Bad Day

Today is just a bad day. I got no sleep, I was up half the night with Braden and when he finally went to sleep Cailyn woke up. She stayed awake for two hours whining about wanting me to lay on her bed. At 8:00am she decided she was ready to get up. So I put on a movie for her and went back to bed, then of coarse Braden wakes up again. So I laid in bed with him and nursed him and he fell asleep, but I had to keep in in bed with me to keep him asleep which meant I didn't get to sleep very comfortably. I slept in until 11:00 and ended up missing church, again. So now I'm grumpy and not looking forward to school tomorrow. Despite it all I love the little runts.

School's In

I started school last week, I should have started at the beginning of the week but I was sick so I started at the end of the week instead. Though I'm still a little sick. So far I'm really loving it. I think I may have a little trouble with my writing class though, it never was my best subject. I'm super excited about my Japanese class, I'm really going to like learning this language. And my teacher is great, I really like her and she really knows her stuff. I'm also taking a basic computer class, oh my goodness, how Microsoft Office has changed in the last 9 years. Also I have an online Math class, love not having to go to class for that one.

Riverfront Park

Last Saturday we found a great park here in Salem, it has a carousel. Yes a real carousel, I love carousels. It's also right on the Willamette River. And there's a river boat right there. The river boat is like a restaurant that takes you up and down the river while you eat. We didn't go on it, but we got some pictures of it. There's also a childrens museum that we didn't get to go to because it was closed, but we will visit it soon.

Katies visit

Ok so I actually wrote this post a couple of weeks ago but didn't publish it. Oops. Oh well here it is now.


My dear sweet little sister and her darling little boy came to visit us last weekend. I haven't seen her since last Thanksgiving so I was very excited. We had lots of fun watching our little ones get to know each other. Wesley has gotten so big, he wasn't walking the last time I saw him. Wesley and Cailyn had so much fun together, I enjoyed watching them so much.


Day One

Katie arrived around 3:00pm I think, she would have been there earlier but there are apparently two places in Salem with my same address. So, after using all my prepaid cell phone minutes and running up a roaming bill on Moms cell, Katie and Wesley eventually got to my apartment. It wasn't a terribly eventful day, lots of meeting and greeting. Hugs and kisses and such. Cailyn was excited to have someone there to play with her. She took Wesley into her room to show him her toys, she was hoping he would look but not touch. She eventually warmed up to the idea of sharing.

Later that day we went to this great little park near our place. It's right next to a school and has a cool little water pad for the kids to cool of with. Then we came home, had dinner, put the kids to bed, and sat up chatting all night like I knew we would.

Day Two

Saturday we had Emmie over to visit while Heather and Ammon went to the Temple. We took them all to the park and had a blast. Then Heather and Ammon stayed for dinner, Jordan cooked fried chicken. He makes the best fried chicken.

Our day at the park.

Day Three

Sunday morning we got up late and decided to try to make it to the last two church meetings. We got dressed, got the kids dressed and went to church very late. When we pulled into the church parking lot it was empty. What? apparently we had stake conference that day and I totally forgot about it. We spent the rest of the day hanging out at home.

This is sure sign your having dinner way too late.

Day Four (last day, so sad)

Monday morning, we planned on going to the enchanted forest. We got the kids ready and headed out. Deja vu, again we face an empty parking lot. They were closed, sad day. I was so disappointed. Luckily the kids are to little to realize what they missed out on.

So instead we decided to visit the state capital building. We got there and realized we had no change for the parking meeter. The place where we parked had about 15 minutes left so we walked around and took pictures for awhile then I ran back to the car and moved it to the next space over that was occupied before, it still had about 12 minutes left, yippy. Katie got to buy something for Wesley at the gift shop like she wanted to.

The weird golden guy at the top of the Capitol building

Katie and Cailyn at the State Capital

Cailyn and Wesley sitting on what looks like a replica of the Liberty Bell, I'm not sure though.

After the state capital we took the kids to play at the park. Wesley had a great time in the water, Cailyn did too, although she didn't actually go in the water. She seems to think that running around it while it sprays is the same as actually getting wet.

Cailyn reading

This is Cailyn reading one of her favorite books, "I love you through and through". The first part of it is me reading it to her, so you could get a little bit of an idea of what she's saying during the second part. I read this book to her every night, she's memorized what it says by the pictures. It's very cute.

Pictures for Grandma and Grandpa

Irwin Family Reunion

Last month we went to a family reunion for Jordan's family. It was really great, he got to see all his cousins who he hadn't seen in a very long time. Here are some pictures, some are sort of blurry but, oh well.

Lots of catching up to do

I haven't updated is so very long. Lets see, where to start. Here are some pictures from Cailyn's two year old birthday party. It was a small, family party in the park. Cailyn had a great time, she loves being surrounded by the people who love her.


We've since moved our little family to the lovely city of Salem Oregon. We are so happy here and love this city so far. Here are some pictures of our last day in Butte Falls and our first few days in Salem.


Here we are in our new apartment.

Braden Taylor Irwin

Yay, he's finally here. Okay, he's actually been here about a week and a half but I haven't got around to doing much other than take care of my TWO kids. I can't believe I'm a mother of two. That's crazy. Okay so here's the info. Braden Taylor Irwin was born on May 28th just before 8:00am, I'm not sure of the exact time, it's like 7:57 or something like that. He was 8lbs 8oz. 20 and a half inches long. Somehow he has dark hair, like really dark, which is very surprising. Jordan and I were both blond little kids, and Cailyn is super blond. He's very sweet, he's eats and sleeps very well and Cailyn adores him. The first thing she said when she came into the hospital room was "I hold baby", very cute. She likes to hold him all the time, only for about a second though, she has a very short attention span.

Getting closer

Yesterday I had my last prenatal check up. Yay, we're getting really close. I think this will be the longest 10 days ever. I'm so happy to see my little boy. I'm excited to see Cailyns reaction to him. She loves babies so I'm hoping she'll really enjoy being big sister. I tell her that I have a baby in my tummy and she repeats it a lot, but I don't think she really understands what's going on.

Oh yeah, Jordan and I decided on a name this morning. He will be Braden Taylor Irwin, the doctor thinks he'll be about 8lbs. That's less than Cailyn was. My c-section is scheduled for 2pm and I can't eat all day. That won't be very fun, but I'm sure he'll be worth it all. I'm really excited because I've only gained 11 1/2 lbs this pregnancy so I'll probably come out of it about 15lbs less than I started off. Super cool. Now I just have to make sure I don't go into labor in the next 10 days. Oh darn, an excuse to sit around and relax.

Confusional Arousal

Cailyn's been having these weird sleeping fits for a while now and I've been a little worried that she may have sleep terrors. So, yesterday I got this e-mail (I get these weekly newsletters from parents.com) that had an article about knowing the difference between nightmares and sleep terrors. I read it and it talked about something called "Confusional Arousal". It sounded exactly like what Cailyn's been having. Here's bit of the article that talks about what she seems to have.

"A confusional arousal begins with the child moaning and moving about. It progresses quickly to the child crying out and thrashing wildly. Even if the child does call out her parents' names, she will not recognize them. She will appear to look right through them.

During these frightening episodes, the child is not dreaming and typically will have no memory of the event afterwards. If any memory persists, it will be a vague feeling of being chased, or of being trapped. The event itself seems to be a storm of neural emissions in which the child experiences an intense fight-or-flight sensation. A child usually settles back to quiet sleep without difficulty.

These are very different from nightmares. You won't become aware of your child's nightmares until after she awakens and tells you about them. A child may be fearful following a nightmare, but will recognize you and be reassured by your presence."

It also says that some triggers for it are waiting until she's super tired to put her to bed and irregular sleep schedules. So sure enough, last night she went to bed two hours later than her bed time, and she didn't have a nap yesterday, double whammy. She had another episode of it. This time, instead of trying to wake her up, I took the advice of the doctor who wrote the article. He said to let it run its course and not to hold her down because it would prolong the experience. It worked she went soundly back to sleep in about a minute.

I felt a little bad though because she was talking, saying "Mama c'mon" and "Mama sit" asking me to come sit with her like she does on a regular basis when she's awake. I thought maybe she was having nightmares about me not spending enought time with her or something. Anyway, I'm super glad that I know what she's experiencing now. It's supposedly somewhat common in toddlers, I just hope she grows out of it.

Baby Name

Baby boy is on his way, three weeks from today. Jordan and I still haven't decided on a name for him. We've narrowed it down to four names that we both like. They are:

Braden Taylor Irwin
Conner James Irwin
Tyson Cole Irwin
Christopher Joseph Irwin

Those are our final four. I think Jordan likes Christopher the best, I think my favorite is Conner, I don't know I'm still not sure. This is freaking hard. Jordan sent out an e-mail to some friends and family to vote for their favorite, anyone is welcome to give their input. We obviously can't decide on our own.

Gotta Dance

This video was too funny not to post. This is what happens when we turn on music in our house. The other little girl with Cailyn is her cousin Destinie.

Cailyns first beach trip

Ok, so this posting is a bit late. Cailyn and I took a trip to the beach with my Mom and Dad the first weekend in April. Cailyn loved it so much. The weather was perfect, which is a big deal on the Oregon coast. We stayed at the White Rock Resort just south of Brookings for two nights. So I thought I'd share some pictures.

This was her favorite place, she loved to look out at the "ocean water" and she still talks about it, all the time.
This was the view from our back porch where we stayed.

Her first walk down to the beach. She was very attached to Grampa that day.




She had fun making a sand castle (well that's what it was supposed to be anyway) with Grampa and Uncle Nathan.She was very concentrated on her work.

Baby Boy

Yay, my c-section has been scheduled. June 2nd at 1:00pm I will be delivering a sweet baby boy. It's really nice to know ahead of time exactly when he'll be coming. We still don't have a name picked out yet, I'm open to suggestions.

Cailyns stitches

Okay, so a few weeks ago Cailyn had a little accident. Her cousin was spinning her on Grampas computer chair and she decided it would be an interesting adventure to stand up while still spinning. I'm sure all you parents out there know what a great idea that must have been. So I was urgently telling her to sit down and the next thing I knew she was flying through the air. She hit her sweet little face on Grampas computer desk and split it open. She had to have four stitches. If you've ever had to watch you child get stitches, then you know it's not a pleasent experience at all. So here are some not so good pictures of Cailyns stitched up face. I would have had them up sooner, but Jordan's a computer hog. She's since had the stitches removed and it's healing quite well. Though she may have a scar on her face for the rest of her life. =(

Olive Fingers

Cailyn had her first experience with olive fingers. She loves olives and I usually cut them in half because I'm paranoid about choking. Well Jordan gave her some olives whole and he put them on her fingers, she thought it was the coolest thing. Every time she emptied her fingers she'd ask for more and more and more. It was so cute, she was eating them so fast I barely got a picture of her with an olive on all five fingers. Of course she later threw them all up, in the middle of the night all over my bed, but that's another story. All I have to say is if I have to wash the sheets one more time I'm going to scream.

New Baby

Okay, so for those who don't already know, now is the time to tell you that I am pregnant. About 20 weeks along now. We just found out yesterday what the baby is, and congratulations to us, we're having a boy. The due date is June 5th, though since I'm having a C-section I will be having him on either the 1st or 2nd.