George Gang- Confessions Of A Stay At Home Mom

Day 2

2012-02-02T22:41:00.000-08:00

Day 2 of Things I Love

Not exactly how I wanted it to turn out, but with 2 little ones in tow (one in my arms the other hanging off my leg) I guess it isn't that bad. What do I love about this? After being in Utah for 5 years I now appreciate TREES so much more! I love the way the sun peaks it's way between the trees as it falls, the color of the sun is just so warm! Another thing I love: being warm. I am always cold, ask Mark I am constantly trying to warm up my fingers and toes on him in bed :)

Challenge Accepted!

2012-02-01T17:58:00.000-08:00

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED: I am challenging myself to take one photo a day for everyday in February of something, or someone I LOVE! Seems appropriate as February is associated with love. Plus I haven't been taking that many pictures with my Nikon lately, so this is a push to get more acquainted with it.

I love baby rolls; I love bath time with my kids- they are always so happy; I love cute, little 2 front teeth, crooked smiles; I love curly brown baby hair; I love baby blue eyes! And of course I LOVE GRACIE!

Eldon Visit to Dad's Firehouse

2012-01-20T21:38:00.000-08:00

Eldon, Gracie and me made Nanna's famous Mac&Cheese after church and headed towards Atlanta Firehouse Station 28. Which just happens to be where Gracie and Eldon's dad works as a FIREMAN!!!! Marks chief made dinner, a delicious chicken with spinach and mozzarella, potatoes, steamed carrots and green beans, and rolls. Lets just say I don't feel sorry for Mark when he is gone. His captain can cook!

Eldon could not get enough, we practically had to glue him to the dinner table and force him to eat. There were hoses, and buttons and doors and helmets... pretty much the perfect playground for a 2 year old boy or a 26 year old boy :) Yeah, pretty much Mark spends his days living his dreams when he goes to work. Mark always tells me now he can beat my dad in the "who's truck is bigger" game , because he has a fire truck, although I think my Dad technically wins by default because he owns his Tundra and Mark only gets to drive and play around with his truck.

Eldon loved climbing through the doors of the truck and messing with all the equipment. Gracie was a doll and just enjoyed being along for the ride. After we were there for almost 3 hours it was getting late and I packed up the kids to head out. Eldon cried so HARD! He was refusing to leave. Poor guy never wanted to leave, but I think he was more mad that his Dada got to stay and I was forcing him to go home. All in all it was a great trip, and it was nice to meet the guys that my hubby puts his trust in when he is on the job.

Mom, instead of a nap, I'm gunna try something BETTER!

2012-01-18T20:59:00.000-08:00

So as Eldon is growing and is getting more independant, he sometimes believes he doesn't have to nap. (he has yet to convince me this is a good plan) so instead of crying his eyes out over not taking a nap he quietly sneaks out of his room while I'm doing dishes and grabs markers that our sweet friends Mrs. Kim and Mr. George gave him for Christmas. And no he did NOT grab paper just the markers........ so imagine what a high spirited, imaginative, and somewhat crazy 2 year old can do with a set of markers quietly for an hour and a half while I think he is being a sweet little angel and sleeping.... Do you have an idea... walls, furniture, maybe cloths or bed sheets...... NO... these are all wrong! haha, Eldon has taken upon himself to do this:

He decided to use himself as a canvas! I take a few pictures... he was more than proud to show off his art work! Then in a panic I grab the markers... "non-toxic and washable" are both written on them...so instead of panicing i decided he could enjoy his work of art until bath time, because artistic or not, it started to look like a crazy bruise and it had to go. Love you Eldon you sure do make me smile!

The George's top 11 from 2011

2012-01-01T21:44:00.000-08:00

The George's Top Favorite Moments from 2011

11...Eldon went to nursery for the first time and became my "big boy" he won't let me call him baby anymore, he insist he is a big boy and he will yell "noooo me big boooy, Gwacie is baby!" Makes me sad, but at least I can sneak in and cuddle once in a while
10..We went to the beach! I hadn't been since Eldon was little, and Mark couldn't remember ever going.
9...Mark got a job offer with AFRD
8...We moved from Utah to Georgia in 2 weeks and rented a beautiful home in GA, with a perfect backyard to play
7...I took an important step in motherhood and spent an entire night cleaning up throw up. (This is a step I never wanted to take, but I guess it is a job only a mother can do)
6...Eldon no longer uses a diaper, except for nap and bedtime. Yeah!!! Only one kid in diapers
5...Eldon Turned 2
4...Mark and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary in April
3...Mark Graduated cadet Academy and started working as a professional firefighter
2...A sweet little miracle jumped into our lives; Gracie was born May 26th!
1...We celebrated our first Christmas and Thanksgiving alone with just our family. It was great being with the people we love the most. I love my family so much, they are why I get up in the morning... usually because Gracie is crying :) but seriously I love them so much!

2011 has been a wonderful year, full of blessing and surprises. It has been a tough year however at the same time, but we have been reminded of what matters most. Family. I am so grateful to my wonderful husband who wakes up and goes to work, and loves us! I love my babies, Eldon my little buddy and Gracie my sweet sensitive smiley girl. My parent who show there love from oceans away, I love them so much! And to the rest of our family who have been there for us this year and who have been only just a phone call away! We love you all! Bring It On 2012!!! I can't wait to see what is in store for us!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-28T22:30:00.000-08:00

We decided to celebrate early this year because mark ended up having to work on Christmas morning. We had a great Christmas eve, Mark's mom came over and I made white chicken chili, It was amazzzzing if I do say so myself. Then we read a Christmas book, and talked about the meaning of Christmas. Then did the white stocking, which is where we give a gift to Christ, something that we can do all year round for him, something we can do better, almost like a new years resolution but better. We opened PJ's and changed into them. Then we opened our "hat" presents. This year we just did the "adults" in the family. Instead of buying presents for everyone, we pick a name out of a hat and just have to buy one gift. So my dad got me a present, and he gave me his old nook and a gift card to barnes and noble. You know you are getting old when you get excited over a book!!! I was so happy! Mark got minute to win it and a tie from Brittani. And he as been having some frustrating fun with it.
Christmas morning (the 24th for everyone else) we woke up around 8 and started opening stockings, Gracie was tired and fell asleep around 9:30. Eldon had to open everyones presents! he opened them, and then passed them along to the person they belonged to, It was super cute. Eldon started complaining that his ear hurt, he stopped openning presents and sat on Marks lap. Mark rocked him and I gave him tylenol and put a hot rag on his ear. After about 30 minutes he jumped up and shouted "open presents more!" so we did! Gracie was up by then and we finished up. My favorite presents we a brand new sewing machine and my nook! I think Eldon's favorite present was his Rex toy from toy story. His nanna and poppa gave it to him. We had Turkey dinner with the missionaries that night. It was so good, Mark did a great job!

Actual Christmas morning, Mark left at 5ish for work and I work up around 7 and got me and the kids off to church by 8:30am. I was in the Christmas program, so Eldon and Gracie sat with friends. I had a blast singing... it had been so long since I sang. Later me and the kids went over to the Jones. We had dinner with Mr. George, Mrs. Kim and their family. It was soooo good. And Eldon liked being around people. We came home and watched one of our Christmas movies together.

Christmas was great!

more pictures to come,,,

{PRETTY, HAPPY, FUNNY, REAL}

2011-12-17T09:47:00.000-08:00

I have been told that my post sound kinda depressing lately, So I wanted to let everyone know that things are okay here! We have up and down days, and maybe I write about more of the down days, what can I say it is therapeutic, so I will try harder to be more well rounded :). I wanted to start posting more picture, not on a specific day, but just more regularly. I am borrowing this from many other blogs I read... I call it:

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real}

So here we go!

{REAL}
Eldon is my little poser! He shoots me these great model faces.

{FUNNY}
I am required to take multiple picture of Woody, requested by none other than Eldon.

{REAL}
We do make messes... a lot, this is very true and real life. My husband makes me laugh! Mark forgot that he had already opened the Alfredo sauce.. he went to shake it up and it went everywhere!

{Happy}
Looking at this face makes me smile!

{REAL&FUNNY}
My son does on occasion pick his nose, especially if daddy tells him to do it for the camera.

{REAL}
Again, I was TOLD I HAD to take Woody's picture

{REAL & FUNNY}
I make really big stockings, and Eldon is silly!

{PRETTY}
Gracie loves to bounce!!! She really is such a delight to have in our home.

{PRETTY}
"Thank heaven for little girls!" is what her bib says, We love her so much. Mark always says Gracie doesn't know how not to smile!

{HAPPY}
I am a lucky mom, It may never get any easier but it is very worth ever minute!

{PRETTY,HAPPY,REAL}
I can here what they are thinking... "Mom whats the big deal with this Santa guy", says Gracie. Eldon joins in the conversation, "Okay mom I sat on his lap and didn't cry, can I get that candy cane now!?"

life lately...

2011-11-29T19:28:00.001-08:00

Tired, stressed, overworked, and underpaid tend to describe my life lately. Now noted we have our fun times here and there but I have been go, go ,go , go it seems ever since Gracie so I haven't blogged in a while because I have had a hard time finding anything to say.
So to explain why I am so tired... my sweet little baby Gracie LOVES me!!! Which is not a bad thing... until a month ago when she stopped sleeping through the night and started nursing 3 times a night! But the funny thing is she screams her head off if we try to soothe her in any other way other that me nursing her, and trust me we have tried everything. Mark going in first, making sure she doesn't need changing, patting her on the back while still being in the crib, picking her up to rock her, bottle (which she still have never taken), pacifier (again she has never taken this either, but I am still trying)... Nothing works other than me getting up to nurse. She is so cute though, all she wants is to smile and coo while nursing until she decides she want to go back to bed. Which some nights it is 10 minutes, some nights 30minutes but the usual has been about an hour or more, and this would be okay if it were just once a night but it is 2 and 3 times a night. So the schedule for Gracie's sleep is 8:30pm bed time, wake up 1st time midnight, back to bed by 1am. awake for the 2nd time at 3am, back in bed at 3:45am, and finally awake for the day anywhere between 5:30am and 6:00am. she will cat nap for 5 or 10 minutes but won't stay asleep until she is back down for a nap at 11am and sleeps till 11:45am usually. Then if I am lucky she will fall asleep during Eldon's nap time around 1pm and usually sleep for an hour and a half, but then she is awake until we do bath time and back to sleep at 8:30pm.
This sleep schedule would concern me if it weren't for 1 thing. She is always so darn happy!!! 1am she is happy and smiling and cooing away, same with 3am, and by 6am she is literally talking baby talk so loud that is usually wakes Eldon up far to early. She is always smiling... as long as I am giving her attention. If I set her in her bouncer next to me and try to catch some sleep while she is awake, she will have none of it and continues to scream until my undivided exhausted self is giving her my attention.
I am so Tired! By the time the house is shut down for the night and I get my alone time, and spend time with Mark, I am usually in bed around 11pm( I am trying to get to bed earlier, but It is soooo hard) so I am averaging 4 1/2 hours of sleep if not less. I am trying soo hard to push through ( this can't last forever right?!) but we are going on month 2 and I am breaking. I find myself not going out during the day because I am sooo tired, I don't want to be a danger in a car to others or my sweet babies. I put on a movie instead of getting down and playing with Eldon, dishes are going unwashed, laundry is stacking up. Am I not supermom? Can't I do it all? Lately I am beginning to doubt myself. I made a goal to start going out more now that Gracie is older, but this past month and a half have been spent with me struggling to wake up for the day. I also made a goal to start loosing my baby weight, and my postpartum after my c-section weight, which with the lack of sleep and stress is making it impossible at best.
Eldon is getting better at tolerating Gracie, he actually is fine as long as Dad (marky) isnt holding her. At the house if she cries he says, "It's okay Gwacie, Gwacie no cry now, momma's coming" and in the morning when he wakes up after I change him and get him ready he will run to the living room where Gracie usually is and shout "Gwacie's awake now!" Very excited, and he helps me take her to her crib when she falls asleep. So that is all great, but I fear that his lack of stimulating is affecting him. He is very spirited and independant and bless his heart he is just having a tough time listening when mommy and daddy tell him no. He takes no as a personal invitation to continue his bad behavior. We are working on this and we have our better days usually they are the ones when I give him alot of attention, or we have a bunch of activities planned. That Is why I think my lack of sleep is hurting him and me.
I try to enjoy my late night moments with Gracie. I try to take in how much she loves me. I know how much i love and adore her so I hope she loves me even half as much. I am greatful that she is so healthy and strong. I try to keep positive when I am at my tired points, because being sad or depressed about it just hurts myself and others.
For now we are still trying to get Gracie to take a bottle (with not a lot of luck) although she has taken a cup once, so I think that is our next step. She seems just as attached to me as I am to her. I use to hold her when she was first born and think about what my life would have been like if I lost her, and how blessed I was to be given the chance to know her. So maybe this is my own doing, me holding her to much, but if this is the worst thing I do to my kids then I will be okay.
This too will pass... I will enjoy it while I can and hopefully a few months from now I will be laughing and remembering about the days when I got no sleep.

Gracie's twin

2011-10-07T23:12:00.000-07:00

My little girl has a twin!! I spend the majority of my day staring at Gracie and Eldon. After much thought me and Mark both agreed... Gracie looks like the cute, adorable, angelic, youngest of his six adopted siblings...... DOPEY!

Check out her ears.. haha, her ear really dont stick out that far, they just curve with her head and it makes them look like they stick out. I think she is adorably unique.

Now take a look at Dopey; same ears.

Now look at her angelic glazed over blue eyes!

Same as Dopey. But the Cherry on the cake....

Check out that smile. Full, tounge showing, cheek pinchable grin!!

I never Really likds the movie snow white, but I do remember only liking Dopey, the others were to scary, and hairy. I found this little bit of info on Dopey:

Dopey is often the butt of the other dwarfs' jokes, and his silly, playful actions often annoy the pompous Doc and the short-tempered Grumpy. He is not dumb, but merely acts like a toddler. Happy explains he simply has never tried to talk. Though he occasionally whimpers, laughs or hiccups, he does not talk. Dopey is the most popular of the seven dwarfs among audiences.

Despite being conceived late in production, Dopey proved to be the most endearing of the dwarfs. Dopey's appeal proved the success of silent characters in feature films. At one point, Dopey was even considered for the title role in The Sorceror's Apprentice in Fantasia before Mickey Mouse was chosen. However, many of Dopey's traits remain, including the long, floppy sleeves and playful attitude.

The name Dopey may to some carry bad meaning, but for me everytime I see that dwarf, I am reminded of his innocence. What a great comparison to our sweet girl. Innocent, pure, and most of all happy.

Gracie is 4 months old

2011-10-03T22:32:00.000-07:00

I am about a week late in posting, but our little Gracie turned 4 months old last week. Has it really been that long since she was born. Our sweet little angel has been blessing our lives since the day she enter. No lying it was incredibly tough being mom to both Gracie and Eldon, while recovering from my much disappointing and painful birth experience, and do all the same things I did before.
For the past 4 months I have been struggling, trying to be my best self, trying to do it all I guess. Lately things have been really great. My way of solving this issue was just to stop. Stop cleaning, stop cooking, stop worrying every 2 seconds, just be a mom and wife. Mark has been great. After about a week I slowly added things back in. Cooking, going out with the kids, cleaning. Now I am no supermom, and I am still having issues physically from my Cesarean, but the more time passes the more I think that everything will work itself out.
now onto the fun stuff... GRACIE

She is our spunky little girl who just curls with smiles every time she is given a complement. Literally her entire body curls down, I can always tell when she is laughing even from behind. She love being complemented too, Mark tells her how pretty she is and she just smiles sooo big.
She is a serious mommas girl. I can't put her down, and she can't stand it either. Which is seriously amazing, haha but sometimes my girl needs to let me go. She will nap for 1 -2 hours in my arms or 20 minutes out. Now granted she is sleeping threw the night about 80% of the time from usually around 10pm til anywhere between 5:30am if she hears Mark in the morning or 7:30am if she needs a good nap.
She hates tummy time, which is again most likely my fault, but I finally got her to around 5 minutes, YEAH!!
The little lady has found her voice... and it is loud. So along with her not sleeping during the day, neither does Eldon because her little coos and ahhs are more like COOOOOOO and AHHHHHHH!! She seriously is a loud one. I find it so funny she gets louder the more tired she gets, then I will look down because it instantly stops and she is sleeping. Haha my kids have 2 switches either on or off.
She loves her daddy. On the mornings she wakes up when he does, she greats him with such a great smile, and when he gets home even if she is about to fall asleep she wakes up and can't stop flirting with him.
She is still our tiny little baby, who would of guessed she would be so tiny at 42 week gestation, but I guess she really did need the time to "cook" a bit more, and I am glad I stuck to my guns and wasn't pressured into inducing 2-3 weeks prior. Who knows if she would of been developed all the way physically yet. I havent been in to the doctor yet for her 4 month check up, but at 3 1/2 months she was weighing in around 11 1/2 pounds. She is tall though so thats good!
She is growing so much. But with each day she gets funner to be around. We are at that age now where we are just waiting and watching for her to do the next big thing. Roll over, giggle, crawl. We can't wait!

Love you Gracie Girl!!

And of course we can't forget about Eldon! The best baby boy it the world!ELDON!

Why I want mark to get on with a house that has a pole

2011-09-25T22:24:00.000-07:00

I have been sick all day, and now cant fall asleep because of congestion, but it is all worth it! haha I had to share this with everyone and anyone. This made my day. Haha I always wondered what Mark would do at a station when not on a call. I guess this gives him something to think about.

I love you Mark, you are our hero!

-Steph, Eldon & Mark

Happy Gradparents day

2011-09-11T00:44:00.000-07:00

On the tenth anniversary of the Twin Towers and 9/11 attacks, the ones that forever changed my life views, opinions, and actions as well as millions of other Americans, it is a little ray of sunshine to be able to also spend this day celebrating Grandparents. And WOW do Gracie and Eldon have the best. Even from across the sea Nanna and Poppa are still in the running for number 1. I gave up months ago competing with them, because they are so cool, they win every time. Only Daddy has a shot at winning number 1 now. That's okay I am fine with just being mommy! Because seriously I have the best kids ever and to know that they are all mine makes up for not being number 1 haha! Plus Eldon and Gracie are so rocking they need an awesome Nanna and Poppa, which they have! So mom and dad this post is for you! What a blessing you are in our lives, seriously you are killing us being so far away, but that too will pass. You both make our kids so happy, Eldon's whole world lights up every time the phone rings because he thinks it is nanna or poppa. You both bring so much joy in our lives we love you beyond measure. Oh and mom can't wait for the continents to come back together so you can walk to our house soon! (haha) Love you both, from Steph, but mostly Eldon and Gracie!!!

Where do you see yourself in 10 years

2011-09-11T00:16:00.000-07:00

10 years ago:

I was 14 years old
I had just begun my Freshman year of High school
I was shy, and a bit of an ugly duckling (or at least that's how I felt when I was that age)
we had been living in GA for almost 3 years
The twin towers we attacked
and... I wrote this:

"I just arrived at school and was a bit early so I went to the library to finish up some last minute homework. I noticed the library turning on the TV which was odd because she turned the volume on. That never happens. I try to tune out the noise. I decide to listen in, but the bell rang for advisement so without paying attention to the TV, I went on my way. We were suppose to be in advisement till 8:45, but I guess the bell schedule was lagging and we didn't. Out homeroom noticed others turning on the TV and watching, we decided to do the same.... Wow we couldn't believe it was this a joke? a plane just hit the twin towers in NYC.
The bell rang, just a few minutes later, but the TVs in the hallway were all playing the same thing. The news. And again during 2nd period all we watched was the TV. My English teacher let us skip the lesson for the day. Another tower got hit, the Pentagon too. Seriously it is beginning to feel like my little bubble of a world is unravelling. Then the unimaginable: the tower falls! After what seemed to be only be an hour later. My prayers went out in hopes that everyone made it out okay. Little did I know, thing were not okay, far from it.
The rest of the day went on much of the same, we were shoveled from classroom to classroom as usual, but only to sit in a new seat and watch the TV. Parents came and pulled friends out of school. By lunch it seemed as if half the school was gone. I was a bit paniced as to why my mom wasn't coming to get me too. But was given a note in one of my last classes that she would pick me and my brother up at the end of the day.
A few days have passed and we still turned to the news everyday. It seemed a new clip of the 9/11 event, as they were calling it, popped up every day. I am scared to know what will happen to everyone still trapped. I hope for the best. I don't really understand why the planes crashed, and why this terrorist group felt they had to hurt people that didn't hurt them. I don't want to go on a plane anytime soon, they make me nervous. Like I said I don't understand a lot that happened on September 11th, I just know what I saw. I hope that I will never live to see something like this happen again."

My English teacher made us write our thoughts down. I can't recall how long after, but it couldn't have been more that a week or two. I tucked it away in my scriptures but I haven't read it in some time. Looking back I can't help but think about "then" and "now" what has changed, what hasn't(not much) all the things I have done. Graduated HS, Moving to VA, then to Utah, getting married, my son, moving back to GA for a new job for Mark ( a Fireman!!), and now Gracie.
Does anyone else think about how their kids will never know a world before September 11th, 2001. They also will never know how it felt that day to watch as our world fell apart on national television. Everything I do is plagued with the actions of 9/11. I really have no desire to go up into a high building. For example I visited ground zero when I was living in VA and saw the clean up still. my friends wanted to go up to the top of the Empire state building, and I chose to do something else. I will always think before I let my kids out of my hands. As they grow I know they will want to go away with friends, but it still makes me nervous to think.
Being the wife of an Atlanta firefighter (and VERY Proud might I add) The attacks of September 11th, 2001 take on a new light. I can only imagine what the families of the 343 firemen and women must have gone through, and I really hope I never have to.
My God Bless this country for the next ten years and keep us safe. I hope I can find a way to honor those who were murdered 10 years ago by living a better life!

here a few proud moments in my life as a Fireman's wife:

Being able to play dress up in REAL Firefighter gear.

Or as Eldon calls "woooo wooo"( the sound a fire engine makes)

Coming inside and instead of coats there are SCBA mask, fire helmet, and a hood

Mark's SCBA mask closer view. (notice the batman symbol)

May we always remember and never forget. and my we live a life that was worthy of the sacrifices made on that day. This post is especially for the 343 men and women firefighter, my heart goes out to your families.

Gracie is 3 months

2011-08-30T15:54:00.000-07:00

3 months old... where has the time gone! I took Gracie to a new pediatrician today, and they may be worse than the first one I took her too. Lets sum it up by describing the entire visit as- dirty, rude, slow. Really is it that hard to have great pediatric care in Georgia? It seems impossible. I guess I will keep looking but for now here are some stats on little

Gracie @ 3 months:

Weight- 11lbs 3 oz

Height- 24 in

Head- 40 1/2 cm

she still refuses a bottle- "those things are nasty", says Gracie
She is smiling A LOT! she has the sweetest smile when I pick her up after she has been asleep and woken up
She is almost about to laugh
Loves to be held- guess I love it too- I have a hard time putting my babies down, they are just too cute to let go
She is very healthy- has had at least 2 cold, but she has gotten over them all on her own
Poor little girl seriously can pass some major gas:( she lets out toots all the
hates being on her tummy- as you can see from the picture below
loves to grasp both her hands together- she constantly looks like she is about to pray. SO CUTE!
Her hair is either getting thinner or lighter; I dunno may be both
Her and Eldon are getting a whole lot easier to manage. We go out at least 2 times a week
Also still won't take a binky- neither did Eldon- Eldon took it for a few months but I think it was when he was older
She is a great car rider- she either falls asleep or just looks around the entire ride. But if I am stopped for a while she gets upset- I have too avoid traffic. Little girl is only 3 months and already can't stand traffic
She is so sweet- She constantly smiles- and just wants to be looked at
She loves complements- Mark will look at her and tell her all sorts of things and she just coo's and ahh's back.

Pretty much she is our little princess and we love her so very much! We are better because we have her sweetness in our family. What a blessing it is to be their mom. As hard as my days seem so be, every night looking back it is so worth every second!

Cuddle time!

2011-08-25T18:40:00.000-07:00

Is there anything better than holding a sleeping baby? I will argue my point if you disagree :) I wrote a post like this a while ago when Eldon was still little ( under the age of 1 i mean to say) Against the advise of almost everyone that gave me advise, I have been rocking both of my babies to sleep every night, until they were fast asleep and I got my "cuddle fill". I choose to cuddle as long as they will let me. I have never regretted this and I just politely plug my ears when others told me not to, that they needed to "learn" to go to sleep on their own. Guess what? They did learn! Eldon I think is in a little independent phase where he doesn't need to be rocked by Momma. Which saddens me a little, but I hope in time he will come back to me. Like the small moments like tonight when he felt a bit sick and he was tired and a bit upset, and he crawled in my lap, head against my chest and we watched Dr. Seuss together. Eldon now has been sleep in a big boy bed for almost 4 months now with really no issues, I had to put a child proof lock on his door and he hasn't had any issues since- sleeping from usually 8:30pm til 9:30am or 10:30am, and my sweet little girl sleeps from 9:00pm wakes up and nurses around 3:30am for only 20 min and is usually back asleep all in her own room in her own crib. Then wakes up at 7:30pm nurses for 30min and falls back asleep usually until his brother wakes up.

"Cleaning and scrubbing can wait 'til tomorrow,

For babies grow up, I've learned to my sorrow.

So settle down cobwebs, dust go to sleep,

I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep!"

I have heard this quote several times before. I really want to frame it up really nice and put it by my rocking chair, so to always remind me that even though my house is a GIANT mess, this is what truly matters. My babies, my eternal family, my husband. Life really is flying, take it from someone who is about to have a 3 month old!! I will cuddle Gracie as long as she will let me, true I may cause sleeping problems, but I don't care if my kids need to snuggle me before they go to sleep. Life is wasted it seems these days on far less important things, but this is important to me! Haha I just can't put them down!

Peepee!

2011-08-24T19:41:00.000-07:00

Eldon went pee pee like 15 times today in the potty!!!!! I don't have any experience with going though potty training, but next to Giving birth, and Eldon walking; this is like the most excited I have been in forever! He was so proud of himself too. He would run pee in the potty chair then empty the pee in the toilet, flush and say "bye!" and then when the toilet filled back up he would say, "blue!!!" (because we have one of those toilet tablets that makes the water blue) then we go to the cupboards and get a potty treat!! WOW I know I am using a lot of "!" but I seriously am so proud. Mark was saying to me how pride is a bad thing, but how both of us were feeling a rush of such a prideful moment.

What a happy mom I am right now. I seriously never thought he would learn, but he did. For the past few days/months I take his diaper off and we constantly go to the bathroom, but he will never go. He usually whines, and cries for me to let him off the toilet, but tonight after 3 hours of no diaper, we again took a trip to the bathroom, and he cried to get off, I have been using a little bit of bribery lately so I said, "you can get down once you pee pee." he must of been really motivated to get off because he pushed really had, and he actually went. I over reacted and got sooooo excited. We both started dancing and I guess that one time did it. Hopefully when we wake up tomorrow he will remember!! I love thing. Today even though I only got 3 hours of sleep, this one of the greatest days ever of me and mommy hood!!!

Crazy fun life

2011-08-20T00:50:00.000-07:00

This week really has been amazing. I set a goal for myself to take Eldon and Gracie out at least 3 times this week. And I did. We went swimming to the park this week. Eldon loved swimming. And by the second time we went he seriously was swimming on his own ( with a life jacket of course! ) I am so proud of him. Lately being a mom of 2 has been less of pulling my hair out and splashing my face with water to stay awake, and more about enjoying my babies. Gracie is sleeping during the nights, and in her own crib now, which is a lot of the reason for the good sleep and "nicer mommy" in the morning. I use nice mommy and mean mommy with eldon when I'm tired.. I don't think he understands me though. When he would wake up in the morning I would tell him, "I missed you last night, me and Gracie were up allll night, because Gracie wanted to hang out and now nice mommy went bye bye 2 hours ago, so we are gunna play in the house so mean mommy will go away and nice mommy will come back." Luckily mean mommy really never showed herself this week. ( I really am not mean, I just use that when i'm tired)
But anyways back to my great week. The kids are just beginning to have so much fun and I love taking them places. Eldon is slowly learning how to behave in public. Usually he bounces off the walls, but he only does that now if I don't pay him any attention. I am starting to really lean what both kids need, so that we can prevent meltdowns.
Now if Eldon would just take to potty training I would be sooo happy. Little guy just refuses. I do not understand it, but I guess we just keep trying and eventually he will warm up to the idea.
visist my other blog to see a mini session of gracie in her swimming suit HERE, but for now here are a few pics too

Gracie's Song

2011-08-18T00:13:00.000-07:00

Gra-cie...

You have such a pretty fac-ie

No one else can take your plac-ie

You look pretty dressed in lac-ie

You don't come from outerspac-ie

sweet Grac-ie

So every little girl deserves a song written for then, and Gracie is no exception. Little Gracie has her own song that I made up for her. She is so cute, when I sing in her little eyes just light up like crazy! Sometimes when she is upset the only thing that calms her down is if I rock her and sing her little song. I love to make her smile... haha I'm that crazy mom that makes up songs and I love it.

Lets not forget about big brother...

Eldon:

(Goes to the popcorn popping song)

I looked out the window and what did I see Eldon Allen Sittin' in a tree

he can climb an oak tree in 5 seconds flat

If you don't watch him he goes like that

It might not be so,

but it seems to me...

Eldon Allen sittin' in the tree

I know, I know ... please don't judge me!!! haha but it is so worth it if I can get them to smile... but Eldon likes to put me in my place and while I sing his song he says, " no mom, no tree" I think he is thinking "mom your crazy I'm not in the tree, I'm right here".

my thoughts

2011-08-16T01:22:00.000-07:00

Okay so this may not be a post for all to read, but this is for me. I really need the therapy of writing. Okay so an update of my life the past 2 1/2 months since Gracie was born: as most of you know I had an unplanned emergency C-section which for me was nothing short of devastating. I don't like to talk about it either. But I need to. I think as far as "baby blues" go, I completely don't have that at all, but I think I have what I like to call "belly or tummy blues". I hate to look, think, or even touch my belly. I hate the scar I have, I hate think that I am suck like this for the rest of my life. Who knows if this will cause ill effects in the future. That's a whole different story, one that I have a hard time grasping.
My body as a woman is meant to give birth, and naturally. So why can't I. With Eldon I was induced, and it was so intense that I couldn't make it without the epidural, but that okay the epidural isn't a bad thing. I just want to start labor naturally. Then Gracie I was so intense on my "natural" plan that now looking back maybe I should have given in and been induced, or I always ask myself this: maybe I could have been induced, and the doctors were just bored that night and they saw me maybe with an elevated baby HB and decided, hey surgeries are so much funner than a boring natural birth, plus I only have to be there for an hour. Who knows, but there is a need in me, I need to know, I have to know.
I know all these women say but your baby is here and safe! and My reply on thank heavens! I know right! BUT take my sweet little angel out of the picture. She is here and she is safe and really I love her more than my own life, she is everything. and again this isn't about Gracie at all, this is me. Me and my body, that won't work like it should that is now left with a scar. a perminate reminder that my body failed me. Not that I failed, which is almost worse because try as I might a thousand times over, I could never give birth the way I wanted; natural. What saddens me most is that I really wanted to give birth, I never gave birth to Gracie, she was ripped away from me in the most unnatural and cruel way imaginable. I was laying flat on a table while I was sliced across the abdomen, I never got to see her first breath. She was all alone when she was ripped out of me and into this world. No one was there to hold her hand when she came to breathing. I wanted to run to her, to hold her hand, to be her mom, and I couldn't I was strapped down. She was crying and she needed me and I couldn't be there, I really wanted them to show me her. the first time I saw her was on a camera. But she is great now, and that really isn't an issue. My issue is my belly blues! I hate this. I got an IUD implant to make sure I don't get pregnant anytime soon. I have to deal with this issue before me and Mark decide that we even want another baby. Right now my babies are my life. Believe it or not things have gotten better, there were weeks there where I never looked in the mirror. And still when I get ready I have to force myself to look. Time will fade away my feelings, as will my scar. Right now I just love watching life through Gracie and Eldon's eyes, they are so innocent and I love them both with everything I have. Love my babies and my Hubby!

fffanxs mama!

2011-08-15T23:28:00.000-07:00

So Eldon is my little guy will not a lot to say. He knows words, but usually tries no point, or grunt... I think it is a little my fault, cause I don't talk a whole bunch when I am on my own but I am doing better, I have made flash cards, and I make Eldon use his words even though sometimes it's not what he wants to do, and really he is doing so much better. But usually he only uses phrases and sentences when I prompt him to. But today when I gave him some juice and tucked him into bed he said Fffanxs (thanks) mama, and uuvv you (love you)! Wow seriously made my day!!! He is growing way way way to fast and I ust want to keep him my baby. But talking is good for him, I noticed he knows so much more than I thought, I just needed to expect more! I love Eldon!

Gracie is 2 months old

2011-08-10T13:26:00.000-07:00

Wow this post has been a long time coming! I have been so busy with other things( keeping house clean, taking pictures, being a mom of 2, and a good wife) so I need to post this before She turns 3 months!

Things Gracie can do:

She is starting to smile, It takes a little effort, but I bet by next month she will be just grinning away
she is very patient. Eldon is having a tough time adjusting to #2. He has started pulling on her and he does actually try to hit her every once in a while. Mostly though he just thinks it is funny to scream when she is sleeping... I however do not :)
She looks like he daddy! She has he daddy's beautiful eye! Yeah! Eldon got my hazel and Gracie has Mark's blues. They kinda look purple when you look really quick
She has the perfect pink lips.
She refuses a pacifier
She hates the bottle even more then a pacifier
She is a total Mommy's girl
her color is definitely purple
She loves to be awake at night (we are working on it)
She is still weighing in at a small 9+ pounds

Enjoy some pictures

"Hi Mom, I'm two!"

2011-07-18T00:06:00.000-07:00

May little guy just turned 2 on the 8th! I am so behind in posting but I wanted to at least add some pictures. We had just a family birthday on his birthday, then we had a bbq with a few friends the next day. Eldon Loves the birthday song, I have been singing it ever since, and he loves to tell me how old he is. I ask, "Eldon how old are you?" he replies with an adorable little, "twoooooo" which it probably one of the most adorable things he does! I love my little guy and I will post more of his birthday later with his photoshoot!

Making it due!

2011-07-15T00:49:00.000-07:00

The women of the Great Depression in the 1930’s knew frugality. One of their battle cries was “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.” I have been using this simple rhyme as my frugal checklist with dealing with one of my wants or needs. Especially when it comes to my hobbies. I have been wanting to craft like made crazy! I have so many ideas running through my head, and I am just either making them do with what I have or just putting it on the back burner for later.

I wanted to buy Gracie the most beautiful blessing dress, but the cheapest one I found that I like was around $75. WOW that's a lot for our means right now. So I have some off white silk that I have been using for photographs ans I decided I can use that. I like the idea of her dress not being 100% white. Plus I have this great girly pink ribbon that I want to use on the bodice. So I am using what I have and I am hoping that my poor sewing skills don't win over in the end. Plus I need to be making a dress for the wedding and a tie for Eldon. Maybe even some pants if he doesn't fit his in a few days. he has dress pants, but the boy doesn't have the bum to fill them out so I may just finally take them in, it has been since Christmas and they are starting to be too short.

So we are making things due:) If the women during the Great depression can do it ten so can I!

Check ups!

2011-07-13T21:53:00.000-07:00

Gracie had a one month check up/well-visit and Eldon had his 2 year. Really Gracie was 6 weeks though. Eldon was wild! He hates 4 walls that's for sure :) I hate the pediatricians office. It was a horrible visit, and they made me feel like I was a bad mom, for no reason at all. It is a really long story, and I really don't want to replay it again, so I'm not gunna. It was just no good, and I just am going to find a new pediatrician. I miss Eldon's old ped it Utah.
So here are some updates! both babies are on the charts which is great!!

Eldon:
Weight: 29lbs 63%
Height: 36.5in 93.4%
Head: 19.488in 72.7%
Weight for Height: 30.3%

Gracie:
Weight:8lbs 7oz 10%
Height: 22inches 57%
Head: 14.961 inches 47.8%

both babies are healthy and most of the time happy :) that's all that matters. I'm tired.. and a lot lately but that will pass soon I hope when baby girl gets out of her newborn period. being mom of 2 has been the best and most exhausting thing i have ever done!

Brother and Sister!

2011-07-06T22:06:00.000-07:00

Seriously this is my favorite thing ever. Eldon constantly demands to hold Gracie. He gets upset if he wants to hold her and she is eating. He loves his sister!

Gracie - One Month!!

2011-07-06T21:33:00.000-07:00

My sweet little girl turned the big one month old on the 26th of June. She is such a big part of our lives and we have been so busy living it that I havent had time to update.

Stuff you might not know about our sweet Gracie:

She weighs about 8lbs now, not sure of her exact weight, because we go to the dr this week
She just started to SIMLE!! about 4 weeks old, now that she is almost 6 weeks she does it more often
Gracie loves her swing! She is either in my arms or the swing usually
she is a little mommies girl- she loves to stay up til usually 2 am and hang out with mommy
She is a great breastfeeder- she actually refuses to take a bottle or a pasifire. which sometimes makes things difficult
haha, alittle embarrassing, but she poops all the time, and loud!!! not really what you want to hear in the middle of church, but it happens :)
she has enormous patience, her brother loves on her all the time, somethimes too hard, and she just lets him
I call her my eternal stretcher, she is always stretching. It takes her a good 20 minutes of stretching before she wakes up.
she is so beautiful, every breath she takes reminds me of ho lucky I am to have her and to be her mom
she loves laying on her daddy's tummy
she has her daddy wrapped around her finger!!! I love watching them together, Makes me love Mark more

So pretty much Gracie has rocked our world in the greatest way possible! Our little Gracie Abigail is the sweetest little blessing. Now things arent always so peachy, there are tears and hair pulling somedays, but I'm bragging here, It's my right as a momma right! I love my babies, and I love that my little guy is such a great big brother. We are blessed!

Gracie sitting in her swing

this is Gracie's signiture face

Gracie is one month old

My sweet babies

2011-07-01T21:28:00.000-07:00

my poor sweet babies rash soooo easily.... I have been battling an on going bum rash with Gracie since she was about a week old. It got so bad this past week that I almost took her to the doctor. Now at the same time Poor sweet Eldon started having a sore throat/scratchy throat. I thought he was getting sick.. no good with a newborn, but what I didn't realize until Mark pointed it out was that Eldon was cutting his molars. :( which in turn is now giving him a bum rash :( poor babies... which in turn, poor mommy and daddy. bedtime was rough tonight, and still not over. Eldon went to bed round 9pm and mark crashed round 11:30pm. Gracie is currently on my shoulder as I am typing this. She is my little night owl! she loves being up late and spending time with mommy I think. Hope we get to sleep soon.
So to sum up my story both babies have bum rashes and both are miserable because of it.

I'm not lucky, and there are no such thing as coincidences

2011-06-19T21:45:00.000-07:00

I am NOT Lucky!

Brought on by a really good lesson in church, I really started thinking. So many good things have happened lately that I have found myself saying, "wow I am so lucky that such-and-such happened" But after a lesson is Relief Society brought up the benefits of obedience, I realized that being "lucky" is not just being lucky, and that it is blessings.
I keep telling myself how lucky it was that Gracie was born healthy and safely and that I didn't have to be in the NICU, or worse. I feel guilty some days admitting that Heavenly Father "blessed" me with a healthy baby, because I know so many aren't. After our lesson today I don't feel that guilty any longer because I know that Heavenly Father blesses and tries us all in different ways. He know what someone can handle, and he knows how to stretch our limits. My father in heaven know me and he knows my strengths and weaknesses.

So NO I am not LUCKY!

I am SO BLESSED!
-Blessed to have the happiest little guy named Eldon who loves to play
-Blessed to be given a beautiful sweet little girl named Gracie
-Blessed to have a home to put both of them under at night
-Blessed to have a hard working husband who I love
-Blessed to know that if we ever are separated in this life, we will have eternity to spend together
-BLESSED

Also there are no such thing as coincidences...

You aren't thinking about someone by coincidence, and you don't just call them by coincidence when they are breaking out in tears. You don't get a visit from a friend when you feel lonely. You don't "by chance" come to an answer to your prayers.
This week, and really the past 3 weeks I have had many "coincidence" moments. A dinner brought to my home, a phone call from friend just checking how I am. Really small little things. nothing major, but the Lord has his hand in my life for sure.
THANK YOU!
To everyone who has thought of me and picked up the phone this week. You are answering prayers. Some days it gets a little crazy not having anyone to talk to but a 2 year old who only speaks of Buzz and woody, and cars, and penguins (peen jins as Eldon calls them) and a newborn who I am just getting use to. Just your phone calls have made my day.
Don't get me wrong I love being here with my babies, but I like having some "human interaction from the adult world" as I call it.

I am not Lucky and there are no such thing as coincidence: My new motto :)

Scrubby Dub... Gracie's Chillin' in the tub: First "REAL" Bath

2011-06-14T18:23:00.000-07:00

Gracie got her first bath this past Monday the 6th. She was so adorable. I had been giving her sponge baths, but she was in need of a good scrub down. She let out a little cry for the firsst 2 seconds, but once I started pouring water on her hair she got this little dazed look in her eyes and her mouth fell open. She loved gettting bathed so much, she didnt let out another peep.
Now she loves to just sit in the tub and have me pour water over her head. Gracie loves a clean head of hair I guess, plus with how much she has, everyone always touches it so it gets greasy pretty quickly.
Here are the pictures of her first bath in order. I made them smaller, but if you click on the picture it will switch to full screen.

Mark wanted to get in on the pictures

She is so tiny compared to my brush

Gracie's birth Story- Part 2

2011-06-09T17:02:00.000-07:00

Alright if you haven't read part one and want to go ahead ans scroll down, if not, here is more of our story...

So I am put in a wheel chair and these horrible socks are put on my feet, They are prison-orange with black grippers on the bottom ( don't know why this is important but I remember at the time I thought they were the ugliest things I had ever seen) The nurse said It was cold in the OR and that I would want them on. She was right... but I will get to that later. So we get to the OR and they direct Mark towards a bench and tell him to wait outside and they will call him in.... My initial reaction, I burst out with "NO, he is coming in" but what I really was meaning was, "If you want me to go in, he is coming in with me. It is both of us or none at all" I was so panicked at the time, I knew being separated from him would kill me. They have me jump up on this thin table and Mark stands in between my legs. They raise the table up and the anesthesiologist has me crouch over.

Everything is moving at hyper-speed... It is now when I realize how dire a situation we are in. They wouldn't be moving this quick if something weren't truly wrong.

Mark, tells me to focus on him as I feel the sting of the numbing medicine in my back ( the little numbing needle before they insert the "BIG ONE") Once the spinal is in, I am instantly laid down on the table, which is a good thing, because within seconds I cant feel my legs. The drape goes up at the same time and I feel pulling of some sort on my stomach.

Okay now I pride myself in knowing a whole lot about birth, I have watched many videos of sections, just to prepare myself if this situation ever were to arise. I know watching those videos, that things are happening alot faster to me than they ever did in the videos. Seriously less than one to two minutes since I got my spinal, and Mark tells me Gracie is out. ( two minutes that was way too quick... right, There must be a reason, something must be wrong. )

I was very internal at this point, wasn't talking or crying for that matter, but I see Mark looking over at the table where I assume Gracie is, but I can't see her, but shouldn't I hear her?! Why hadn't she cried. One minute ticks away at the clock, and still no crying. My midwife who stayed with me the entire time leans in and tells me there was meconium (poop) in her waters, and they are having to suction her before they stimulate her to breath, so she won't breath it in. That was the half of it. I find out later that Gracie is being worked on. They are heavily suctioning her nose and mouth as they perform CPR. At 1 minute her APGAR score is a 1 out of 10. If you know what that is, you know how BAD that is. The only thing she had was a slow decreasing pulse. Our little Gracie is a fighter though and at 2 minutes she decided she wanted to take her first breaths and she lets out this adorable lusty cry, along with more poop:) haha she was so stressed I guess that was her reaction to the situation. Her cry was just like Eldon's and I knew her at once. She was mine, and I was hers. They get her cleaned up and she poops again :) I think she was just teaching the doctors a lesson. The 4 doctors that were working on Gracie diminishes to just 2. Mark is taking pictures of her and showing me after he does because I still cant see her. After Everything is finally cleaned she is weighed in. Measuring only 5lbs 10 oz and 18 1/2 inches long. She is so teeny tiny. I was expecting a good 9 pounder since Eldon was 8-9 and I was past my due date. Mark brings Gracie over to me, and we meet for the first time. There is no denying she is the spitting image of her older brother. Long lashes, olive skin tone, and dark thick head of hair to prove it.
After about 20 minutes I am stitched up and headed to recovery. I get to hold Gracie for the first time as they wheel me down the hall. Gracie is smothered with tons of kisses. She is my little miracle, and my baby girl!
I get to breast feed her withing 40 minutes of her being born. i would have guessed it would have been difficult, but she was a pro. She latched on great and feed for the next 40 minutes! I really was nervous about being separated from her, but she never left my side. After and hour in recovery Gracie was having a bit of trouble breathing, her lungs were pitting, and it just means she was working harder to breath, as they prick her foot to test her sugars, they call down to NICU, once NICU gets there 5 minutes later, she no longer was having problems. My little girl is a fighter I tell you! She was fighting since we arrived that night. Her sugars were a 90!! awesome because the cut off is 40.
We head down to postpartum all together. We were all 3 of us able to spend the next few hours together. they didn't take Gracie away at all. It was amazing!!!! I love my little girl so so so much. She is 2 weeks old today , and we cant imagine life without her.
Recovery has been tough, basically the hardest and most painful thing I have ever experienced. Not being able to move, and having a stinging gut punch every time I move to quickly, or try to sit up, or use my lower abs really has been hard to get use to. Still after 2 weeks its hard to sit up in bed. I have to have pillows propping me up in bed so when Gracie wakes up for a feeding, I am already halfway sitting up.
My incision is healing, but life is crazy now. Having 2 kids is a crazy world for me. I love My Eldon So very very much and now I love Gracie just the same. I love our little family, even though the experience is nothing like I had planned, I am glad Gracie is safe. Women always say it wont matter how you gave birth, just as long as the baby is safe, but I do have to admit I feel a bit robbed of the natural birth I wanted. I will get over it, but if we decide to have more kids, I really still do hope I can have my natural delivery.

P.S- Just in case you wanted to know- this is what I found out after the fact about Gracie's delivery. Gracie came out grey and not breathing, mark said when they pulled her out she was "floppy" like lifeless. Makes me cry every time I image it, now I'm really glad he didnt record it. She was not breathing, and we came soo close to losing her. We really could have easily lost her, If we would have come to the hospital an hour later the doctor said " things could have been "different" is the term my doctors used. But really they meant I could of had to give birth to a stillborn. No one wanted to use that word, but every one kept saying things could of gone wrong, or been different. I guess I really dont even like to use that term, especially now that I know our sweet little Gracie. Also her cord was half the size it should have been, which accounts for her smaller size, and not really able to thrive in the womb. They said the placenta looked "weird" not bad in the sense it was old, just not right. Seriously though we were VERY lucky. And blessed. Baby girl Gracie is a sweet little spirit and her name is very fitting to the way she came into this word. She was given to use by nothing less than the grace of God.

Welcome
GRACIE ABIGAIL GEORGE
5lbs 10 oz
18 1/5 inches long
May 26th, 2011
@ 11:42pm

Money?

2011-06-09T13:21:00.000-07:00

They say money can't buy happiness, but it sure would make things easier. Not alot of money, but SOME would be great.
I have had this internal ting, like an itch you can't reach, that has been bothering me for some time now. Right after Eldon was born I started staying home instead of working, because day care would be way too expensive, and not worth it. Makes sense. Now with 2 babies really staying at home makes the most sense, but I feel somewhat of guilt not being able to help out with our financial burdon, and a burdon it truely has been. Me and Mark had great savings up until our move to Georgia. With the move, losing our car and now having 2 car payments instead of one, and not having income for 3 weeks, It has really set us back. We have been staying ontop of bills, but looking ahead i see a time when the decision may come between groceries, or a bill, or tithing or a bill. I hate not being able to do anything about it. Some days I really feel useless, and now since having Gracie my emotional train is everywhere, and it is effecting me more everyday.
I even told Mark the other day that some days, and I'm not gunna lie, most days I would rather him stay home and me go to work. It would be so much easier. Being a momma to 2 babies is hard work! I don't know how women do it. Seriously it is the hardest job I have ever had. Averaging on 3-4 hours of sleep everynight definately doesnt help.
Sorry for the rant just needing to air out some emotions in a more productive way.
Here is to praying that all will work out.

Gracie's Birth Story Part 1

2011-06-05T22:12:00.000-07:00

Wednesday May 18th Was my due date. Well Wednesday came and went and still no baby. I had done my research and was very animate on having as much of a natural birth as possible... so I did not set up and induction date until the last minute possible, and healthy for both me and baby. ( I was set to be induced on Tuesday, May 31st- 1 week and 5 days past my due date). Mom decided to be safe she was going to fly in that Thursday the 19th , and we both thought by her coming, it would allow me to relax a little more, and Gracie would decide to come.
That Friday the 20th came and I had an early morning appointment with my midwives group to has an NST ( none stress test) and my regular 40 week apt. The NST was great, and Gracie was kicking up a storm, my Midwife was still on board with me letting myself go natural. but I still had to come back Tuesday if I hadn't gone into labor. Well as my luck would have it, Tuesday the 24th came and still no baby, I headed back for another NST and a followup appointment ( this was my 3rd NST by the way, I had another one the previous Tuesday) Gracie again was looking great, they even monitored contractions, which were about 5 minutes apart lasting 20 seconds, and not painful. She was kicking the monitors like crazy, and her HB was great! The midwife said my NST strip was perfect and it showed no signs of the placenta going bad. but again the NST only guarantees placenta for 3 days, so I had an appointment for Friday, and my induction date on Tuesday.
Thursday- still having poopy contractions ( by poopy, I mean after 3 day after having them 5 minutes apart, and still not any stronger, they just were making my back hurt) Me and mom decide to take Eldon to the QT to get a Slurpee. The QT is about a mile plus down the road, we head off but on our way home, we can see there is a storm rolling in. Right as we round the corner to get into our neighborhood it starts to pour down rain! Seriously it was crazy thick rain. less then a minute later it starts to thunder and lightning. The lightning felt like it was right on top of us. We get home and we were soaking wet. I showered and got dressed and ready to head out. Mom had paid for me to get a "labor inducing" massage. I head off round 7pm. It was an interesting massage half of it was great, but the other half hurt! she used trigger points and acupressure, so it wasn't as relaxing as I had hoped. But during the massage I tried to get my mind in the right place. I thought about Gracie alot. I thought about my birth plan, and about how I wanted to bring he into the world safe, and as natural as possible. Then I started to have this gut wrenching "bad " feeling. Who knows what it was, I can't even tell you what I was worried about, but I was worried. My hands were shaking, and I figured I was thinking about Gracie when I started having these thoughts, so they must have something to do with her. The entire ride home I spent poking my belly. I felt Gracie move, but she wasn't kicking back like she normally did.
I got home in a funky mood. I told Mark I was gunna lay on my left side and try and feel her. I did again feel her. I remember what the OB said.. .10 kicks in an hour i believe. I was able to count that many in 30 minutes. So that was good right?? Why didnt I feel good, why did I still have a bad feeling. 10 kicks in 30 minutes is great right. I talked with Mark and he again reassured me it was probably nothing. I waited about 30 minutes, then I snuck into my room and called the after hours number for my OB and asked to have the on call midwife call me back. I felt really dumb calling when I didnt even know what was wrong.
The midwife called me back and I gave her all the info, she said everything seemed fine, but if I was worried I could always come in and be monitored. I said yes, not even thinking. Then I went in the next room and told mom and Mark I just wanted to head in to the hospital to check on things. Mark most likely thought... great it's gunna be a late night, but he was great and supportive of my crazy "feelings" and he took me to the hospital anyways.
We get to the hospital, and Mark goes to grab the bags out of the car. I told him not to grab anything. After all it was most likely just a crazy feeling and we were just going to be in and out anyways... right? so why does my "bad feeling" keep getting worse. We go though the registration, and head to triage. I am hooked up to the monitors, and right off the bat, Gracie's Heartbeat is, fr lack of a better word, CRAP. Her HB is 162-165 and just not moving. After a contraction I notice a drop in her HB not bad, but not great. The nurses tell me the midwife reviewed the strip, and say I am staying and being admitted, and I was going to have this baby tonight. The nurse comes in to give me my IV, I am asking her what is going to happen. I see my natural plan going out the door! She says they will start my IV then the midwife will come in and decide on Pitocin or an artificial rupture of my waters. All of a sudden 5 or so people rush into the room, My midwife being one of them. She informs me that I am going to have my baby right now and it has to be by C-section. Her HB is dropping horribly! I glance over to the strip, and it shows a deceleration in her HB. It had dropped to practically nothing.
My immediate reaction is "no". I actually said it to. I thought she was joking, she had to be joking. She explains why a section is necessary and it is for my baby girl. I understand, and the tears that are coming down my face let up. I didn't even know they had started. I send mark out to the car to at least grab a camera.
Madness in the room explodes, everyone asking questions, someone sticking me with an IV, the anaesthesiologist introduces himself, the OBGYN comes in and introduces herself, more questions. The tears come back, I'm not breathing, not breathing. I am really having my first panic attack. The midwife is holding my had. I decide I have to tune everyone out or I'm not going to make it through this. being cut open on a table, and awake for the whole thing. what if I feel it, what if the baby isn't okay. why did I wait so long to come to the hospital. Too many questions are running through me. Mark is back and getting dressed in scrubs. I ask to go to the restroom. I'm finally alone. I think I said a prayer, but I was too rattle to remember if I said anything beyond "please..." In my mind I just kept repeating please, please, please... Maybe It was please let everything be okay, but all I was able to muster was please...please.... PLEASE!

I will finish the rest later, I want to be detailed, but this is getting too, long and it is getting too late, and I still have laundry... so until then...

....to be continued in part 2....

Maybe... please I'm really not crazy just pregnant

2011-05-12T11:57:00.000-07:00

Okay let me preface this with a warning: okay so I am 39 plus weeks pregnant and I may have a little crazy in me so here is a rant for all those out there. Maybe I'm not the only crazy one out there, and maybe other pregnat women feel the same as me, I just feel like writing it out maybe will get some of the "crazy" out of me.... So here goes:

…Maybe.

The 37 week mark was officially marked off of my calendar a little more than 2 weeks ago now, and as with every other pregnant woman in the world that hits the magic “full term” mark, I’m was chomping at the bit to get this little girl out of me and meet her! Actually, that's a complete and utter lie. I am completely obsessed. But waiting till 37 weeks to start any self inducing techniques was the smartest thing to do.

Every contraction and I’ve got the stop watch out. Was that a kick? She must be getting into place. Did my water just break? nope just a little pee (very embarrassing BTW, please don't tell me I'm the only one). Now don’t get me started on any new-found substances(and that's all I'm gonna say about that). "That’s gotta mean she’s coming today"( I would say to myself cause – goodness help me – I can’t see any other possible explanation for that. this wouldn't be happening if she weren't coming today. Pack the bags, put them in the car... should we call the doctor.. go to the hospital?? Even with this being my 2nd pregnancy I still have these thoughts.

So, as I get closer and closer to the oh-so-desirable-yet-possibly-unreachable-gonna-poke-my-eyes-out-cause-that’s-just-too-darn-far-away 40 week mark, I find myself playing detective on Google more and more frequently. Specifically, searching ways to get the ball rolling and induce labor. Walk, sex, bounce, stretch, hula, dance, spicy food, primrose oil, massage, Castor oil, liquorice, stairs... u name it and in the past 2 weeks I have probably tried it out.

After all of this research, as you can see I am still pregnant. Some women swear by these ways which I cannot jump on that bandwagon.. obviously; and some say they’re completely pointless.. as I tend to agree with more, because of my obvious state, pregnant still. I can tell you this though… I will continue to try everything I can so that I can put a little balloon on my calendar marking my baby being born, and maybe selfishly that day will be before that 40 week mark on my calendar.

I know, I know what most people will say: they come when they are ready.... your baby just enjoys the home you have made for the past 9 months and doesn't want to leave, and the list goes on and on. Now here is what i Have concluded. I finally have come to realize that there is someone out there that is having a really good time pulling a prank on us pregnant women 37 weeks plus. There is someone out there that just wants to keep us busy and that is where all these "self inducing" techniques came from. Okay now even though I have come to this conclusion that all these techniques most likely will not work, it still hasn't stopped my crazy from coming out and walking everywhere, pacing, and pulling out the Wii and doing a few rounds hula hooping :)

Okay I am done, hopefully I didn't scare anyone too bad, maybe I made you laugh because you have been where I am.. either way I'm glad to get some of this off my chest. Now I need to go so I can get back to work on my self inducing :) wish me luck!

Bow board

2011-05-09T22:32:00.000-07:00

So I have been mad crazy making and buying up bows! Mark thinks I am nuts, but I just want to make sure she has one for every outfit/occasion :). Plus I really enjoy making all the "girly stuff"! Okay so I needed a place to put all of her bows and I landed on a plan: I will make a bow board. But I didn't want just a square board with ribbon, No, that just wouldn't do for my soon to be princess. So I set off making a ballerina bow board, and after many burns with the hot glue gun and lots of tool, this is what I managed to com up with. Oh and PS she had way to many bows so I made 2 green ribbons and stuck all the similar bows on the ribbons! It really makes me want to make more, but I think I will calm down a bit, maybe I will start making them and giving them away or selling them, who knows, but for now this is a hobby I love! Enjoy tell me what you think?!

one of those days?

2011-05-05T09:54:00.000-07:00

Ever have one of those days where no matter what you do, everything seems a mess. That is my today :/ I have had some intense back and pelic pain since yesterday, and am trying to push through it, but it is tough. On top of that my active little boy is wanting my attention so bad that he has resorted to throwing everything at me. And I mean everything, toys, cars, empty sippy cups, plates, and food... you name it the list goes on and on. Finally i got him to settle down and color while I made my 20th trip to the bathroom this morning, when I can back he was coloring the floor and my walls. Thank goodness for washable crayons :)
Just add that to the list... Hopefully I will be able to get things picked up and cleaned before baby girl gets here, but it's not looking good.
When I put El down for his nap, I think I will have a good emotional "cry it out", then I will put my big girl panties on, and get over it, and get to work. These days a good cry is really what helps.
I love my crazy wild boy, but I will be more excited when I can run and jump and play with him like I use to.

P.s.- as I finished up typing Eldon came up to me lips puckered and gave me a big kiss! it makes everything better!!!

From Poppy Seed to Watermelon

2011-04-26T22:55:00.000-07:00

So How did time fly by so fast. It seems like yesterday me and Marky found out we were expecting, and I made a shirt for Eldon that said on the front: "guess how big I am..." and on the back it said, "big enough to be a big brother!" Then Our Little baby Grace was only this big (see below). Wow how things have changed :) As a prego person, I tend to be a little more interested in the physical aspects of pregnancy and less of the emotional "bonding" part, but Throughout this baby I have grown to love my little one, I feel like with Eldon and his pregnancy I just took it in strides, but with Gracie, she has just grown on me. I feel like I know her, I think that is why I am so content with staying pregnancy. With El I was running stairs at this point :)

Weeks 3 & 4*: Poppy seed
My little zygote ,..
... And now we are here... 37 weeks pregnant, the End is near and I really don't know how I feel, I'm sad, excited, nervous, anxious, thrilled: All of these feelings come and go at one point or another during the day. I just know that having my little girl come home to our house will be the most wonderful moment. My family is complete and whole.

Weeks 37-Delivery (Month 9): Watermelon

Average size: 18.9-20.9 in, 6.2-9.2 lb

Full term! Baby Gracie is finally ready for the outside world... but who is to say when...

Little Gracie,
It's every mother's dream to have a little girl, and the moment I found out I was pregnant I knew you were on your way. I want to be the best mom I can be, for you and for your sweet amazing big brother. I love you both and want you to know and feel that every day of your life. You are my precious little flower and I know you will be as gorgeous as a rose.You have been specially made from your feet to the very tip of your nose. Me and your dad made your from scratch and it has been a long nine months of cooking, so keep safe and warm because, my baby girl, you are one of a kind. At night I dream I can see and smell your sweet newborn skin.You are as sweet as honey; such an innocent baby girl. How lucky we are to be blessed with you in our family. You will shine brighter than any star in the sky every time you smile and you will wrap your Daddy so tight around your little fingers. I want you to be proud of who you are and strive to be the best, you come from an amazing family who all love you so much! Put forth your efforts to achieve your goals and let God do the rest. I will always be your mother first, but I want to be your friend.Your are the most precious gift, that a mother could ever been given.

I can't wait to see you soon little Gracie, don't be afraid if when the first time you see me I am all sweaty and gross, trust me we will both get a bath, and then we will really get to know each other :) Until then stay safe and warm.

I love you more than my own life,
Mom

Nesting???

2011-04-20T00:43:00.000-07:00

...Maybe who knows, but I am sewing, hanging up pictures and cleaning... as much as I can.. I am so tired all the time, too bad I cant get comfortable to sleep. Every wave hits the shore right :) I just tell myself I will blink and little Gracie will be here! Enjoying every minute in the process.

The final countdown...

2011-04-16T22:35:00.000-07:00

Everyday for the past week or so I am reminded by my growing belly how little time I have left with ONLY my sweet baby boy Eldon. (just having to type this sentence starts the waterworks....) Don't get me wrong I am totally excited to have my little girl and for Eldon to have a partner in crime, but lots of me feels really guilty for having to take away time from him and split it with a new arrival.
Let me paint you a picture of our lives the past few months: Eldon is my best friend, I wake up every morning to my little guy calling out my name from the next room.... "mommaaaa, mooommma, mommaaa?!" He will get louder and louder and start to call out other names like"ko-eeeee" (Chloe) "beh-buh" (Bella) are the usual names because he knows they are home too, and then he will move on to "nannnna"(Nana) and "pawpaaa" (poppa), he normally only calls for dada after his nap, I don't know why that is, I think he knows by now that mark leaves for work. Anyways... off on a tangent... I get up wash my face, brush teeth, empty prego bladder and head to El's room, We change his diaper, and then dance in circles a bit in his room then it is off to let the puppies outside which immediately is followed up with a "baba" demanded by Eldon (like I have forgotten to grab him a sippy cup) then he request either "peh-jins" or "buzz" (penguins- for happy feet, but sometimes may also be called "pijjies", and buzz is requesting toy story) While he is busy watching the show I am preparing El's breakfast, usually eggs, sometimes he just goes for cereal when mom is really tired, and I am shoving down my yogurt, before he gets the chance to come "feed me" he loves to feed mommy her yogurt and finds it better when half of it ends up on the floor.:) We usually spend the mornings in the house with toys and bikes, and coloring, and of course toy story or happy feet are playing in the background alllllll morning long. If mommy isn't too tired we go on a walk and Eldon has to bring at least 15 toys along for the ride. the whole time i push him, if I slow down going up a hill he will start shouting out "Gooooo gooo go!" he can be very demanding :) after our fun morning El will nap for 2 hours usually some time around 1, I will nap too as of lately, or get some cleaning done. Once El wakes up, we run errands we need to for the day, and usually play outside until Dadda comes home sometime between 5 and 6. Then my little helper plays with dad for a few minutes while I start dinner. We eat, Eldon gets a bath usually by 5:45 but sometimes if mark is running late not til 6:15ish, We get into PJ's and sit on the couch for our final go at happy feet or buzz. We snuggle for about 30 minutes watching the movie, and then it is back to bed usually before 7. He lays down, I tell him to say his prays :) and I let him know he is my favorite little boy EVER and to not let the bed bugs bite. Sometimes i can hear him saying "Buuuug buug bugg..." as me and Mark leave the room. Then it is just me and hubby the rest of the night.
Now to you this may seem like the most boring day, but to me I LOVE IT!!!! my little buddy keeps me laughing, and running and chasing all day long! He is discovering new things and new words every day and I love to watch him grow. Life as a stay at home mom can be hard, but my goodness I can never see myself missing out on all the things Eldon does and enjoys during the day. He is the best little guy, and I am so lucky to be his mom, he is my light, When I get an ounce of pregnancy hormones all I want to do is cuddle with my little guy! He is my happy thought, as Tinkerbell told peter pan once to think of a happy thought and he would fly, Eldon is my thought and he makes me fly everyday I am with him!
Now to why I am so sad, I am so scared that I might lose the bond that me and him have when baby Gracie comes, I'm so scared he will resent me for changing her first or giving her a bottle, or picking he up when she cries. I want Eldon to have everything he wants when it comes to me, if I had to I would give him every part of me. No sacrifice would be too big. I understand finally how hard it was for Heavenly Father to turn the other way as his son was beaten and hung on the cross. How much it had to hurt him to see his child, his own son in such mortal pain. What an amazing sacrifice that was displayed not only by Jesus but by his father, who I am sure had just of hard of time doing nothing when he had the power to do everything. And Everything is what I would give for Little Eldon. He is the best and most perfect son any mother could want and he is mine, he is my baby. I love him from his head to his little piggy toes!
So only a week and a half until I am full term :/ I want to see and meet Gracie and have the baby I have loved for 9 months with us, but I am okay with her staying inside just a few more weeks so that me and my Eldon get our last few days with "just us"! I pray he loves his sister just as much as I love him and that he wants to protect her just as I would protect him :) We are edging this final count down... who knows what will happen at the other side :) Lets hope and PRAY everything will go smoothly.

My best friend and I looking out off Stone mountain into downtown ATL

On a side note I found this short story and I think it pretty much describes my mind as of yet, with a pregnant brain and all... hopefully you will enjoy, and I am leaving on a more humorous note!

If You Give a Mom a Muffin

If you give a mom a muffin,

She'll want a cup of diet coke to go with it.

So she'll pour herself some.

The coke will get spilled by her two year old.

She'll wipe it up.

Wiping the floor, she will find some dirty socks.

She'll remember she has to do some laundry.

When she puts the laundry in the washer,

She'll trip over some shoes and bump into the freezer.

Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan supper for tonight.

She will get out a pound of hamburger.

She'll look for her cookbook. (101 Things To Make With a Pound of Hamburger.)

The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.

She will see the phone bill which is due tomorrow.

She will look for the checkbook.

The checkbook is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two year old.

She'll smell something funny.

She'll change the two year old.

While she is changing the two year old the phone will ring. (Of course!)

Her two year old will grab the phone and accidentally hang up.

She remembers that she wants to phone a friend to come over and share a diet coke on Friday.

Thinking of coke will remind her that she was going to have a cup.

She will pour herself some.

And chances are,

If she has a cup of diet coke,

Her kid will have eaten or smashed the muffin that went with it.

( PS I exchanged coffee for diet coke :) Hope this made you smile, it did for me )

So tired...

2011-04-14T23:34:00.000-07:00

I can't sleep anymore, I have gotten so big that it really is uncomfortable no matter which direction I am in. But other than that I have so many things I have to get done, and not enough time it seems to do it in. So today I put together Gracie's crib, made 5 more bows, weeded the flower beds in the front yard, bleached the baseboards (trying to get rid of sugar ants), did 2 loads of dishes ( yeah I am alittle behind), cleaned kitchen, mopped floor, then bleached the floor, Did 3 loads of laundry, unpacked 2 large clothing boxes from mine and marks room... and that is just all I remember (My prego brain takes over sometimes). And now I am sitting here typing on my computer at 2:30am exhausted from the day and I can't sleep.
Moving 7 weeks before my due date is not really been good on my pregnancy, and really to say the truth, it has sucked, but that is just when we look at things from a prego point of view. I am reminded every day that i have a wonderful hardworking hubby who is an ATLANTA FIREMAN!!! and I have the most amazing little boy in the world, who is my best friend and my cure for loneliness. I love my boys, and I am so excited to grow more love, and love my little girl on the way! Lets hope she stays in there long enough and get good well done and cooked. With Eldon I was hoping on a 37 weeker, but this little girl can stay in 40 weeks and I will be happy because with how crazy things are now, I need more than just 2 weeks to get things ready for my little girly!
Anyways I know this is a rambling post, but thats what happens when it is 2:30 am. and we are running on day 3 of only 4 hours sleep each night... and that is rounding :)
NIGHT :)

We live in Georgia!

2011-04-07T15:56:00.000-07:00

We made the big move and have been here since March 15th. So much has happened and hopefully I will get some time to post later about all the happenings here, but for now here are just a few pictures and a video. Momma told me I must post so I dont wanna get in trouble, so here it is. Most.. well all of the pictures are from back in Utah but I wanted to make sure I posted them. Enjoy! :)

These are a few pictures of after bath, ever since I told Eldon we have to clean the bugs out of his ears, he insist we do it every night, and that he be the one to do it. He will sit there and repaet Buuuug buuug buug until we get all of them out :)

My little guy gets so many bruises, we dont even know where they come from, he is constantly running and falling on his shins... sometimes it makes me so sad :(

This is apparently how much Eldon and Ella love each other.. there seems to be some sort of cousin rivally or something... no just kidding Eldon thinks he is a big kid, and doesnt understand that he is a baby too. We are hoping with the little one coming soon, he will enjoy playing more with kids his own age

CHEEEESE!

Life is changing... and soon!!

2011-03-02T21:12:00.001-08:00

I have been itching to post something and blog for a while, I really feel like writing things out helps me more than anything. And I don't know whether I should be posting but here goes nothing.

Okay let me paint a picture on the 16th of Feb mark got an unexpected call from The hiring Chief over Atlanta. We already had a letter that Mark was placed on a potential hire list number 45 out of 200+, which we were so excited for, but they were only taking the top 40, so we missed it just by a hair. Well the call from the chief said that the applicants above mark, a few were suspended, so now Mark had been bumped up on the list, and needed to come to Atlanta to finish the final part of the hiring process. Mark left on a plane for GA that following Sunday. He completed a background check, medical check, fingerprinting, a psychological analysis test (pretty much an aptitude test but much more intense). After all of this he signed a conditional work agreement which pretty much says if everything turns out okay, then we will have a job. Mark was going to come home that Wednesday, but he had to have a polygraph test and a psychological exam done, and the psych test wasn't scheduled til Monday. so we extended his ticket and mark spent the entire week soaking up GA.

Mind you during this time I am at home with Eldon packing away our house and growing a baby... which I am now 29 weeks pregnant. I was spending hours doing research on insurance and moving and a whole bunch of other things that would be needed in order for us to move cross country.

Mark hasn't signed the official job offer, but we are 99.999999% positive everything is turning out okay. Did I mention that the start day is MARCH 17!!!! That is officially 2 weeks from today!!!! WOW.
We have had issues, and pretty early on we came to the reality, that I may not be able to move with Mark until after the baby is born. She is due May 18th BTW. The job in Atlanta won't extend medical benefits until after 90 days, and Gracie is due in less than 80 from today. So Me and Eldon could be moving in with my parents for 2 months until baby girl is born.

I am in the most emotional state right now. People ask me how I am and for no reason at all I just break down in tears. We are so hugely blessed right now, Mark is graduated, and gets his dream job working in a major city, and we get our little girl all within a few months! I think all the extra blessings being thrown our way though is really making me have a mini panic attack. For example today at my 29 week appointment I had to tell my doctor all the happenings, and I had to face some facts that I could be having our little bell here while Mark is stuck in GA. The reality struck me that i could possibly be doing it all on my own, and the tears just came, I stepped out of the office ( I was waiting on my 1 hour glucose test) and called Mark. He told me to breath and if I needed to take some time after the doctors, and do something for me! (He is always thinking about me! I love him!) When I was done at the doctors, I debated going out, but the only thing I wanted was to be back home with mark and Eldon. If I am going to be away from him in 2 short weeks I don't want to spend any time away. So home I went.

Right now our house has boxes spread here and there, and we are just waiting to see if private insurance will cover for the birth, so that Me and El won't have to be away from Marky. And then the final offer should come through this week, but knowing ATL they will wait till last minute and we wont find out anything until 2 days before, but who knows. Fingers crossed, there is alot that needs to be done, and a lot that needs to be sorted out in the next few days. But all in all we are VERY blessed right now i have to keep teling myself. But in 2 short weeks my 4 years in Utah could be over ( and although I will miss family, I couldnt be any more excited, Utah never really felt like home), and I could be soaking in the humitity once again!!!!! 2 WEEKS :)

Jump in on the ride

2011-02-19T00:08:00.000-08:00

So many things have happened and I haven't posted anything, because I am not sure what to say yet. Last time I left off with Mark Going to VA, he didnt get the job there, but all in all it is okay. We had high hopes but it didnt feel right so maybe it wasnt ment to be. Well along with me hitting a major milestone... 27 weeks pregnant ( 3rd trimester), and less than 90 days to go we have been dealing with the stress of where we are going to live and where Mark is going to get a job. Everytime we think we have decided something, another wrench gets thrown in and our plans change, I know this is way vage, but we are trying to not put our eggs out there before they hatch, but I just wanted to vent alittle and say that dealing with all these moving issues and jobs and being 7 months pregnant is making my stress level high to say the least. Okay so I am done, sorry if you dont understand anything of what I just wrote, but hopefully all will be revealed soon :)

Cooking and Cleaning

2011-01-28T13:38:00.000-08:00

Two of Eldon's favorite things to do in the world are cooking, and taking a bath! Here are a few special moments of Eldon cooking. He insisted on cooking a potatoe just like me. I wish he didnt get so camera shy because he really does talk alot! But Enjoy

The second video, I swear we aren't drowning our son, he hates water being poured on him, and he loved puting soap on his face. He thinks it is funny, and it usually is :) We bought this cool foam soap and he goes nuts for it!

Big Man

2011-01-14T21:43:00.000-08:00

Pictures of my big man coloring.. well mostly trying to eat the crayon :)

He is so happy.. please don't mind the dirty house our washer broke and the other one is taking 2 weeks to be delivered

Me and mark look at Eldon everyday and we comment on how BIG he is, and how that can't be the little guy we brought home from the hospital a year and a half ago?! But he is! He is super smart, and for sure can get his way. Eldon just turned 18 months old and attended church nursery for the first time. He didn't even know we left him:( I was a little sad, all I ask for is a few tears for momma, right? but no he just was so interested in watching. They have all the kids combined so a lot of the kids are older than him and I just think he is looking at them in awe. He loves to be big like his dad and now he gets to play with the "big kids" in nursery. We picked him up and he was a little red in the face from some tears, but mind you those tears are not for me or Marky, they were because church starts at 11am and is 3 hours long, and nap time is usually every day from noon til 2pm on a good day. But we survived, Eldon was happy, and me and Mark realized that they actually teach lessons on Sunday, and that we were able to pay attention for once :) It was really nice, and it is nice to have that transition with Eldon in nursery and having almost 5 months before Gracie come. Hopefully by then El will be a little bit better behaved in church. Right now sitting down for 1 whole hour just isn't what he wants to be doing.
In more news, Eldon went for his 18 month well visit and he is in the 50% for head and weight and greater than 98% for height!!! Crazy huh. He is now starting to combine words. Like he says more baba, and he says "dog,go, go, go" The last one I have to say is my fault, anytime the dogs are crowding Eldon when he has food I will say, " bad dog, go to your room." and Eldon will follow up with ,"dog, go, go,go, go..." Now mind you only me or mark really understand what he is saying, but it is so funny that he has learned things from us, even when we aren't teaching him, actively. I guess this means we are going to have to watch what we say :/
Well I think that is jut about it for updating, seems like the only thing I update on is Eldon, but this post is already toooo long, Maybe next post we will hear back from Marks trip out to VA and the testing he took for their fire department, and I will update some great news on that..... fingers crossed :) Gracie is now kicking me , literally, so I better go to bed so we all can get some rest! Night!

A little venting....sorry,tough week

2011-01-12T23:03:00.000-08:00

Okay I have to preface this post and apologize, but I need to complain just a bit... sorry to anyone who reads this in advance:)
Alright, so today and for the past almost week I have really started to feel the effects of being pregnant. The great parts, like when I am still at night this little girl kicks away. She has such a sweet soft little kick too but she is very consistent and she kicks the same spot over and over. It's funny I will push on her little kicks and I can tell she uses all he little strength to push back. With Eldon he would give up and punch me hard in another spot, but I totally believe this little woman is just as stubborn as me! But besides the amazing feeling of having the blessing of feeling her grow and move comes the bad parts. For the entire pregnancy I have had this intense heartburn and it will not go away, if anything it gets worse. I have been prescribed 2 different types of medicine to help, and have tried several natural methods of helping calm the heartburn, but to no avail. And now this week something has happened to my energy level. I seriously feel like I have been kicked down and I barely have energy to wake up, which i really hate for Eldon :( , but I also have had this intense pain in my lower back, and now the pain is radiating down my leg. It seriously is painful to stand. I don't know what is going on maybe a nerve or something but i am in serious pain.
They say 2nd trimester is the easy most enjoyable period during pregnancy, but as of right now all I am feeling is exhaustion and pain. :( I can't wait to meet my little baby girl, and trust me I wouldn't trade this pain and my little girl for anything in the world, but I would wish to get some of my energy back. Sorry for my rant, I really just like documenting the good and not so fun parts of life, and this week really has been a tough one to get through. Pray for my poor little baby that his momma will get more energy to play with him:) any advice on how to get up and not feel pain can help too :)

In other great perfect fantastic news my little girl now weights 1 whole pound!!!!! what an amazing milestone!!!!!!

Christmas 2010

2011-01-09T22:04:00.000-08:00

Sooooo.. this is me procrastinating once again :) Seriously lately I have been so tired, all my energy is going to waking up and getting Eldon through the day happy! He and Mark are my buddies and all my energy is to them.. so onto an update:
Christmas was so fun and confusing and and CRAZY!! We got up tp my parents house Christmas Eve, we ate wonderful soup and then we did a Christmas message. Dad read I believe in Santa, one of my favorite books, and then he gave us all one,and we gave our gifts to Jesus. After that we exchanged PJ's and then "hat" gifts.
Christmas mornig Eldon climbed out of his crip at 4am and we were only able to hold him off until 6:30 when he refused to go back to sleep and he woke gran-ma and popa up!
We walked down the stairs to TONS of presents, and needless to say mark spoiled me I spoiled him we both spoiled Eldon and Mom and dad of course spoiled Eldon, me , Mark, Nic, Ella , and Krissy. Christmas was such a wonderful blessing to be with our family and enjoy one another. I know we won't always be able to live so close together so it's really nice to enjoy it while it is here. Here are some pictures that show more of the fun we had!

Thanks!

2010-12-23T18:41:00.000-08:00

There are so many things to be thankful for but I just wanted to post a few that i am most grateful for this Christmas season!!

My Partner in crime. My LOVE! Mark!!!

My Perfect and energetic baby boy!!!

And my sweet little Gracie(who I really started to feel this week and last)

What a more perfect time to be thankful for the gift of our families than during the Christmas season! Merry Christmas to everyone! We love you all and are so grateful that you are apart of our lives!

P>S - I wanted to post pictures but it wasn't working so check back maybe later:)

Eldon's Babies

2010-12-14T20:40:00.000-08:00

Eldon has a deep love for all of his babies! He loves to get them out of his frog storage unit and love and role and hug and kiss all of them, and when he is all done he will of course throw them across the room. Here is the latest picture of Eldon showing off his new "CHEESE" smile. ( By the way El has learned to smile on command when we say cheeeeeese! Who would guess his mom takes pictures :))))

How can you not give this little guy anything he wants! He is for sure spoiled

Below are just a few more pictures from the past of Eldon Loving his favorite baby, his Frog Pittle, given to him by his uncle Pat!

April Showers bring May flowers but what do May-flowers bring??

2010-11-28T13:52:00.000-08:00

April Showers bring May flowers but what do May-flowers bring..... Well for us it bring a baby girl!!
Me Mark and Eldon will be adding another member to our family come May 18th. We found out yesterday that we are having a little..........GIRL... We are so super excited. I think we both were really hoping for a girl, even though either would be a blessing. Now we get to buy bows, and everything PINK. Not quite sure that having a girl is good for our budget :) Mark is a little scared I will go overboard. But she will be very spoiled from both of us for sure.
We are 16 weeks now and were able to get our first ultrasound yesterday on 11/27. She was so perfect, and it was so amazing watching her. She was so much the opposite of Eldon. Eldon would move and flip and turn and kick every which way. And he was not shy about showing he was a boy. This time our little bug just stayed curled up in t tight ball with her hands by her nose and both femurs tight together and tucked in close by her little tummy.
She had a perfect little button nose and cute little kissable lips just like her daddy. My favorite part was just watching how sweet she looked, she made this soft little movements (very opposite of Eldon). What i mean to say by all this is that, Eldon turned out just like he was in utero- wild and full of energy, and it was so cool to see how different our little girl was in the womb. We are thinking she may be a little calmer that her big brother, more like her dad is: content.
We are so grateful for this little blessing that has come into our lives, in a time when school, and work, and life is so crazy, it is nice to remember and be reminded by our heavenly father what matters most- Our Eternal family, and our family has grown by one!

Enjoy some pictures:

Meet our baby girl

Gracie

life is good

2010-10-22T23:11:00.000-07:00

Today is likely to be one of the most disappointing days our family has had in a while, nothing serious really, but a real wake up call. Mark decided we needed to get out of the house and get our minds off things, so we decided to go to the Halloween store and look around. Eldon sure had fun looking at all the scary things there. On a side note when did Halloween get to be this major slutty holiday, half the costumes in there covered like 1 tenth of your body or they were dirty and degrading! Whatever I'm just saying we always dressed up in something we wanted to be, or something fun.. like a pumpkin, or a clown, or my usually favorite: the princess which my dad made for me almost every year.... anyway back to subject.
We didn't find anything there so we went to Chick-fi-la.. .my favorite by the why, and had a perfect lunch and then we headed for home. We of course hit traffic because of u-dot!!!!!! and I laughed so hard Mark was making a funny noise every time we passed an orange cone, and after we had passed a few, Eldon was laughing too, and he started making the funny noises too! What a fun ride home, but none the less that doesn't take my mind away from the fact of earlier today, but it does put things in perspective. I love my family and at the end of the day that is all that matters to me!

A great day

2010-10-15T17:33:00.000-07:00

what a long time it seems it has been. I need to keep up with this so I don't forget all the wonderful memories our family has together.I have too say that having a husband who is going into firefighting is so amazing, yeah he will be working 24 hour shifts but only a few times a week, and the rest of the time will be spent with us! Me and Eldon love him so much, and I hate to admit it but Eldon gets most of the attention from him. They are really best buddies! El lights up every time dad comes back, and he cries every time he leaves. Right now Mark is doing tub time with Eldon, and I can't help but stand back and laugh at all the good times they have together. Eldon sure does know how to have fun with his daddy.
We were able to go to a play place for lunch, which is El's new favorite thing to do. we ordered a thing of fries to share and Eldon ate them all up. He also enjoyed sticking his hand in the fry saucee and licking it up, but he always made a gross face after he licked it. We played and trust me those play places were not meant for adults the little tubes just are too small for me and mark. It was funny watching mark go through the tubs, and I bet he had just as much fun watching me fit through the piping.
Eldon is our perfect little guy, and he is getting so much fun. He loves to say balloon, baba, mama, uh-oh, and I think he calls mark duhdo. but we will just wait and see if that sticks. He is out little ball of energy. He runs around ALL day from when he wakes up till he go to bed, and when he goes to bed at night he crashed from 6:30 til 8 or 9 usually. Mark has been the lucky one to be home when he doesn't wake till 11am!!! He sleeps so good, and I couldn't ask for a better baby, and we definitely didn't do any of this night time routine ourselves, Eldon is the one who drags us into the bathroom to start tub time, and ever since he could he has insisted his bed time be earlier, and he was right. Sorry if this post seems to be bragging I just wanted to write about how much I love the little things my son does!

Time is Flying

2010-10-03T00:02:00.000-07:00

Me and Mark were talking today about how the past 2 weeks seems to have flown by. On one hand it's a good thing, but when it comes to studying for anatomy it is a very very very bad thing. Last week in anatomy has been hard, but this week is a good break.
Me and Mark, and Eldon have been busy running here and there. This week we went to "This is the Place" with mom, Kristen, and Ella. We had a picnic, and then took a train ride around the park. It was okay, although nothing in that park is really original, everything has been restored and moved to this park, or it is a replica, but it is a good view into what life was like during those times.
Me and Mom canned peaches.... this is no easy task. It took us almost half the day and after peeling and processing 2 bushels of peaches, we ended up with about 30 or so Quart size jars of peaches: 15 a piece. So now we have salsa and peaches canned. We are thinking about making apple pie filling sometime next week, but we are taking a little break: The Peaches wore us out.
Eldon is still weighing in at a sturdy 25lbs, and he grows more and more every day. It's weird how he has been the same weight for months not but he keeps getting taller. Me and mark comment everyday> "do you think he looks taller than yesterday?" But other than that we are still teething, Tooth # 10 is making his way down, Eldon sure lets us know when they hurt. He will rub his gums or point to his toothbrush and he just rubs away. He is great at brushing his teeth if I forget to brush them at night he will point to the sink, very demanding for a 15 month old!
Eldon also is on the verge of talking every day! although most of the words he wants to say all start with a "B". He loves to point and say ba, or baaaall, or buuuu, and baba. I then have to interpret that to mean Baba-bottle, balloon(he is obsessed- we cant pass a car lot without him freaking out), and book. i would even go as far as to say that bottles, balloons, and books are his favorite things in the world! I have been trying to get him to drink from a sippy cup, but he just is very insistent, he will keep saying baba and increasing volumes until I switch, but I am determined to win :) I wonder where he gets his stubbornness from???
El is a big ball of energy and is so happy to be playing at the time, from 7:30 til 11 and then from 1/2ish pm till 6pm he is all business and all about playing. He is not one to sit still and play with a toy he has to drag, or run around the house with said toy.
We love out little man and we are really so blessed. Eldon is such a sweet little guy and you can't help but be in a good mood when your around him.
Oh and speaking of time flying... Mark is 25!!!! This is a little late, he turned 25 on September 16th. 25.... that is just crazy to me to think how much has changed in the past years: he was 16 when we met, 17 when we first kissed, and he took me to my sophomore homecoming, 19 when he came back to GA from Utah before his mission and took me to my junior homecoming, and I feel for him for the first time. 21 when we were reunited in Utah after his mission to CT and RI, and became fast friends, 22 when we started dating seriously and when we got married In April of 2008( I was only 19!!! Wow I was young!) 23 when we were married for one year and when he became a dad in July of 2009. 24 for year 2 of marriage and the graduation from UFRA- fire academy, and now here we are after all that has gone on in the last almost 10 years (9 but close enough) He is still that fun loving perfect boy I fell in love with at 19, except for now he is the man I love and the one I am going to spend the rest of eternity with! I love you Marky!! Happy birthday!

2010-09-25T15:57:00.000-07:00

Eldon has been super fun the last few days! He has been exploring and laughing and has just been great. He loves jumping on our soft down comforter, but most of all he likes running back and forth on the couch! He is definitely a summer baby! He loves the outdoors and always makes us keep the screen sliding door open! he runs in and out all day. I can't wait to have a home and just leave the door open so he can run outside and play whenever he wants. living 3 stories up definitely is a downer for going on walks with a stroller and going outside a lot. Here are a couple videos of El being silly and running around growling and laughing at Dad!

Free Coupon Winner

2010-09-02T19:41:00.000-07:00

By a random device, the winner of 20 Sunday 8/22 Smart Source inserts is...... Drum role please....
Mistie Boully!!!!
Congratulation! Make sure to cliam your prize by emailing me your information by Sunday so I can send you your inserts! Email me Here
If you didn't win, don't worry I plan to give away one freeebie a month. Be sure to check back it could be even greater next month!
Thanks to all who participated!
Steph

Smith's deals rap-up and freebees!!

2010-09-01T19:52:00.000-07:00

The new week of couponing started today, I don't know about you but I am tired after the amazing deals at Smith's this week. I hope everyone else was able to get some amazing deals also.
I was able to get free Colgate toothpaste and tooth brushes, I got 30 of each... I think I may put together a humanitarian aid package with all of them. I may not have use for 30 things of tooth paste but someone does and when it is FREE I am all for passing on the word!!! Another sweet deal that I was stoked about was my bounty paper towels. I ended up with 55 by the end of the week.
Random Percentage: Did you know that only roughly 5% of all coupons are used in Utah.... that mean there are another 95% of Sunday inserts being thrown out every week!!! trust me that just makes me mad : -/
OH well all we can worry about is ourselves! :)
Just a friendly reminder to get some awesome Walmart freebies and great deals:

Shout Wipes .97 (trial size)
use (8/8 SS) save $2.00/2
Final Price FREE

Schick Disposable Razors $1.97

use (8/22 SS) save $2.00
Final Price FREE
( these are hard to find... they sell quick! Good luck let me know if you have any!)

Clean and Clear .97 (trial size)

use (8/1 SS) save $1.00
Final Price FREE

Post-its $1.00 (Back to School section)
use (8/15 SS) save $1.00
Final Price FREE
( plus I believe there is a rebate for this one also!)

Huggies Wipes 40ct $1.24
use (8/22 SS) save .50
Final Price .74

Maruchan Yakisoba $.48

Use the .50¢/1 Coupon from the 8-29 SS
FREE Item

These are just a few that I have managed to bring home... I really enjoy these little travel sized they are great for on the go, and of course traveling but they work perfect for 72 hour kits also!

All right that's it for today! hope you have been inspired to coupon!
Happy couponing
*Steph*

Giveaway... 20 sunday SS inserts!!!

2010-08-30T20:37:00.000-07:00

Many of you that read know that I have really started to dive head first in couponing! I am really excited to see if I can start updating my blog with some of the amazing deals I find, and to kick off the whole thing I am giving away 20 Smart Source inserts from 8/22!!! How amazing is that! All you have to do is follow my blog and then leave a comment and on Friday I will randomly choose a winner! It doesn't matter where you live, just follow then comment and you are instantly in the running it is that easy. Happy couponing!!

*Stephanie*

July and August update

2010-08-27T21:52:00.000-07:00

Wow this summer has flown by and it seems I havent really posted much of anything. I forgot to post pictures from El's birthday. He had a blast and thank you so much to everyone who showed up you all made it just perfect! I wouldnt of had it any other way! Thank you everyone for spoiling my son way too much.
Right after Els b-day me and him left pappa to finish up school and we headed to charleton and Atlanta, we went with grandma love and we were gone for 18 days! we had a blast and we went to the beach and the coke factory and the market and a braves game and the aquarium... pretty much we had a blast!
When we got back mark graduated and now we are waiting to hear back from jobs he has applied for... we are really crossing our fingers.
Here are a few pictures from out summer adventures:

Ella knows how to party!

Are you married to a fireman??

2010-08-18T23:26:00.000-07:00

I AM!!!!!!!
Don't be too jeleous! Seriously though I am so so so excited Marky man graduated today and I am seriously the most proud wife ever! I am a fireman's wife!!! Yeah, this has been a long time coming and I seriously never thought this day would come. But it has and Yeah is all I can say!
Mark made the movie for graduation and it was so so amazing. He is so talented and I am so glad I am blessed with him as my partner in life, in crime, and in fun!!! He is so my other half and I love him.
During his graduation The instructors talked about a "brotherhood" and a "bond" and then Marks Class officer came up and talked about some of their time in RCA this summer. He ended with a quote from the bible and it really hit me and made me so happy to have Mark. He said that Their bond will carry them through and it will grow when they get on their own departments. " Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend." John 15:13
Then Mark put this prayer up on his video

This Prayer holds so much meaning in my heart and I am so blessed to have a husband who wants to go out their and help others... all though I know half the reason may be that he reall just loves to play piro like the little 15 year old boy that is inside, but either way he is my hero!
Thankyou to everyone involved in the UFRA program and congrats class 57!!!!

I am inspired...COUPONS!!!

2010-08-05T00:38:00.000-07:00

Most of y'all know that I went on a vay-kay this July with momma and my son! well for the first week we stayed at my Aunt Kim and Uncle Pat's home in Charleston. Let me tell you my Aunt Kim is amazing she does it all, mom, wife, and homemaker, along with crazy coupon lady. She was seriously a kick in my butt, she did so much and I really learned a lot, but what she did is she bit me with the coupon bug! I did something that I never thought I would ever ever do..... drum roll please... I dumpster dove for Sunday paper coupon inserts, not once, but 3 times, and I scored on my last dumpster and got over 90 Sunday papers each with 4 inserts a piece... it was freakin fantastic... okay so my aunt Kim planted the seed and now I have just been having so much fun, I scored my first deal... I got 29 sticks of deodorant for $10!!! Crazy I saved Like 85% I would have gotten them free but I missed double coupon seriously by only 1 day... oh well. I an so excited for more.

How to coupon- What I have learned!

Step one- dumpster dive for newspapers

Step 2- bring them up 3 flights of stairs

step 3-separate inserts from all the stacks of papers

step 4- stack all inserts, step back marvel and take a picture!!

step 5- separate P&G, RP, RP #2 and SS

Step 6- find a sweet deal and cut the coupon and go get 30 of whatever it is

Step 7- this is my amazing deal with $10 spent on 29 speed sticks!!!! Yeah I'm not a coupon virgin anymore

Thanks so much for inspiring me Aunt Kim
I hope I can be as great at couponing as you!

Inspiration for my Kitchen

2010-08-01T22:04:00.000-07:00

Please Let me know what u think of my inspiration Kitchen???

I have been living in my same apartment for a year and a half and it is about time I start making it feel like a home. This picture inspired the I love the yellow and I have a lighter cabnet that I think plays well with tthe yellow. I LOVE the tile on the backsplash but I cant do that or near afford it so instead I am doing 3 walls yellow and one that teal bluish green color, and I am using accents of red like you see in the tile with black furnature to bring in some warmth. I finished painting and I will post pictures later, now I just need to paint my furnature!!! hope u love it when I'm done

One year older and wiser too..

2010-07-09T02:43:00.001-07:00

...Happy Birthday to Eldon!!!
We had an early birthday celebration for eldon since Me and him are going to GA, SA, and TN on saturday and because Mark had school and work, so we had a party for him on Saturday the 3rd of July. It was a Green party.. maybe not what you are thinking about, but I had everyone wear as much green and the person who wore the most got a prize. All the food was green... well most of it. I had a green Veggie platter with kiwi, green apples, green grapes, melon, green pepper, celery, broccoli. We also had grilled burger.. thanks Dad. Green ballons were everywhere which Eldon loved, and streemers. It was great, and boy did everyone spoil my little man!!! I felt really loved. I just want to thank everyone who came to be with us on El's special day!

First hair Cut!!!

2010-07-08T21:51:00.000-07:00

My Baby boy went to Cookie Cutters on July 3rd and he got his first ever hair cut. He was getting ready for his birthday party on the 3rd. Me and Eldon Got to cookie cutters about 5:30 pm. He got to sit in a big blue truck while a sweet lady cut his hair. Eldon was so great, not a tear at all. he actually kept trying to take the girls sissors, as if to say... give me that I know what I'm doing! he was so cute the whole time and after he was done he got a balloon and a sucker and he loved that most of all I think! he is so cute and Me and Mark have really enjoyed watching him grow. Mark was saying the other day that his favorite thing is watching El learn and do new things and become more of a person and individual. I agree. I love watching him grow and becoming my little MAN!Go here to see Eldons first hair cut Certificate

Manti Miracle Pagent

2010-07-08T20:10:00.000-07:00

On Saturday June 19th Eldon got to go to His Mom and Dad's temple, Manti, for the first time. We got there around 7pm and the show started at nine. Eldon managed to stay up til nine and right as the show started he passed out. so maybe he will see the show another time. But The Carter's were in town.. well sister carter and Charlotte and her husband Chase came with us also. they were up in Provo dropping Max off at BYU. El enjoyed throwing rocks with grandpa, and just being out doors. Here are a few pictures from our adventure at Manti. Hubby isn't in any picture cause he was at work earning the bacon:( good for us so we can live another month in our apartment but bad cause I really missed him especially being at the place I married him forever more than 2 years ago! I love you MARKY MARKY!

Homemaking Help

2010-07-02T22:15:00.000-07:00

Okay so I got this cute vintage looking high chair for a steal! only $15. I want to know what you think. I had all these major plans in my head about painting itbefore I bought it, but now I just don't know what to do. I could strip in and stain it darker like almost a black stain, or white wash, just paint it black, or just keep it the same... I just have no idea.... I dont know HELP what do you think?

hCG!

2010-06-25T22:43:00.000-07:00

today is day 3 of my hCG diet.... like 27 more to go?! we will see how it goes, I just need sort of a quick start to my diet and I hope this works. Losing .5 lbs a week just isn't cutting it when I need to lose more. Fingers crossed. I did a lot of reading and my friends in nursing told me that it really does work well. So hear I go... I try not to weigh myself but once a week but i cheated and looked this morning, if things are right I am down 1lb already

:)

2010-06-21T23:17:00.000-07:00

I just got my hot water turned back on after 3 days of having a broken water heater, I am up to my nose in school work, mark is so busy with working full time and school full time that I see him right before bed and right after we wake up,
BUT...
I am so excited to apply to the nursing program and work someday in my dream job.... I just took a wonderful HOT shower, my husband is such a hard worker, and he has passed all his test in RCA so far this round, my love.. my hubby... my boo has just finished round 2 of 3 interviews for SLC fire department!! (fingers crossed) he has an interview test with Murray tomorrow and he is looking into St George too. My beautiful little guy is breathing so sweetly in the next room sleeping through the night just as he has been doing since month 2.5, I get to go on Vacation with my momma and Eldon to GA,SC, and TN(so excited the beach has healing powers!!)
SO...
I may not be where I want to be but I am so blessed in a million different ways that I don't have time to list everything! the lord has a hand in my life, and he knows what I can and can't handle. He knows when he needs to push me and he knows when I need to be carried. Some days It is hard to keep sight of the end of the tunnel, but it will come :)School will end Mark WILL graduate soon, I will be accepted into nursing school, and I will be the best darn nurse you have ever had, and I will either help sick children, or neonatal, or maternity, or maybe even someday a NP or a CNM who knows, all I know is that for now I am happy just being able to be where I am right now.
So many others aren't blessed with the things that my family is, and they may have trials that I may not be able to bear. My trials have helped me to grow and I know without them I wouldn't have all the blessing that I have now. Now I need to just make myself a better person to be able to handle the trials that hold me, and to be able to break through their bonds.
but after a day like today when I get to be with my hubby and go to the pool with him and El and even mowing the lawn together just makes me smile, words don't express how lucky I feel right now.... all I can say is :)

Positive or Negative?

2010-06-20T14:34:00.000-07:00

There are always two ways to see things, and for my writing assignment I decided I would dig a little deeper into that. Here are 2 ways to see a normal every day night in the George family home. Or at least this is how I could see things.. usually it is a mixture of the two... What do you think?
View#1
As the fiery red, orange, and yellow sun begins to position itself in the dull, lackluster western sky, my day quickly and fluidly comes to an abrupt close. The crimson sky is equivalent to the temperature and sensation of my exhausted, famished body. I sit on my second-hand, beaten-up tan couch as I look around my ordinary, lackluster rust-colored apartment, dog-tired. To my left the bay window is covered with a mess of crusted, black and white cookie bits leftover from my son when he was eating . Toys are scattered about my polluted living room floor, making it an impossible obstacle course to maneuver through. You could make your way through a landmine more safely than crossing my floor without being injured by a misplaced toy. I stub my toe on a blue stuffed puppy-dog that begins to sing the ABC’s. I hastily turn the irritating stuffed toy off, avoiding disturbing my sleeping baby boy in the next room. It took over an hour to get him from the bathtub to bed, and waking him up now could mean the end of the few infinitesimal minutes I get to myself every night. The off white almost mushroom beige colored carpet that the toys are layered upon hasn’t been vacuumed in more than a week. It seems as if anyone could pick out the dog hairs and filth nestled in the carpet fibers from space. There is dust covering almost every surface in my undersized, over-cramped apartment creating a uniformed blanket of grey. The kitchen is before me, and the cheaply made laminate counters are plastered with a mixture of dirty, soiled dishes and a surplus of leftover rotting food that creates a powerful odor and could knock you down if you are not prepared by holding your breath . The sink is stacked to the rim like a land field of garbage with used bottles and dishes from the day. Trash is overflowing with useless, unwanted junk. My husband made spaghetti noodles for my son right before he left to work, and now my son’s high chair has stained red, dried spaghetti noodles all over it, and covering the floor below the chair. Now I begin to think how long it will be until I am able to contain the mess that is before me. My day began early this morning and now I know it will end extremely late. I should have been cleaning during the day, but there never was any time. Again, I am sitting on my old, previously owned couch; exhausted, fatigued, and beat.

View #2
As the stunning picture perfect summer sun cast a rainbow of fine colors against the western mountains and sky, my day, unfortunately, comes to a close. The intense colors of the heavens in the sky calm me as if they are a magnificent symphony drawing to a close and invoking my every emotion and becoming more beautiful with each passing minute as the music silently drifts to an end. I grudgingly pull myself away from the awe inspiring sunset in the west as I sit on my previously loved, long-standing coffee-colored couch that hugs me just the right way as it clasps to enfold me it its chubby cotton pillow worn perfectly with age. As I look to my left I am reminded of how blissful my jovial eleven-month old son was when I gave him a mouth-watering, appealing Oreo cookie, and he proceeded to paint my window with his tasty flavorsome treat. His toys are covering my floor with enough amusement and joy to have entertained a little one for days , and I am reminded of his angelic laughter as he proceeded to dump every toy he had on the floor, and I couldn’t help but laugh along with him when I saw how pleased and satisfied he was with himself. I begin to walk and I suddenly trip over and set off one of his favorite sing-a-long, cobalt-colored, stuffed puppy-dog toys. I shut it off speedily without delay and I can hear my sweet innocent baby boy breathing in the next room. Before my adorable worn-out son went to bed he played exhaustedly in the tub for over an hour and took another hour to fall asleep, so I quickly tip toe towards the kitchen so I can allow him all of his much needed sleep. The kitchen in front of me is overflowing with dishes, trash, and leftovers, but as I look around my humble hallowed apartment I can’t help but feel the love that is radiating off of all four petite white-washed walls. I think of all the time I spent throughout my day playing, laughing, and engaged with my family instead of cleaning my well deserving home. When I see the dishes stacked high in my kitchen I instead think of my cheerful abode where lots of pleasurable and delightful memories were created. I see my son’s vivid green high chair covered in red spaghetti with the fragrance of garlic in the room and am reminded of how satisfied it made my ecstatic husband to see his infant son being able to feed himself quite flawlessly, as he would describe, for the first time. I remember every moment that he proudly recorded on our new silver family camcorder that we got as a gift for Christmas when we were still anxiously awaiting the arrival of our little boy. I will ruminate joyfully as I spend the rest of my tranquil night cleaning. I again sit on my couch and I see my apartment for the beautiful, lived-in, and perfect place that it is. This is my home.

bad dreams

2010-06-09T00:02:00.000-07:00

what a horrible terrible night. I hadthe worst dreamand now I can't sleep. I don't want to go intothe dream, all I have to say Is I am so greatful for my wonderful husband and everything he does for me... especially the little things. I love when he comes home from school and he brings me a diet coke with lots of ice from sonic! he knows andloves me:) and I love my sweet little boy, I am so lucky, not a lot of people are able tobe moms,and they really want tobe, I am so lucky and blessed and thankful that I was able to have a beautiful baby boy who loves me and his daddy... whos new favorite word is mamama!!! I an so lucky!! THANK YOU everyday I am blessed!!

somedays...

2010-06-05T00:11:00.001-07:00

sometimes I feel that I write to no one...

wow what a month

2010-05-27T21:46:00.000-07:00

Okay I have no clue where the time has gone... no I do actually both of us in school mark working grave shift and El walking EVERYWHERE! Eldon has a new love for the outdoors... not the grass or flowers or trees, or anything "naturey"(he is scared of then) but he loves to walk outside on the sidewalk which as a momma freaks me out, I am there trying to hold his hand but he won't let me so I have to anticipate when he is about to fall. Luckily so far we have had 0% boo boos and owweeeys caused by the pavement. Here are a few pictures of our life so far. Just wanted a little catch up!! Love you all!

Eldon Loves His books: goodnight moon, twinkle twinkle, duck!Rabbit!, and his Disney books9dad read him these when he was in my tummy so he must remember)

Just a candid smile of El... I was tickling his neck

Grandma insisted on Eldon taking a bath in her sink, so Eldon insisted on eating the measuring cups

Eldon's Mohawk-like father like son should apply here

Eldon and momma on our balcony during MAY snow

Our 2 year anniversary, we went to the Roof

When in doubt... taste it

Eldon is making his "ooho" face. Anytime he sees something he likes he will just keep repeating oo oo oo oo(not like the letter O but longer oooooo:)

Loving on Grandma a few days before her reconstructive surgery

Eldon, again as I said before, Hates grass!!! " Mom get me off of this stuff!"

Reading Twinkle Twinkle with El before bedtime

This boy loves his pasta!!!

In this crazy life...

2010-05-20T22:27:00.000-07:00

Wow how long has it been sincer I updated.... forever!!! Okay so so so so much has happened. Eldon turned 10 months he now has a full 7 teeth, he is walking, I celebrated my 1st mother's day. I am back in school for summer semester taking intro to nursing, writing and math 1050. It is pretty hard, I only took 2 classes last semester, and now with 3 it seriously is an adjustment. It is pretty hard, I only took 2 classes last semester, and now with 3 it seriously is an adjustment. I walked with my mon and Eldon in the Walk for the Cure, for Breast Cancer, while my dad and his co-workers ran. He raised over $1000. Mark is back in recruit academy. He is a officer too, which is really cool. and in the best news so far, mark interviewed for SLC Fire department, and he got through the 1st round and now he goes in for a B PAD test, so fingers crossed he will make it through, if everything goes well Mark could be graduation with a job in hand! which is so amazing I don't even really want to mention it for the fact I may jinx it :/ Other than that... Mom got threw surgery great, and is now standing upright, which is good, because Eldon really missed his grandma.
Life is crazy amazing and I love my little boy and my big boy so much! they are my world and they make me so happy!

A long road ahead

2010-05-04T20:32:00.000-07:00

Okay so today is the beginning of the rest of our lives, or at least that is the way i want to look at it. Tomorrow I start my pre-nursing classes, after this summer I will have all the prerequisites to apply to the nursing program.
Then 2 years after that I will be an RN. And Mark is in Firefighting school every day Monday threw Friday 5pm to 10pm. and will be working grave shifts from 10pm to 10 am almost everyday. We are going to be so busy and running in 2 different directions all summer long, actually for the next year or so we will be busy. But it will be worth it in the end. So no more date nights anymore fora long time :( very sad, but at least we get to see each other for a few hours in the day. Lunch will be our new dates! Eldon is going to be a bit of a momma's girl this summer. I just want Mark to know how much I love and will miss him this semester! I am so lucky to marry a great hardworking man! All of this will soon pay off:) I LOVE MARKY bring on another year:)

Family

2010-04-17T21:47:00.000-07:00

So I have been going through pictures and just really feel so blessed that we have all this family! More so that they are supportive and happy to be with Eldon. Here are a few pictures of Eldon with his family.

Nic and Eldon

Avrey; my cousin and his daughter and Eldon and meGreat-Grandma Mozden with EldonGrandma George with Eldon, He was very sleepyGrandma Lovelace Holding Eldon in the hospitalGreat-Grandpa Kemp

My little Pea Pod with GrandmaGrandpa With the little Pea Pod

2 down...forever to go

2010-04-10T08:49:00.000-07:00

Me and Mark have been married for 2 whole years wow!!! We got a couples massage.. pretty cool, and then we wnt to the Roof! Mmmmm Mmmm good. It was so so so tasty. We had a great time and it was so nice to be able to have a night alone with the hubby I miss him. That sounds crazy doesn't it, but even though I see Mark all the time it feels like I never do. I miss him all the time, school and work and eldon sure do take up alot of our time. Not to mention the whole running after Eldon and the every once in a while choking hazards. And cleaning up left and right, but if you came in my house you would never be able to tell that I cleaned at all. Anyweays I love my Hubby he have given me 2 wonderful years and I can't wait to see what is to come!

Photo Tinks by WiddlyTinks.com

Growing

2010-04-01T16:11:00.000-07:00

Eldon is growing so fast! not in the way that he isn't my little baby anymore, but he is seriously long tall and skinny(just like Papa-well the skinny part at least) Me and Mark are not tall people Mark is shy of 6ft and i am a stunning 5'5''. Eldon however is taller than all the kids his age at church, and my visiting teacher came over her son is 18months old so double of Eldon's age, and Eldon is taller than him. This baby is in the 60-70 % for height for his age too. So I don't know if this is just a little growth spurt or what, because El has been in the 90+% for height since his 2 month check up. Either way all I know is that he does not get his height from me! Or his Daddy either. Well that is my thoughts for today!! Everyone have and amazing Easter. This has to be my second favorite holiday... maybe even my first. It rings in the spring season.... THE BEST TIME OF THE YEAR! Oh how I long to feel the sun again. Although today I think someone pulled an April fools.... it snowed all afternoon?! what is that. Maybe the sun with shine tomorrow!

Perfect morning

2010-03-23T13:51:00.000-07:00

My Love, my Boo, My little potter, my den den, My El, My sweet baby boy, my precious, My baby I love my little guy he is the highlight of my life. This morning Mark woke up to take care of El. We alternate mornings usually. Eldon usually has his morning bottle and falls right back to sleep. This was not the case today. Everytime Mark put him in his crib he would wake up. I finally told Mark just let me take him. I took El and put him in the bed next to me with my arms cradled around him. He leaned in towards me and gave me a kiss!! He has been doing this all week when we lean in he will open his mouth in the sweetest way and kiss back. But this morning he did it all on his own. He then placed his hand on my check and fell asleep with no coaxing from me and no bottle. He was content with a kiss from Mom. How could I fall back asleep after that, I spent the next 10 minutes listening to him and Mark fall back into a deep sleep. I love mornings when we all get to cuddle in bed. I skipped my first class of the day so that I wouldn't have to wake my hubby and my beautiful baby boy. What a wonderful start to the day!

A Look Back!

2010-02-23T13:27:00.000-08:00

One Month Old (AUGUST)

Two Months Old (SEPTEMBER)

Three Months Old (OCTOBER)

Four Month Old (NOVEMBER)

Six Months Old (JANUARY)

Seven Months Old (FEBRUARY)

Here are just a few of the month to month pictures we are taking of Eldon. It is crazy to me to look at month 1 compared to month 7. He is such a big growing boy! we love him very much and have been so blessed to have him with us these past 7 months. Can't wait to watch him grow and learn even more.

I will update on our lives later but all I have to say is, having Eldon, along with all the other benefits of having a baby and enjoying him, he sure is a great tax break! Wow I just filled out my taxes and filed them and Eldon sure does help out a lot! We get 3,000 more than last year!!! wow crazy, that will help out tons and tons!

Eldon is 7 months

2010-02-11T11:55:00.000-08:00

Wow how have these 7 months gone by. This month has been crazy as ever. Eldon seems to just be as excited about life as ever, and seeing things through his eyes just makes life that much better!

*Things Eldon has done this month:

got and MRI on his head which turned out FINE:)
Pulled himself up to standing in his crib- we lowered his crib- he is so big now
started to crawl- he scoots with his legs and falls forward, his arms won't move yet
went to G-mas and G-pas a lot!
started getting attached to a schedule- he knows when it should be bathtime

Other Moments:

we cut 2 bottom teeth this month, and are in the process of cutting more!
he loves to cook with mom, the whole time I am cooking he loves to be right there.
He likes picking out his own cloths- SERIOUSLY! I give him a few choices and he grins the cutest little smile and grabs the outfit he wants to wear and immediately puts it in his mouth!
He loves to have us hold his hands and walk around the house- most of my day is spent doing this
Chloe and Eldon have this weird bond, Chloe loves to just walk by Eldon. Eldon pulls her hair so hard sometimes, but Chloe just thinks it is a fun game! Bella on the other had is still waiting for us to take him back:)

We love our baby boy, what a blessing he is to have. He sure makes me and Mark very happy. We can't wait to see how he starts to really move this month!

Eldon is crawling

2010-02-09T13:56:00.000-08:00

Don't have much time I should be studying, but just wanted to let everyone know El is crawling not!!! Well kinda. he gets up on all 4's and then falls forward! It is so cute to watch him grow up, and learn new things!

Time to leave it alone...

2010-02-02T10:39:00.000-08:00

Okay warning this is a venting post and although this may seem heated, the basis of this blog are my exact feelings!!!
Okay I am so flustered, why is it that others have the need to question your decisions when it comes to MY CHILD and MY FAMILY. We chose to immunize Eldon, this is OUR decision, and OUR right to do so. If you however feel differently that is YOUR decision to act differently in your own life, or in the life of your child... NOT MINE, whether or not you wish to immunize or not has not bearing on what I chose to do for my family! Please learn respect for others.

I have always been an accepting type, I think I was brought up that way. I may not agree with how you live your life or the choices you make, but that is your decision and not mine, and I give you the respect that you deserve. I do not pass my judgment onto you. My parents always taught me " If you don't have something nice to say DON'T say anything at all!!" And I really do try hard to live by this, but it makes me so so so very mad when it seems others just completely skip over this life lesson or choose to ignore it completely. Okay for the main example: I am giving Eldon his immunization- please deal with that. And I shouldn't have to be here telling you WHY? but since this seems to be such an issue here they are:

Although I may not agree with how many vaccines are given at once I do usually choose to have all of them given at one point or another.
Lets take HEP B for example since it was the 1st vaccine ever given to Eldon. Yes this disease is mostly transmitted sexually, but it is also transmitted through bodily fluids which includes blood! what if Eldon ever came in contact with someones blood, how horrible would it be to know you did everything right and just because of someone else's choice he now has HEP B.

FACT: with Each year there are about 46,000 new hepatitis B virus infections in the United States, but there's approximately an 80% drop in infections since 1991, when public health strategies began pushing for vaccination and prevention. How awesome is this. that just because I give my son this vaccine he is helping to eradicate this disease.

Just like small pox killed over 80% of all children that were infected, and now because of a vaccine small pox is the only disease that has been eradicated! I love living in this day and age when sickness is not going to be my main problem.

The adversary is hitting us from every angle. Usually hitting the FAMILY UNIT the hardest. When we are strong physically it is a lot easier to focus our efforts on our spiritual preparation!

So is this vaccine safe:

Yes! Hepatitis B vaccines have few, if any, side effects. The most common complaint is a little pain around the area of the injection, which is a fair trade off considering the serious complications often possible with an actual hepatitis B infection. Since the hepatitis B vaccines were approved in the 1980s, they have had significant time to be studied and proven.

Hepatitis B vaccines are thimerosal-free and do not contain live viruses. This means that there is no danger of getting toxic mercury or hepatitis B infection from the vaccine itself.

Okay sure Eldon as a baby most likely will never come into contact with blood contaminated with the HEB B virus but as a teenage and an adult his chances increase. And yes I also admit that there is a chance that he may never come into contact with this virus, in the US there are 1.5 million people infected but 400million worldwide- which is a lot more! And the chance of contracting this virus that affects the liver and can have serious consequences of liver failure, cirrhosis (hardening of the liver) and hepatocellular cancer (liver cancer), which is usually not very responsive to chemotherapy- these are just not risk I am willing to take with my son.

So you may not agree with immunizing but my reason if for that tiny "if" that may arise... what if? what if he were to come in contact with any one of the diseases me and Mark are vaccinating him against... now we know he is protected, and that is all I want to do in life is protect my son from anything and everything that could do him harm.

So please don't ask me why... choose for yourself if this is what you would like to do for the benefit of your family, and stick to your decision, because if you make an EDUCATED decision for your family it will always be the right one. Whether or not anyone agrees with you.

.....And that's all I have to say about that

Pics from the past months

2010-01-26T12:18:00.000-08:00

Eldon's MRI

2010-01-26T11:44:00.000-08:00

Eldon went in and had his MRI on Monday. He had to be put under anesthesia because you can't move during the MRI. So ped sedation put him under around 8:30am, he was so good when they gave him the IV, he didn't even really cry, he actually just growled at the nurses when they were doing it, it was so cute! Eldon thought everything was a toy, he tried pulling out his IV and then tugged on the pressure cuff, and then he kept pulling on his big toe which had a monitor on it also. Here is a picture of him before they injected him with medicine!

After a long long long hour he was finally done, they had to wake him up before he could leave. he also had to take down at least 2 oz of Glucose water(which he doesn't really like). He was very groggy and mad that we had woken him up from the best nap ever. Here he is rubbing his eyes right after we woke him up.

Eldon finally came to, but was still not wanting to stay awake for anything... not even food, which is weird because food is a passion of his :) He kept giving us these tired eyes, which just made me melt. The ped sedation team said he would most likely be sleepy all day, and if we didn't want him awake all night we would have to be constantly waking him. Eldon slept the whole way home, and then an hour and a half at home, and didn't fall back asleep till 6pm, which I thought he would be out for the night but he woke up at 8pm, which is no good, because 8 is when he is down for the night. but I finally got him back to bed around 10:30pm with the help of Mark. What a long DAY!!! No fun to see your baby hooked to IVs and what not, I am so thankful it wasn't for anything really serious.

THE RESULTS: Eldon has had a bump on his head since birth, and that is what they were doing the MRI for, to see if it was connected or communicating through the skull. GOOD NEWS: they aren't quite sure what it is, but they know what it is not. It is not a tumor-great!, and it is not liquid from his skull which could mean his skull wasn't fused right, and liquid that surrounds the brain is leaking up through the skull.-AWESOME. Alright so what is it? it would either be a limp node, a hematoma-"bruise" that happened during labor, and has now calcified, but either way it is purely cosmetic, meaning it has no communication and it is not going to harm Eldon if it is there. so I guess it is just a special little bump that he has that no one else does. it makes him unique! thank you for all your prayers and your concerns!

Out with the old in with the new(Jeans that is, skinny ones too:)

2010-01-14T10:56:00.000-08:00

I don't know if a lot of you know this, but our family has been doing a biggest Loser Lovelace edition. Which has been just the motivation I need to get up and active and lose this baby weight. I gained about 25lbs with Eldon, and 15 came off right after I had him, but when I was nursing I ate everything... they say yours suppose to lose weight with nursing, but I was hungry all the time, so I gained 5 lbs back. After almost 3 months of this family "Dieting" I am down almost 20lbs... I am hoping for that 20 lb mark this friday, or at least close to it. so I have lost my 15 prego lbs now my goal is to hit my marriage weight... which is crazy because 4 months before me and Mark got married I weight 172 and I went running 1 hour before work which was usually around 4:30 in the morning and 1-2 hours after work. and I got down to 153lbs! I forgot how much I enjoyed running after we got married, plus with it getting so cold out in Utah, who wants to run outside anyways, but by May I want to run a half marathon that is my goal! lets just hope I can find a 1/2 marathon to enroll in nearby. I am hoping by writing all this down it will help motivate me !!!

Eldon is 6 months!!

2010-01-11T22:12:00.000-08:00

My little buck-a-roo is 6 months old can you believe it... I sure can this has been the craziest and best 6 months ever. Eldon went to the dr. And saw Dr.Bartholemew( such a great pediatrician!!) and Eldon is doing just great. He is a little stubborn with rolling over but we know he can do it, he would rather you just pick him up. But he is growing so big. He is great at rolling from back to tummy but he tends to get stuck and can't roll back.... Or just won't:) when I put him to bed or a nap, he wakes up on his tummy everytime. We love him so much. He for sure keeps us on our toes. I think he will crawl by 8 months and pretty sure he might talk to... He is getting so close, when he gets upset he usually let's out a "maaaaaa!" and when he is playing with Mark he let's out a " daaaaaaaa!" it may not make any sense to anyone else but we sure think he is trying to talk to us.
Eldon also got round 2 of some vaccines that he had already recieced, he got pentacel, hep b, prevnar, and rota. He did so good this time!!! One was oral and the rest were shots. 3 shots! He looked at me with these huge eyes, and I just gave him his bottle and he forgot all about it:) so here are his stats, he seems to be following the same growth curve as when he was born. Which we are so happy and pleased we have been blessed with a healthy, happy, and definately lively baby boy.
Height- 27.75 : 90% WOW!!
Weight - 16 lbs 11 oz : 35%
Head - 44.6 cm : 80%

Anyways that's the info on Eldon this month. He is such a great baby, he makes you almost want another one..... Almost:)

Back in school for the new year

2010-01-10T22:13:00.000-08:00

So me and mark started back school this past week. It is my first time back since summer of 2007!! Wow that was such a long time ago, that was they year I moved here to Utah, and now look at me married in 2008 baby in 2009, I can't wait to see what happens in 2010! And by they way can I comment on how weird it is that it is twenty ten!!!! I was in 8th grade 10 years ago ringing in the melinium with 2 friends from school. I can't believe how much has happened since.
Okay so I am taking a math class and a history class on Tuesdays and Thursdays and mark is taking I think 5 classes. 4 online and one on mon, wed, and fri. And good news mark can take RCA during the summer, so we don't have to waist a semester, and mark can finish faster than we thought! Yeah! I am so proud of him he is such a hard worker, and I love that he is going to school to be something he really wants to be, even though it might be taking longer, as long as he is happy with what he does in life that's what matter. " life is to be enjoyed, not just Endured!" - Gordon b Hinckley!
I forgot to mention I am going back to school for nursing, I think I want to be a labor and delivery nurse or a NICU nurse! But that is a ways off, let's just hope I pass all my classes this semester!! Anyways wish us luck!

Quick Holiday Update

2010-01-07T10:56:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone! It's been a while,things have been great Christmas sure was different this year though. It was hard to adjust: usually we have these intimate Christmas eves and this year we had family up and it really seemed to be more about presents. It was nice being with family, just a hard transition.
Last new years me and mark spent in the Vegas airport outlooking the fireworks on the strip and I was about 14 weeks pregnant. And this year,Mark was working a grave shift, and I was with Eldon trying to get him to sleep. ( I think he caught a little cold being around so many people during the holidays. I wasn't so good with having everyone wash hands:( oh well knock on wood it is just a runny nose) Eldon has been clingy since he isn't feeling 100%. but what a wonderful change from last year. Holding Eldon and rocking him to sleep was just a great way to top last years new year.
Okay Eldon update he is almost 6 months and he has almost doubled his birth weight he is 16 lbs , just a few ounces shy of his birth weight. He is loving food. Banana squash, carrots, apple sauce, sweet potatoes, prunes, bananas,pears, and oatmeal cereal are all things he has tried and liked. He only just doesn't like peaches (neither did I, they were really sour) and his favorite food so far has to be carrots and bananas. He has loved food too much some times. He won't drink milk he will fuss until he gets his one true love-food:) no but we love him! His colic is completely gone, great news! He is just so content. He is always just waiting for us to entertain him. Plus he loves playing with his papa!
This week he has started to roll every time we put him on his back he rolls right to his tummy. But when he is on his tummy he never rolls over. He is growing so big and we love it. We go for his 6 month Check up and shots on the 11Th and we can't wait to see and check his progress so far.
Well that was our Holidays as of yet. We don't really have Internet access right now so I post when I can, I will try to put pictures up soon. Happy holidays and have. Great start to 2010 may it be filled with wonderful surprises and lots of happy memories!!

Eldon Met Santa

2009-12-18T11:26:00.000-08:00

We saw Santa today. There were 3 girls all dressed the same in front of us and they screamed bloody murder when they sat on Santa's lap... Eldon sat on his lap and he just stared at Santa... he looked up at him like he was going to take his beard. He finally looked back as me as if to say "what's the big deal" he didn't smile. but that's Eldon, you really have to work to get a smile. We say he has a poker face. just stone cold. Nic always says he looks at you like your dumb!! but that's our cute little man. hear are a few pics of our day!! P.s Eldon just turned 5 months old.

P.S I am down 16.8 lbs in 6 weeks!! Wahoo!!!

Losing

2009-11-25T20:47:00.000-08:00

So Starting friday the 13th the Lovelace family has been in a competition to lose weight. I lost 5 lbs last week and 3.99% body fat!!! which is really good. one of the good things that has happened since having Eldon. It has been really tough losing weight after Eldon so I sort of gave up for a while but now I am back on track. Fingers crossed that things will stay this way. I was beat by my day who lost 12 lbs and almost 5% and the entire family lost 34lbs with 7 people participating. I have to say I am very proud of myself. Me and my mom joined weight watchers and are losing weight that way! It is really nice having people lose wight with you. lets hope this week is just as great with thanksgiving. I am trying to be good

4 month checkup... and shots :(

2009-11-13T16:46:00.000-08:00

Eldon Allen George is growing up, and is getting so big and tall and strong. We went yesrterday for his check up. I was guessing Eldon weight at least 15lbs now... so did my mom but he sure did surprise us with his weight
Weight- 13lbs 12ozs- 25%
Height- 25 3/4 inches- 75%
Head- 42 1/2 cm- 60%

He was so good when he got his shots, he got 2 shots, and 1 oral vacc this time I had them do it in the same leg, because last time he bruised and we weren't able to hold him without him crying. This time has been a whole lot better. Eldon pretty much is eating running a little higher temp than normal, but nowhere near as bad as last time just in the 99's. and after he eats he wants to fall back asleep. My prayers were answered last time was horrible and i never want to go through that again. We love our little man

first laughs

2009-11-09T13:48:00.000-08:00

this is a video of the 2nd time Eldon laughed, I haven't figured out how to upload the 1st video. Eldon is laughing at Maddie.... the dog:)

Pictures during the past month!

2009-11-09T13:24:00.000-08:00

Grandma George came to visit me!!

Great-Grandma Lovelace met me for the 1st time-4 Generations of Lovelaces

How cool is that!!!

Went to the pupkin patch!!

Loves to fall asleep with mom and dad

sitting in a bowl that grandma painted!

he LOVES his whosit-anut Sherri and uncle Mahesh gave it to him

Put me in the most unconfortable positions and I love it

Bath time has become one of his favorite times of the day, and sometimes twice a day!

Halloween- Eldon-pea pod, Mark- batman, steph-batgirl, bella- a bee!

Eating- "what is this stuff!???"

Mark rescued a kitty who has been named bossy and given to Aunt Susan & Aggie

Eldon loves his frog outfit

4 Months old!

2009-11-09T12:06:00.000-08:00

Eldon, our little blessing has been in our lives now for 4 whole months! he is growing and changing every day, he is still pretty danty but he is starting to pack on the pounds. mark can't wait till he looks all rolly!

Things he can do:

he can stand for a long time
he had his first laugh just this past week at his dad, and he laughed again at my momma's puppy maddie
he rolled over 2 times alreadt we are just waiting for him to realize that he really does know how to roll over.
tried rice cereal for the first time this week... he isn't quite sure he likes it, but he sure wants something more that just breastmilk.:)
sleep through the night

Things he loves:

he loves his toes! he has been holding onto them for weeks
loves to be naked
along with being naked he loves baths
loves to chew on finger wiether they are his or yours
he loves his toys and he also has started to chew on those
he loves to drull. He has slober all the time
he still loves his car seat, put him in and he talks himself right to sleephe loves to talk, he will baby talk then you can talk to him and he will talk back. He sure has things to say

Things he hates:

he hates when he doesn't get held, and I try to ignore the fake cry but it is so so so darn cute. he really hates when I cook because that is when he does have my undivided attention.
not sure what else he hates, just as long as he is feed, diapered, and you are paying attention to him he is a happy camper

Eldon at 4 months old

He has such a sweet smile

We love our boy

Eldon at 3 months... he has gotten alot taller!!!

Eldon rolled over

2009-10-28T23:22:00.000-07:00

We were at my mom's house; me and Eldon and Nic and his wife, and my mom were all downstairs in the basement when I put Eldon on his tummy. he looked up towards me and just rolled from tummy to back, I looked around the room to see if anyone else noticed it, of course they didn't. and Eldon would not do it again. But I felt special at least I got to see him roll over. I am so happy to watch Eldon grow. He is getting to be so much fun, not that he wasn't before... but the crying phase is almost over, he is starting to communicate better and is letting use know when he wants things by doing other things besides crying. Although Eldon has developed this sort of fake cry, it seriously is funny. It really sounds like he is saying whaaahhhhh! so cute, I know he is just trying to get my attention too:) he has really started to find his toes. I have these cute socks that I put on him that have little rattlers on them, and he loves them. I can't wait to see what happens next!!

I Need Washing

2009-10-21T08:39:00.000-07:00

My Mom sent me this story and I fell in love with it. We all really need to take the time to just "run through the rain" I hope you all enjoy and share this with others!

A little girl had been shopping with her Mom in Target. She must have been 6 years old, this beautiful red haired, freckle faced image of innocence.. It was pouring outside. The kind of rain that gushes over the top of rain gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the earth it has no time to flow down the spout. We all stood there under the awning and just inside the door of the Target.

We waited, some patiently, others irritated because nature messed up their hurried day.. I am always mesmerized by rainfall. I got lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the world. Memories of running, splashing so carefree as a child came pouring in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day.

The little voice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance we were all caught in 'Mom let's run through the rain,' she said.

'What?' Mom asked.

'Let's run through the rain!' She repeated.

'No, honey. We'll wait until it slows down a bit,' Mom replied.

This young child waited about another minute and repeated: 'Mom, let's run through the rain.'

'We'll get soaked if we do,' Mom said...

'No, we won't, Mom.. That's not what you said this morning,' the young girl said as she tugged at her Mom's arm.

This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?

'Don't you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer, you said, 'If God can get us through this, he can get us through anything!'

The entire crowd stopped dead silent. I swear you couldn't hear anything but the rain..... We all stood silently. No one came or left in the next few minutes.

Mom paused and thought for a moment about what she would say. Now some would laugh it off and scold her for being silly. Some might even ignore what was said. But this was a moment of affirmation in a young child's life. A time when innocent trust can be nurtured so that it will bloom into faith.

'Honey, you are absolutely right. Let's run through the rain. If GOD let's us get wet, well maybe we just needed washing,' Mom said.

Then off they ran. We all stood watching, smiling and laughing as they darted past the cars, and yes, through the puddles. They held their shopping bags over their heads just in case. They got soaked. But they were followed by a few who screamed and laughed like children all the way to their cars.

And yes, I did. I ran. I got wet. I needed washing.

Circumstances or people can take away your material possessions, they can take away your money, and they can take away your health. But no one can ever take away your precious memories...So, don't forget to make time and take the opportunities to make memories everyday. To everything there is a season
and a time to every purpose under heaven.
I HOPE YOU STILL TAKE THE TIME TO RUN THROUGH THE RAIN.

Going to the Punky Patch!!

2009-10-20T09:28:00.000-07:00

Friday Me, Marky, Eldon, Mom, and Dad went to the pumpkin patch in Riverton. We had a blast. When we got there we started running around to get the bet pumpkin... okay mostly momma, It was o much fun taking Eldon, and you could totally tell that he was having fun. Dad got the biggest pumpkin, and Mark got bit by one of the goats that were there... It was so much fun and a new experience. When we got back to the grandparents.... we all at down and got to work on carving our masterpieces. Let us know what you think. As for me it was the most fun I have had so far with Eldon... I can't wait to do more fun an exciting thing with him!

This is how we started off our adventure at the patch

The Whole Group

Eldon is our favorite little man

Dad and Eldon on the Tractor

Mom and Eldon

G-momma Love and Eldon

Picking out the best pumpkin

Dad and Eldon- "Momma thinks our tractor is sexy"

Eldon and the Pumpkin

Mom and Eldon picking out the BEST pumpkin

G-momma's Spider!!

Pappa's Wizard

Bet you can't guess who did this one!! MARKY LOVE DID

My Turtle!

Eldon is 3 months!!!

2009-10-10T15:47:00.001-07:00

Eldon Allen George is 3 months old today!!!!!!!

He was so happy when we took his picture... He just would not stop smiling!

Eldon at 2 months.. he has only gained 14 ounces since month 2

THINGS ELDON CAN DO NOW

he has started to talk... we ask him questions and he responds in his own little language
he has started imitating when we say our B's and D's like "Brrrrr it's cold" and "DDDDAAADAAA"
he is starting to wake up without crying he just sits in his crib and talks, although sometimes he still cries
he loves to smile at Mark... anytime hubby comes home he is so exciting
he is starting to recognize and prefer different people. Right now I know for sure he knows me because he always wants me to hold him, and he loves when his dad comes home, and he loves it when I tell him we are going to grandma's... "to grandmother's house we go"
if I hold his hands he will pull himself up... and stand (he loves to stand)
during tummy time he holds his head the entire time
he can hold his head up when he is on his back.

THINGS HE LIKES

he likes the car seat still
likes to take a nap in the middle of the day for about 2-3 hours plus his normal 9p to 6am sleep plus or minus a few hours
he likes playing airplane with dad
going on walks in the stroller with the girls(lolo and Bella)
he likes to laugh at Lolo( I don't know what is so funny but he laughs)
he has started to enjoy tummy time... old with a boppy though

THINKS HE HATES

loud voices ( when I call the dogs, he gets scared)
wind in his face... he hates that the most
not being fed every 1hour in a half.... I may have to start cereal at 4 month
when you aren't in his sight, he likes to know where people are

Eldon is starting to be so much fun he loves being around and playing with us... what a joy. He has found his voice, and it is so much fun watching him coo, and ahh, and brrr, and daaa.... :) so cute! We love our little boy and especially now that he doesn't cry so often. Boy those first few months are rough, but so so so worth it. We just can't wait to see what he will do next!!!!

Sleep Strategies

2009-10-06T20:51:00.000-07:00

Ever since Eldon was born people have been asking me,"what is your schedule like?" I kinda go through my day, but as for a schedule I have no clue what they mean, so I have been doing some research which I will get to. But as for my day in day out schedule, I believe in listening to when Eldon wants and needs, not other advise and not what I may want him to do or want. We are both kind of stubborn like that. Okay so onto the more talked about conversations. "have your started a sleep schedule?" first I will give you basic research i found then I will voice my opinion.

the "Cry it out" Method
These sleep training methods say it's okay to leave your child to cry, if necessary, although they don't advocate letting a baby cry endlessly. Typically these approaches suggest putting your baby to bed when he's still awake and allowing short periods of crying punctuated by comforting (but not picking up) your child. Continue this until the baby have learned to fall asleep on their own. Usually takes only a week or less to see results.

the "No tears" Method
Sleep training methods in this category encourage a more gradual approach, with the parent offering comfort right away when their child cries. Pediatrician William Sears, author of The Baby Sleep Book, is probably the most well known proponent. Parent educator Elizabeth Pantley outlines a step-by-step no-tears approach in her book The No-Cry Sleep Solution.
Generally speaking, those who favor a no-tears approach over CIO methods consider leaving a child alone and crying to be unnatural, unkind, and a betrayal of the trust your baby is developing in adults and the world around him. The idea is that bedtime offers an opportunity to connect with your child by developing quiet, cozy nighttime rituals and by quickly responding to your baby's requests for food and comfort.

Pediatrician and "attachment parenting" advocate William Sears devotes an entire chapter of The Baby Sleep Book to a critique of CIO approaches. Sears, along with no-tears advocates such as Elizabeth Pantley (author of The No-Cry Sleep Solution), believes that CIO techniques can give your child negative associations with bedtime and sleep that could last a lifetime.

in opposition the CRY IT OUT METHOD says:
CIO approach disagree. They say it isn't traumatic for babies to cry alone for short periods of time with frequent check-ins by Mom or Dad — and the end result is a well-rested, happier child. They say no-tears sleep strategies may cause babies to be overly dependent on comfort from a parent at bedtime, making it harder for them to learn to soothe themselves to sleep.

MY OPINION!!!

Okay so I am not here to take one side or the other just to voice what works for me. People really keep pushing this cry it out(CIO) method on me, and I just can't seem to grasp it. I have tried it here and there for no more that 2 minutes at a time because for me it breaks my heart to here my baby cry louder and louder especially when I know all he wants is me. Okay so here goes, I can't say if crying a little is good or bad for babies;leave that to the experts to argue over, all I know is that Eldon HATES to just be placed in bed, if that works for other babies great. But what is wrong with rocking your baby to sleep, singing him a beautiful lullaby, soothing him softly into sleep; instead of just setting him in his crib and listen to endless crying until he just give up hope that i will soothe him and he has to soothe himself. My most favorite moments of motherhood are when me and Eldon are all alone he is crying, I hold him close, wrap a blanket tightly around him for comfort, and sing him a special song, while he slowly calms down, gazes at me, to let me know he loves me, and his eyes slowly drift into a deep sleep. I continue to hold him for a little while longer just to take in the moment, then I kiss his and place him in bed usually between 9pm and 10pm and we both sleep till 5am. Why can't I rock my baby to sleep I ask? WHY? I feel there is no right or wrong, it is what you feel in your heart, you know your baby and you know what works. All I know is I lost one baby and I would give anything to hold them just once, and if I hold Eldon just a few minutes longer no one can tell me that is wrong. I have cried over this issue a few time, and now I know I am not wrong. Eldon is the most precious and perfect blessing I have Ever been giving, and if it takes just a little more effort to get him to sleep than just placing him in bed, then I will do it. And when he gets older I will read just one more book when he ask and I will hug him just one more time, because he is only little for a while, and I full intend on taking it all in. My favorite think in the world is a peaceful baby and I love being responsible for helping him get the peaceful sleep he needs. Sorry if I offended anyone, but I just needed to vent my own feelings.

I just wanted to leave with a quick story, A girl my friend know was in a car accident 5 days before her due date, and it caused the baby stress and he inhaled his miconium, which wasn't discovered for 3 days. So he was born with respiratory problems. He lived for 4 days. And they turned off his life support, and he died in his Mommy's arms 5 minutes later. Please keep her in your prayers.

I know because of this story I will hold my baby tighter and longer tonight!

Mark turns 24!!

2009-09-28T21:16:00.000-07:00

Mark had his birthday on the 16th. We had a week long celebration. Monday Mark came home and we open the presents I gave him, he opened Tupperware (for work and school) and a loofah. I then asked Mark if he could go get the dog food out of the trunk. Me and Eldon went with him, and to his surprise when he opened the trunk there stood behind the bag of dog food, a 32'' Flat screen HD TV!!! he was so shocked, and excited. He deserves it he has been working so hard and going to school full time, so I have been saving for about 6 weeks! He loved it. Then Tuesday we went bowling with friends, Brittani, Mindy, and Michael all showed up. It was very interesting bowling with a baby, but actually I think I bowled better when I was holding him then when I wasn't. Then Friday we went up to my momma's and had dinner with Mom, Dad, me, Mark, and Eldon, and my sister-n-law came too. We had a perfect dinner of steak and shrimp, then Mark got 7 pairs of underwear(one for every day of the week) socks and Nike running shoes from mom and dad, and a dress shirt and dress socks from me. I can't believe Marky is 24 he s getting so old!! Eldon is making us both age faster I think:) When I look back it seems like since we have had Eldon with us time has gone by so fast, but when I am going through my days, it goes by soooo slow... does that make any sense?! Anyway I love Mark and I am so glad we got to celebrate another birthday together. WE LOVE MARKY!!!

Mark with his new TV. Eldon is there for size comparison

Mark got 24 pieces of Tubberware for his 24th birthday!

"This is all I got!" Mark says (this was before he got his TV)

I decorated the Kitchen, and both me and Eldon wrote Dad a note

Mark got new shoes!

I just ad to make Mark a Batman Cake!

Mark and Eldon at the bowling alley!

Me bowling with Eldon