW windows! (i think this has made the HUGEST difference!) installed an electric heating system (this house has run off coal for the past 25 years) retextured ALL the walls, painted every. single. wall., scraped off the popcorn ceilings throughout (i like me some sparkle, just not on the ceiling...) Installed all new lights upstairs, put in new cabinets, new counters (I"M IN LOVE!!) lane has replaced all the lightswitches AND faceplates (Seriously, this made it look like a new house! i think its all the the details!) painted the brick fireplace white, installed a new bannister, replaced the red heart tub upstairs, (and yes, you heard that right.) and MOVED IN!!!! (just a note, its mainly the upstairs thats done, the basement really just needs the basement and carpet and its good to go. our goal is to get it done before the baby gets here, wish us luck!) Now its the fun part, putting the house together. I've been sewing and framing and printing and painting...pretty much anything i can get my hands on. And its really coming together, i'm just not going to post the pictures right now. not yet. i want it ready before i show the really cool before and after pictures! i'm thinking another month?? this week we are working on tiling the kitchen backsplash, painting the table and chairs, and i'm going to work on locke's crib bedding. its SO FUN!! i love decorating this house, its completely my dream house. SO, this last year has been alot about the house and moving but we've also helped Lane's parents build a new house as well as his sister and brother-in-law (which involved more babysitting then building, just to clarify. i'm still the biggest rookie ever in home renovation. or building.) Lane has finished another crazy year on the farm, he is such an awesome farmer. He works rediculous hours in the summer, and has a calculator with him EVERYWHERE trying to work the "numbers" of the fields, cows, milk, all that jazz. I'm serious he takes it with him everywhere. He keeps a spare on the back of the toilet. its funny. Locke always steals that one! we are finding it everywhere! So we also announced that we're pregnant with baby number two, which is due may 9th and we are SO excited for his arrival. I always kinda thought it was a boy too, not that i had any kind of major revelation or anything, it just seemed like everytime i looked at baby stuff i always veered to the newborn boy section. I wasn't sure if i was doing it out of habit? or because it was an inckling to what it was?? turns out it was! i wasn't surprised at all when the ultrasound tech said it was a boy. i was just excited! Lane is tickled to get his boys, and i am happy to know locke is getting a brother he can play with. This year has also included me and locke getting into a bad accident coming home from Lehi with Lane's sister Lacy in April 2011 where we totaled the car - it started raining in provo canyon close to bridal falls and as we went over a bridge we hydroplaned, spun around a couple of times, bashing into the gaurdrail a few times. It was...just insane. Locke slept through the entire ordeal which blows my mind still. Luckily we were able to get a ride home with Lynn and Nancy (which is another reason why i love love love them, the pretty much saved our lives that day) and their son who runs a dealership in Heber towed the car for us. it was also rediculously cold that day, of course, so it made it that much worse. But we survived!! yahoo! Another big moment last year was when we learned Locke's lazy eye was not able to be corrected with glasses - he had to have eye surgery. It was one of those moments as a parent you get a horrible sick feeling about whats going to happen to your baby, but still have to feel comforted knowing its the best thing for him. Its a very conflicting situation! These pictures were before he had glasses, and its hard for me to look at them because at the time i really couldn't notice his eyes crossing so much!! but it is painfully obvious now when i look back:









Here are some pictures after glasses but before surgery:




Then there was a couple weeks of patching before the surgery to strenthen the weak eye - we kept socks on his hands for the first day until he learned he wasn't allowed to touch it. It worked amazing! You're so smart lane.


and then of course pictures of us waiting in the hospital for them to come get Locke. I must say the nurses were wonderful, i think i was obviously worried and they were just so good to locke and us. We waited in that room for a bit then Dr. Abrams came in and gave him a quick assesment. After that we waited a bit longer then an older nurse (i loved that she was older, she definately had a motherly presence that put me at ease) came, scooped locke up in a big cuddly blanket and walked down to the operation room. I was so glad they didn't try and put him on a gurney - he's a baby! So that was another thing that helped my nerves. But it still KILLED me to let him go knowing they were going to hurt him! it seriously took all my self control to hand him over. And i totally broke down after he left - its just so scary!! every operation has risks and i tried my hardest not to think about the potential for the doctors to ruin Lockes eyesight permanently. Ugh. i still can't think about it!





Me and Locke right after they brought him back, the same way they took him. We stayed in the hospital room and waited for his surgery to get over. There was no way i could go anywhere, it brought out all my mom instincts! I'll always remember hearing his cry down the hallway as they were bringing him back - i could tell it was him but really groggy. As he came into view i completely broke down, he was trying to fight the nurse, but was still waking up so he was so confused. That was hard. I just focused on his recovery and didin't let myself think about the fact that me and lane made the decision to put him through all that pain. So the doctor told us he was going to feel like he had sand in his eyes for a few days, so i prepared myself for what i thought would be a few rocky weeks:
He slept the entire first day, and was up most of the night. But the next day he was right back on his sleeping schedule and was his happy little self!! i marveled at the way his little body just bounced right back. it was pretty amazing.

next day in his jumper. Like i said, amazing. he was happy! i couldn't believe it! he is such a trooper.



first bath, i can't believe how much a bath helped too! it totally revitalized him.

So thats all for now, but i'll be backtracking a bit more in the next couple of posts, just so this little "online journal" makes sense.

Epic. two posts, one week.

This little guy is so BUSY! he refused to look at the camera once, so this is the best i got. He was being so funny today - refusing to wear pants and spending all morning putting his wooden puzzles together and babbling non-stop. I was attempting to finish an ottoman and Lane was running around doing house stuff I was barking at him to do....Oh the winter. I LOVE it. I love that Lane is home alot more, i actually get to see him during the day, its just a nice break before the craziness of the summer kicks in. We've been doing really good at our resolutions, so far a perfect score for saying prayers as a family at night. There are others that already need work....ugh. Last night we ran to Vernal and grabbed everything we needed to finish the backsplash in the kitchen - yah! i'm so excited to see things still coming along renovation-wise. Lane even spent all afternoon with me caulking the kitchen crown molding. He is the best. I seriously can't say it enough. Although i haven't told him i plan on painting the kitchen table and chairs....not sure how he's going to take that!! He knows me well enough to know i love STARTING projects....not so hot at finishing! But that is why i LOVE that i've been nesting a ton lately, i think i've finished off everything from last year in the past two weeks. its so liberating! yahoo! bring on the next baby! every day i feel more ready for him!

Just playing peek a boo for the 99th time today...




His new favorite toy?? the spray bottle. and i don't stop him, so the past week he always has droplets on his glasses - he's only strong enough to push the handle if its pointed right at his face!! so funny and he loves it!


ya know. just being a kid.

Resolutions

AHHHHHH!!!!! my life. has been insane over the past year. I keep telling myself when it calms down i'll head to this blog again and keep updating....not going to happen. the only reason i'm on here now is Locke is sick and taking an amazing 2 hour nap so far. what a champ. And no, things are not going to settle down around here, especially since in 4-5 months we are going to have another little boy to look after! i could not be more excited about adding to our family, it just seems like the right time to keep growing and getting into new adventures. But! there is a LOT to be done before the baby comes. which is kind of why i'm on here....definately procrastinating. Now that i know its a boy i'm super excited to begin putting his nursery together - that is after i get all my craft stuff out of that room. and it is PACKED. to the ceiling. But there is no where for it go! I want it to go downstairs...but its not finished. So me and Lane decided last night we are going to finish all renovations before this ones arrival!!! ugh, its such a big undertaking, since we are kinda both renod-out. we're pooped. big time. the upstairs looks amazing, but i know we are just going to have to force ourselves to keep going, because there is NO WAY i'm going to feel like doing anything with a new baby here. Its so hard to try and get all these projects done and still feel like i'm giving as much time as i can to locke - we only have 4 months together before i have to look after another baby and i want to make it as special for him as i can. So much is going to be changing AH! i'm even starting to cry thinking about how fun the past year and a half has been with locke - everything is so true that you hear, it goes SO FAST. I can't believe my little baby is now a toddler and we are bringing in a new baby - i just want SO BAD not to think that the baby is somehow replaceing locke. i still want him to feel I treat him the same, with plenty of attention and love. and yet i'll have another newborn! the idea of all that responsibility and care hits me sometimes - it will be a delicate balance between locke and the new baby. and i'm excited to figure it out! i'm excited for two boys, and i LOVE how quietly excited lane is about it all - he has his two boys, to help on the farm, to teach them hard work, to teach them everything he knows. But he would never admit it - thats just lanes way. He is my calm, subduded, amazing father and husband. My boys couldn't have a better parent then him! He is the best! LOVE you so so so much lane! i seriously can never say it enough. i just love him. alot. oh and my resolution is to update this once a week. wish me luck!

This is locke. everyday. at lunch. Whatever he eats, he gets it absalutely everywhere. including in his diaper. he is a true boy!





Locke and dad. Absalutely best buds. I love to see his little hands reaching up in the air - its something Lane never says no to! i love it.

Christmas card

Pout face escalation

Our favorite face, the pout. When Locke's tired he just want to be with mom - or else. And when he's not, this is what happens....

seriously messed up.

I came across this little beauty today...so so so creepy. The worst part?? when she explains how to pose your hands, "they need to be snake-like" ewwww....and her constant stroking of her hands. so very strange. it makes me feel really normal.

Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving this year was absalutely everything I was hoping for - WAY too much food, yearly bingo (Grandma upped the prizes by taping a dollar bill to candy bars - oh man! it was amazing how much more competitive you can get for an extra dollar. or was it that we all wanted one of "grandma's" dollars - a momento for the year??)that was followed by dance instruction from jazzie and amber MUCH too soon after dinner. It envoked a kind of happy-sickness of having fun and trying to ignore the gobs of turkey and mashed potatoes that were wolfed down recently. (I eat like crazy there - rationalizing i'll work it off in the dance party later. although i never last long...)Locke was having such a hoot he didn't nap - in the first picture he is trying SO HARD to keep those little eyelids open - so scared he'll miss one more person coming up to him making a funny face to get him to laugh. By the way thank you to all the relitives, it was the funnest year yet! I love reconnecting with everyone and Locke loved every minute of it!

Grandpa, I think he is the secret mastermind behind every family gathering. He has a herd of range cows that he uses as an excuse to for many unofficial "thanksgiving parties" though out the year. Its one of those things that no one questions. You need 25 people to herd 50 cows right? right. see? no question. we all secretly love it!!
Grandma. the center stone of the family. How did i not know this woman 2 years ago?? It feels like she has always been there, always such a rock. yet so gentle, so unbelievable loving toward the grandkids. She has an AMAZING talent to make every grandkid believe they are her favorite. i just love her.

There is this tradition with the Larsens, where grandma's laundry room becomes the "Dessert Room". and it is filled to the BRIM. I went in there at the beggining to take a picture, and guess who was already in there!!! way to go lane, he was able to score me a lemon tart grandma makes from scratch. so good. soo soo good.




Locke and Warren playing! it was so funny to see them laughing and gargling to each other. it was like they had some secret joke they were telling right in front of us in baby speech! so cute. i love how they recognize each other already. They are so smart! then Locke tried to eat Warren. so i guess they're just babies after all!