Friday, September 25, 2009

Too Fast

Today Jay came up to me trying to put on a hat that his Great-Grandma Brady had made for him. The only problem was she had made it for him as a newborn, so obviously the hat was way too small and he couldn't put it on. He was very frustrated by this and would not give up the idea until I decided to help him. A few minutes later, with a little finesse, we got the newborn hat to fit his 14-month head. He was very excited and ran around making funny faces and screaming most of the morning. As I watched him play, I realized how fast his little life has gone by. He'll start some really cute stage and a week later he's on to the next thing. He used to suck his thumb. He used to think coughing was the funniest thing on the planet. He used to have fake sneezing attacks in church. All of these things could make me smile from ear to ear and now they are gone. Sure they are replaced by other cute and sometimes loud quirks... but I miss them.

Anyhow this all put me in a sentimental mood and I followed Jay around with my camera all morning capturing his latest oddities...

Like how he loves to laugh at himself and you can tell it's totally fake. He closes his eyes and peeks at you every couple of seconds to make sure you are still laughing at him. Or his overly dramatic way of drinking a sippy cup... (We've got an actor on our hands folks.)

He is also a very determined kid and when he wants you to do something, he'll do everything in his power to make you do it. In this case, "Mom I said take this!"
Perhaps my favorite lately is when he screams like a warrior and charges at you.
Oh and he thinks his Daddy is Elmo.
Explanation: Joe does a really good impression of Elmo. Most of the time he's home, he's chasing Jay around the house yelling, "Mr. Noodle! Mr. Noodle!" or talking to him in Elmo's voice. Well now every time Elmo's World comes on, Jay runs to the T.V. screen yelling, "Dada!" He'll be pretty disappointed when I tell him that's not really his Daddy's day job.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Busy Busy

Well it seems to be photo season. In the past week I've taken over 2,000 pictures. I had a wedding last weekend. Then I took pictures of my brother's cute family and all his in-laws this weekend.
Then I did engagement pictures for one of Janelle's friends. (Fun couple.)And it's not over yet. I'm loving it though. (Sorry I can't really post better pictures than this since these people haven't even seen them yet!)

Joe's been a really good sport about watching Jay while I work. Here he is keeping a "close eye" on Jay at my brother's shoot in Marsing. He's texting. I had to laugh at that.

But Joe made up for it by playing with Jay on the swings.
Precious no? I have a good life.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Babywise Fans

I know a lot of people that use and love this book so hopefully this will be a helpful post. First off, this book is amazing and I'm am more grateful everyday that I stuck to it. Especially now that Jay sleeps 11 hours+ every night and takes two full naps everyday AND puts himself to sleep without any problems. This method keeps me sane. I read this book while I was pregnant. When Jay was first born it gave me so much confidence in my own instincts and I felt like I had a plan each day. Jay slept through the night at 10 weeks! Anyhow, this post is not supposed to be plugging the book, but any mom who has used it knows it works and wants all the frazzled, desperate-for-sleep moms in the world to give it a try. So sorry for going on and on about it.

The point really is that I found an amazing blog that supplements all the babywise books. Here's the link:
It's topical and you can ask this lady any question about your own experience and she'll answer within 5 days. I don't know why she takes the time to do this... maybe a kickback from the publisher... but it seems to have helped a lot of people.

I hope this is helpful to someone and doesn't just make everyone roll their eyes at my first-time-mom parenting book obsession.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Homecomings

I'm a little slow to post about this but Brittny came home from her mission!!! For those of you who do not know Brittny, she is one of my very best friends. We met each other in the Mountain View Single's Branch over 3 years ago. A few bad break-ups later and we were bonded for life. Brittny was convinced that I needed to marry one of her cousins so that we could be family. Well we are now second cousins! (Her dad and Joe's dad are cousins.) Close enough.
Look how happy we are to be cousins...She left on her mission to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and I missed her terribly. But I waited... I wasn't the best writer... but I waited. And now she's back! She came all the way from Wyoming to speak in the single's branch two weeks ago. (She's kind of a big deal around here.) She stayed at Joe's parents' house and since Joe was out of town, I stayed there too. We had all sorts of adventures. My favorite though was recreating our favorite bike ride on the greenbelt from before her mission.

Then:
(June 29, 2007)
And Now:
(August 31, 2009)
Then: And Now:
I love you Brittny!
It was so much fun... oh and really hard! We rode 13 miles on the junkiest bikes. Brittny's seat had a broken spring that poked her the whole time and mine wouldn't shift gears! But we made it and even though we discovered just how out of shape we were this time around, it was fun to talk about the good ways that we had changed too.

One of the biggest changes in my life had never met Brittny. Now they are great friends too.
They were so cute together.
Brittny, we miss you! Come back soon.

The other homecoming was just as exciting and momentous. Joe left town for two weeks!!! Can you imagine me making it through that? Me who dedicated a whole blog post to him after only a day of absence a few months ago! Yes I made it though... barely. But he's home now and I'm very happy.

I love you too Joe!

Friday, September 11, 2009

Drumroll Please...

...That's right sport's fans. It's the return of the
BUMBO COASTER!!!

"Let's get this thing started!!" "Still Totally Wicked!" "Man I'm pretty sure that was better than the first time... Tough call."
WARNING: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO BOARD THIS RIDE WITHOUT ADULT ASSISTANCE MAY CAUSE INJURY OR EVEN DEATH
...
So after seeing that Jay still likes his swing I've been in the spirit of toy resurrection. Tonight, for instance, I wanted to feed Jay in our living room while we watched a movie but I didn't want to drag his high chair in from the kitchen. I decided to see what he thought of his bumbo. Another success. I tell you we may never need to buy new toys for this kid. We'll just keep hiding them and bringing them out a year later.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Before I Die

So do you ever feel like you are supposed to be more than what you are? I'm not talking about a  mid-mommy crisis where I want to drop all responsibility and seek fame and fortune. I mean as a mom, as a wife, as a person, I want to be more than what I am today. I want to create. I want to matter. I want to accomplish something that benefits others. I feel this way all the time. Honestly, it haunts me. I feel like I not only want to do something significant but I'm supposed to do something BIG. I realize that my role as a mom is huge. I'm so excited that that is how I get to spend my life but I feel like there is something else too. Who knows? (Well I know who knows... but that was just an expression.) Anyhow, all day today I have had things run through my mind that I want to accomplish in this life. I figure I better write them down. (In no particular order)

1. Get out of debt
2. Organize my house
3. Read 50 books this year
4. Read Book of Mormon again before Christmas
5. Write, Illustrate and Publish a children's book
6. Make a quilt
7. Get my Italian back to where it was on my mission
8. Run a half marathon
9. Change the world
10. Live in Hawaii (not forever)
11. Go to the Philippines
12. Go back to Italy
13. Go on an Alaskan Cruise
14. See the Great Wall
15. See the Eiffel Tower
16. Go to Africa
17. House a foreign exchange student
18. Go to the Olympics
19. Adopt a child from another country
20. Become an animal person
21. Donate my hair to Locks of Love
22. Start a garden
23. Learn to cook more creatively
24. Study nutrition
25. Learn web design
26. Study history
27. Become a church history expert
28. Go on a church history tour
29. Pray in the Sacred Grove and Gethsemane
30. Go on another mission(s) with Joe
31. Speak at EFY
32. Record a CD 
33. Learn the guitar
34. Decorate my whole house with my own artwork and photography
35. Make my own dishes 
36. Learn to paint
37. Paint a picture of Christ
38. Read or listen to every conference talk for the rest of my life
39. Write a church song

I'm sure there are a hundred more things that I want to accomplish. I also have a bunch of character traits I want to have but how does one truly know they have reached humility? So for simplicity's sake, and so that I can make cute little check marks next to them all, I'll leave my list as only measurable accomplishments. The end. (Or the beginning...)