I'm so proud...

As many of you already know... Aaron recently got promoted to be a Commerical Credit Analyst for IBC Bank. This means he has moved from the Residential side which is located in North Austin, to the Commercial branch in downtown Austin. He is no longer working in the same office as me, which is kindof sad because we used to do lunches together. But he is really enjoying the people the works with now, and is doing something he enjoys. The position seems to require a lot of learning and reading, but it will give him the experience he has been looking for in order to be a Commerical Banker. He has been looking forward to this move for quite some time. I want him to know how proud I am of him and the progress he is making with IBC Bank. I love you Aaron!

Thanksgiving is coming!

Well, I don't know about everyone else, but I am particularly excited about Thanksgiving this year. I have been in a "baking phase" over the last few weeks. I bought a cook book from Costco that has just about any dessert you could ever think of in it. I am excited to give a new recipe a try for Thanksgiving this year. It is a hersey kisses pumpkin mousse dessert. In addition to this new dessert, I will also be making Aaron's favorite - Stove Top Stuffing (hilarious), Key Lime Pie, and the Haroldsen's Ice Box Rolls. Needless to say, this is more than I typically contribute to Thanksgiving dinner, so I'm pretty excited to see how it all turns out.

We have been pretty crazy here lately. We just got done with our Church co-ed volleyball league. We play with the Cedar Park ward because our stake doesn't have volleyball. We have been undefeated for the past two years, and on Friday we again came out with the championship! Although, I have to admit, Nikki's team would have dominated if they had all their players. We barely won and they only had four players. It was a fun season!

On Nov. 18th we had to go to a Black Tie Event for the Junior League of Austin. IBC required that Aaron be there as part of his new position. We took some pictures before leaving the house. We should have taken our camera but didn't think about it. Nikki did my hair and so I have to show that off too... here are some pictures...

Halloween came and went so quickly, and I still haven't put up any pictures. Ben dressed up as Spiderman and Tyson dressed up as a giraffe. Nobody actually thought he was a giraffe though, they thought everything from leopard to cow, but never giraffe. Funny how that happens.

This was Benjamin's first year Trick-or-Treating. He got scared everytime we had to walk up to a house. We had a good time anyway, and he got lots of yummy candy.

We have taken some random pictures of the boys, so here we go...

These boys are so adorable when they play together. However, I wish they were not both still on the bottle... (mainly Benjamin)

This is their favorite TV Show. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. When it's on, they actually will sit and pay attention - it's the only show besides Handy Manny that we can get Benjamin to watch. He is starting to like more TV, but not much.

Tyson just sitting up. He's growing up so fast, it's crazy. He's already walking along furniture and can stand up without holding onto anything for a few seconds. It's fun!

Well, that's pretty much the update from us. I hope everyone is doing well! We can't wait to head up to Utah/Idaho for Christmas!! It's been a while since we have seen everyone and we are really looking forward to it!

Happy Birthday Benjamin!!

On July 29th Benjamin James turned two!! I can't believe he's already two years old. How fast the time flies by... We had a birthday party at my house and here's who joined in the fun...

Great Aunt Teri, Great Grandpa Jones, Grandpa Chuck, and Great Grandma Jones

Great Aunt Jamie, Cousin Loni, Tyson and Grandma

Great Uncle Robin and Cousin Trace

Aunt Taylor and Cody

Daddy and Great Grandma Annie

And of course, Benjamin and Mommy

There were others that avoided pictures... Like Aunt Leah and Uncle Tim, and Great Aunt Marla. We all had a great time! He got a ton of great toys which he still can't get enough of. Aaron and I bought him a little tricycle that we still can't get him to ride outside.

Ben is totally into cars, trucks and motorcycles right now, and I would say that was majority of his toys. Here's a couple pictures of him trying out his new toys...

Tim, Leah and Loni volunteered to do the birthday cake. Not sure how I'm going to outdo them next year! They did a fantastic job!!! Here's a picture of it... It was so pretty, I didn't want to cut it up!

Thanks to everyone for coming and for all the presents!! He had a great time!

June and July-ish

Okay, I suck at updating this blog. But I'm going to take some time today to update everyone on what's been going on for us. We will start with our trip to Washington... We went to Washington in June and had a blast. We went to Seattle and hung out there for a while, and then just spent the rest of the week in Everett where I grew up. Here are some pictures from Seattle.

Somehow Tyson and Benjamin got cut out of this picture...

Ben and Aaron just had to stop for ice cream :)

Overall we had a pretty relaxing vacation. I didn't get to see as many people as I'd hoped, but maybe next time!

Since then we have been in Austin just hanging out with family and working. We go swimming at my parent's house quite often and the boys love it. Both boys like the water alot! So here are some pictures from our swimming trips...

Taylor floating with Benjamin...

Aaron and Benjamin - we just bought him this little float circle thingy... he loves it

Me and Tyson - he almost fell asleep when we were floating like this!

Leah, Tim and Josie

Okay, and I don't even remember where this picture is from - but Haroldsen family - tell me that this picture does not remind you of Luke...

RIGHT???

Anyway, more updates to come...

Update

Lindsey will be posting an update shortly. So much has gone we've been too busy and have neglected the blog.

Tyson Charles Haroldsen

Well, I am terrible at updating this but life has been crazy over the last 3 weeks. As I'm sure all of you already know, we welcome Tyson into our family on February 11th. I went into the doctor at about 2:30pm that day because of the pressure I was feeling even though my contractions were not too bad. The doctor checked me and said I was dilated to a 6 so he sent me to labor and delivery. They gave me the epidural and then broke my water at 4:30. I labored for about 2 1/2 hours and Tyson was born at 7:17pm weighing 6 lbs 1 oz, and measuring 17 1/2 inches long. It was a very smooth delivery and only took about 10 minutes to get him out. Thankfully I had no complications this time.

Tyson is a very healthy little guy and so content! He hardly ever cries and is just a joy to have around. Benjamin has been great with him, he tries to be very gentle and just loves his new little brother.

We had Tyson's 2 week check up on Wednesday and he now weighs 7.3 and measures 20 inches. What a growing boy we have. :o)

Here are a few pictures, I'll put more up a little later.

Venting...

I am so close to having this baby I can feel it!! Although it seems like it's never going to happen. At my appointment last Tuesday, my dilation was at a "good 2". Doctor estimated 7-10 days til delivery based off what he saw. Although, it really feels like he could not come soon enough. I am trying to hold out on having him at least until Taylor returns from Utah. She gets back on Wednesday. Thursday will be the "36 week - safe zone" mark so that would be the ideal day for me to have it because I'm just so sick of being so uncomfortable. My poor family has been so patient with me. I complain all the time about the pain and inability to move around. I really should be more optimistic :o) Aaron is just excited to not have a pregnant wife anymore - poor guy. Who can blame him??

I have an appointment tomorrow to see how things are comin along. I'm hoping he tells me that I'm having him real soon, instead of an appointment where there has been no change. Because as much as I want this baby to be completely healthy and full term - I just get so frustrated when I am contracting like CRAZY and it's doing nothing. I have been having them for 7 weeks now! The contractions have been extremely painful and just not making the baby come. It's very irritating. I wish the contractions would go away so that I could go 40 weeks without hating every second.

Anyway - I'll update again as soon as there any change. I hope everyone is doing well! Thanks for listening to me vent!

First post of the new year!!

Well, I know it's already the 15th of January, but I am just now getting around to posting an update on how things are going around here. We will start with the update on Benjamin... He is once again climbing on everything in sight! We got some pictures of him in the act...

We all went to Gattiland to celebrate my mom and uncle Robin's birthday. I did Benjamin's hair and it looked SO cute... although he kinda needs a haircut. Here are some pictures from the party. We had a good time and hope that mom and Robin had a great birhtday!!

As you might have noticed in some of these pictures, Benjamin has a rash on his chin and a little around his nose from all the drooling and milk dripping down his chin. His tongue is constantly sticking out of his mouth, and so because of this, we can't keep his chin dry and it's created a real bad rash. We are working on getting rid of it, but he just won't keep the chin dry. Other than that, Benjamin has been doing really well! He is loving all his new toys from Christmas and he is looking forward to little Tyson joining our family. (as much as he can understand anyway)

Now an update on Tyson... on Tuesday I went in for an appointment and found out that there was no change in my dilation but the baby had dropped. He said he has no idea what is holding the baby in, with as low as he is. So the doctor put me on official bed rest. (an outing every now and again is okay but only to save my sanity) Well on Tuesday night the contractions began getting harder and closer together. On Wednesday they were close enough together to call the doctor. I went in to see my doctor and he checked me again and found that I am now dilated to 1 cm and my cervix has thinned out. Because of this, the doctor admitted me to the hospital to monitor me and try to stop the labor. We are 33 weeks along, and really need to make it last another 3 weeks. They kept me there and monitored me for 4 hours and gave me two doses of Terbutiline to slow down the contractions. They felt that it worked pretty well so they sent me home with prescription for Terbutiline to take as needed. So we are hoping this will keep the baby in a little longer. I have my next appointment on Tuesday, so we will know more at that point. :o)

Yesterday evening Kathie arrived from Utah. She is here to help me while on bed rest and to visit with Benjamin. We are so grateful to have her here, so that she can give my mom a break and of course the help is VERY appreciated. Benjamin has not let her sit still since she got here. He drags her all over the house and they play together all day. It's been fun so far! She is here until Thursday the 22nd. We are so glad she was able to make it down!!!

I want to thank my mom for all the time she has been spending with me since I was put on bed rest. I don't know what we would have done without her help! She organized my house, cleaned, cooked, entertained Benjamin and helped me run my errands! She's amazing and I'm so grateful for everything she did for us!!!

Well, now that I am "officially" on bedrest, I am working on finishing my continuing education for my Utah Loan Officer License. I have 13 hours of classes left to do. So I'm going to get on that now. I will update you all again as soon as we know more!