Just a small note..

Today I took Jared back to the doctor to get his eye checked. A couple weeks ago, we had his tear duct probed because of a blockage that had been there pretty much since he was born.
A lady walked in with her (totally awesome) sit-n-stand stroller with a baby inside, a toddler walking beside her and a dreadful monitor in tote. A stinkin Apnea monitor. When Abby was a baby, she had one of those for 3 months. I struck up a conversation with her and found out a few things:
Her son with the apnea monitor was not a baby in that car seat, he was 2, and he was born with a very rare disease. I cannot remember the name of it, but he doesn't have all 10 fingers and toes, he was born with his skull already fused in placed it was not supposed to be, so his soft spot started right above his nose and went all the way back, he was born with every one of his organs were a mirror image of what they were supposed to be so he had an immediate surgery to flip all of them. All of them!  At the time I was talking to her, I just wanted to give her a hug and tell her how awesome she is. So positive. I was just shocked. Then we were called back to the doctor and honestly didn't take much more time to think about what happened until I put Jared to bed tonight.
I was nursing him and thinking about this other baby and how spectacular that mother is. I'm SURE she has her hard, frustrating days. Especially after we shared stories of the monitor going off and freaking us out. She's got some tough things on her plate.
During this period of my life ((Motherhood)) I go through ups and downs all the time. And it never, ever fails that when I need it most, I'm reminded of how blessed I am. Yes, my kids are a pain in the butt sometimes. Yeah, I'd really love to run away for a weekend by myself sometimes. But dang I am so blessed. My kids are completely healthy. They have no ailments holding them back from anything. Abby is so smart and funny. She makes us laugh so hard at some of the things she says and does. Jared is so cute and growing so fast. He's learning to walk and talk. They both are pretty evenly tempered kids and pretty easy going most of the time.
I hope this doesn't sound like I'm bragging, because that's not what I'm doing at all. I've just been hit square in the face with what matters in my life. My kids, my husband, my family. There is nothing more important than raising my kids. It's the best calling in the world and I have it so much easier than a lot of people. I wish it was easier to remember how blessed I am when I'm in the dumps of parenting. That's the biggest reason I like to record these moments on here.
I love these babies of mine. I'm so blessed to have them!

New

It's about time I updated about moving..
We moved a few months ago back to my home town. I'm not sure how we ended up here, but so far it's worked out pretty well for us! We l.o.v.e. our new house (we bought) and we're having lots of fun (( slowly)) doing fun things and projects in it.
Growing up I couldn't wait to get out of here. And for the first couple months I didn't like being back very much at all. Driving through town would nearly bring me to tears thinking about all the good and a few bad memories that happened here. I had to make a decision to make new memories  with my new family, which are almost always happy, and it's worked! I can't say that I love living in this town again, but I do like it.
I'd forgotten how quiet it is here. For about a month it was too quiet for me. Then last month I heard sirens and it took a few seconds to connect what that was in my brain! Seriously! It'd been so long since I heard any. When we lived in Arlington, sirens were like the background music track to my ever day life.
We do miss city living though. It was so nice being within an arms reach of every store we could possibly need. And we miss our friends and our ward. We had a really great ward. Our new one is sure growing on us, but it's been a rough transition. Abby is liking nursery again (woo!), Paul is teaching the 12-13 yr olds Sunday School, and I teach the in the YW's (Beehives).
Hopefully this week I will complete a couple more projects and then I'll post pictures of the new house.
That's all for now. I'll be back soon!

JARED IS TEN MONTHS!

 10 MONTHS!! 

Weight: 20.10 lbs (50%)

Height: 29 1/4 in (50%)

  

I've been avoiding posting (and being lazy about posting) because every time I think about how big my little guy is, I can hardly stand it. This little boy has completely stolen my heart. He is learning so much! In the past few weeks he's learned how to crawl! I really thought it would never happen. He also pulls himself up on everything and is now taking the chair pictured and pushing it around while walking! This is a huge accomplishment. This poor fella didn't even know his legs could move until about a month ago. They were just limp limbs that got in the way of everything. 

I love his sweet personality. He knows how to make us smile! Really all he has to do is flash those dimples. Holy heart breaker. If we say "Come here, sweetie!" When he's sad, he crawls on over with his big ol pouty lip and snuggles you. He's still sensitive and sweet. If I tell him no with any kind of force the poor fella breaks down and cries. Then I wanna break down a cry. He's got the sad face down to an art I tell ya. 

We love having him in our family. He's getting so much better about sleeping through the night (THANK GOODNESS!!!!). He goes from 7-12 and nurses then 12:15-7. Its a great leap of awesomeness from a month ago when he was still up every 2.5-3 hours (most of the time). 

We've started the big ONE birthday plans! Hopefully this little sweetie will stay sweet for the rest of forever. We LOVE you JARED! 

Abby's Sweet Shoppe

Abby Is TWO!

My little girl is growing up so much and it's killing me! She is a happy, vivacious, smart 2 year old! She can sing and recognize all the ABC's, count to 10, she has a huge vocabulary and can form complex sentences. She's a great older sister and knows just how to cheer up Jared. Abby loves to play with her baby's. She loves to feed them, burp them and rock them to sleep. Such a little mommy. She catches on to everything it seems. She loves her cousins and friends so much and asks for them all the time. She loves to sing, especially "I make my own sunshine". We love this sweet girl!

For her birthday I threw a Sweet Shoppe party and she loved it. It was scheduled for February 18th but I woke up with a nasty case of strep. Since it was a family only party, I thought it'd be okay to have it the next day after I'd been on antibiotics for a whole 24 hours. I woke up Sunday still feeling like poop, but we had family in town from Colorado and College Station, so I wanted to have it really bad. 

 Lots of sweets! And a paper bag for everyone to take some home (DIY party favors :)

 Such a ham.. Totally cheesing it up for the camera.

Abby got completely spoiled by her cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents and parents :) It was so fun to have both families together to celebrate and even though we were all kinda crammed in our teeny house, it was still a blast!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your love, support, and help with this little sweetie of ours! She loves her cousins and extended family so much! And thank you, Chelsea, for taking these awesome pictures! She captured some sweet memories for us!

Sweet Jared Boy- 7mo

Jared had his 6month check up yesterday (even tho he's really 7mo)
He's 18.7 lbs and 27 1/2 in long. The dr says he's above average in height but a little below average in weight. She wants him to eat more solids. He hates baby food, so I guess we'll start this tooth-less giant on table food.
It stresses me out (for more reasons than one) because he has no teeth!
Oh well.
I decided to split up his shots so they wouldn't be so hard on him. So far he's been great. Usually after shots he's m.i.s.e.r.a.b.l.e. for about 4 days. I'm very happy with splitting them up even though his doctor isn't a big fan of doing that. That's one reason I really like his doctor- she listens to the parents! She always wants whats best for the kids and what makes the parents happy.
Jared has learned to sit up pretty well unassisted. He still likes to randomly throw himself backwards so I don't leave him unattended for long.
Jared loves to bang on everything with anything. He loves his big sister and she's a pro at making him laugh.
He's a happy little boy! I love his belly laughs. He's still got those to-die-for dimples and brings a smile to my face even when I feel at my worst.
We are so glad to have this little guy on our lives! Such a sweet spirit in our home.

Viva Las Vegas!

The first weekend in February, Paul and I were invited to go to Vegas with a few people from the firm he works at. We'd found out about it a couple months prior and we were stoked. Jared and Abby were left behind (one of the hardest things I've ever done) Jared ( was 3 months old) stayed with my SIL, Sandee and Abby stayed with my sister, Chelsea! We left them in great hands! 

So, we get to the airport and I immediately got a soda. No nursing=eating and drinking whatever I want!! (Plus, I felt I deserved it after making sure Jared had 2 GALLONS of pumped milk. Never felt more like a cow) And you better believe I got another soda on the plane. :)

 The BEAUTIFUL Aria. We, got the highest room out of everyone that went, so we had a fabulous view. This hotel was awesome! A remote that controlled everything, huge bed, tons of room, a shower and a big ol bathtub, even a phone in the bathroom in case you got board while doing your business.

 After we got situated in the room, we met the rest of the clan for lunch at the buffet in the hotel. Amazing food!

 Then it was time for the fellas of the firm to have a meeting, so I went with a few of the ladies for a walk down the strip!

 M&M's anyone? Too bad a 1 lb bag was about $15!

 The largest chocolate fountain ever. Seriously. Amazing (And I wanted to break in and have my mouth be part of the fountain.

 While we were there, (I forgot what hotel this is..) but they were celebrating the Chinese New Year. So many cool statues made completely out of flowers.

The Billagio! I'd heard so many things about this hotel. We were so excited to see the water/lights show and it did not disappoint! 

Just walking down the strip some more..

 Paul and I decided to get last minute tickets to the Jabbawockeez. So fun! They were so entertaining! What can beat comedy and dancing?

 The Chandelier restaurant in the Cosmopolitan. Gorgeous.

 The 2nd afternoon we went to the buffet in the Paris hotel. So tasty (PJco likes buffets. Cheap(er) for a mass of people) There was a station to make your own custom crepe. I think mine was an apple, nutella something or other. And it was the bomb.

 Canoe statue!

 Vegas wouldn't be Vegas without a few wedding chapels.

 The last night we were there, PJco gave us the most awesome experience ever! We got to go see Le Reve at the Wynn hotel! A nice long walk down there from our hotel, but we were able to see lots of cool things on the way. The show was phenomenal. Water, fire, acrobatics. Seriously people jumping from above the ceiling! There was one part where a couple dozen women were doing a routine with their heads underwater for about 5ish minutes. They had scuba divers under the water giving them oxygen(that we couldn't see) the whole time. There was a stage that kept going under water, at water level and higher depending on what the act was doing. Such crazy, keep you on the edge of your seat fun.

 After the show we went to the Eiffel Tower Restaurant in the Paris hotel. Beautiful restaurant. It was such a treat.

 This is one of the walls on a walkway outside the Aria.

We were so spoiled in Vegas, and it was much needed. Although it was hard being away from the kids, we knew they were in good hands. I've wanted to go to Vegas since I was little, so this was a dream come true. Paul grew up in Vegas and his dad used to work at a couple of the resorts so it was fun for him to see how much its grown, what he remembered about it from when it was little, and also to experience it as an adult. 

I cannot wait to go back! It is indeed Sin City, but there is so much good, wholesome fun there! 

Thanks again to Sandee and Chelsea for watching the kids!! You really put our minds at ease so we were able to relax and have a good time.