Monday, January 31, 2011

Husband of the Day Award

My husband is so sweet! I'm having one of those so-tired-I-can't-even-function days, so he offered to take Josh with him to run a few errands and let me rest. I'm taking this chance to lay in bed and catch up on my blog so I can go to bed early tonight. He really is amazing. He works SO hard with both school and work and still takes such good care of me when I need it most. How did I get so lucky?
He was also just telling me that he saw a man with a 9-month-old baby outside Albertson's today that he thought might need some help, so he started talking to the man and ended up taking them into the store and buying them diapers. That's the type of man he is. And I love him so much because of it!

Play in the Snow

While Beau was shoveling the driveway a couple days ago I decided to let Josh go play in the snow for a while. The first thing he did was grab his mower and took off down the street! He would have pushed that thing all over town if I would've let him. The only way I got him to come back to the house was by giving him a tractor and showing him that he could us it to dig in the snow. He was pretty excited about that! I love to watch him play. He concentrates so hard!

Random Pictures

This is Josh trying really really hard to show me how old he is.
I think he's so cute fresh out of the bath.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

New Resolve

I made a resolution that if nothing else, I'd at least sit down every Sunday this year and blog. Even if I don't feel like there is anything to write about, or have any cute pictures to post, I need to make an effort for journal purposes. It seems like an appropriate Sunday thing to do anyway.
  • So this week has been one of those weeks where I don't feel like there is anything to write about. I've been keeping myself busy by trying to get the two boys rooms decorated. I've been working on it since the beginning of the month, since we moved Josh into a twin bed, but this week I actually started putting things together. The thing holding us up has been the fact that we've had to buy Josh all new furniture. We moved everything he had into the nursery. I scored at Downeast and got both boys some awesome toy boxes/bookshelf things! Seriously, Scored! I have been coveting these shelves in The Land of Nod magazine for a long time but would never even consider paying the $400 they want for them so when I found them on clearance at Downeast I had to get them! I originally just got one for Josh's room, but Beau suggested we go get the other one for the nursery because we'd eventually need it anyway, so we did. Anyway, after getting those and Joshua a dresser, I finally had a starting point. I got him some cute bedding and I've been working on his quilt and throw pillow. It's turing out pretty cute, but his room is far from finished. The nursery however, is pretty much done because I put everything up I had for Josh before. It's seriously nice having two boys in a row. I love it! It's always nice to have a project and it feels good at have some of the house decorated. The rest still looks like we just moved in, but that's ok. I'll get around to it eventually...
  • Josh has been going through a weird faze this week. It's been challenging, but after today I feel like we might have a handle on it. He just woke up about a week ago and decided he was going to be a complete monster. At first I blamed it on teething, but after a day or two I realized that teething or not, I could let him act the way he was. He was yelling at me all day long and refused to do anything I asked. And if he wasn't yelling at me, he was screaming and throwing a HUGE fit! I'm not exagerating either, it was constant, no down time in between fits for about 4 days. Even if I were to ask him if he wanted a treat, he'd answer me with a snarly NNNNNNNO! Then when I'd say ok and walk away, the fit would begin because he really wanted the treat but was refusing to tell me yes. It was out of control and so out of character for Josh. To try and help him this weekend, Beau and I have been over the top positive and loving, giving him every second we could of our attention, and I'm pretty sure he snapped out of it. Today has been a really good day. We're back to laughing and playing. I hope it sticks because I was this close to shipping him to Grandma's house. My mom called in the middle of one of his fits and after I explained that that was how he had been for days she offered. It was tempting.
  • We buzzed Josh's hair tonight and he looks SO cute! I love how it makes him look so much younger. I think we'll keep it cut short. When he realized what we were getting ready to do he started crying a little, but as soon as we started and got him a little distracted he sat and played quietly in the sink the entire time. HUGE milestone for him! It's always been a traumatic experience in the past.
  • I'm going to the Dr. tomorrow and will get checked for the first time. I don't know if I will ever get over how uncomfortable that makes me. I'm interested to get the results though. Funny thing. We sat behind my Dr. in stake conference today. We ran into each other in the hall and we said hi. Then I was thinking, "see ya tomorrow....in the stirrups!" Kinda awkward...
  • I'm 3 lbs away from weighing more than Beau. That's always my favorite part of pregnancy. Not!
  • I'm really feeling 8 months pregnant these days. Just hit me a day or two ago. I'm starting to swell, waddle, and be short of breath after walking 10 steps. It's awesome. I'm hoping that my Dr. will be able to adjust my hips and back tomorrow because they are really out of place. It's going to be a hard month if I can't get any relief. There really is nothing like that last 4 weeks of pregnancy. I envy those girls who have their babies early and never have to experience it.
  • I want to make an effort to be a better, more outgoing friend. I think this week we will have a bbq and invite some people from our ward over. I love my outgoing friends who are always inviting me to do things with them, but I'm just not that type. I want to be though...so I'm going to try.
  • I've been having a hard time consistently reading my scriptures over the last little while (like 8 months!), mostly because I'm so tired at night that it's easier to just go to sleep especially because Beau and I hardly ever go to bed at the same time, so I have no one to be accountable to if I don't. Beau studies his alone a lot for various church things and even more now that he has a D&C class. I've always done well setting a goal to read the Ensign each month, so I decided this week I'm going to go back to that. I've been reading it every night and I really love it. I look forward to it actually. But today I started wondering if I should be feeling guilty about not reading my scriptures. I don't know how to feel about it.
  • We are all adjusting to Beau's new schedule, and it has not been near as bad as we anticipated. There are days when I resent that he has to go back to work so soon after dinner because that's the time of day when I'm starting to feel exhausted and want help with Josh, but for the most part it hasn't been too bad. Weekends especially have been life savers and we love that time we have to spend together.
Alright, I'm off to bed. I have a couple cute pictures of Josh to post, so hopefully I can make time to do that tomorrow night.

Friday, January 28, 2011

2010 Christmas Card


This is a little out of place, but I wanted to post a copy of our 2010 Christmas card so that once we print our blog again, we'll always have a copy. I'd like to think that I'll keep track of a hard copy, but it's probably just not going to happen. Plus, if there's anyone reading this who didn't get one, here ya go!

Monday, January 24, 2011

Sledding

Joshua's first time sledding.
*Walking down the street to the park.
*Oops! Tipped over...
*A little pep talk
*Ready? Set?
*Go!
*Smiles
*He loved it!

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Time for a little update

It's time for an update on our little family....
Beau:
What isn't Beau doing? Last week he started school. He's taking a full load in hopes of finishing in a year. He's thinking this semester shouldn't be too bad because it worked out that his classes aren't going to be very difficult. That will be nice with the new baby coming in the middle of the semester. I don't know all of his classes but I think he's taking econ., Russian, D&C, Business-something-or-other, and some sort of Middle Eastern class. I'm sure I'll figure it out soon, but he's only been to a couple days of school so far so I haven't heard too much about it. He has to get up at 6 every morning to be out of the house a little before 7 and to his 7:45 class in Rexburg, then he is in class until 12:30 every day and will get home around 1:20. As soon as he gets home he heads down to his office and works until 6:30 or so. He comes up around then to play with Josh while I make dinner, then we eat and visit, and then he goes back to working or doing homework until 11 or midnight. That is his schedule everyday except Wednesday. He doesn't have school at all on Wednesdays, so he will use those days to work work work. To keep up on everything he's going to have to spend most of Saturday working or doing homework as well, so Sundays will be our saving grace! It should be an interesting 5 months! These next two months with just one kid, I can handle, but I'm pretty worried about how I'm going to survive being a single parent for those first 8 weeks after I have the baby when I'm only getting 3 or 4 hrs of sleep each night. Wow! I can't even think about that, I might have a panic attach. I know I'll make it, but it's going to be rough with almost no help.
Beau's still working at Netmark and really enjoys what he does there. It has showed him an entirely different business world that has him completely mesmerized. He also does a few of his own things on the side, but the busier his life gets, they may have to be put on hold for a little while, we will see.
He and Luke bought a boat a couple weeks ago. I don't know anything about it other than it was a really good deal and it's a Monster! I think it may technically be a considered a yacht. They worked on it for a couple days while we were down for Christmas and Luke is going to fix it up a little more, then we'll see what happens. They may keep it, or not....who ever knows with them.
Beau also has two church callings right now. He's the ward mission leader, again (He was the mission leader in our last ward for 2 years before we moved), and he's the assistant cub master. He hasn't had much to do with the scouts yet, but he jumped right in with the missionaries and has been really busy working with them. He's a really good ward mission leader. It's a pretty time consuming calling, and can be frustrating at times, but he does a good job.
Me:
Well, I'm 32 weeks pregnant. That pretty much sums it up! I went to the Dr. today and everything looked okay. I was measuring and weighing in a little small, but the Dr. said that if I was still small at my next apt. then he'd look into it further. For now, he just wants to see how it goes. I'm 32 weeks, but I'm measuring under 31 and I've gained 14 lbs. they can't know how much the baby weighs without an ultrasound. Lets all say a little prayer that this little guy decides to put on some weight, because there is no way they will start me early if I'm not even measuring on track! And I am planning on getting started early dang-it! I had to go a week and a half over with Josh and it seems like everyone I know gets started early. I think I deserve it this time. I'm doing everything I can to put on weight, trust me, I totally am....but I must be carrying another light-weight. They get it from their dad.
I've been surprised how much easier this pregnancy has been on me than Josh's. I thought it would be harder being pregnant and trying to keep up with an active 2-year-old, but I think staying active has really helped with everything from my strength and energy levels, to controlling aches and pains. I had a desk job while I was pregnant with Josh, so I literally sat on my rear for 5 months straight and I was always hurting and SO tired. I'd come home from work at 5 and take a nap, then get up, eat dinner and hang out then I'd go back to bed no later than 10. But no matter what, I was always tired. With this one, I sleep probably 7 hrs a night and I'm running around all day long. Don't get me wrong, I'm ready for bed at night, and Josh does wear me out sometimes, but it's nothing like the first time around. I feel really good over all.
I've been trying to keep myself really busy lately. I try to come up with some sort of project to work on everyday in between playing with Josh. It's the best way to speed up the pregnancy waiting game and keep from slipping into a winter time depression. In the last week I've cleaned a lot, made the new baby a quilt, done probably 15 loads of laundry washing all the baby clothes and gear, worked on my 30 day menu and grocery list, made myself a nursing cover, and organized and set up the 2 boys bedrooms. It's been really fun and it's nice to accomplish something everyday. Next up is decorating Joshua's room and working on the rest of the house. It's still super empty. Other than that I'm just loving being a mom to the most adorable little boy in the world. I LOVE this kid SO much! He's at the most fun stage yet and I enjoy every second of the day with him.
Joshua:
Like I just said, Joshua is SO much fun these days! He says the most hilarious things every day and seems to grow up more and more every day as well. He's started to play really well by himself lately. Sometimes when we're down stairs he'll disapear and I'll find him playing upstairs in the playroom. I know that sounds like a normal kid thing to do, but it hasn't been normal for Josh to do that. Up until now, he's been right by my side 24/7 and I would even have to get down and play with his toys for him half the time. So I'm loving this! I still will hang out in the room with him and we'll talk and play together, but he's leading now, telling me what we're doing all day long. 2 days ago I was putting my makeup on in the upstairs bathroom while he played in the playroom and I heard him talking for the two little people he had in his hands. One was saying, "Hi mom," and the other said, "Hi! come one. Lets go!" It was so cute to me! Probably because it was the first time I've heard him using his imagination.
At least 100 times a day he'll come up to me and say, "What are you do'n, hon?" Lol! It makes me laugh every time! I guess I've said that to him a bit. It's my favorite.
He eats like a horse and loves everything I give him. He's gone through picky stages, but right now, he'll eat anything and a lot of it! His favorite treats are the little cutie oranges and m&m's.
Depending on the day, he'll tell me his favorite color is blue or pink. They are the only colors he knows. It's funny how little kids are drawn to pink, boy or girl. Beau doesn't love that, but we both know this kid is ALL boy!
He's reached the age where he thinks bodily noises are funny. He laughs every time he toots or burps and sometimes he'll make tooting noises with his mouth and say, "Moooooooommmmm!"
We're going to attempt potty training in the next few days. We're going to use the 3 Day Potty Training Method, but finding 3 days when we can stay home the entire time is proving to be harder than I thought it would be. I didn't think we were that busy. I'll be posting about it as we go I'm sure.
We converted Josh's crib into a toddler bed a week and a half ago and then last weekend put him in a twin so we could set up the nursery. He has done really well for the most part. The first night in the toddler bed we learned we have to shut his bedroom door so he doesn't wander the house in the middle of the night, and the first night in the twin bed he would not go to bed! Other than those two nights it has been a really smooth transition. Surprisingly easy actually.
He doesn't drink sippy's of milk at all anymore. We had to cut that out so we could potty train, but he didn't mind. He has never been in love with milk. Next up (well, after potty training) we are going to break him of the binki. Part of me doesn't care that he still has it, but it's driving the other part of me nuts! I'm sick of keeping track of them and listening to him whine about it when I wont let him have it. He is actually, really cutting his k9's right now, so I'll let him have it through that and then it might get lost for good.
The reason I always wanted to space my kids out around 3 year apart is because I wanted to give them each enough time to be the baby and spend that one-on-one time with them while they are so young like I feel they need. I've struggled since the day I found out I was pregnant with this one that I'm taking that away from Josh. I feel like I'm having to force him to grow up and and do big kid things before he's ready. But I don't know what else to do. I don't want two kids in diapers, I have to have the crib for the new baby, he has to sit and feed himself because I will have another one to feed soon, I'm not going to keep track of two kids binki's all day long...etc. I know it's not a bad thing to ask your 2+-year-old to be more independent and that Josh will be just fine, but making all these big moves lately has made me think about it a lot. I worry it's all too much too fast for him. He seems to be fine so far and has handled all the transitions really well, I just hope he can still feel how much we love him even though we have to make him do things be doesn't want to do or things that may seem scary. It's tough being a parent. It's such a guessing game so much of the time. I'm grateful that we have the Lord to help us get through it.
I don't want to end on a somewhat depressing note, so I'll write about a cool thing we did today. Beau and I got a babysitter for a few hours this morning so we could go to the church cannery and do some service work. We had a plan to work on our food storage each month through out the year so that it would be complete by next December, but a couple weeks ago Beau told me that he thinks/knows the price of goods is going to increase soon and that he wanted to get it all done in the next couple months rather than spread it out. So we went and volunteered at the cannery this morning and then spent almost $400 on canned goods. Yikes! The cool thing is though, that after today combined with what we already had we have a complete food storage for a family of 4! How exciting is that! There are a few things we'd like to add, like more dried and bottled fruit, and more bottled meat, but as far as what the church recommends, we're done! It feels way good to know it's all there too. Not that I'd really know what to do with it if we really did have to live off of it, but it's there and I'm sure I'd figure it out.
Anyway...Things are good here at house. We're happy as can be and feeling very blessed for the good situation we are in in life.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Christmas Pt. 2

Christmas morning Joshua woke up to see that Santa had brought him a train table! He was a little timid at first, but once he realized that it was his, he was pretty excited. He wasn't interested in anything but the table though. We couldn't get him to open any other presents for about a half hour, then Grandpa opened his dump truck with him and he forgot all about the train table for a few minutes. It was so much fun watching Josh get excited about Christmas. He loved it! And the best part is, is that it's 3 weeks later and he still LOVES all of his toys. It's been so nice to have new things around to keep him entertained. He especially loves his tractors and fire station.
The day after Christmas we went down to Bunkerville to celebrate with my family. We all went to church together and then opened presents afterward. After we opened presents and had lunch, the whole extended family got together at Janet's studio for family pictures. We got them taken because, first of all we were all (minus Tiffany)in town which doesn't happen very often, and second because there is no one on a mission right now. The last picture we had taken of all of us I think I was a sophomore in high school! It's pretty outdated. It was fun getting together with everyone and the pictures went so smoothly! I was shocked. There were so many people and tons of kids, but everyone cooperated and it was really fast. I'm excited to see how they turned out.
For Christmas my parents and Beau got me my double stroller! Beau totally surprised me! I've had my heart set on this stroller for a while now, but I figured it was out of our price range, so I was trying to find something cheaper that would do, but the more I looked around the more I LOVED the other stroller. I was having a hard time deciding what to do and a week or so before Christmas I was telling Beau about it. So I guess the day after that conversation he talked to my parents and they decided that that was what they were going to do and he ordered it. Since it was so close to Christmas, and because we never did decide one way or the other on getting it or not, I never even suspected he'd get it. But I'm so glad he did! I love it. I don't know if it's normal to be this excited about a stroller, but I am! It makes me feel a lot better about having 2 kids.
He also got me a few other things but one of my favorite gifts was my blog printed into a book! It's amazing! I have loved looking through it the last couple weeks. It's a really good motivator to blog more so we can have a whole collection of books as our family history.
I got Beau and miter saw and new church shoes plus all the other little things like clothes and gadgets. He also got an iHome, speakers for his computer, and a pistol holster. I can't remember everything else but basically we all got spoiled!
Thanks everyone for such a wonderful Christmas!

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Christmas Break Pt. 1

I was so excited for Christmas break this year, and I was definitely not disappointed! We had the Best Christmas of our lives. We spent tons of time with family, ate so much food, and got completely spoiled! Of course I have a million pictures, but I'll just try to narrow it down to a few.

We went down south for 2 weeks, and the first week was spent with my family in Nevada. As always, we had a lot of fun. Every day that we're in town is a party. This year was especially fun because the Potter's were in Bunkerville too! The weather was pretty bad all week so the things we had planned kinda fell through, or they did them later after we'd had left town, but we still had fun going bowling, playing games, and just hanging out. I pulled a muscle while we were bowling and it still hasn't healed. They tell you to avoid contact sports while you're pregnant, but they left out bowling. Apparently it's risky because boy did I hurt my hip! I walk and feel like I'm 95. But anyway.... here are some pictures from our first week.
*Playing with Grandpa and Sam. So cute!
There was major flooding while we were down. Just as bad as the floods of 2005. The amount of water was amazing!
This river usually looks like a a little stream.We went to a Christmas party at the Fire station. It's officially Joshua's favorite place to be in the whole world. He LOVES fire trucks. After this trip he thinks that Santa comes on a fire truck, not a sled. Every times he's seen him, he's been on one. We'll try to fill him in on the whole Santa/sled/reindeer story next year, but for now, we're ok with fire trucks rather than sleds.
*Loving his cake pop!
Christmas Eve was celebrated at the Davis'. The Ott's came and we had a yummy dinner, then read the Christmas story from the Bible, sang some carols, and opened gifts from each other. After presents were opened, PJ the elf came and brought the kids some PJ's! It was a nice quiet, and relaxing night. Christmas eve is not too crazy on that side of the family yet (as apposed to my side), but I imagine in a couple more years there will be enough grandkids to really stir things up.
*Reading a Christmas book that Grandma Davis gave Josh. It's such a cute book!