Stepfamilies

I read today that one-third of marriages today create stepfamilies, and that stepfamilies are soon expected to outnumber traditional families. I think thats a little sad. The world sure is different than 40 years ago. We are a stepfamily ourselves and I think that it is very different than a traditional marriage. Its more difficult from the start. Dealing with the ex, the custody arrangement, and parenting a child that isn't yours adds a lot of stress to a marriage. The report also stated that one-third of step-family marriages end in divorce. Of course, I'm hoping that we will not be those statistics :)
Jade has been having a harder time adjusting lately. I feel bad because the situation she is in is not her choice or her fault. She has a hard time getting used to the two different houses and I don't blame her. I think it would be so confusing. At first I thought that because she was so young, she would have an easier time. She was just barely three years old when I married her dad. I thought that she would always remember her family like this: her mom and dad living separately and me living with her dad. But it is still affecting her more than I thought.
Has anyone been in Jade's position that has some advice for us?
We try to pay alot of attention to Jade when she is with us and we go out and do lots of fun things with her. But her mom tells us that when she goes home she tells her mom that nobody loves her over here and nobody plays with her.
I'm not sure if she is just trying to please her mom and not make her mom feel like she has fun without her? Or if its the birth of her baby brother and she's not the baby anymore like she has been for the past five years?
There are some step-family classes here that I have been wanting to take since we first got married and I finally got us signed up for them. They start in June and they are supposed to help us learn how to deal with the issues specific to stepfamilies. Hopefully we will learn alot and it will help us make one big, happy family!

My little man

He is just too dang cute!He has a doting big sis...

An exhausted, hardworking papa...

An amazed mama...

We just can't get enough of this little guy!

Meet....

Juan Daniel Ibarra
Born Feb. 11, 2011
7 lbs 11oz. 19 inches

Fall Season

[Pictures soon to come]
I love decorating for fall and halloween! Decorating in my own house is much more fun then decorating an apartment. So I used that excuse to go out and buy fall decor. I love the pumpkins, harvest themes, the cooler weather and of course all the fun activities that go along: pumpkin carving, corn mazes, haunted houses, and stomping on the fallen leaves!

Working on getting organized...

A few weeks ago we cleaned out the cars because Juan was wanting to sell them and get a new one. Anyways we piled up all the junk in a corner of the living room. This weekend we finally! went through it all and got organized. Well, Juan did anyways. I am better at cleaning the house (doing the dishes, laundry, sweeping, mopping, etc.) He is great at getting rid of the junk and making the house look organized. We still have about 6 boxes of junk in the basement that never got unpacked (because its just junk) so I told him each weekend he can work on one box :) Well anyways in that pile we found an old camera! It had pictures from the summer so I can put up some new pics... Just not today because today I need to learn my anatomy! So far this semester I've had one chemistry exam and one physiology exam and wednesday is my first anatomy exam. Anatomy is probably my favorite class (The second time over everything comes so much easier!) Chemistry is my easy A. My first exam was 100/105 and my husband questions why I didn't get those last 5 points, until he sees my physiology score... I have a much harder time with biology, so time to hit the books for wednesday!!

The End of the Summer....

Well I can´t believe how quickly this summer has passed. We have kept so busy with working and the changes to our family. Fixing up and moving into our home took up alot of time, and its an ongoing process. We have had many fun adventures with Jade this summer. We´ve gone swimming, to the park, to Jugle Jims and Hollywood Connections, we went to Lava Hot Springs, seen a few movies, we went camping to Fairview, Jade loved her first Demolition Derby!, we´ve played at 7 creeks, sugarhouse park, and went to the county fair. So many adventures and I am so terrible at keeping up with them with pictures and writing our memories! Now I start school on wednesday and Jade starts preschool on the 31st so its off to another busy year!

Our little home

I haven't posted in a long time because we have been so busy and then I lost my camera for awhile! But I found it today so I wanted to post some updates to our life. In June, we finally closed on our house!!! It took a long, long time and lots of papers and patience, but it finally happened! And we couldn't be happier!!

The living room:

Our little kitchen, which is already a mess (of course):

The master bedroom:

The boys painting Jade's room:

The bathroom (my least favorite part of the house, it needs to be completely remodeled):

Our garage:

I cooked our very first dinner before we move in!

We just finished painting and put in new carpet so I will post the "after" pics asap!