Baby Names

No... I am not pregnant. Noah and I have agreed that I am going to complete some of my little goals before we have another. Besides, I want to be "cute pregnant" the next time around instead of "fat pregnant," but that never stops our name lists. I have recently decided that there are a few to add. We LOVE city names (i.e. Savannah, GA and Jackson, MS) and we want to stick to it, so randomly I think of names and check them with Noah before adding to the list. We decided that the next time around we will not find out the sex of the baby, so we have plenty to choose from both lists. My problem is I keep finding more names and I love them all. I really need to stop playing on Google Maps.

Girls
Charlotte (I am IN LOVE with this name)
Sophia

Boys
Carson
Logan
Luke

I really need to stop picking names, because they will never all be used
btw... I WILL have a Charlotte one day :)

Boise... In my opinion

So far, so good. The whole family and I are enjoying our time here and are getting to know the land. We are amazed how OBSESSED people are here with BSU football. I knew they loved it, but it is all you see everywhere and all they talk about on the news. Seriously, before amber alerts and robberies, BSU football is always the first story, followed by cat stories. Costco shows old games on the tvs in the electronics sections, and you can actually buy turf from their old field at Noah's store.

We like where we live, but our upstairs neighbors are super loud. Noah and I like to come up with random explanations for the noise. I think they must be be doing suicide run drills at, rolling barrels, jumping and galloping instead of walking, etc. I really don't understand how a 9 month old, a small guy and a very pregnant woman can make so much noise all the time, but they can!

Savannah finally calls our place home. She is liking sharing a room with Jaxon more and more. I think she likes it more than he does. She loves nursery at church and asks to go all the time. Apparently the play dough is key to her happiness. She is listening a little more now and has been binky free since Friday morning. There has been less of a fight than we thought there would be.

Jaxon is happy here... although I think he would be happy anywhere. He is a very easy going kid, although I really wish he would leave the toilet brush and several of the kitchen cabinets alone.

I am happy. There is a newer walmart less than 2 miles away and 5 miles the other way is a really nice shopping center with a Costco, Target and lots more. The mall with Crazy 8 is about 20 minutes and the zoo is 26 min. I have everything I need. Adjusting to not working is odd, but going ok. I am starting to figure out some of the fun cheap things to do around here and we will start going to story time at the library next week. I looked into ballet classes for Savannah, but I think we are holding off for a year because she is not fully potty trained and we don't know how long we will be here. I like our Ward at church, but really miss our old one. Looks like I might start watching a little girl of someone Noah works with too.

Noah really likes his job, but it seems like he works pretty long hours. He gets home and then it's time for dinner, baths and a little playtime before bed. Some days are earlier coming home, but that usually means earlier to bed because he is tired. It's alright though because we currently do not have cable or satellite. We have an antenna outside and pick up nbc, fox and cw. All of the essentials are covered for our tv watching and everything else we will catch up on dvd at some point. Netflix streaming is a common source of entertainment in our home too. I think Noah misses his alone time from when I worked. He doesn't know when to play his video games or watch his weird movies.

Life is going good. I have a feeling we wont be here more than 6 months so I am enjoying small living and simplified everything. I seem to be less stressed too. I think ALL stress will go away when we have health insurance in a month and I can stop being paranoid about colds and being bitten by hobo spiders (so far we have killed 6).

Princess Savannah is 3 today!

Is it sad that I consider September the start of our holiday season? The second of our September birthdays was today. My (sometimes) sweet Savannah turned 3 today. I can't believe how fast the time is going by! I thought the time with her brother was fast, but the past 3 years have flown by. I remember like it was yesterday checking into the hospital 2 times while in labor to only be sent home, a Dr visit and then finally the ok to stay in the hospital. In room 6 at Timpanogos regional I had 2 interesting epidurals, watched some Wonder Years, made my nurse laugh because of the strange things I talked about in a drugged up condition, yelled at Noah for stinky pizza breath, almost made my friend Amy throw up because I threw up and then after 80 minutes of pushing and turning Savannah the right way, the Dr made it just in time to catch her head. We were in love from the minute we met her. Those first 48 hours in room 115 were life changing. Through some tears invoked by a crazy nurse, I soon realized motherhood was not easy and everyone has their own opinions on how to do things. I have learned a lot from this beautiful girl and have loved most every minute. She really is a fun, smart and beautiful little girl.

Last night I baked her cake and decorated a bit. Savannah was so happy to see a sign and some fun princess birthday decor around. I finished her cake this morning and after we all got ready we headed off to Build-A-Bear. Savannah picked out her bear and said goodbye to her binky as she put one inside. I put in the other two and after her bear was sewn up she washed it and picked out some clothes. She named is "Girl," but we were pretty sure that would change, so on it's birth certificate is reads Binky Bear. After a trip to Toys R Us and a Happy meal it was nap time and then we had her open presents, play a little and then we had cake. I decided to make this cake yesterday so it's not the most planned out and the colors aren't perfect, but Savannah requested a Sleeping Beauty cake, so I tried.

We watched Toy Story 2 while the kids ate some dinner and then it was time for bed. It was a busy day with some phone calls from family too! You are one loved little girl Savannah and I hope you know your Mommy loves you SO much! Here's to hoping for less tantrums, no fights about your binky and you starting to listen a little more (wishful thinking).

Here are some stats about our Savannah

She loves costco pizza

She loves Barbies, Ponies, Littlest pets, Disney princesses, and pretty much anything else she can play with

Savannah loves to sing, especially to her stuffed animals and her brother when he goes down for a nap.

Her favorite movies are currently Nightmare before Christmas, anything with Veggie Tales, Pixar movies, Tinkerbell and ANYTHING that has to do with Christmas

Happy meals REALLY make her happy

90% potty trained with some issues getting there in time for #2

She talks all the time in her loud, high-pitched voice

As of today is binky free

She loves to put on make up

Savannah loves holidays and is very excited for Halloween and Christmas
Still super independent and free spirited

She knows most of her shapes including hexagons, octagons, crescent, etc

Still has never had a single hair trimmed on her head

I love you Savannah Addison Bongard! You always know how to make me smile.

Jaxon's 1st birthday!!!

Warning... Long post!

Today is the day my baby boy turned 1 year old. I can't tell you how much I love this guy. He can always make me smile and is such a great baby. I have always heard there is a special bond between a mother and son and I did not believe it until I met this little guy a year ago. I remember it like it was yesterday. I remember checking in for my induction into room 1, lots of talking with nurses and Noah, my horrible epidural, my water being broken, then sudden progression and less than ten minutes of pushing before I got to hold him for just a minute, then they took him away. It was almost 4 hours before his breathing was regulated enough to join me in our room 120. I remember holding him almost the entire time we were in the hospital, him meeting friends and family, the first time Savannah met him and she cried, then she came back after a nap and loved him. Between him going to the hospital at 7 weeks, first smiles, rolling, sitting up, trips to Santa Rosa, San Diego, Disneyland, crawling, walking, ear infections, first words, and so much more... I have loved every minute with my little boy. I love that he plays peek a boo, binky swaps, dances up and down, makes this choking sound when he is excited, eats everything in sight, walks with his arms up in the air, hunts down the toilet brush, and so much more! It's been a wonderful year little Jaxon!We spent the day together as a family and after some time out, we got Chinese take out, opened presents and let him attack his cake before he took a bath and very quickly passed out. Noah suggested red velvet cake and today I decided it should be a turtle. I didn't realize that red cake for an animal cake can look kind of weird until it was too late. It reminded me a bit of the armadillo cake from Steel Magnolias.

Some facts about my little boy right now:

He loves almost everything he can eat

Favorite toys are tools, cars and drumsticks

Favorite non toys are spoons, toothbrushes and hairbrushes

Says Mama, Dadda and Nanna (Savannah)very clear, but not much else

Walks very fast and isn't crawling much any more

Hates the sound of the vacuum

Explores wherever he can

Favorite tv shows are Blue's Clues, Go Diego Go and Yo Gabba Gabba

Loves strawberries SO MUCH

Is a morning person (unlike his mommy)

I Love You Jaxon!!

Birthday Parties

Before we left Pleasant Grove we had a couple little parties to celebrate my kid's birthdays with friends and family. I know it was a bit early (as their birthdays are over the next few days), but on the 21st we had a party for Savannah and on the 29th there was a family gathering for both Savannah and Jaxon. Savannah wanted 3 people at her Toy Story party; her cousin Eli and her friends Reed and Maddy. She made the requests, so I planned accordingly and invited them. Savannah's cousin Kaden was my helper and between pizza, a couple games, presents and cupcakes I think every adult helped at some point. I knew we were missing all of our guests birthdays and that kids love opening presents, so we played a little present game where each kid opened a present. They were all wrapped 6 times with different paper, so they were a little confused, but it was very fun to watch. I am really going to miss all of Savannah's friends, so more than anything I wanted to have the party so they could all play together one last time. Savannah had a major melt down when I handed out party favors. It reminded me of last year at the little gym. Here are some pictures from the parties.

My awesome nephew Kaden

Savannah's buddies: Eli, Reed and Maddy

A few party pictures

Jaxon got a few presents too. He loves his dishes, books and his Perry the platypus. He sleeps with his Perry every night.

Alien cupcakes

The very happy birthday girl. This reminded me a little of her party last year at the Little Gym. She did not want to give party favors to her friends and between that and nap time, she was not happy. She did pass out 3 minutes after my sister left. She was on the couch and fell asleep sitting straight up. When she woke up she was SO happy and first thing she put on a party hat and wanted a cupcake My dad put together the party on the 29th. I love my dad! He got "stick the tail on the donkey," some party decor and a really yummy cake. Jaxon was a big fan of the cupcakes around the cake. I let him have 2. Sugar high

Savannah loved her presents from my parents. She got 2 pairs of Jesse pajamas from my parents and Jaxon got a Cars play mat with 3 toy cars. We all have fun with the cars. All in all we had a fun time celebrating our kids a little early. Savannah now thinks she is turning 10 from all the candles she has blown out, but I dont mind because I love celebrating my kids with the people I love.

Zoo Boise

On Friday we took a little trip downtown to the zoo. It was an interesting day to go because there was a huge "Art in the Park" thing going on which made parking horrible, but the zoo was practically empty. I had read reviews that it was small, but I thought it was a perfect size. We saw every animal and were there a little over three hours. It was sad to see quite a few animals alone in the exhibit, but there was a decent variety to look at and we loved that the eating area was surrounded with animals. The petting zoo part was really fun. I made Savannah feed a goat. Jaxon did not like the goats very much. I think he thought they were biting us (pictured above).
Note: I almost had a panic attack when we walked into an exhibit that looked like it had a carnival theme and the door shut behind us, leaving us in a dark room with large bats behind a thin and very close sheet of glass... brought back some memories from my trip to Chicago.
Here are a few pictures and my favorite videos.

Savannah and the pheasant

Pretending to be a bird in the fake nest

Found the Tiger

The Elephant

Savannah loved the Giraffes and was very interested in their living arrangements

Jaxon and the bobcat