The end of Fall

Fall is coming to and end so we decided to go running though the leaves before they are all gone!  The colors of fall have been beautiful.  It has been so nice to see the reds, yellows, and oranges in the trees.  Norris and I were trying to figure out how one tree turns red and another one yellow.  I do not think we figured it out, but we did come up with some pretty good guesses, I think!!

Jovee loved running through the leaves!

   Hanging out at daddy's school throwing leaves!

Our Friend D.Q.

Fall in Missoula is just lovely.  The trees are beautiful and the weather has been lovely.  It has been a little cold, but I am not going to miss these "warm" days when winter comes.  I am going to miss these 55-60 degree days!!!  But for now I will enjoy the sun and colors with my family.  The other day we were taking a walk to a nearby park and found a little friend, Dairy Queen!!  It is a cute little walk-up DQ that closes early November.  I am pretty sure that we are making it a goal to get there about every other day.  And since we are walking there, it totally balances out!!

 There is wild life everywhere.  It is so fun to see deer all over the place. 

 Playing at the park on the way home is the best.  Jovee and CJ love the swings!

 Love hanging out with my kiddos!

Dr. Visit

 We had our first doctor visit in Montana and I LOVED it.  The doctor was amazing!  She was not judgmental at all and made me feel like I was doing just what I needed to do to get by.  I was not mentally prepared to give the kiddos shots, but she decided that we should get CJ started since he had not seen a doctor since he was born!!  To my surprise Jovee did not even cry.  She only had 2 shots that she needed and they were done in 2 seconds and she just looked at me like "um.. that did not feel good" and it was over!  But when they tried to give Cairo his shots, she freaked out!  She was soooooo upset that he was going to get hurt.  She kept telling me he was going to cry and they were going to hurt him.  I think  that was harder than when he actually got the shots!  But he was also a trouper.  He cried at first but as soon as I picked him up he was his smiling, bubbly self! 

Well the kiddos are pretty healthy:

Cairo

Weight: 19lbs

Height: 27.5 inches

Head: 44 inches

 

Jovee

Weight: 31 lbs

Height: 40 inches

Head: 48 inches

 Friends For Life!!!!

Hair Day

Jovee is becoming a little girl very quickly.  She enjoys doing my hair, and loves when I wear my hair down, and lets face it that does not happen to often with 2 small kids in the house! :-)  She like to put her bows in my hair so that we can match for the day!  Sometimes even daddy gets to have a turn...

Pumpkin Patch

The other day Jovee, CJ and I were able to spend some time with other families at a pumpkin patch at a church in Missoula.  It was really quite wonderful.  They had a puppet show, snacks, crafts, and they gave each child a pumpkin all for free!  It was pretty cool.  I had never seen Jovee at something so organized for children.  I thought she would be too distracted and little to pay attention, but boy was I wrong!  She loved it!  She was doing all the little activities and really did not want much of mommy's help, too fun!  She is growing up into a wonderful little girl.

CJ is here (5 months late :-) )

What can I say about CJ's birth?  It was 100% different than Jovee's.  And they are 100% different in personality too!

I wanted so badly to go into labor on my own with CJ.  I was not excited about using Pitocin or anything like that.  I like the feeling of being in control when I am going through labor, but Norris was only here for 2 weeks so it was important that he have as much time with CJ as possible.  I waited 2 days after my due date and then went in to have CJ.  Started at 6 am, went into get hooked up and they started the Pitocin around 7:30ish.  And without too much trouble he came at 13:13, 1:13 pm!  It was really quite wonderful.  I know, wonderful and labor do not really go together, but it was pretty easy, except for the pushing part...yikes!  I had a wonderful Doula, Brandie who was just perfect.  Her and Norris were so funny and it really helped the time go by fast, but 6 hours is really not that long.  I remember at one point we, I say "we" very lightly, were watching sports center and Brandie was trying to explain that her husband's sister's husband plays for the Lions.  Norris was so confused and could not figure out the relationship.  After one of my contractions I just looked at him and said, it is just like my relationship with Justin!  I was quite proud of myself for figuring it all out while I was having a contraction!

Don't worry, we did turn off sports center when it started to get crazy.  With Jovee I pushed for 2 1/2 hours and it was awful.  I remember at one point I just looked at Norris and my mom and said I could not do it anymore.  That was the one thing I talked with my awesome Doula about, probably every time we met!  I definitely remembered the pain and exhaustion of pushing.  I did not want to go through that with CJ.  My doctor also remembered my inability to push, because at one point during labor with CJ I told them I needed to push and they were said that I could and my doctor was not in the room.  She was going to go back to her appointments for the morning, but I must have gotten their attention because a minute later they all came in and about 5 minutes, 3 pushes later he was here!!!  It was awesome!!!!

I was very nervous that I was going to have post-pardum like I had with Jovee.  I was depressed from the moment Jovee was born.  I was so afraid that I was going to have the same switch with CJ.  But praise the Lord, nothing came!  I told Norris it was because we were so busy and preoccupied this summer I did not have time to be depressed!  ;-)
Jovee could not have taken to her big sister role any better.  She loves CJ and is just so sweet and loving.  I know that will change in a few months when he is taking her toys, but I will enjoy it for now!

Cairo Jackson Ham 

Born: 5/20/2013

Time: 13:13 or 1:13 pm

Weight: 8lbs 5 oz

Height: 21 inches

      

  

Beginning Again

Well the chaos of the last few months is hopefully behind us, and I am starting to regain my sanity, so it is time to start blogging again!  Not too much has happened since March.  We moved out of Egypt, had a baby, our daughter turned 2, we moved to South Carolina, and then to Montana! Some day I may write about the fun 2 week move that we had to South Carolina but today is not that day. 

We are finally feeling settled in Montana.  I actually did not need to use the GPS to get to the store yesterday, progress!  Norris is getting into a grove with school and is already passed his mid-terms which he did awesome, of course, and now we are seeing the finish line of the first semester.  Seems a bit crazy but his last class is the day before Thanksgiving, then it is just studying and finals, you know those small things!  :-)

It really is beautiful here.  Not quite what I thought but I am getting used to it.  (I thought it would look more like Switzerland mountains, but these are pretty too!) 

Our life has been crazy since March, but we feel so at peace knowing God has been with us through it all directing us, sometimes shouting at us, until he got us where he wanted us!