The joys of parenthood...

Some of you may not know this, but Dallin, Jackson and I made a long roadtrip down to Las Vegas this week for a press conference about Dallin's brother, Steven. To read about the conference or watch the press conference, go here. We're so grateful that the conference went well. Hopefully we will be able to get some results and information. We left for Vegas on Thursday at noon and left Vegas at 6:00 Friday night. That means that we drove almost 20 hours in two days. We were in Vegas for less than 24 hours. I was a little nervous about how Jackson would travel. He has been a great traveller in the past, so I had high hopes. He was great. He was either sleeping or content and looking around. Oh how we love him. However, Saturday morning he decided to get revenge on mom for all of the time he spent in his car seat. We spent the night in Bountiful on Friday and, after 4 hours of sleep, got up and made the last hour of the drive so Dallin could get back for his orchestra rehearsal. After Dallin left, I fed Jackson again and he decided to spit up all over me. Then, when I was playing with him on my lap, he decided to fill his diaper to overflowing. That was a major blow out. So, when I was finally done cleaning up his legs and hands and diaper mess, I decided to give him a bath. I didn't want to put a new diaper on him just to take it off, so I was holding my little naked baby while I was getting his bath ready when he decided he wasn't finished going to the bathroom and that mom's lap was the best place to finish up. As I felt this lovely warmth spreading down my legs and all over my lap, I just had to laugh. What a morning! And to think that Jackson did all of this by 9:30 in the morning. This is one of the joys of parenthood that people don't usually tell you about. :-)
But times like these make it all worth it. We sure love our little guy!

This one is the tired little boy after the morning's adventures.

PS. It was also Dallin's birthday this last week. What a wonderful man! I sure love him. For his birthday, we went to Macaroni Grill in Vegas with his family. It was a lot of fun. I also really enjoyed seeing Dallin get embarrassed when they sang to him. It was great.

Blessing Day

On Sunday, February 7th we blessed Jackson. (Yes, it was Superbowl Sunday. Some people were not too happy about that fact.) Dallin gave Jackson such a wonderful blessing. We had a lot of family and friends come up, which was so much fun. It's so nice to have such a great family who shows us so much love and support. Our sacrament meeting started at 2:50 (which put the blessing pretty close to superbowl tip-off ;-) and then we got together for treats and goodies afterwards at the church. Dallin and I decided that if more than 10 people came, our house would be bursting at the seams. It turned out really nice. Thanks to all of the family who came and helped Jackson's big day turn out so well. We sure love our little boy. Here are a bunch of fun new pictures.

These are the people who stood in the circle (minus the one on the left-he just wanted to stand by his dad).

Me and my little boy. He's going to be a heart breaker when he gets older.

Jackson and Daddy.
What a little stud muffin!
This one was Dallin's idea. Since we blessed him on Superbowl Sunday, Dallin decided to do a little photo shoot with a remote and our little nerf football. The nerf football is just the right size for him. Now all he has to do is start liking toys. I think his dad likes them more than he does so far.

A lot of people have told me that Jackson looks like Dallin. The older he gets, the more I agree with them. This picture makes me laugh. I love the faces they are both making. Jackson is looking more and more like his daddy every day. He couldn't have picked a better role model.

PS. Do any of you hard core bloggers out there know why the videos I posted last time say they are no longer available? They worked for about a day and haven't worked since. I'm really still trying to figure out this blogger thing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Jackson :-)

Lately, I have been wondering what kind of a mom I am? I have a blog and the most adorable little boy I have ever seen, and I have only posted pictures of him once. Who does that? Then I stopped to think. The moms that do this are the ones that work part time, have a brother-in-law who mysteriously disappears, has a best friend get married, spends almost three weeks traveling over Christmas and New Years, throws a bridal shower, has a little brother get married, and to top it all off, is trying to figure out how to be a mom to her little two month old son. That made me feel a little better ;-) So...here is an update on my little Jackson. Overall, Jackson has been a pretty easy-going baby. He has his moments, during the day and during the night when he decides crying is the only way to get the job done, whatever that job may be. As far as sleeping goes, I've decided Jackson likes to tease mom and dad. A week before he turned two months old, he slept 5-7 hours straight, ate, then slept another two or three hours. It was great. The great irony of this is that I had a cold that week and didn't sleep well because of that, even without a crying baby. After a whole week of sleeping well, I was starting to get my hopes up that this might be a trend. Then he regressed. He stopped going to bed as well at night and after eating. He also decided to wake up a lot more. Who knows? He's progressed again (knock on wood) but I've decided to just go with the flow. Two nights ago he slept from 8:30 at night until 7:00 in the morning and only woke up once to eat. That would be nice on a regular basis... :-)

My favorite thing lately, by far, has been the fact that Jackson has finally gotten the hang of smiling. He has smiled before, mostly when he is half asleep. A few times, he smiled at me and I thought he did it on purpose. It was just hard to tell. I no longer have to wonder. Last Friday, Jackson figured out how to really smile and decided that smiling is fun. He has become a very happy baby. Maybe he always was and we just couldn't tell. Or maybe he just really likes all of the attention he gets when he gives us a big grin and shows off his adorable dimples. There is nothing better in the world than having your little boy smile at you. I love it. It is so much fun to start seeing more of his personality, other than just the awake/asleep/hungry/crying part. We were even lucky enough to get some fun pictures of his big grin. He is quite the little GQ baby. I have a hard time picking my favorite pictures, so I'll probably end up posting a bunch of them. But isn't that what moms do anyways?

This morning, I was able to catch Jackson on video with some of his favorite things. Here are just a few things that he loves.

1) Smiling-His newest love

2) His bouncer

3) His neon green blanket, lovingly nicknamed 'The Grinch'

4) Chewing on things, especially his fist.

5) Yawning (Okay, so maybe he doesn't really like this one, but his mom thinks it's really cute)

Here are a few more things he loves that aren't in the video:

6) His Daddy. Dallin is such a great dad. Jackson loves to just sit and stare at him. I love seeing them spend some good Father/Son time. What a great role model for our little boy.

7) His hands. He loves having his hands by his face. Some of the poses he comes up with are hilarious. He's quite the little model.

8) His tongue. He loves sticking his tongue out. Now he smiles with it, but at first I think he was just trying to figure out what this thing sticking out of his mouth was.

9) Helping mom with laundry.

10) Baths. Despite what this picture looks like, I think Jackson is starting to enjoy his baths. He is starting to wiggle around and has even splashed Dallin a little. I had to include this picture because I'm pretty sure Jackson has the saddest little cry and pouty face ever. His bottom lip will quiver and he pulls out the biggest frown I have ever seen. I've yet to get a good picture of it.

11) His family. Hopefully we aren't quite this low on his list, though.

12) Sunglasses. Just kidding. We're not so sure whether or not he likes these yet, but this picture is just too cute not to post.

13) Shots were one thing that definitely did not make the list of loves. He recently had his two month check up. He was 10 lb 10 oz and 23 1/2 inches long. That puts him in the 40th percentile for weight and the 70th percentile for height. So, a long skinny boy. I wonder where he got that from? :-) The binki, however, definitely made the list. He's a binki baby and not ashamed of it.

Missing...

One month ago tomorrow, our lives took an unexpected twist. While I was visiting teaching on Thursday, December 17th, Dallin received a phone call from his family telling him that his older brother Steve was missing. His parents were called by a Henderson police officer to let them know that Steve's car had been abandoned in Henderson Nevada in a nice, upscale retirement community for several days. Steve hadn't been heard from since that Sunday, December 13th. His cell phone was dead and his answering mailbox was full and not accepting messages. No one had any idea why he would be in the Las Vegas area, let alone a retirement community in Henderson. The Koechers don't have any ties to that area. Dallin and I immediately packed up our stuff and tood off with Jackson to Bountiful to be with his parents while we continued to do our own investigation and detective work. Dallin and his dad left at 3:00 the next morning to drive to St. George, where Steve was living, and then on to Henderson. They spoke to police officers, neighbors, his landlord and boss on their way while Dallin's mom and I continued to follow up from Bountiful. Bank accounts were checked, cell phone records and text messages were looked at, people from Steve's ward and his friends were talked to, and no one had any answers. Everything related to Steve stopped on December 13th. This last month has been hard. We don't know what has happened. We all keep on asking ourselves if there was something we could have or should have done and keep coming up blank. Sometimes it is still mind boggling that this is happening to us. This is the kind of thing that happens to other people, or people far away on the news, not to you, your family, and your brother-in-law. We have felt an outpouring of love from family, friends, ward members, and people we hardly know. Thank you all for your love, phone calls, hugs, and offers of help. Everyone is so willing to help, we just wish there was something we could do ourselves. For now, all we can do is pray and hope and keep on going as normally as possible. To know more about what is going on, you can check out the Help us Find Steven Koecher facebook group or one of the following articles and news reports. The first one is written by Dallin's dad, who is also the editor of the Davis County Clipper.

http://www.clippertoday.com/pages/full_story/push?article-INSIDE%20STORY-%20An%20outpouring%20of%20friends-%20strangers%20&id=5388187

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705356478/Powell-isnt-only-missing-Utahn.html



http://www.abc4.com/content/news/slc/story/Exclusive-ABC-4-talks-to-parents-of-missing-Utah/774hcIASHE2bx66oAVVAMg.cspx

Our Christmas Letter

This year, in lieu of sending our Christmas letter out to all of our friends and family who belong to the blogger world, we decided to post it here. This way, people can read it faster and it saves us on postage and printer cartridges. :-) Merry Christmas to all of you and here is to hoping you have a very happy New Year!

Dear Family and Friends,

Another year has come and gone, leaving more new changes for us than any other. Here are just a few of the things that have happened in our lives. First and foremost, our family went from two to three on November 20, 2009 when Jackson Dallin Koecher was born. He was born at 7:59 in the morning weighing 8 lb 2 oz and 20.5 inches long. He has a lot of dark hair and is the most adorable little boy we have ever seen. We are now working on adjusting to taking a diaper bag with us everywhere we go, getting back out of bed ten minutes after you put Jackson to bed because he decided he really didn’t want Mom and Dad to sleep, being “responsible” parents, and learning to always have another diaper ready during diaper changes to avoid having to change our own clothes too. He is a great little boy and we couldn’t be happier. We love him so much!

This summer, Dallin graduated cum laude from Utah State University with a degree in public relations and minored in marketing. He is still working at the Spectrum (temporarily) and has decided to take up doing sudokus and watching the TV series “24” to fill his former homework time. He is currently the first chair bassist in the Cache Chamber Orchestra. He enjoys the group and has a good time keeping up his music skills. They are a lot of fun to listen to. He is also busy studying for the GRE. We’re not sure what the future holds, but he is leaning towards a Master’s degree in Public Administration from either the University of Utah or Brigham Young University next fall. You’ll have to wait until next year’s letter to find out where we end up.

I also celebrated a graduation this summer. I graduated from the University of Utah with my Master’s degree in social work. I’m glad to have my degree and not to have to drive to Salt Lake through the canyon every week this winter. I’m currently working at a daycare in a women’s shelter here in Logan (also temporarily). My main focus is being Jackson’s mom. I’m waiting until we decide where we will end up before hopefully finding my dream social work job.

We were also lucky enough to go on some wonderful trips this year. In June, Dallin and I went to Hawaii on a graduation present/belated honeymoon/one year anniversary/hurry-and-go-somewhere fun-before-the-baby-is-born trip. We spent a week in Oahu and had a great time hiking, seeing the sights, swimming in a waterfall and getting sunburned on the beach. We also went on the annual Naegle family trip to Moon Lake, camping several times, four wheeling and hiking in Mesquite, to some fun rodeos and demolition derbies, and a lot of fun family parties and get togethers. We love getting together with our family. We are so grateful to be surrounded by such wonderful people.

Right now, we love living in Logan and the friends we have made. Overall, as this year comes to a close, we are grateful for where we are in our lives. Surrounded by friends and family, we are never short of people who love and support us. We are so grateful for everyone’s help and support as we get used to being parents and make even more big decisions. Thank you all for everything you do for us. We love you and look forward to another great year!

Love,
Dallin, Amber & Jackson Koecher

Some videos of our little guy.

This is a video of me playing with Jackson when we were in the hospital. Tickling him with my hair is one of the few ways that will usually wake him up.

This is Jackson doing some tummy time to strengthen his neck and back muscles. He was really funny. It looked like he was trying to crawl but couldn't quite get it because he was so top heavy. He sure tried though. I can tell he's going to keep my hands full tryig to keep up with him. It's a good thing they don't come home from the hospital already crawling or walking, it would probably be too much for me. :-)

My wonderful family :-)

As most of you already know, my family has grown in the last little bit. On Friday, November 20th (two weeks ago today), Jackson Dallin Koecher joined our family. He was born at 7:59 in the morning and was 8 lb 2 oz and 20.5 inches long. He was having a hard time breathing at first, so they had to put him on oxygen for about an hour and keep him in the NICU for about 5 hours to keep an eye on him. I'm happy to report that everything is going well and we have a healthy and happy (mostly) baby boy. It's amazing how having a child changes your life. He's a great addition to our family and we sure love him. It's still strange for me to think that I'm a mom and Dallin is a dad. We sure love it though. We love our perfecct little baby boy. Welcome to our family Jackson :-) Here are a bunch of pictures. I just couldn't narrow them down.

Jackson and his daddy.
Me and my adorable little boy

The new and improved Amber and Dallin Koecher family

This is Jackson with his mom, Great Grandpa, and Great great Grandma. It would be 5 generations if my mom had been there.

Jackson loves having his hands by his face. He did this pose on his own.

Jackson's first night at home in his crib

Going home from the hospital

Jackson and Mom

Dad giving Jackson his first bath. I love the way Dallin is looking at him. You can tell how much he loves this little guy.

The proud new daddy :-)

Our first family picture. We're actually in the NICU. They wheeled my whole bed in there after recovery so I could see my little boy. It's a good thing too...they wouldn't have wanted an upset new mom on their hands.

This is one of Jackson's first pictures. He looks like a real chunk in this picture. I just love his face and hands.

The first time I got to really see him and hold him (kind of)

A week before he was born, the ultrasound tech measured Jackson at 8 lb 12 oz. They were concerned he would be too big, which is part of the reason they did a C-section. We were very happy with 8 lb 2 oz. I wanted to tell the doctor, "I told you so!"

This is what happens when you have a nervous dad to be at the hospital with a hair net at 5:30 in the morning.

My first pic with Jackson. This was before his bath and we thought his hair was really curly. No more curls for now, there will be plenty of time for that though.

Our precious baby Jackson :-) We love him so much and are so grateful to have him in our home!