At Long Last...Jace's Blessing Weekend

Somehow it seems the blog is always the last thing that gets done. It was exactly a month ago on March 27, 2011 that Jace received a name and a blessing in church. It was such a great weekend. My parents were able to come to Washington all the way from Michigan for the special occasion and my dad was finally able to meet his first grandchild. We never had any doubts that the two of them would be best friends instantly. Ricky's sister Alyssa was also able to make it thanks to her Dental Hygiene boards in Seattle. They were scheduled for the same weekend and she was able to get her testing days for Friday and Saturday morning and make it for the blessing on Sunday. And we couldn't have asked for a better little boy. He was a perfect angel all weekend. He didn't even make a peep during church.

2 Months

Our little bug is 2 months old! I can hardly believe it. This post is a little delayed due to various family activities (posts to follow). But here are some highlights of the last month:

• Lots of smiles
• He is letting mom sleep a little later – He goes down about 10:30 and sleeps till about 4:30 (and we love that!)
• Growing like a weed! 12lbs at last check-up. We LOVE those chubby little cheeks
• Given a name and blessing at church
• He is really recognizing when mom comes in and out of the room. :) He’s becoming very aware of his surroundings.
• Loving bathtime
• He loves sitting in his bouncy chair – esp. when mom is getting ready for the day or when we are eating dinner.
• Getting good at holding up his head on his own
• Discovered he likes sucking on his fist. His whole fist.
• Mostly he is just a cutie pie and we just can’t get enough of him!

An Ellensburg Spring

We have had a lot of fun in Ellensburg being with family and getting to do things that we don't normally get to do. And spring time at the Packard house means BASEBALL! Ricky's younger brothers Jared and Kyle both play for Ellensburg High School and we have been able to watch a few of their games already this season.

Ellensburg has been a pretty fun little town. It's in between Seattle and Tri-Cities and it is a very agricultural town. It's full of cowboys! It's been fun to be so close to Seattle in this small homey place where we can get away for the day to the big city when we want and come back to this scenic cowboy town. Everyone has cows or horses on there property and I have never seen so many bald eagles in my life! It is amazing!

Jace and Daddy watching Jared's game.

One of the many ponds by our house where the eagle's have a nest.

Confession

Ok, I have a confession to make. My life has become completely consumed by Jace. I mean, I know it's understandable that I spend my time taking care of my almost 2 month old son. But I should probably try to blog about something else... I will try to post something in the near future about my life that includes some other facet of our lives.

We're getting ready to wrap up our time here in Ellensburg in the next few weeks and head back to Rexburg to finish up school. We've really done a lot since we've been here and we can't believe how fast the time has gone. We have made several trips to Seattle, had a baby, and enjoyed being with family. But we agree that it will be good to get back to our little life in Rexburg. There will be more to come on some of our adventures later.

As for Jace he has been growing like a weed! He got a little rash last week and we really weren't sure where it came from. It was the saddest thing! I just wanted his sweet little baby face back! We thought we could wait it out but then it just kept getting worse. Finally I called the doctor for a recommendation and the nurse suggested Aquaphor. It didn't work, and it just made his little face all sticky. So we started to think he was having an allergic reaction to something. Finally after a week of the rash and sad baby face we took him in to the doctor. That's when they said we needed to use hydrocortisone cream. It was amazing, his rash practically disappeared within 24 hours! Thus, new photos. I should have taken these when he was much younger, however, I didn't have the patience at the time and now I am regretting it. They still turned out cute, I think.
And much cuter than they would have otherwise thanks to his super great blanket from Aunt DeeAnn!

4 Weeks Ago

It's hard to believe that it's already been four weeks since our sweet little angel boy came to us. Life sure is an adventure with him around, but we are loving every minute of it! He is the sweetest thing we have ever seen and we just can't get enough! I really just want to capture every minute of his little life on film. The only problem is we just don't want him to grow any more. Can't he just stay the way he is now? He's just so cuddly and cute! Except maybe sleep a little longer at night...

Jace Richard Packard

Well it's time for a bit of an update! We finally had the baby! Jace Richard Packard blessed our home on January 29,2011 at 3:24 pm. 7 lbs 8oz 20in. We couldn't have asked for a better child. He is such a cute, happy, healthy little boy. I don't think there was ever a happier little boy. He truly only cries when he has a reason. We are starting to feel a little spoiled. I don't think we are going to know what to do if our other children aren't as congenial (and I'm sure they won't be). We are all doing so well everyone is so amazed and all we have to say is we're thankful for all the help we have. That and the easiest newborn there ever was. Both of our families have been so great! Ricky's family just loves having Jace around. He already thinks he needs to be held 24/7 and he probably could be if we let everyone. I'm sure his aunt Katie would gladly take him during the night if we let her. My mom was also able to be here for about a week and a half and help. She was here for the whole first week of Jace's life! He just loved having her around. And she loved it too. We hated to see her go back home to Michigan. But the rest of the family was glad to have her back, especially Tyler. He was tired of doing his own laundry (the poor boy).

Ricky and I are just loving this new adventure. It is the best! I think we could just watch Jace all day if we were able to. He makes the funniest faces when he sleeps. There is nothing better than being a parent.

getting all checked in and ready to have a baby!

He's such a proud new daddy.

A Holly Jolly Christmas

Christmas this year was a little different than usual. Now that I'm 9 months pregnant I couldn't travel home to be with the family as originally planned, so the family was good enough to come to us! Christmas is Rexburg was definitely different, and we really had a blast creating our own fun. We started our break in Salt Lake for my cousin Emily's wedding and then went back to Rexburg for the usual festivities. There we had fun building an igloo, couch sledding (where the boys got a few ice burns), and then we put together the hardest puzzle ever!