Happy Father's Day!

This year was Jeff's FIRST Father's Day as a real life FATHER! Jay and I worked together to give him a little surprise. This is what we did: Jay woke me up right on cue at 1:30am Sunday morning. I fed him and then got to work making "eggs days ahead," (a breakfast favorite that has eggs, sausage, mushrooms, and cheese). The "days ahead" part means you cook the eggs and sausage and put everything in the pan and then it can be baked any time. I finished the prep and finally got Jay to sleep around 3:30am. Then, Jay got me up at 6am and I baked the breakfast in the oven while feeding him...

I layed out a trail from our bedroom door to the oven...

...and put a sign on the oven door. Jeff woke up 15 minutes after it was all done. (Jay and I were both in bed).

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

Hurrah for a successful Father's Day surprise breakfast! Go team go!

Meet the Family

This past weekend, Jeff's mom had a family gathering so that more relatives could meet little Jay. We drove the 2 hrs to Grandview and Jay had his first "sleep"over at grandma and grandpa's house! One thing about sleepovers is: usually you sleep at least part of the night! 4 of the 5 Argyle kids were there (Jeff's mom's siblings) plus one spouse, one grandma, and 2 cousins. We ate giant pancakes for breakfast and yummy grilled salmon for dinner (both courtesy of Jeff's dad) and opened baby presents (lots of Argyle pride--woohoo!) and enjoyed just hanging out together. I was pretty exhausted the whole time because Jay kept me up allllll night on Saturday, but it was still fun and good to see all of these relatives again (I've only met them once). Everyone played pass the baby and Jay enjoyed all the attention!

We didn't get around to taking many pictures, so just before we left, we snagged one with: Jeff, his mom holding Jay, Shaina, Grandma Kay, and Jeff's dad

Jeff wearing the baby basket that his parents gave Jay--it's filled with all of the other gifts. (on top is the bottom layer of the diaper cake Jeff's mom made)

I worked really hard to get this picture... baby in one hand, camera in the other. Don't worry, I was leaning over on the floor so I didn't drop my baby! I love kissing his increasingly chubby cheeks!


We took this picture just to send to Jay's uncle Brad (my brother) who is serving a mission in Portugal right now... Brad put his other nephew, Steve, in a crock pot when Steve was tiny, so we thought he'd enjoy a slow cooked baby picture.

In other news, tonight at 11pm, Jay will officially be 4 weeks old! FOUR weeks already?

And last but not least, my very own, very not so safe invention (based on Em's swaddle on the binky idea): the Binky Band! How to construct your own Binky Band: 1. roll up a burp cloth 2. tuck it around baby's shoulders, across the mouth. 3. you may also tuck one end behind one shoulder and the other end under one arm to allow for any arm flailing 4. caution! use only under adult supervision, as the Binky Band can slip off and cover baby's face!

Our little blue Jay

We love our baby boy! Now I know why my own Mom calls all of her kids "sweetface!" I find myself calling my own baby the same things. Some things that he does:

1. When he's hungry or feeling energetic, he waves and punches his little hands all over the place like a boxer--cute until his little claws dig into Mommy when it's feeding time!

2. He loves it when Daddy holds him and walks around-- he just opens his eyes wide and LOOKS.

3. Right after a nice long meal, he gets a big milk beard and his expression makes me think of the word TRANQUILIZED

4. He doesn't like baths yet, but maybe I just need to get better at giving them!

Here are more pictures of our little blue Jay!

Cute doggy overalls!

I can't get enough of his little sweet face!

I love this suit...

...but I don't know if Jay does

Snoozing with Daddy

Who's Who??

As vain as it may sound, my baby boy reminds me of... ME! Mom sent me some pictures of me when I was a baby, so I have posted them for your comparison. Can you tell who's who?

Looking at Mommy

Looking at Mommy


Little Jay is a little younger and redder than baby Shaina

Baby Shaina and big sister Em

...only time will tell WHO this little guy will look like!

Happy Birthday, Jeff!

June 1, 1982 was a great day: that's when Jeff was born! I've had Jeff's birthday present for a month, but I made him wait till his real birthday to open it. It was a trick kite! Too bad it wasn't windy...

Putting it together

Tricky trick kite...

Trying to fly it with our box fan didn't quite work

Birthday boy!

Week One

Jay is officially a week old!!! It has been SO FUN taking care of him and holding him and looking at him... and even feeding him is getting less painful for me! He has started regulating his night sleep/wake up pattern to feeding every 2 hours-- not bad! He is so little! Most of his cute clothes are huge on his baby shoulders and legs. Even though he is still less than 7 pounds, I have been SO SORE from holding him all the time! I wish "Mom muscles" came in as fast as milk!
Grama Meri (my mom) came for a visit this week. She helped SO much with: cooking, cleaning, laundry, driving, diaper changing, baby-holding, and moral support. Thanks, Mom! I wish we had gotten a picture of Grama holding Jay, but it just never happened. I guess we'll have to see her again soon!

One of his few awake pictures

Baby burrito! Just like when he was inside me, he likes to KICK in his sleep*, and since it's warm enough, we let his feet fly free

I swear, the carseat weighs just as much as he does!

Napping in Mommy's and Daddy's bed after a nice meal... he can somehow sneak a little pee out of his diaper every time, no matter what defensive tactics I use. Hence the towel.

Our little angel

His knees slipped up into his little suit so he looks like a penguin!

I got lucky and finally captured a sleep-smile! He may be smiling here because he peed all over Daddy a few minutes later... and right when Jeff changed both his and Jay's clothes, Jay got him again! Why do we even use diapers, anyway?

Here is a good reason to let your baby sleep in a CRIB

Welcome Joseph!!

Thursday evening as I was happily enjoying my grilled cheese sandwich, I felt a small explosion under my seat-- like a water balloon popping. 5 hours later I was holding the sweetest little baby boy in the whole wide world!!!!!

I am very thankful that everything went so smoothly-- no complications, no interventions, no unnecessary scary big needles... and now the fun begins!!!

what a little sweet face!!!

Daddy!

Mommy!

Our 2-hour old family-- Little J's fingers are crossed! Even though his official name is Joseph, we decided that we can't resist still calling him Jay for "short"

First photo: Joseph Argyle White: born Thursday, May 21, 2009 at 10:59pm. 6 lbs 15 oz

Home at last!

"Seven Mile" Sunset

While encouraging me to take a walk every day, my doctor here in Walla Walla reccommended Seven Mile Road as the best place around to enjoy a sunset. He gave me directions, and Jeff took me out there to check it out. What a gorgeous sunset! Even though I miss the rolling, wooded hills in "the east," there still is something to be said about a nice clear horizon.

The lovely sun setting

He's not even BORN yet, and our child is already "interrupting" potentially romantic moments! Can't...reach...lips...

Thank goodness our necks still allow us to reach forward!

Lately I have been really losing patience with people who comment "you're looking so big," "how pregnant you look!" and "you look miserable," and other such comments. News flash: believe it or not, I KNOW I'm 8 1/2 months pregnant! However, every now and then I do recognize a particularly silly-looking pose... This picture cracks me up because my stomach looks fake!

Baby Shower!

Last night (Tuesday, May 12), my sweet visiting teachers threw a baby shower for me! They really THREW it together fast-- it was announced on Friday in the Relief Society email, and 20 ladies came! It was great to meet more of the sisters in our ward. I am touched at all of the kind gifts they gave baby Joseph and me. I felt very welcomed and it was a ton of fun too!! Treats, games, and gifts... and plenty of chatting! Thanks to my new ward for being so wonderful and welcoming! I don't have any pictures of the actual shower, but here is the "aftermath:"

The heap 'o bags... I'm STILL folding tissue paper

It took a while for me to arrange all of the gifts. Baby Joseph is one lucky guy!

And the obligatory tummy picture: This is me 1 day shy of 37 weeks... I think baby Joseph is PLENTY big enough to join us on the outside, don't you?

Bread!

I have tried to make bread like my Mom's at least 3 times in the past, but I failed miserably with hard, flat rocks for loaves all 3 times! So, when I was visiting a few weeks ago, I took notes and asked questions while Mom made bread. And yesterday, I finally accomplished 2 golden, fluffy, soft loaves of half-white-half-wheat bread! Hurrah! And now for the pictoral proof:

35 weeks and counting...

This week baby Joseph and hit I hit the 35 week mark... only 5 weeks left! Wahooooo! Even better: if he is born in 2 weeks, he'll still be considered full term. All I can say is any time now, buddy! I started laughing at my profile recently because I look like I swallowed a watermelon whole. I catch random people quickly looking away all the time in public, and cashiers have started asking when I'm due, etc. So, without further ado, here's the latest baby picture... I don't think I've grown very much since the last one, but I feel TONS heavier!