So Much to be Thankful For..

I think of the song, "Count your blessings, name them one by one.." We truly are blessed with so much, all of us. I don't acknowledge all my blessings often enough so here it goes..

1. My loving husband, who is also my best friend, and who is such a good father and good person. He is my everything. 

2. My adorable little boy who lights up my world each day and gave me the gift of motherhood. He motivates me to be a better person. 

3. My mom, my dad & my step-mom. Even though we have given each other a hard time at one point or another, they are my parents and I will forever be grateful for everything they've done for me. I wouldn't be who I am today and who I am continually becoming, without them. 

4. My siblings, Jessie, Hugh & Jared. They are my hilarious best friends and I love them more than words can describe.

5. My amazing in-laws. They truly are wonderful, inspiring people. I'm blessed to be married to someone with a whole lot of family. They do so much for us. 

6. Friendship in general. Even though now days I don't have that many close friends outside my family. I've had a lot of really good friends over the course of my life which I am thankful for. There are people who have been there for me in some of my darkest times, other people who have known me for years and years, and new friends and acquaintences who always inspire me.

7. Freedom! I am blessed to have been born and raised in an amazing country, to be able to live out the American dream and to live in a world with more opportunities than we could ever dream of. 

8. This beautiful earth we live on! There are so many times where I am amazed at the beauty and magnificence of our planet. "Yea, all things which cometh of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart." D&C 59:18

9. Our home. I never thought I'd have my own house at this age, but we did it. I'm so thankful to have a house where I can express my creativity and have a place to grow our family in. 

10. To be able to stay at home with my son each day. Even though I can't imagine doing it any other way, I realize what a huge blessing this is. 

11. Good health. Everyone in our family has overall good health, this is a huge blessing I take for granted a lot. 

12. An over-abundance of food & clean water. Another one that is easy to take for granted. It saddens my heart to think of all the people in the world who don't have this blessing. 

13. All the things that make life convenient. Our first-world problems are dreams and fantasies for people in third-world countries. Technology, transportation, modern medicine, entertainment, material things, etc. 

14. Derek's job & boss. They do SO MUCH for us! We wouldn't be living the life we're living without this blessing. 

15. Our living Prophet of God, Thomas S. Monson. And the Lord's Apostles, and all the leaders of the church. I know they receive direct revelation from God for our time today. 

16. My calling at church - teaching Sunday School. I love working with youth. I have grown and learned so much already in just a few months.

17. Music. It makes me happy, but it also touches my heart so easily that it can instantly bring me to tears. Honestly, some of my favorite moments in life are when I can just sing and sing to my favorite songs.

18. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I am SO blessed to be born with the knowledge of the true doctrine of Christ. The organization of the church is outstanding! It really amazes me. 

19. My testimony of the gospel.  I know this church is true without a doubt in my heart. I have been lost in times of my life, but the thing that kept me going was that I always knew the church was true. Even though it was just a tiny ounce of faith, and I didn't understand many things, I always knew this was the Lord's church. 

20. Temples. The peace you feel there is like nothing else. The beauty, the serenity, the comfort, the love, the purity, the holiness.. you cannot deny this is the House of the Lord. I'm thankful for my temple marriage.. that I get to be with my family for eternity!

21. Scriptures and Prayer. Where would we be without these amazing gifts? We can literally talk to God whenever we want! 

22. My Father in Heaven. He truly is our Father and loves us more than we could ever know or comprehend. He has given us everything! I'm thankful for the unique relationship that we can all have with him. 

23. I wouldn't have any of these things without my Savior, Jesus Christ who lived and died for me. I will never be able to repay him for what he has done for me and for everyone that has ever lived. He is my perfect example and my rock. I love these words, Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives, "I know that my Redeemer lives!" It's really hard for me to sing that without getting emotional. I am so grateful for the Atonement, that I am able to ask for forgiveness each day. And only because Christ loves us. 

This is just a small portion of the blessings that I have in my life. These are the more obvious ones, but there are countless blessings and tender mercies that pass by each day that we don't even think about or realize because we're so extremely blessed that it's hard to recognize each one of them. This is why I am thankful that we can celebrate Thanksgiving each year to remind us of these things. 

Happy Thanksgiving! 

"Boys" Trip

When Derek asked me if he could go told me he was going on a boys trip to Las Vegas I admit I was upset. For 2 reasons.. 1. Because I was jealous that he was going on a trip without me when I SO badly would love a vacation. And 2. Because I didn't want us to be apart! Derek and I have never spent a night away from each other since we've been married. And we've only had 1 day where we didn't see each other since we started dating.. can you say we're pretty attached?

Honestly though, it wasn't so bad :) Of course I missed him but he's never home anyways so I'm already used to being alone all day long. (Lame!) I did miss him a lot at night though. I don't like sleeping alone. There has probably only been a handful of times that we've even gone to bed at separate times. It actually takes me an extremely long time to fall asleep if he's not there. And maybe that's my OCD creeping in. But I managed to fall asleep eventually.. I guess my exhaustion was a good thing that weekend. 

He left Friday afternoon and came back Monday afternoon. I didn't do much while he was gone, really. Friday night I went to a cute Boutique of handmade things with my friend. And the rest of the weekend I mostly just hung out at home with my mom. I am so thankful she was here! I think I would have been really scared had she not been, and actually maybe that's why I was able to fall asleep because I knew I wasn't really alone. 

But I'm happy he went. He needed a break. And he really loves spending time with his family. It was him, his dad, his brother and his uncle. Uncle Bill has a beautiful condo right on the strip so that is where they stayed. They drove down so I know they probably had some good talks on the way there. They went to a show, went hot tubbing, talked, relaxed, talked some more, ate good food and walked the strip.

I think Derek missed Noah more than he missed me. It was right when Noah was starting to creep around, so when Derek got home he was already so much better at it than when he left. Daddy loves his boy. 

My Little Canadian

It's official! Just over a week ago we got Noah's Certificate of Canadian Citizenship in the mail. We sent in the paperwork when he was about a month old.

So I think the way it works is my children will automatically be entitled to Canadian citizenship when born, because of me, but we have to apply for "proof" of citizenship. Which is what we did.

Little Noah has both American and Canadian citizenship! Yay!

I'm Thankful For My Mom

I just wanted to write about my mom today. Lately I've been stuck in a rut of not having any energy or motivation.

My mom has been helping me so much lately with cleaning, cooking and taking care of Noah and Sophia. I am really grateful for her. She is such a selfless and thoughtful person.

I'm so happy to have her back in my life. For almost 5 years we didn't have a relationship. So it means a lot to me that she is here now and gets to watch Noah grow every day. She loves him so much. And he loves her too.

I love you Mom, thanks for everything you do!

Noah is 7 months

This was another big month for Mr. Noah. He's just getting cuter and cuter, we love him so much!

Sitting:

So last month Noah had no interest in sitting. The week after he turned 6 months my mom was playing with him, put him in a sitting position with a toy in front of him and he was so distracted by the toy that when she let go he was sitting up all by himself without even leaning on his hands. I was so happy. So we knew he had the physical strength to do it. But as soon as he realized what was going on he toppled over, haha. We kept at it that day and then I think it clicked, like, oh this is kind of fun, I can sit here and play and have a better view of the room! Within a few days he was already sitting for a long time by himself. I love how fast they can learn. It's really nice to be able to put him on the floor without having to always put him on his back. It's also nice that I can just sit him in the shopping cart when I take him grocery shopping, it was a hassle to bring his car seat or strap him in the Baby Bjorn carrier.

Rolling:

Still rolling lots and lots. Rolling has been his way of getting from point A to point B for a while. I just wanted to mention something he does when he rolls that people keep freaking out over. As he is rolling, his arm gets pushed underneath his back and it looks very painful and people are always like "Watch his arm! Ouch!" And then I inform them that that's just how he rolls.. get it? I guess his arms are pretty flexible, because it doesn't bother him. 

Crawling:
Let the crawling begin! He has been trying and wanting to crawl for a long time. Poor little guy would push up on his arms with all his might thinking it would somehow move him forward. And he would get so mad that his plan wasn't working. A couple weeks ago he started getting up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth but he wasn't that good at it yet, especially on the hard wood (on beds or the couch it was easier for him). Just 3 days ago he finally figured out what he needs to do with his legs. He was on his tummy on the couch and Derek was playing with him when he suddenly bent his knees up and pulled himself forward! Since then he has not stopped practicing this (just like he didn't stop trying to roll). So he's pretty much doing a "zombie" crawl I guess where his tummy isn't completely off the floor. It's SO cute! I love it! He is going to be much happier when he can explore. I might have to start baby proofing this house soon!

Personality:
Noah's personality really started to show this month. I see a lot of myself in him. He is EXTREMELY  curious. He definitely gets that from me. I need to know the "why's", "how's" and "what if's" of everything. Naturally, he has to know what is going on at all times. He tries to grab everything and anything! He seems to be especially curious about phones and remotes. He's also very interested in people, what they're doing, what they're saying. Also like me, he gets frustrated easily. If he can't reach something, have something, or do something he gets so worked up over it. He doesn't have a lot of patience either, he wants what he wants when he wants! Oh brother. I'm really going to have to work with him. He laughs at the most random things that aren't meant to be funny. For example, one time I was reading a book and as I turned the page he started laughing. Every time I would do it he would laugh so hard. Another time I pulled out a box of diapers and plopped it on the floor to open it and he thought it was hilarious. His sense of humor reminds me of his daddy's. Derek frequently puts Noah up on his shoulders and he makes the funniest faces. But he is starting to pull Derek's hair pretty hard. I'm wondering if we shouldn't allow him to do that in case he starts pulling random people's hair thinking it's a game. They probably wouldn't enjoy that. Overall, Noah has definitely gotten fussier and more difficult the past couple months. During his earlier months if he wasn't hungry or tired (or in pain) then he wouldn't ever fuss and was SUPER easy. Now, he will have full days where the whole day he is just mr. whiney pants. But I do contribute a lot of his irritability lately due to the fact that he hasn't been sleeping as good as he used to. He's perma-tired! Noah absolutely LOVES my mom and gets really excited when he sees her. He also loves to go outside. He gets bored when we stay home all day. He loves going to the park, going for walks and even just looking out the window or coming with me to get the mail.

Nursing:

Still exclusively breastfeeding. I stopped pumping this month because it wasn't making a difference in his sleep, he was still waking at night. Now I know my supply was/is fine. He is just waking out of habit. I even gave him some formula one night after I nursed him to see if it made a difference and he still woke up 3 hours later. So no more extra bottles at bedtime, he just nurses. I hate pumping so it's a relief. It's still hard to feed around other people or with any distractions.. he'll eat for 3 seconds, pull off, sit up to look around and continue doing this. Even if there is just something in his view that he wants like a piece of paper he will do this. So lately feedings have become dragged out. He still has 6-7 feedings in a 24 hr period - 5 during the day, 1 dream feed & 1 possible night feeding.

Solids (Baby Led Weaning):
He is doing really well with solids! He has gone through a few different phases. At first there was a lot of gagging, but it stopped after about a week. After that he started chewing and swallowing some already! I was pretty amazed. He went through another phase, for about a week he was getting really frustrated if he couldn't pick something up right away, anything slippery (like bananas and avocado) he would get so mad because it would just slip right out of his hand. But now he has more patience with it and he has learned how to handle slippery things much better. So he was getting pretty skilled and I didn't worry about gagging anymore for a while. But then it was like he got really confident about eating so he started stuffing his face! So some more gagging when he did that. Then he started sticking all the food at the roof of his mouth. Before I get him out of his high chair I always check his mouth to make sure he isn't hiding food in there and I kept finding all the food stuck at the top! He stopped doing this so much but still does it once in a while with food he can't completely chew down, like meat. So far, he has not showed a dislike for ANY food! In fact, I bought one of those squeezie apple sauce things and was squeezing it into his mouth but letting him hold it. And after a few times he started closing his mouth tightly and turning away like he didn't want me to help him. So I let him do it himself and he enjoyed it much better. One of the reasons I chose this way of doing solids is because I'm nervous that our kids are going to end up being the pickiest eaters in the world thanks to mommy & daddy. Supposedly baby led weaning babies are less likely to be picky eaters, so we'll see!  We have tried a variety of foods from string cheese, to roast beef & mashed potatoes and he loves it all! I usually give him at least 3-4 different types of food for each meal. And I will give him water in a sippy cup some days (we've tried diluted juice a couple times too). It's not as messy as I thought it would be. At least not yet, he hasn't started throwing food or anything like that. But I don't know what I would do without the Ikea poncho bib things, they are awesome! It's so nice to have Noah eat dinner with us. He just eats what we eat at the same time we eat. The last thing I have to say about this is if you don't think you could be so grossed out by your own baby's poop, wait until he starts solids!

Breakfast: rice cracker, toast sticks, & banana

Sign Language/Communication:
I started signing to Noah this month. I'm mainly focusing on these ones for now: "more", "all done", "eat" (for solids), "milk" (breastfeed) but I've also been doing the signs for "mom", "dad", "no" and "come". He hasn't signed back yet of course, but it seems like he's starting to understand. I only say no if he's doing something he's not supped to be doing, but he's starting to look at me like he knows I'm being serious. I also started teaching him "kisses" but not the actual sign, just saying "kisses" and then kissing him. He actually started doing it back! He has done it a few times, he leans his head in and gives you a big, slobbery, open-mouth kiss, haha. And once he even grabbed my face and did it. I loved it of course. But he has to be in the mood to do it, he can't be distracted by something. We'll keep working on it :) I LOVE signing, and I'm super excited for him to be able to communicate this way before he can actually talk. He talks and makes sounds a lot but technical "babbling" he only does a little. Sometimes it sounds like he's trying to be a dinosaur or a monster, he makes a roaring sound. Oh and he seems to know his name pretty well. 

Cold:
So poor little Sophia (Finch) came over with a runny nose about 4 weeks ago. And sure enough, a few days later Noah's nose was dripping like a faucet. This was his first cold. It was only bad for a couple days and then it seemed to be getting better. Same with Sophia. But it was still kind of lingering on. Then they got me sick but it was only for a few days then I was fine. And then we got Derek sick for a few days as well. Sophia and Noah both now have a really bad, deep chest cough. Noah sounds like he's going to throw up when he coughs, poor baby. I'm just fed up with this sickness though! It's never ending. So I started giving them essential oils this week (Thanks Jessie & John!). I guess I'm just going to have to get used to cold & flu season with kids.

Naps:
The sleep paragraphs are mostly for me as I presume most people don't care too much about Noah's sleep habits. The first half of the month his naps were pretty much perfect. Then things changed. Again. His morning nap has always been 2 hours, but he suddenly was waking after 30 minutes every day. So I kept trying to keep him awake for different lengths of time but he is so dang sensitive it's hard to get it spot on.  But at least I know if he falls asleep crying, sleeps 30 minutes, then wakes up crying, he was over tired. If he wakes up after 30 minutes but is happy then he wasn't awake long enough. It's like a science equation figuring out this kid's sleep! But I'll get it! It's just really hard because once he doesn't get a good morning nap, the whole day is guesswork and dealing with a cranky baby. It's hard to get anything done. He still needs 3 naps a day. He is able to stay awake happily much longer than last month.

Still sleeps on his tummy 100% of the time

Night-time Sleep:
He was still waking once during the night this month. Usually I try to just pat his back while he's laying in the crib to help him fall back asleep because I know he's not hungry, but lately I'm like screw it I'm too tired for this crap, and I just nurse him. But there was about a week and a half where he was sleeping through the night most nights. So I know he can still do it! It doesn't make sense that he slept through the night for months and suddenly can't even go 6 hours. I could try to let him cry it out again but I just don't feel right about it right now. This last week he has been waking up around 3 am. I read in The Baby Whisperer book that if your baby is waking out of habit you can do a technique called "wake to sleep" where you set your alarm an hour earlier than they usually wake up and go in their room and jostle them around a bit - not fully wake them up though. Then leave. Apparently that resets their sleep cycle so they won't wake up at the habitual time. So last night I woke up naturally at around 2 and thought hey I should try that. I did it and he slept all night! So I'm going to keep doing it the next few days and hope that he gets over this because I'm exhausted. I was telling Derek I don't know how mothers get up with their babies waking several times throughout the night. I hear about some babies waking every 1 or 2 hours.. WHAT! When I'm feeding Noah at night I literally am praying to God to help me stay awake because I'm SO dead tired. So THANKFULLY Noah only wakes up once a night. He has never woken up more than twice a night in his life. So props to all you moms who cope with babies not sleeping.

Time Change:
I thought the time change was really going to mess things up. I tried to adjust his schedule in advance to prepare but to no avail. The first day, Sunday, he did wake up an hour early, around 6:15. But the next day it was closer to 7 and the next day he slept until 7:45! So it really wasn't that bad. However he has been getting tired at night earlier so he usually needs to go to bed between 6 & 7 depending on how good naps went that day.


I love my little baby and wouldn't trade motherhood for the world!

Smart Phone Conversion

I did it. I made the switch. I am officially part of the smart phoning world. I always felt like I was the only one on the planet that didn't have a smart phone (well, because I pretty much was). But I liked it that way. Now, I am just another selfie taking, instagraming, gaming, tweeting, always looking at their phone - type of person. Well, not exactly. I don't want to become like that. It bothers me when people are constantly on their phone, especially when you are having a conversation with them. I think it's rude. This is the main reason I never wanted a smart phone.

I was perfectly happy with my simple, non-smart, non-touch screen phone that I got three years ago when I moved here. That was the LONGEST I've ever had the same phone by the way. But all good things have to come to an end, right? I was on a family plan with my brother in law, John's family. But they were changing things in their plan so I wasn't going to be able to stay on it with them anymore, so I thought well I guess this is the time to get a new phone.

At first I thought of course I would get the iPhone. But after talking to a few people that had had both the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy, I changed my mind. My sister just switched and loves the Galaxy. I played around with hers and liked it. I liked how big and bright it was. My eyes are getting worse so I get really frustrated on Derek's iPhone because it's so small and I can't see anything. I think I broke Derek's heart though. I always make the joke that Derek secretly works for Apple because he is always defending and fighting for Apple products!

So far I like my phone. It's nice to be able to take pictures wherever I go without having to hull my big canon everywhere or having to mess around with settings when I just want to take a quick picture of Noah eating his feet or something. And I am looking forward to the GPS if I'm ever driving somewhere unfamiliar. But to be honest, I am still worried about getting addicted. I have a very addictive personality and I can already find myself going on Facebook frequently on my phone. So I will just have to really watch myself!

Happy Halloween!

Noah's first Halloween :)

We did a few different Halloween activities..

Last week Me & my sister-in-law, Leila took Noah and Sophia to the county jail where Derek's mom works. She wanted to see the grandkids so invited us to come. They were having a big Halloween event for kids. They had pumpkin decorating, games, trick or treating, a haunted house and refreshments of course. We dressed them up in their costumes. Sophia looked pretty as Cinderella and Noah wore his Tigger costume.

Earlier this week we had my sister over with Soph & Elijah to do some pumpkin carving. My mom had the day off so she was able to do it with us also. Noah kept trying to eat the "guts" from the pumpkins! I was babysitting little Sophia at the time too, she had fun and was helping us carve them. Jessie's pumpkins turned out really good!

On Halloween night Derek and I took Noah to Jessie's ward (her church) to do Trunk-or-Treat. This is where everyone hands out candy out of their trunks. Some people decorate their cars really scary. Elijah was a Police man, Sophia was a cowgirl and Jessie was a bat girl. They looked awesome! John had patients at work so he couldn't make it. I wish me and Derek actually dressed up but to be honest I didn't even think about it until last weekend and then I didn't really have much time. But Noah looked super cute in his costume again. I got it from Kid to Kid, I love that store!

 

My little tiger

Me & Jessie were talking about how the amount of candy they got was NOTHING compared to what we used to get as kids. But to them they think it's a lot because they don't know any different I guess. We used to go trick or treating for hours and get pillow cases full of candy! Ah, those were the good old days! 

I think next year since Noah will be a little older we'll try something more fun and creative for our costumes :) 

Happy Halloween! 

---- {now that Halloween is over, I can say I'm getting excited for the Holiday season to start! Woohoo!}