So much for keeping up...

It was one of my goals this year to stay current on my blog - not because I have thousands of dedicated readers eager for my next entry, but because I want to document my happenings for myself and for my children. Often, I don't know what I am even feeling until I put it all down in print, and other times, I just want to be able to look back and remember my exact reactions about a particular matter. Also, I think about how neat it would be to have writings from my parents/grandparents - just to see how they did life. I only know them as parents/grandparents, but what are/were they like at my age? Did they struggle with the same things I struggle with? Did laugh about the same kinds of things I laugh about? Even if my children/grandchildren grow up and couldn't care less about life in 2011, I want to at least give them the option. Anyway, I am finding that with everything that comes up, it is becoming more and more difficult to maintain up-to-date entries, but I haven't thrown in the towel just yet. SO, for the first time in about 2ish months, here we go:

1. JUDAH - Judah is now 6 months old. He weighs 17 lbs 1 oz, and he is just shy of 27 inches long. He is rolling around like a pro and getting into EVERYTHING -lol. His favorite thing is paper - he just loves to crumple it, rip it, toss it... he just recently started doing an adorable little scrunch-face where he scrunches up his noses and breathes in/out really fast. I'm not quite sure why he does it, but it really is too funny. He's been eating solids now for awhile, and his favorites, thus far, seem to be peas and bananas. Also, he now sits up on his own (well, he's been doing that since about 4 months, but now he's REALLY good at it), rides in the front part of the store shopping carts without his car seat, uses highchairs at restaurants, pulls himself up to standing from a sitting position, grabs EVERYTHING within reach, throws toys, laughs all the time... He is a lot of fun.

I honestly never thought I'd be a mother at 24 years old, but now that I am, I could not imagine life any other way. He seriously is one of the BEST things to ever happen to me (second only to my salvation in Christ, Jesus)! I won't lie, being a mother does not go without its challenges, but the rewards vastly outweigh the difficulties. When I look at him, I am in complete awe that he is mine; I love that little boy so much, and the older he gets, the better it gets.

Sure, I miss him being so tiny, and he has changed SO much, it's almost like I'm looking at a completely different baby than the one I had only 6 months ago; but, just as much as I want him to remain my little baby for as long as possible, I love to watch him grow and learn. He really is such a miracle, and everyday that I am with him, I understand a little more about the love of my Father.

2. NOT DOING THAT AGAIN - In my previous post, I had mentioned that I was watching a couple of kids, and as of Tuesday, April 26th, 2011, that is no longer the case. While it was nice to have a little extra money coming in(and by a little, I mean VERY little - I was seriously watching them full time for practically nothing - in fact, if you were to calculate it by the hour [I was being paid by the day], it was about $3.00 an hour - not to include all of the my own money that I put into feeding them, taking them places [ex. The Treehouse Museum, The Layton Fun Center, McDonald's, Chick-Fil-A, Burger King...], buying them toys...), the amount of frustration that came along with the job was completely not worth it. Don't get me wrong, I love kids - always have - but these particular kids required a lot more attention than one person could give, and with my having a little one of my own to take care of, it was just too much. I won't get into all the details here, but lets just say that I am beyond relieved to know that the only poop I will be cleaning up from now on is the poop that comes out of my infant son (& into his diaper) and not off of the walls/floors of my bathroom via someone else' five year old. PLUS, now I have a lot more time to dedicate to Judah, and I don't have to constantly worry about him being stepped on or choked if I should turn my back for a second or two.

3. A KISS OF ELEGANCE - I started an Event Decorating Company

called A Kiss of Elegance, and I am VERY excited about this!

I am not actually expecting to make any real profit anytime soon, but I'm hoping to book some bridal shows next year (after I've had a chance to boost up a portfolio & gain some more experience), and when things really start rolling... Well, only God knows the future, but I have some high hopes :)

Currently, I am just working to increase my inventory, and I am working on my sister's wedding. I have a couple of other weddings that I am doing a few "odds and ends" things for, but my sister has given me full reign on her special day. Of course, everything is her vision/style, but I am in charge of making that vision come to life. From the complete decor to the cake and flowers, I am doing it all, and as much pressure as that can be, it is also quite exhilarating! I can not wait for her wedding; I think that it is going to be beautiful!

4. NEW SEASON, NEW SHELTER - Since my last post, we have moved into a condo. I do miss Judah's room a LOT, but that's about all I miss. Our condo is smaller in square footage with only 2 floors instead of the 3 that our Townhouse had, but it has a lot more space. We still have 3 bedrooms, and our living room and kitchen are more than double the size of our previous residence. Plus, our neighbors are not crazy/loud/annoying. Seriously, neighbors have the ability to turn a mansion into a hell-hole and/or a shack into a little slice of heaven. Fortunately, our new home is not a shack, and with our new neighbors, it's still a little slice of Heaven - that is, compared to the ones we previously had. The downside is that it is slightly further north. We were hoping to move closer to the Riverdale area or even back to Layton, but instead, we are just 3 blocks south of North Ogden - Oh well, at least we're closer to the freeway. Plus, our rent is less, our appliances are newer, we have an awesome deck (which will be great for BBQs this summer) and we're looking to buy a house next year - YEAH!! Until then, this is more than doable :)

5. School - I already have my Associate's degree from Weber State University, but I am only 20 credit hours away from my Bachelor's; I WANT MY BA! When I got pregnant, I told myself that I would still finish no matter how long it takes, and I am hoping that I will be starting back up with that commitment this fall. I have already registered for classes, and now I am just waiting to hear back from financial aid. My entire schooling has been 100% paid for through federal grants (I'm considered a first generation college student because neither of my parents went to college [in fact, neither of them even graduated high school], and my parents are divorced. Then, since the state assumes that young married couples are poor [which, lets face it, most of us are], I continued to qualify after marriage), but to remain eligible for those grants, I am required to maintain a certain GPA and carry no less than 12 credit hours per semester. Well, upon becoming pregnant last spring, I became very nauseous, exhausted, weak... being a dance major (and not being allowed more than 3 absences), none of those symptoms worked well for me. I needed to withdraw from the majority of my classes thus failing to meet my Grant requirements, and as such, they placed me on suspension. Now, I have to write a formal letter asking them to lift my suspension for medical purposes, and pray that they accept pregnancy as a legitimate excuse for an Appeal. Otherwise, there is no way that we can afford for me to attend school full time. :/

6. PARK CITY - Last weekend, we had the opportunity to take a mini stay-cation in Park City. Originally, we were going to go to Denver, CO as leaders for our youth trip to Acquire the Fire, but that didn't end up working out. I couldn't leave Judah overnight (for the very first time) for not one, but TWO nights in another state, and there were some concerns about him going on the trip. When that didn't pan out as planned, we decided to head out to Park City. After all, we were already packed, and we had already budgeted for a trip. While we would have LOVED to have gone on the Denver trip as originally planned, we had a lot of fun in Park City. It was a much needed get away, and we came back feeling refreshed. AND we were able to take Judah swimming for the very first time.

7. A FEW MORE THINGS -

*My first Mother's Day was perfect thanks to my amazing husband who not only stayed up long after I had retired to bed just so that he could surprise me with a clean kitchen, but he also, baked me brownies, wrote me a love note inside the funniest card, and took me out for dinner at one of my favorite restaurants.

*I'm still not back to my pre-pregnancy size (as I thought I might be by now), but with summer just around the corner (hopefully), I am hoping that will change rather quickly.

*Richard received a small raise at work - Praise God!

*Since I've last written, Richard has had a birthday, and in celebration of that birthday, we went to The Grizzly's hockey game where there were 3 fist fights (one of which broke out within the first 3 seconds of the game) - he is now 27 which only reminds me that I turn a quarter of a century this year :/

*Our friends, Pastors Adam & Joni Shmidgall just had their baby boy about 2 weeks ago, and he is so adorable, but it also amazes me that Judah was once that small; they grow SO MUCH in 6 months time.

*God is awesome beyond measure - Thank you, Lord, for all of the blessings you have/are pouring out to my family! I love you with my whole heart!

Sorry, it's been so long!

Life has become extremely busy. I have so much to update about, but if I really went into detail on every little thing, this would become the longest blog ever. So, what I'm thinking is this: I will use this post to briefly mention all the past and up & coming happenings, then as I find the time, I will dedicate later posts to the details of some of the more exciting events. So, here it goes...

* I finally had my postpartum checkup.

* We recently got together with some of our good friends (whom we haven't seen in a while), and we got to share in the joys of some AWESOME exciting news!

* I've started watching our friends' two kids - a 5 year old boy and his 3 year old sister.

* I'm diligently working on the start on my new decorating business, "A Kiss of Elegance."

* We attended our friends' baby blessing, and we loved being able to meet their beautiful baby girl.

* In celebration of Judah's 1st Superbowl, we attended the best Superbowl Party ever to be held in the HiStOrY of Superbowl parties and had an absolute blast.

* We went to the Jazz vs Bulls games - we lost, but it was possibly the best and most exciting game I've ever been to (and it was NOT because of the game)! lol.

* I had my wisdom teeth removed and 7 fillings all within a week's time.

* My sister set a date for her wedding, and we found her the most beautiful dress.

ANd, while I'm here, I'll take this time to share a little about my boy. Judah is growing so fast. I know it's cliche, but I seriously feel like it was just yesterday that I had him, and now he's 3 months & 1 week (or 14 weeks) old. He's wearing size 2 diapers, and he has completely grown out of his 0-3 months clothes :( In fact, we bought him a Jazz onesie for the game, and it was 6-9 months!

We had naked pics. taken, and the photographer could not believe how strong he is. He kept trying to sit up on his own, and every time she placed him on his tummy, he pulled himself up over the pillow. He really is too funny, and he's becoming more and more alert everyday. We're finally on a 3-4 hour schedule (which is SO much nicer than the 2 1/2-3 hour schedule - I actually feel that I have a break between feedings now), and he stays awake much longer during the day. He loves to play with his toy bug; he will seriously talk to and laugh at that things for the longest time - it's SO cute.

Finally, he now sleeps in his crib through the night. He's always been a good sleeper, but it has been so hard to get him to sleep the whole night through in his crib. It literally happened out of the blue. One night we tried to get him down for the night in his crib where he just cried for about 40+ minutes, fell to sleep, and woke 4 hours later, and the next night, we put him down for the night in his crib where he peacefully fell to sleep and did not wake until morning. It was the most amazing thing, and now he does it every night. We lay him down after his last feeding anywhere from 8PM - 11:30PM (depending on his feeding schedule for that day), and he wakes up anywhere from 7AM to 8:30AM. I feel beyond blessed to have such a beautiful, smart, healthy, happy, wonderful, loving little baby boy.

...Sayin' Goodbye to 2010...

CHRISTMAS
We have been so incredibly busy this past holiday season, but we have been having tons of fun. We celebrated our very first Christmas as a family of 3, and it was absolutely perfect. As a child, I recall Christmas as a "magical" time. It was the one time during the year when all of the evils of the world ceased to exist, and the anticipation of hope and the love of Jesus was all that remained. While Christ's love has always been there, the "magic" of Christmas seemed to fade with each aging year. However, having Judah brought back all of that childhood excitement, and I was amazed at the level of alertness our 7 weeks old baby exhibited. He even tried to eat the wrapping paper - seriously, SO CUTE!! I can not wait for all of the Christmases to come.

Judah was quite spoiled this year (Although, Richard and I didn't do too badly ourselves); he received clothes, toys, teethers, books, the "Fisher Price Step 'n' Play Piano" - you name it, and he probably got it, but most importantly, he was showered with love by so many of our friends and family. As for us, my dad and Deb gave us an amazing digital camera, and Richard's parents gave us $$ which we used to buy a limited edition Red Wii - SO fun! Plus, Richard bought me the most beautiful pearl bracelets (I've always wanted real pearls), and we took our first family portraits.

JUDAH UPDATE
My baby is going to be two months old on Tuesday (it really does not seem like it has been that long), and he is growing so much. He no longer fits in ANY newborn sizes, and he has outgrown three of his 0-3 months size sleep & plays. He is extremely strong for his age (even the nurses at our pediatrician's office couldn't believe how strong he is). He now rolls himself over, sits himself up (though he can not stay completely upright without assistance), pushes himself across the floor with his legs, and stands with assistance. He is smiling frequently, cooing often, and he loves to play "The Face Game." He makes a face, and we copy it. Then we make a face, and he
copies it. OH, how I love my little boy!

NEW YEARS EVE
We had a great time saying goodbye to 2010 with some of our great friends. We ate some yummy food, played Extreme Mafia and Just Dance Now 2 for Wii, wrote and performed (and competed against each other) our own 2011 raps, had a dance off, and shared our goals for the new year. It was a great night, and even though we didn't win, I think that my rap group did a great job :) With that, I leave you with this:


Happy New Year
There aint no beer here

So hold up your Mt. Dew
'Cause we be praisin' the true Jew

Sayin' goodbye to 2010
We'll never see you again

So let's welcome 2011
The year we keep our eyes on heaven

TWO YEARS

Yesterday was my husband's and my 2 year wedding anniversary - wow, how the time flies. A lot has changed over this past year (with the birth of our son and all), but I'm so glad to say that my husband and I are just as much (if not more) in love today as we were six years ago. I really hit the jack-pot with Richard, and I am so blessed by my little growing family.

To celebrate this milestone in our lives, we wanted to do something special, but with our new baby, neither of us were up for doing anything big and fancy (or that required energy). Since Saturdays are Vertical Worship nights, we decided to go out Thursday while my mother-in-law watched Judah for us; while I know that he was in the most capable of hands, it was so hard for me to leave him for those few hours. It was the first time I had been away from him. Before Thursday, I hadn't even gone to the store without my precious baby boy, and as embarrassing as it is for me to admit, I cried once I got back out to the car. I did have a wonderful night, though, and my mother-in-law told me that he was on his very best behavior (not that he really ever has a bad behavior - we've been blessed with a terrific baby).



Anyway, our cousin, Natasha, was able to get us discounted tickets to see "White Christmas" at Pioneer Theatre Company, and I absolutely LOVED the show. I grew up watching the movie every Christmas Eve, and to see it live was spectacular - I was so excited. We also ate dinner at Sizzler (it's my favorite), and we watched the lights at Valley Fair Mall. Even though we missed our boy very much, and we kept imitating him all night, it was nice to get out together - just the two of us. :)

My Baby's A Month Old!

Judah turned 1 month old on Saturday - WOW, it does not seem like it has been that long already. He is such an awesome baby, and Richard and I are having so much fun getting to know him.

Here are a few of the updates:

1. Breastfeeding has become much easier. He is now nursing with or without the nipple shield and easily switching among bottle, Binky, and breast with no hesitations. My only complaint here is that he bites. My nipples are seriously ready to fall off from all of his biting. And for those of you saying, "just wait 'til he has teeth..." he's got them! YES, I know how incredibly young he is, but I guess this is just one are in which he takes after his momma - I was born with 4 teeth. He has 3 of them. They haven't come through completely yet, but they are in enough that you can clearly see their little white nubs, and they are quite sharp.

2. Judah is SO very strong for his age. Not only has he been holding his head up since birth (yes, since BIRTH), but he locks his legs and stands on them. Of course, he doesn't exactly have his balance down enough yet, so his standing is assisted, but he's been doing this assisted standing for about 3 weeks now. The other night, Richard was holding him, and he started making walking motions. My mother-in-law said that Daniel was walking at 7 months, so perhaps he will be an early walker like Uncle Dan. We've also had to stop swaddling him because he always punches his way out of the swaddle regardless of how tight we make it (he HATES his arms covered). My little man definitely has a mind of his own.



3. His circumcision is fully healed now - such a relief.

4. We started trying to sleep him in his bassinet this week (attempting to prepare him for his crib). He was not having it, though. Last night he cried for thirty-plus minutes before I finally brought him to bed with me, where of course, he fell immediately to sleep. I'm thinking we're just going to have to put him in his crib and let him cry himself to sleep until he learns to be comfortable with it. I just can't listen to him do it - he breaks my heart, and I cave in.

5. I've learned to angle his penis down in his diapers. Since this discovery, we have had zero "pee all over everything except my diaper" episodes. YEAH!! Now, if we could just figure out how to keep him from peeing DURING diaper changes, we'd have a lot less laundry.

6. He spits up a lot. I suppose that's normal, but it's really A LOT. I'm hoping he grows out of that soon. Oh, and he get the hiccups ALL the time - poor guy.

7. We set up the Christmas tree, and Judah LOVES the lights. We laid him under the tree, and he started to cry when we tried to take him away. He's so funny that way. So, we laid him back, and he just stared and stared. He also reached for a couple of the bulbs, but they were too high for his grasp. :) I can't wait until Christmas. I know that he will not remember it, but I will.



To close, here are a few of his (and mine) favorite things:

Binky
Cuddle U Pillow

Play Yard changing table
Diaper Genie Swing/infant seat
Moby Wrap
Breast Pump

Mommy Challenge #1

It's amazing the things you DON'T care about when you're in love. I'm not talking about that euphoric, romantic love, either; I'm talking about the most indescribable, miraculous, unconditional love of a mother for her child. Yes, it has only been 3 weeks (tomorrow), but it only took 1 second to feel the most deeply bonding love for my baby boy. Already I have been peed on, pooped on, puked on... normally, bodily fluids (among other things) would completely gross me out, and while it's not like I WANT to be covered in my son's nasty's, it doesn't bother me. In fact, in the moment, I don't really even think about it; my only concern is making sure Judah is safe, cared for, and loved.

Last night, however, I faced my most difficult mommy challenge thus far. After Judah's circumcision, he had a gauze bandage around his treated area. The doctor told us that it would fall off on its own within 24 hours. As of yesterday, the bandage still hadn't come off, so we were instructed to soak him in a tub of warm water and gently guide the gauze off. I know this probably doesn't sound like a difficult task, but every second of it, I was so scared that I was going to hurt him, or pull off some sort of scabbing that would cause him to bleed. Of course, his crying didn't exactly help matters along. I couldn't tell if he was crying because he was cold (being naked and only half his body in water), or hungry (it was about time for him to eat again), or scared (it was his first "bath" experience that wasn't a sponge bath), or in pain. I absolutely hated every minute of it.

Now, though, things seem to be healing up quite nicely, and that is all behind us. Pheeww, bring on mommy challenge number 2! ;)

My Favorite Things Judah

I love all the little sounds my baby makes; He makes all sorts of cute little snorts, squeaks, whimpers, sighs, and coos, but there is one in particular that makes me laugh. When he gets really hungry, he starts frantically punching the air (right, left, right, left...), and as he punches, he makes these cute little grunting noises, "uh, uh, uh-uh-uh...". Perhaps he will become a boxer, though, I'm praying that he does not. Call me crazy, but I don't think I could watch my son take several punches to the head.

I love the way he lifts his hands and shakes. In my belly, I would frequently feel this fast paced beating that would quickly alternate between my left and right sides, and I would always wonder what he was doing in there. Now that he's here, I think I know what he was doing. He does this thing sometimes where he will lift both of his arms with open hands, and he quickly shakes them. I honestly have no idea as to why he does this, but it is quite funny.

I love Judah's big beautiful eyes; There are times when my baby boy will open those wonderful blue eyes of his (I think it would awesome if they stayed blue, but I know that most babies are born with blue eyes and gradually turn over the first few months), and instead of closing them immediately after, he will look around as if he's discovering a new world (which, he is).

I even love his little cries. While it completely breaks my heart when my baby cries, I am so glad that he has such a cute cry. You know how some babies have that high pitched, ear-piercing, screaming cry? Yes, well, I am so thankful that Judah's cry is nothing like that.

I love all his little faces; My favorite is when he lifts his eyebrows as high as he can without opening his eyes and stretches his head up toward the sky. His little neck gets all skinny supporting his little bobble head, and he starts to resemble a little turtle. He seriously, melts my heart.

I love all his warm embraces. When his little hand grabs hold of my finger, I can't help but fall even more in love with my Judah baby, but when he lays his head on my chest while holding that finger, it is the best! I have never experienced a better feeling in all my life.

I love it when he stares at me; His eyes meet my eyes, and we connect in ways I cannot explain. It's like we're communicating with each other, and we don't even need words.

I am just in love with my baby!
Already, I could not imagine my life without Judah...