And Baby Is A....

GIRL!!!!

We were pretty excited by this news - though I will admit that I was really thinking I was carrying a boy and I was okay with that because I know boys - I have the whole truck, monster, dirt, craziness thing down.  Yes, I know girls can be this way too - but my experience has been girls are typically calmer than boys.  I'm starting to think that wouldn't be a bad thing!! :)

We found out last Wednesday in our 20 week ultrasound... and it was great.  We love seeing baby!!!  She was super hyper and wouldn't sit still for the tech (uh oh - maybe I should rethink that "calmer" comment??).  About half way through the appointment, she finally started to cooperate (if you can call it that), yawned and went to sleep.  That was great in terms of the tech being able to measure her, but she fell asleep with her hand hiding the goods.  We finally got her to move it enough to tell - but she wasn't happy with us (hi Mom's bladder - I'll punch you for the next hour). 

This weekend was also Jarrett's 3rd birthday (AHH - where does the time go???), so Andy's parents, sister and our neice came to town.  It was so much fun seeing everyone and Jarrett LOVED having Maggie here - I love how great the two of them get along!! 

Friday night, we wanted to announce what we were having - so we invited my mom over and let the moms' cut a cake that showed the sex... I loved it (and got to eat my ice cream cake, so win-win!!) - here was our wonderful cake courtesy of Baskin-Robbins.

The next day was crazy - we had to get ready for Jarrett's birthday party.  We have several of his good friends show up at a great place called JJ Jump in Clackamas.  If you need a good place to wear out a group of kids - this would be it.  Bounce houses galore... and the kids (and some dads) ran around like maniacs!!  It was great!  When done, we got to head up stairs to a party room where pizza, cake and ice cream were served.  The absolute best part???  Being able to leave and go home to a quite, clean house!! :)

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY JARRETT!!!

Family was gone by Monday and Jarrett and I stayed home to hang out and catch up on errands I normally do on the weekends.  We had a great time and loved seeing family - it doesn't happen enough!!  Now we're back in to the swing of things... trying to deal with the super wet Pacific Northwest weather and prep for a 5K walk next week... more about that later.

Hope you all have a great week!!

Let the Madness Begin!!

MARCH MADNESS!!!!!

 It's that time of year again... only I'm not talking sports.  March is typically an insanely busy month for my family.

For example, it's birthday madness in the first couple of weeks - starting with me nephew on the 4th, one brother-in-law on the 9th, my son on the 10th and another brother-in-law on the 17th.  That doesn't even begin to cover cousins and friends.  But I love it - it means lots of time to celebrate with family and friends.

This is a special birthday for Jarrett... not because he's turning 3 (though he is excited about that)... but because his Aunt Jessie and Cousin Maggie are coming up from LA to help celebrate.  He is so excited to see them - in fact, he hasn't stopped talking about Cousin Maggie and how much fun they are going to have.  Gramma M and Gramps are coming up too - so he's pretty excited to see them.  We all wish we were going to have more time to see everyone, but it's a quick trip this time.  

We have his birthday party set for next weekend... at a wonderful place called JJ Jump.  It's literally a warehouse full of bounce houses.  Being that I will be 20 weeks pregnant and have a house full of family - I really didn't want to host a party at my house (I turn into a monster when it's crunch time with parties at home) - and we figured that this would be an awesome way to burn energy.  The downfall - we can only have 30 people max.  That's hard to do when you have 13 people just in family coming.  We're excited though - we know we are going to have a great time.  And as a bonus - Jarrett should sleep like a rock that night!! :) 

After that, we have the Shamrock Run... which seemed like a great idea before I got pregnant.  I started off saying I was going to do the 5K run and have now scaled back to the 5K walk - and I'm curious how that is going to go... baby is doing a great job at squishing all vital organs - including lungs.  Fortunately, it's only 3.2 miles... so I should be just fine.  We have several more birthday parties and fun nights planned with friends to round out the month - and while I'm exhausted thinking of it all... I can't wait for all the fun we're going to have. 

Another HUGE thing for us this month???  We get to find out the sex of the baby on March 7th!!!!  I am getting so anxious to find out - I almost can't wait (but do I really have a choice?? ;) )  I have absolutely no inkling as to what we're having... so I know it will be a surprise either way.  We would love a girl because it would be totally different and then I wouldn't be so outnumbered... but I love my little man and would love to have another one running around the house.  So - in T-minus 6 days, we get to find out.  

Happy March everyone!!!

Busy, Busy Month

It's been a little while since I posted - things got insanely crazy around my house.  I've been extremely tired, dizzy and just not feeling like myself.  After several days of this... I went to the doctor.  It turns out I was anemic.  This is actually great news... it means that I wasn't making up my laziness (there were times I'm sure Andy felt like I was - hehe) and it is something that is entirely fixable.  This means that with the help of some fun, charcoal colored pills, I should be back to good in just a few days.  I need to be back to normal - I have tons to do to get ready for this baby!! 
Andy was out of town last weekend - enjoying a weekend at the coast, riding with friends.  I'm extremely jealous!!  Ha ha - he deserved a weekend like this... he has definitely pulled double time while I have been feeling so cruddy and he came home happy and refreshed (well, after a night of recovery).  Of course, the weekend was anything but relaxing for me!!   What is it about kids that make them go completely insane when one parent is gone???  Jarrett was out of control this weekend - wouldn't sleep, didn't go to bed until hours past bedtime despite my attempt to keep him on track, didn't want to go anywhere (fun or not), etc... Totally draining on a pregnant mom!!  Thankfully it was only for a couple of days - that was nice.
I'm trying to make myself not over do it (which isn't too hard due to the exhaustion), but at the same time... I have SO much to do and what seems like little time to do it.  Next month through May are very busy months for us.  Normally June and July are as well - but fortunately, I have not booked too much for then.  Well see what actually happens.
Other news - probably this biggest of this post... I am going to start selling Scentsy!!  I'm super excited for this opportunity and hope that it will help to provide some extra income. I love, love, love Scentsy and turn my warmers on almost nightly (we have 4).  That being said - if anyone wants to host a party - let me know!!!!
Alright folks - time to return to work... hope you all have a wonderful day!!
Kels

The Weekend is Here... Finally!

So I wouldn't say that I have it all that rough - I work for a company that has graciously allowed me to work 4 days a week instead of five (this is after they allowed me to work 3 days a week for six months after he was born).  On top of that, they are extremely great about letting me flex my schedule for any reason.  I sit behind a desk and do paperwork most of the day.  Still - I'm exhausted (beyond the pregnancy) at the end of the week. 
Andy and I do our very best to not do any "chores" until after Jarrett goes to bed... we only have a couple hours with him each day that we work and we want to spend our time with him.  This is why I love Fridays so much - I get to spend the entire day alone with my little man.  While we usually just play at home, clean the house and run errands... we get to do it together.  I love it because we try to do fun stuff on the weekends, so this is Jarrett and my lazy day.  We get to hang out together (right now, I'm being a "bad" mom and letting him watch his favorite show - Jake and the Neverland Pirates... plus it means I can enjoy my one cup of coffee that I can have while pregnant, without worrying that someone will spill it) - there is not time frame (usually) and we have so much fun together.    BTW - he loves Jake so much, he was him (kind of) for Halloween)...

Today's tasks?  We are being super lazy this morning since Jarrett actually decided to sleep in (trust me, this NEVER happens).   At some point we need to take him to get his hair cut, stop by the grocery store and make cookies or cupcakes... we haven't decided yet.  What else?  Nothing!  Why not?  Because we can!!
I know everyone really looks forward to weekend - but I really can not begin to explain how excited I am for mine.  This pregnancy has really helped me realize how important these days are. 
All this being said - I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the time you have to spend with your loved ones!!  

Surprise.... We're Pregnant!

Okay, so I guess this wouldn't be too big of a surprise to anyone that knows us.  And actually - it was because of this pregnancy that I decided to start keeping this blog.  I deleted my old blog (which I never really used) and then decided that since I really want to blog... I should do it about the thing I love the most - MY FAMILY!!

The Monday after Thanksgiving was kind of a tough one around our house.  Jarrett was in the middle of a bad cold and Andy was getting it too - and I was doing all I could to not get it.  Well, that Monday night - I was beyond exhausted and just didn't feel like myself.  As we were getting ready for bed, I sarcastically yelled at Andy "Thanks for getting me sick!" to which he responded with - "Sucks for you because your's will last way longer than mine!"  I laughed at  him and asked what he meant.  He told me that it was going to be a nine month sickness if I really thought I was sick.  So I told him I would prove him wrong and took a pregnancy test.  Without looking at it, I brought it to him and told him "Ready to be wrong" and he just smiled.  I turned it over and SURPRISE - two lines.  Wow - that was definitely not what I was expecting.  We decided we wouldn't tell family until Christmas - and that lasted a whole two weeks.  My parents guessed almost immediately.  We at least had the pleasure of informing his parent (who we don't get to see as often, so they didn't notice I hadn't been enjoying my wine).

The first trimester was uneventful - no morning sickness (though a couple bouts of nausea), no extreme soreness, tired all the time... This was good since we were not planning on telling anyone until the second trimester.  The best part of the first trimester??  Getting to see baby twice!  Once at the dating ultrasound and again at the genetic screen.  I love seeing my baby!! 

We can only hope the rest of this pregnancy goes this smoothly!! More to come...

Welcome!

I love reading blogs - and have always wanted to start one of my own... but never really had the motivation.  Then it dawned on me one day - I needed to be taking notes on my family's life and this would be a great way to do it. So... here it is - the story of the Skinner family.

I grew up Kelsey Walsh, born and raised in Clackamas, Oregon.  In 1999, I moved to Covallis, Oregon to start attending Oregon State University.  It is said that college will change a person's life and that was my hope going into it.  Little did I know how much it would change my life.  In September 2000, I met my neighbor Andrew Skinner.  We did a lot with our neighbors, so Andy and I got to spend a lot of time together.  We started "officially" dating February 21st, 2001. After graduating in 2003, Andy found a job that moved him to Santa Clarita, California.  We knew that the long distance was going to be our biggest test yet, and if we could make it through that, we could make it through anything.  After graduating in 2004, I moved to Santa Clarita to join Andy.  We had made it through out hardest year yet... and were looking forward to figuring out our next step.

In 2005, Andy applied for and got a job at his dream company - Warn Industries.  What did this mean for us?  It meant that we were packing up and moving.  What else did it mean?  It meant that we were moving back to Clackamas!!!  We were excited... not only was he getting his dream job, but I was getting to move home. 

In February 2006, Andy decided we needed to go snowshoeing.  Normally, I wouldn't have fought him on the idea, but considering there was a winter storm warning going on... I tried to talk him out of it.  Even my mom was extremely concerned.  Still, we went.  We were determined to hike a trail that went by a waterfall, but we couldn't find the entrance.  We stopped by a ranger station and they strongly recommended that we not snowshoe that day - that it was too stormy and they were predicting too much snow.  You would think this would have been a great place to stop, but no... Andy drove over to Trillium Lake and said that was the place.  We started hiking in - knowing it was only about a mile and a half in to the lake.  What we didn't anticipate was the winds and extremely heavy snowfall! We made it about a mile before we had to stop.  Laying in the snow, trying to catch our breathes... When Andy rolled over and proposed.  It was an amazing moment... one I will never forget.  We were married in front of 260 - 270 of our family and friends in July - it was a perfect day!

One thing that Andy and I both knew we wanted was children... but decided that we would start with a puppy. We went to the Humane Society and found Tyson - and fell in love immediately.  He is a boxer-rottweiler mix and came to us at 17lbs.  He has been the best puppy a family could have as he is loving and protective and gentle (even at his current weight of 105lbs). 

While we waited a couple years to start a family... we were ecstatic when it finally happened.  On March 10, 2009 - our son Jarrett Andrew was born at 4:21am.

It was the happiest moment in our lives when he joined us.  He was such a good baby and really, the inspiration for this blog.  He has grown up so fast and I feel like we don't have time to write down all the wonderful things he does.  He is currently 34 months old and amazes us daily.  I can not wait to share all the wonderful stories and crazy, wacky things he does... if anything, so I don't forget. 

With that all being said - welcome and thank you for reading this blog... We look forward to sharing family stories and pictures with you all!