simple moments

It's the most wonderful time of the year

2011-12-30T15:37:00.000-08:00

Oh wow...WAY WAY BEHIND.
This is my Christmas post and January post combined....catch up time:)

My favorite little boy became a sunbeam this year and he is slowly learning to adjust to it. He is still so young and sometime I kinda feel he got the shaft in the nursery time, but overall it is going to be great for him:) I still can't believe he is getting so big.

I guess he enjoyed his popsicle.

Love this girl to death. She still refused to crawl, yet she is almost walking so I have a feeling she is going to skip the crawling stage and go right to the big kid stuff. She had made baby proofing the house very easy for me. It's kinda nice that she just sits there and does he thing without me chasing he all over the house. However, I can tell this is going to be changing soon;)

Playing at the park in the middle of December...love it:)

Oh how I LOVED LOVED having my mom here this Christmas. Weston and Brooklyn had so much fun with Grammy:)

Playing with his stick horse, which is loves:)

Brookyln loves Ryan's helicopter and I love it becasue it entertains my 2 kids as well as my husband. Best gift ever!

Adore this picture:)

Christmas morning was so much fun

Weston with Santa's gift

Our second Christmas with Gramma and Grampa Poffenberger...we are so blessed to have such amazing family:)

Great Gramma Poffenberger with the kiddos:)

Making gingerbread men with gramma

Lucky

2011-12-30T15:25:00.000-08:00

How did I get so lucky to call these 2 mine?

Fun times

2011-12-06T14:58:00.000-08:00

For fun these days we have made

Crayon Melting...coolest thing ever and so easy. Weston had a blast doing it and all it is is crayons, canvas, hot glue, and a blow dryer. Easy peasy...my type of craft:)

Fruit Loop Sand art. Easy and Fun:)

Brooklyn is obsessed with the sensory bottles I made the kiddos. Corn syrup, water and glitter sure are a great toy for me:)

We went to Spokane and Weston and I had an early birthday party which was so much fun:)

Weston is obsessed with Christmas this year so I am trying to do some sort of craft with him while Brooklyn sleeps. He loved doing this snowman puff paint project:)

We love care packages from Grammy Marshall for this reason:)

3 seconds this stayed on...just enough to get a picture.

Weston loved helping set up our nativity scene with his dad. I love how he is starting to understand aspects of the gospel and right now he loves the story of Jesus's birth. Makes me so happy:)

O Christmas Tree....

2011-12-06T14:53:00.001-08:00

Love the peaceful feeling our Christmas tree brings in our home
There is something so magical about Christmas trees
This seriously is going to be an amazing Christmas:)

Santa's message to Weston

2011-12-02T09:49:00.000-08:00

Weston LOVED seeing Santa and his message to him.
Oh how I love this time of year!

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/gIhBGK4MulFNATKLIcHXStQ

Tub Painting

2011-11-10T11:48:00.000-08:00

When weather gets below freezing in Rexburg in the middle of November you start going crazy of being inside. Well today was different and we decided to turn the tub into an art studio.
Just get a little bit of shaving cream, food coloring, a paint brush and a creative 2 year old and I just had over an hour of pure creativity! YEAH!!!!

(sorry about the naked boy...I wasn't willing to put him in a tub of water with clothes on)

The tub paint before my artist went crazy with it.

Do you think Brooklyn was content watching her brother on the sidelines? Heck no! Therefore I gave in and let her have fun with the bubbles:)

8 months

2011-10-18T14:13:00.000-07:00

This girl has brought 8 months of so much happiness to my life.
She lights up when her brothers enters the room.
Her legs start kicking when daddy comes home.
And well, her and I are still attatched and inseperable. Just the way I LOVE it!

Random

2011-10-11T14:25:00.000-07:00

Life here in the Poffenberger house has been wonderful. I am officially in the harvest mood and have been going crazy in the kitchen with yummy comfort foods (apple caramel cookies, pumpkin pie cookies, instant wassail mix). Weston is doing amazing at going to the potty and his life currently revolves around Mater, "Lighting McFeen" trains, cars and airplanes. Brooklyn is the sweetest thing in the entire world and currently will eat anything put in front of her. And Ryan is just doing great at his job and we are LOVING having him home in the evening.

Yes, Brooklyn loves Weston's cars as you can see in this picture. They are the perfect size for her little hands and watching her and Weston play cars together is just too darn cute:)

We love being close to our cousins here in Rexburg and last Thursday Dawn and I had a craft day for the kids and ourselves. Weston loves the boys so much and I can't wait for all the fun things we will do together:)

The crafts Dawn and I did together. Weston has named them Frankie, Boo, and Jack:)

Living in Rexburg means snow, snow, and more snow. However, I was so not prepared to have snow this soon and I don't think I will ever get use to how cold it is here. However, Weston wanted to go play outside so bad and he had so much fun. However, I am going to have to work on getting him to wear his gloves.

This was a scrap wreath I made during nap time last week and I love it. Super easy and super cute...my kind of craft!

Loving her pumpkin muffins:)

Helping mommy make play dough which he LOVES to play with. It is so easy to make and it is the best play dough ever. I am never buying play dough again.

Since Weston has been doing amazing at potty training we thought we would take him to Wal Mart to pick out a treat for doing so well. All he wanted was Mater Mac and Cheese and he was so excited to eat it the moment he got home.

I am trying to find inside activities to keep this busy boy busy during the day and have found that baking soda, vinegar, food coloring and an eye dropper does wonders at keeping this kid busy. He did this for a good 30 mintues which is great in my mind.

Forget Me Not

2011-10-02T21:30:00.000-07:00

This talk is on repeat in our house right now.
I love it more and more each time I hear it:)
Everything about this talk I need to hear everyday.
This talk puts it all in perspective for me:)

Wyoming

2011-09-27T13:48:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pictures from our family getaway to Wyoming this weekend.

Recent Happenings

2011-09-26T13:20:00.000-07:00

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY...that is the word to decribe our family these past couple of weeks and I wouldn't want it any other way. Keeping busy keeps Weston out of trouble, which in turn keeps me happy and sane:)

This past weekend we went to Wyoming to visit family and had so much fun. I love being with family and seeing Weston have so much fun in the good ole' Wyoming country made it so worth it:)

While the boys fish, Miss B and I decide to have fun just playing on the blanket and enjoying the warm sun.

This boy is so much like his dad when it comes to fishing. He loves it so much and Grampa Patterson loved fishing with him:)

Playing with his trains with G Papa.Did I mention I can officially say that this boy is POTTY TRAINED!!!!!! No accidents for a week and he is even getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom:) So happy!

Brooklyn decided to get thrush and therefore received some very purple lips. The stuff is a pain and dyes everything it touches but totally got rid of the thrush.

Sporting big brothers new winter hat.

I love this boy so much and I love how he is so in love with the Rexburg temple. Whenever we go by it he gets so excited and screams "temple, temple....look at the temple". To see his face light up when he sees it just warms my heart:)

Weston's new favorite thing is to feed the ducks at the nature park and loves to see how close they will come up to him. Needless to say, I'm not a fan of how close they do come up to him. This kid is fearless and I can only imagine what he will be like in a few years;).

Family Pics

2011-09-20T13:52:00.000-07:00

So FYI..these pictures were taken in less than 5 minutes in FREEZING cold weather. Weston was distracted with the cows in the background or the rocks on the ground. Brooklyn just wanted to eat and well Ryan wasn't completely thrilled to be taking pictures (i'm told its a guy thing). "So you get what you get and you don't throw a fit" as I tell Weston multiple times a day. I think they came out pretty good under the circumstances. And the best part is we are doing round 2 soon, when we don't have cows in the back ground,the sun is shining, and my little girls tummy is extra full:)!!!!! Brooklyn looks terrified in this pic and Weston is distracted by the cow...
love it though because this is my family in a nutshell

Love moments like this:)

LOVE this one.now Brooklyn just needs to look at the camera.

I TRULY FEEL THE LUCKIEST MOM EVER WHEN I SEE MY FAMILY.....

This Girl and her Tongue

2011-09-14T13:45:00.000-07:00

I love how this girl is always sticking out her tongue. It is one of those characteristics that just makes her so cute to me. ...well that and a million others:)

Catch up time

2011-09-12T13:59:00.000-07:00

This blog is starting to really get neglected let me tell you. These days finding time to update this blog just doesn't seem possible. However, I am going to take 5 minutes to try to catch up on all our summer fun adventures.

I can't believe this sweet girl is already 7 months. BEST BABY EVER! I totally lucked out and she and Weston have so much fun together. She is so laid back, and when she giggles and smiles the whole family falls in love with her:)

Gramma and Grampa Poffenberger came to visit us and we took a day and went to Yellowstone. Weston loved it and as you can tell he is cracking up and something Gramma said.

So, this picture has a story behind it. When Ryan was around 2 years old he had a picture taken in Yellowstone of him fishing. I always loved the picture and we have it hanging up in Weston's room. Well, I love it so much why not recreate it with Weston? So we did...we went to the exact spot in Yellowstone where Ryan had his picture taken 26 years ago and got the same angle and everything. So now we have both the pictures side by side in Weston's room and it looks really cool.

The kiddos with Gramma and Grampa somewhere in Yellowstone.

Oh how Brooklyn loves to eat. This girl will eat anything and last week she literally grabbed and ice cream sand which out of my hands and shoved it right in her mouth:)

Never enough kisses can be given....NEVER!

Love when she sticks out her tongue. We went to Island park last week and went on a little hike and had so much fun:)

Smith Park has a baseball diamond that Weston loves to go run the bases. He loves playing baseball in the backyard and to see him and Ryan play together is priceless to me.

We were playing in the sprinkler in the backyard and Weston asked me to get him a towel. I did and all by himself he decided to start sunbathing....crazy kid. I wonder what he is thinking about in this picture.

Summer has been so much fun here in Rexburg and we are so lucky to be able to call this place home!

PS This post took me way over an hour to write with my kids...seriously?!?!? now you can see why the post are so rare these days:)

I needed this:)

2011-09-07T19:14:00.000-07:00

"I feel to invite women everywhere to rise to the great potential within you. I do not ask that you reach beyond your capacity. I hope you will not nag yourselves with thoughts of failure. I hope you will not try to set goals far beyond your capacity to achieve. I hope you will simply do what you can do in the best way you know. If you do so, you will witness miracles come to pass." — Gordon B. Hinckley

Home Sweet Home

2011-08-15T13:01:00.000-07:00

Am I crafty...heck no.

Do I try to make my home warm and inviting...yes.

Therefore I have been trying to muster some craftiness within me to make my house look semi cute.

Here is a glimpse into the place I call home.

I love it here in Rexburg so much...never thought I would say that I have have never been happier and felt more at home:)

If there is a way to display pictures I will find it and do it...I LOVE LOVE pictures in my home!

The rules to our home that I made up and point to constantly when someone isn't following them.

The one cute thing that I have done in Brooklyn's room.

Our family hand prints, which I really love.

(Sorry I cannot take pictures for the life of me...someday I will learn. I promise.)

Changes

2011-07-27T14:15:00.000-07:00

It's been a million years since I updated and it is going to a take a million years to catch up. There has been a lot of changes going on these past few weeks and we couldn't be happier.

Change 1: Ryan graduated!!!!!! Holy hannah, and I thrilled about this one:) I couldn't be more proud of him and all the years of hard work and craziness totally paid off. There were moments when I didn't think we would make it but my husband is amazing and has taught me that good things happen to those that wait.

Change 2: Ryan got a job...like a real job that pays triple what we are use to getting. He is working at a local hospital as a cardiac sonographer and loves it and the environment he is in. Very laid back, which is what he needs.

Change 3: We moved back to Rexburg Idaho and love it so much. Never did I think we would settle down back in Rexburg but we both are so happy and love the family atmosphere of the town. Weston loves the splash pad, snow cones in the evenings, and just being outside. The great thing is soon family will be here going to college so I am so excited and anxious to be close to them! Come winter I may think differently, but so far Rexburg is a great place that i call home:)!

Change 4: We got a house!!! No more living in apartments or with family. We have our own home with a back yard and garage and I have my own kitchen. Oh I love it! However, the Internet is so slow so this evening we are getting a faster one that will let me upload pictures on this blog so you can all see pictures of it.

Change 5: My kids are growing up way too fast.....period. I want to press the rewind button constantly and just tell them to slow down. Love them so much.

100% cuteness!!!!

2011-05-26T12:20:00.001-07:00

This boy makes me smile like no other kid can:)

He is posing for the camera....a miracle!!!!

2 1/2 and getting cuter and cuter!!!!
( he started calling me MOM yesterday instead of MOMMY...not sure how I feel about that one. he needs to stop growing up and stay this way forever!!)

Planes, planes, and more planes...

2011-05-22T20:25:00.000-07:00

How do people survive in rainy weather all the time? I have no idea and the kiddos and I are going insane with all this rainy weather in Utah. I seriously think there has been 5 really nice days since we have been there and there is only so much you can do when all it wants to do is pour and even snow in the middle of May. So come Saturday morning when we woke up to BEAUTIFUL weather we were out of the house within an instant, and ready to have some fun looking at one of Weston's favorite things...planes!!!!
We went to Hill Air force Base Museum and Weston had a blast. I loved it because admission was free and I had a happy toddler for the whole afternoon. There were planes everywhere and Weston was constantly pointing at them saying " mommy, oh wow!". Ryan was just as thrilled and I told him I didn't know who was having more fun, him or Weston.

Weston thought this plane was cool.

These planes where ginormous!!

This kid is either going to be a pilot or a train conductor one day.

Content in her stroller. Oh how I wish I could sit in a stroller and be pushed around all day.

This kid still will not pose for a picture....I have no idea how Ryan took this one.

Of course he had to touch these awesome looking planes. He can spot one a mile away in the sky and to be so close to them he was in pure amazement!

After the afternoon with planes we went and got Panda Express for Ryan, Cafe Rio for me and then took them home to eat on our pouch. Throw in some bubbles, coconut ice cream pops, a giggly 2 year old and a smiling 3 month old I would have to say it was the perfect spring evening! Yeah for warm weather!!!!!

Bear Lake

2011-05-16T09:36:00.000-07:00

So this weekend we decided to take some much needed R&R to Bear Lake for some good ole' family fun. Ryan has been working so hard this past week with his clinical and working outside with the family that we are staying with. The Sears have a condo at Bear Lake and told us to go relax for 2 days. And boy did we have fun!!!

Weston having a blast on the swings.

SO BEAUTIFUL!!!! I love the turquoise color of the water and it reminded me of the water when we went to the Bahamas this past summer.
Another look at the crystal clear water in the middle of nowhere.

So Grampa Poffenberger taught Weston how to throw rocks in puddles in his back yard and now that is all Weston wants to do when he sees rocks and water. Ryan was trying to teach him how to skip rocks, but all he wanted to do was find the biggest rock and launch it in the water for the biggest splash!

Weston loved going down the slides!

These two kids are inseparable. Weston loves Brooklyn to pieces and has to be in her sight at all times. Lately he has been rubbing her tummy to try to get her to sleep and if she is fussy he will go up to her and say "ssshhh baby, sshhh baby". Sibling love is one of the best parts of being a mother to me, and I love seeing it grow and seeing the pure love that these two already have for eachother.

Loved walking on the beach!

In the evening it started to rain so we went inside and watched movies all night while eating pizza and yummy milkshakes. Here is Brooklyn and I getting ready to watch Midway to Heaven.

Daddy's little girl.

Like I said before, Weston had to find the biggest rocks to throw. Here he is with one of his monster rocks.

We stopped by the Logan temple to take pictures. So beautiful!

Above all, it was a great weekend and I am so thankful for all the beautiful family memories we are making. I look at these pictures and truly feel blessed at the family and life I have. I love my husband so much, and my kids are my world in every sense. Weekends like this remind me just how lucky I am to have a husband and kids to share these fun times with!!!!

2011-04-28T12:34:00.000-07:00

Can you not say "baby straight jacket".Whatever you want to call it it is a miracle and the best thing I have ever bought! She is my little Houdini and was starting to escape from her swaddling blankets and waking up multiple times a night. The moment I saw this I had to get it and I am so glad I did. We are going from waking up every 3 hours using the swaddling blankets that clearly were not working anymore, to now sleeping 8 hours straight with the help of the Woombie. Now I don't have to worry about waking up and seeing Brooklyn covered in blankets that she managed to unswaddle. And Brooklyn loves it and is instantly asleep the moment I zip her up!

Life in Utah

2011-04-26T13:05:00.000-07:00

So we are going on week 3 of living here in Utah and we can't believe how fast time has gone. Ryan is learning a ton at his clinical site even though he has made it clear to me that he never wants to live in a city as big as Salt Lake. I am loving having my own place again ( we are living in an apartment in our friends home in Bountiful) and am finally getting into a wonderful routine with both this kiddos. Weston has taken a nap every day since we have been here and it has been heaven for everyone. No more crabby, tired, miserable boy! I am just ready for some nice weather so I can take them to the park down the street. In the meantime we have been releasing energy in the indoor racket ball court that they have downstairs. Here are a few photos of our adventures so far.

Looking cute as can be for church on Sunday. So our ward has sacrament last here, which has been an adjustment for Weston. Try taking a 2 year old away from nursery and telling him he has to be quiet for an hour....yeah, not happening in his mind, even though we are getting a lot better each Sunday. Oh, and John Schmidt is our next door neighbor and plays the piano in our ward which I love.
Love the mountains so much!

We went to Antelope Island and had a blast. Weston ran like crazy up and down the beach and loved every minute of it.

Driving a tractor on Antelope Island Ranch. He looks so small on this tractor.

Looking at some horses with dad.

The view from our place, which is so pretty.

We got Weston a fish which he calls Nemo.

Receiving love from Auntie Lindsay!

Weston "fishing" on the porch swing. We sit on this swing and watch the airplanes land and take off everyday after nap time.

Chagga-Chagga-Choo-Choo

2011-04-26T12:53:00.000-07:00

My little man is OBSESSED with trains. It all started this Christmas when watched the Polar Express movie and he hasn't been the same since. He plays with his train set for hours at a time and I have caught him in is sleep saying "choo choo". He goes around the house saying "chagga-chagga-choo-choo" every second that he can and we are finally breaking him of his habit of listening to the polar express soundtrack every morning ( it is April and listening to Christmas musis every day was starting to drive me insane). So the moment he saw this train at This is the Place monument you would have thought it was Christmas morning. 3 weeks later he is still talking about how Papa took him to see the "choo choo".

Things I love

2011-04-14T11:15:00.000-07:00

Here is a short list of items that I love or can't live without at time moment in time... I swear by swaddling my babies and it's my lifesaver when it comes to long naps and sleeping through the night! The moment I swaddle Brooklyn she is asleep within 5 minutes. Swaddling blankets are my number 1 baby item besides my Boppy. I am a girl who loves a good book. The problem with a good book is it doesn't last a long time for me and I want more and more of. This book I just finished and it is SO SO GOOD. I am talking Hunger Games, Twilight kind of good book. If you liked the Hunger Games this book is a lot like it plot wise and grips you in within 2 seconds. The best part is there are more books to come in this series and I can't wait! I just have to make it last more than 2 days:) Oh how I love cookbooks. I have a million. But this cookbook is by far the best one! I am obsessed with everything in it and it is so not helping me lose these last stubborn 5 pounds of baby weight. The recipes are so easy to follow, the pictures make my mouth water, and the recipes are so delicious. They even have tips throughout the cookbook that really make sense and I use as I cook the recipes.Every kitchen has to have this cookbook! Tonight I want to try the Strawberry-Lime Shortcakes with Coconut Cream. YUMMMMMY!!!

Ryan and I bought a GPS before we moved to Utah this past month and I can't go anywhere without it. I seriously am horrible with directions and now that we are in Bountiful it is so helpful when we want to go somewhere to eat or out shopping. It even lets you know the speed limit in the area and how fast you are going. We are getting our money out of this product for sure! I live in these slipper boots. Ryan got them for me for my birthday and they are on my feet all day long. They are so comfy and warm and I don't know what I am going to do when summer comes.

Brooklyn never spits up. However, we are having major issues with blowouts which are so gross and I am kinda getting sick of them. We go through 3 outfits some days and Dreft Laundry Stain Remover has become my best friend and works so well. We seriously have almost gone through a whole bottle between Brooklyn's blowouts, and Weston's love of coloring on his clothes with his new water color paints.

Why don't they sell these in Washington?!?! Now that we are living in Utah I am stocking up like crazy on these Popsicles. I call them "heaven on a stick" and I love them because they are SO CREAMY and yet not unhealthy at all. I can eat them guilt free while I watch my husband cram his sugar loaded ice cream in his mouth;)

My Buddy

2011-04-11T15:00:00.001-07:00

This little guy is so much fun.

I love waking up every morning and having our breakfast together as he talks about Buzz and "choo choo" trains.

I love coloring and painting in his new favorite Mickey Mouse coloring book.

I love sitting outside on the porch and watching the airplanes fly by and listening to him say hi and bye to each and every airplane.

I love his dancing and how his face lights up when his music starts playing.

I love how he helps me sweep up the kitchen and takes his wipes and helps me "dust" around the house.

I still love snuggling up to him during nap time.

I love hearing him call me mommy.

I love watching him pray and close his eyes during our prayers..I love it even more when I catch him trying to open his eyes to see if we are watching him.

I love how he calls Jesus, "Jees" and his smile whenever he sees a picture of him.

I love his giggles that are so infectious.

I love his sweet love for his sister. It seriously is the best thing in the entire world to see how gentle and loving he is towards her.

I love how he is learning so much and it blows my mind at some of the things he knows ( letters, colors, numbers...don't ask me where it is coming from)

I love how he is teaching me patience in ways that I never knew possible. Those darn 2 year old tantrums really have a way of putting a mom on her knees begging Heavenly Father for wisdom and love that can only come from Him.

I love how I am his mother and he is filling my life with so much love and happiness each and every day!

(another post below)

2 Months

2011-04-11T13:32:00.000-07:00

I can't believe 2 months has already gone by since this little girl came into our lives. These past 2 months have been so wonderful and the transition from 1 to 2 kids has gone smoother than I ever thought possible. Parenting this time around is a lot less stressful and I am enjoying everything a lot more without fear that I am doing something wrong.

Brooklyn is a lot more attached to me than Weston ever was, and I blame that on the nursing around the clock that I never did with Weston. She is such a good eater and is making nursing so wonderful for both her and I!

Weston is the best brother in the world and whenever he is near her he holds her hand and has brought smiles to her face that completely melts our hearts. He loves to be around her, and is the best helper when it comes to entertaining her or even changing her diaper. How did I get so lucky?!?

We were in Rexburg 2 weeks ago on our way to Salt Lake City for Ryan's last clinical and our friend Dawn Goodnough took these adorable pictures of Brooklyn. There are times when I look at her and see her brother 100% and can't get over just how much they look alike. I love having her in our home and not a day goes by when I don't look at her in pure amazement that she belongs to me.

My blue eyed baby with 2 parents that have brown eyes. Go figure! The crazy thing is Weston also has blue eyes also, so the odds of both our kids having blue eyes when we both have brown eyes are so slim. This girl is sleeping like a champ. 4 hour naps during the day and 7-8 hour stretches at night! I couldn't be happier. So in love in so many ways.

Can you get any cuter?!?!

1000 kisses

2011-03-21T08:31:00.000-07:00

1000 kisses is the amount of kisses this little girl receives each day.

Most of them come from me of course, but a huge part comes from her big brother.

Weston adores Brooklyn and is by her side every second of the day.

He kisses her, holds her hand, climbs in her crib to turn of her mobile, gives her a binky when she cries, talks to her, shows her his cars, and smiles at her whenever he gets the chance.

As a mother, this brings so much happiness to my life.

The blessings I receive from theses two kids blows my mind every day.

I truly am so blessed!

Sleeping Beauty

2011-02-22T20:22:00.000-08:00

So in Love

2011-02-09T10:06:00.000-08:00

Brooklyn Faith Poffenberger

Born Feb, 2, 2010 at 10:27
6 pounds 13 ounces

17 inches long

Yes, I am late on the update but my life has not stopped spinning since the moment this little girl was born. Having 2 kids is a totally different ball game, and "me time" is slim to none these days. Truthfully, if I have "me time" it is spent either showering and sleeping! So here is a brief overview of her birth.
So it all started Wednesday morning when I noticed that I was leaking a TINY bit of fluid that totally seemed insignificant at first. I had been leaking for a couple of days and went 2 days before and they said it wasn't my water so I really didn't think much of it. I always thought of my water breaking as a gush of fluid but something told me I better go back to see the doctor just in case. Well, thank goodness I went because this time the test came back postive for amniotic fluid and I needed to give birth within 24 hours in case of an infection.
They then started the petocin at 5 and clearly stated I could not get an epideral till I reached 4 centimeters. Well it took FOREVER to get to a 4 and the petocin was really kicking in, making the contractions so not fun. I finally reached a 4 at around 9:30 and they gave me my glorious epideral. Once I received the epideral I fell asleep instantly and Ryan woke me up telling me he was going to get something in the cafeteria. Mind you only 40 minutes had past since I was a 4 so we all thought we had time to sleep and eat. Well, we were kinda wrong.
The nurse came in and said my contractions were really crazy so she wanted to check me to see what was going on. I was the only one in the room now half asleep ( Ryan was getting something to eat) and the nurse checked me and screamed that the baby was crowning and I better not sneeze or cough or the baby will seriously come out. 40 minutes ago I was only at a 4 and now the baby was crowning..... freak out time because my husband was not there and this baby was coming out. She paged the doctor and by some miracle Ryan came in the door stating the vending machine was broken( talk about divine intervention). By the time the doctor came brooklyn's head was completely out and she ran over to catch the rest of her body and she literally slid out of me. Talk about making it easy for me....no pushing or anything!
So life has been wonderful since and I have never been more in love! She is such a good baby and she is so fun to cuddle with and just admire. She has her nights and days mixed up, which makes me a zombie during the day but over time I know it will get better. Weston still doesn't know what to think about his sister. He mostly avoids her ( which is a blessing since he has broncitis), even though there will be times where I will catch him trying to put a binky in her mouth and trying to swing her in her swing.
Above all, Brooklyn is beyond anything I could ever have imagined and she truly is a perfect addition to our family!

False Alarm

2011-01-24T09:01:00.000-08:00

I have never liked false alarms....when it comes to labor I hate them even more.

For the past 2 months we have done everything in our power to stop labor.

We are now 37 weeks and nothing is happening.

Yesterday ,my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and they were real labor pains....the type of pain you can't describe because words can't convey the power and discomfort of them. Naturally, I went to the hospital.

It stayed that way for 7 hours with NO PROGRESS.

Are you serious, I tell the nurse?!?!?!

She looks as confused as me.....she can't explain it.

They give me major pain medicine but not the epidural that I want so bad.

They send me home when the contractions are still 4 minutes apart and hurt like heck.

They say I could go around like this for another 2 weeks....AHHHHHHH!

Can we all pray that she will come soon!

And the Nerves Kick in

2011-01-12T17:21:00.000-08:00

WARNING: This post has no pictures besides the cute on above, and is mainly a rambling of all my emotions and thoughts right now.....prepare for a lengthy rambling of an emotional pregnant woman.

For 2 years this little guy has been my world and my life has revolved around him night and day. I never knew the amount of love and joy I could feel until the moment I held him in my arms and realized that he was my son.

Within the next couple of days I will be holding my baby girl in my arms and to be honest I have so many emotions going through my heart.

Thrilled beyond words to experience the joys of having and raising a beautiful Child of God.

Thrilled to finally be off of bed rest. 10 weeks of lying around doing very little can emotionally and physically be draining. I feel beyond blessed to have made it this far. I have fallen more in love with my husband these past 2 months than I ever thought I could, and it is all because he has gone above and beyond taking care of me and his family. My inlaws have been so patient and loving also and it truly has been a blessing living with them during this trial in our lives. However, for the sake of everyone in this house, we are all ready for this to be over with.

I am thrilled to dress up Brooklyn in all the cute outfits, hair bows, and dresses I have been dying to get out of the closet for 8 months. Tea parties, dolls, pink, and princesses are right up my alley!

On the flip side, I am scared to death of the delivery/recovery side of birth. Labor wasn't kind to me with Weston and the recovery was nothing short of shocking. And let me tell you, those emotions after birth are oh so tricky sometimes. Let's hope everyone is right when they say the 2nd is a lot easier.

I am nervous of the transition from 1 to 2 kids. Last night I was cuddled next to Weston reading

him books and I had a moment when it hit me that he will no longer be my little boy. Those golden moments I had one on one time with him, I will now have to sneak in. I will be honest when I say I am going to miss it just being me and him.

I am also nervous at how Weston will take having a little girl steal all his thunder. I am expecting some meltdowns here and there with the lack of "the world revolves around me" attention he is use to getting from everyone who lays eyes on him. We gave him a doll last week to help him prepare for a baby being in his life in a few short days. Besides poking her eyes out, throwing her in the bathtub, and swinging the doll by the legs he was also very gentle when he pretended to push her in her swing and I even caught him rocking her in his arms. SO CUTE! And he was so thrilled when I asked him to get me a diaper and to help change her.....moments like that give me hope that he may fall in love with her quicker that I think.

I have a feeling my time management skills are going to be tested also. I haven't been the best at managing me time, and I will be honest when I say that Weston has spoiled me with my "me time" for a while. No more sleeping in, no more long hot showers when I need them, and I will probably be happy if I remember to brush my teeth in the morning. However, that is reality when it comes to being a mother and its all worth it....I know that 100 percent.

I know all these emotions are normal, and I am sure every mother goes through these worries and anticipations right before birth. I will soon have twice the love, twice the worry, twice the joy, twice the tears, and twice the laughter. I know that I am so blessed with a beautiful family who I love so deeply and just when I thought my heart cannot get any bigger I am going to be ready for that happiness that is going to make my heart want to explode with love for this little girl!

In the meantime, the countdown has begun.....2 more days and she is in the clear to come !!!!!!!

The Little Man turns 2!

2010-12-08T22:42:00.000-08:00

My little man turned 2 today and I cannot believe how fast time flies. As he was napping I took some time to look through all his pictures and it amazes me how much he has already grown.

1 day old and so so tiny....this picture makes me so excited for Brooklyn to arrive into our family!
4 months old....he still sticks out his tongue all the time just like in this picture. I love his funny quirks.

8 months old....one of my favorite pictures ever!

1 year old...I love his chunky cheeks:)

15 months and starting to look just like a big boy(even with his horrible haircut I gave him;)).

20 months and becoming an adventurous, busy, curious toddler...

2 years old and still my "little man".

I love you bugaboo!

Faith

2010-11-19T21:37:00.000-08:00

There is a reason we are using the name Faith as a middle name for Brooklyn.

These days we are using a lot of it.

5 days ago I went to the doctors with a lot of braxton hick thinking it was not a big deal.

It was.

I tested positive on a test that predicts labor early.

I took 6 of these tests with Weston. They all came back negative.

The doctor told me that they would do another cause she believed it was a false-positive.

She was wrong.

It came back positive.

Today I was back in the hospital receiving shots to help our little girls lungs develop faster in case she comes early.

Right now I am only 27 weeks and she weighs less than 3 pounds.

13 more weeks to go.

I am scared to death to be honest.

I have guilt because all Weston is doing all day is watching tv cause I am stuck on a couch on my left side to keep my contractions under control.

He is in heaven though. He gets to watch Cars, Finding Nemo and Toy Story as much as he wants.

I tell him to bring me my phone, blankets, mommy's books and he hasn't failed me once. He is a huge reason why I am staying sane while I am on the couch. He is so much happier since his surgery last week. THANK GOODNESS. I love him more than life.

I haven't even thought about preparing for Brooklyn's arrival. I still have so much to do.

Thank goodness for online shopping and a mother in law who is more than willing to shop for her grand daughter.

My husband has done more for me in the past 5 days that I can comprehend. I am realizing how much he does love me and our family.

He tells me he doesn't understand how I do it everyday. That brings a smile to my face.

However, I will do everything to keep this little girl within my as long as possible

Priesthood blessings are what I am relying on right now.

They are more powerful than medicine.

That and Faith.

2010-11-06T17:01:00.001-07:00

"So often in life we think that because we have done things in a certain way, certain results should follow. But life is like the ocean. Sometimes we get caught in squalls & storms & things don't go the way we think they should, even when we think we have done right. But God can find us in the eye of a storm and give us courage to swim in rough water. We learn lessons from storms that we cannot learn from calm seas Sometimes the Lord calms the storm and sometimes He lets the storm rage and calms his child." -John H. Groberg

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-19T20:58:00.000-07:00

This weekend we went to Greenbluff to pick our pumpkins in the pumpkin patch. I love making dinner in a pumkin on Halloween night so I put Weston in charge of finding that perfect pumpkin for our dinner. It was such a beautiful day and between the hayride, falling in love with pressed apple cider, looking at all the beautiful leaves, and chowing down on kettle corn we had so much fun!

And in the end, Weston did find us the perfect pumkin!

The Binky

2010-10-08T10:51:00.000-07:00

I have a love/hate relationship with Weston's binky.

It has saved us in so many situations that I don't know how I would have managed otherwise.

It has allowed me to sleep through the night since Weston was 6 weeks old.

It has also created a habit that I know would be a nightmare to break.

The habit needed to be broken while I still had patience within me and before his baby sister comes.

I clipped the tip off of his binky, he put it in his mouth then threw it across the room.

We then went cold turkey after we threw it away because it "broke".

We did not sleep for 2 days straight.

Naptime #1 didn't happen. Nighttime #1 happened at 11:30 pm while waking up every hour in screaming attacks that we couldn't stop without praying for patience.

Day 2 woke up with the worse cold ever. Miserable all day long begging for comfort. I wanted to give in so bad. I didn't.

Nighttime #2 took 3 1/2 hours with all of us finally going to bed at 12:45. Little did I know he was cutting more teeth.

Perfect time to take a binky away, wouldn't you say?

Day number 3. A miracle happens. He went down within 15 minutes at naptime and bedtime. Yes, I was by his side both times in his bed, but he cuddled next to me and I knew he found comfort from me and not the binky.

Putting him to sleep with me by his side is a habit we will worry about when I don't need sleep myself:).

Last night I cried out of pure happiness.

We are celebrating tonight on becoming a "big boy"!!!!!

21 weeks

2010-10-04T08:24:00.000-07:00

Over half-way and it has been so easy so far.

Love the fact that I can eat oreo cookies in bed at 2 am and not feel guilty:)!

Let's cross our fingers for the second half.

That is where it gets a little tricky.

Bed rest with my busy bee.....I can't even comprehend how it will work.

Bahamas and Baby News!!

2010-10-01T13:05:00.001-07:00

So Ryan and I were spoiled by my parents with a cruise to the Bahamas while he were down South. The only stipulation....Weston had to go, therefore it would not be a "relaxation cruise". There were moments when I wanted to pull my hair out trying to control a crazy toddler boy who does not slow down. At one point he was throwing carrots across the room where everyone eats and tries to relax. Nope, not with Weston in the room,lol. However, I experienced paradise with my 2 favorite boys and brother and sister....I couldn't ask for more. My sweet husband even surprised me with a massage in the Bahamas while he took care of Weston because he knew how stressed out I was with Weston. Moment like that make me love him so much! Here are some pictures of our cruise.

Ryan, Lindsay, and Matt got to go snorkeling and they had so much fun. Look how pretty the water is....so clear and blue.
Lindsay helped so much with Weston and keeping him busy. He had so much fun with her. Thanks a ton Linds for all the help!

I love this picture so much. My husband is amazing with Weston and they truly have so much fun together. Weston loved playing near the water and Ryan would sit and play with him while I got time to read on the beach!

I love my family more than life. I smile just thinking that we will soon be having another child in our lives!

To keep Weston quite while we ate were threw out all the rules of healthy eating and gave him as much chocolate cake as he wanted. Dinner was seriously my favorite part of the day...unlimited food with sweets that never stopped. You can see I had 3 different bowls of dessert in the background. When I eat for 2 I seriously do not hold back,lol.

I was once a mother that swore I would never put my child on one of these leashes....yeah, not anymore! This lion backpack/leash saved us on the cruise. This is what Weston did 99% of the time when he didn't hold his "tail"...run away for us,lol.

I truly could wake up to this every morning if I could!

More food....Weston shoving eggs in his mouth. Why use a fork when you can get twice the amount in your mouth with your hands? Oh how I love my little man!

So, from this post you can tell that toddler boys can be beyond a handful. There have been moments the past 4 months when I just break down wondering if I have any control over my little man. My mother keeps telling me that it is because he has been thrown off of his normal routine with all this traveling and time changes and I pray that she is right ( I am happy to say that he has calmed down a lot since we have gotten back into a normal routine). However, there are still moments when I ask myself, is this just a phase or our these tantrums going to continue for the next 5 years. Weston is 100% boy and throwing, spitting ( it's amazing how quickly he learns from watching his daddy), and yelling in the middle of Wal Mart is just his thing right now...even in the middle of sacrament meeting. Time outs are becoming more popular these days, which are working so far. And we are having another child in the next 5 months?!??! Yes, I lie in bed at night wondering how I will survive sometimes.

HOWEVER, WESTON IS A SWEETHEART IN SO MANY WAYS. Weston still makes my heart melt with his kisses, when he calls me mom, and when he snuggles up to me when he sneaks into our bed early in the morning. I love his squeals when he sees an airplane, and how he giggles when we sing Five Little Monkey and Popcorn Popping. I love how every night we have to make "pop pop" before bed and how he sits on the couch with me with his bag of popcorn that he wants all to himself. I love how I tuck him into his big boy bed every night and he waves bye to me as I shut the door. Moments like that make being a mother SO SO WORTH IT!

In conclusion, I have been secretly praying for a girl just to add some girliness and hopefully calming behavior to our little family. I would be happy with a boy of course but deep down I really needed a girl for my sanity. So this past Wednesday, I literally broke down in tears during the ultrasound when we found out we are having a GIRL!!!! I am so excited for everything and I have already gone crazy at the fabric store buying all kinds of fabric for future projects. All in all, I feel like Heavenly Father truly knows what I need in my children to help me become a better mother. I love everything about being a mother, and I know that these moments of chaos and insanity are part of a life that I truly am falling in love with.

Idaho Falls

2010-09-28T13:24:00.000-07:00

For the month of July and August we lived in Idaho Falls for a clinical that Ryan had to complete. I love the Idaho Falls area and it was so fun to be around some family and friends. We had so much fun visiting Yellowstone, going to Wyoming, and eating out WAY TO much. I seriously think we went to Cafe Rio more times than I can count. Here are some pictures of our stay in IF.

Weston and I in Yellowstone. He did so good the whole time thanks to Toy Story and Finding Nemo! I recommend a portable DVD player to any family who has a toddler and has to travel. It has saved our LIFE.

Posing with Grampa Patterson's moose in Wyoming. Weston loved this moose and every morning would want to get up close to it.

With Ryan in Yellowstone.

Playing on the playground. I loved the parks in Rexburg and we would go multiple times and just have so much fun!

Weston had so much fun fishing in Wyoming. However, once he caught a fish he would scream when the fish would come in the boat. He literally ran to the other side of the boat.

Having fun with Aunt Lindsay. She spoiled him with her Dr. Pepper while I was apparently not looking;)

We had so much fun at this ballgame. Ryan's work let us in their suite and I had so much fun with all the Texas Roadhouse rolls with honey butter. I was so glad I was pregnant at that moment:)

Overall, we had a blast and came back to Spokane for 3 days only to pack everything back up and head across the country to South Carolina and our cruise. I'll post pictures later for that trip!

Hello from paradise!

2010-09-13T19:39:00.000-07:00

So it has been FOREVER since I made a post and figured I should at least explain why I have been so lazy at blogging. First and foremost....

our life has not slowed down in the past 3 months. We have moved into a new place in Spokane, lived in Idaho Falls for 4 weeks, went to Wyoming then Yellowstone, been on a 4 day cruise to the Bahamas, and we are currently on week 3 in South Carolina...and our child has become an amazing traveler thanks to the best portable DVD player in the world!

I don't have a computer attatchment to upload any of my pictures so I am going to have to be patient at posting those...

Truthfuly, reading has become my priority while on vacation right now...I just finished Mockingjay and loved it and now reading Eat, Pray, and Love which is so far very entertaining...so this poor blog has been kinda neglected I guess you can say

However in the next few weeks you will see in future blog posts...

Weston eating way to much chocolate cake on the cruise

Weston's first baseball game in a luxury suite with unlimited Texas Road House rolls and honey butter ( thank goodness I am pregnant:)
my growing belly ( I seriously feel huge)
Weston's first fishing trip in Wyoming
Ryan and Weston boogie boarding on the beach...so cute
The BEAUTIFUL, BREATHTAKING views of the southern life in South Carolina ( I have been living the retired life for 3 weeks now and I feel so spoiled). We are on the beach every day and it is so relaxing and fun
Going to the zoo!!!!
Adventures on a cruise with a busy 20 month old....FYI: I don't highly recommend it if you want to relax;)
My attempts to get Weston to start calling his dad "daddy" and not "Ryan" or "Ry"...he will seriously call Ryan by his first name all day long...at least I still am getting "mama"
Whether we will have a boy or girl......:):):):)!!!!!!!!

Anyways, here are some pictures I found on my dad's computer of our trip down South....:)

Can you see why I have been living in paradise for the past 3 weeks. So AMAZING!!!!

And yes I just had to put this one in because he is getting cuter and cuter as the days go by:)

Summertime

2010-07-06T12:41:00.001-07:00

We have been having such a fun summer playing outside in the nice warm weather. We just found out that we will be moving to Idaho Falls for 4 weeks while Ryan does his clinical and I am thrilled because we our renting a house with a backyard! We have been stuck in an apartment with no yard so outside time is so vital in all our sanity this summer. After the 4 week clinical we are heading off to South Carolina for 3 weeks to see my family which I could not be more thrilled about. And to just put a cherry on top of all this traveling, a cruise to the Bahamas has been booked for the family and I am sure everyone knows how I feel about that. Can you imagine 1 hungry pregnant woman on a cruise with unlimited food 24 hours a day. This pregnancy I have been craving way to many sweet foods and I have had this on going craving for Sour Patch Kids. I gave Weston one this morning and his face was beyond priceless.

Anyways we had such a fun 4th of July and had a blast with my sister. Of course we went to see Eclipse, which I loved! Ryan is so confused with all this Twilight obsession and to be honest it kind of cracks me up also. I remember loving the books before all this pandemonium started and now I just sit back and laugh and all these crazy women. Seriously, I had to listen to a middle age woman sobbing during the proposal scene in the movie which completely distracted me 100%. Oh well....at least it was an entertaining movie.

Weston loved having the attention (when doesn't he love attention) and had fun with the barbecues, fireworks, and just the fun times with family. Lots of food and ice cream! Anyways, here are some pictures of Weston during our 4th of July picnic and Gramma and Grampa Poffenbergers house.

He loved playing peek a boo with me on the swing set.

Weston loves "mowing the lawn".

Playing on the slide and giggling all the way down.

Oh how I love his eskimo kisses.

He was so proud of himself for climbing up the latter all by himself.

Just being Weston.

Random picture, but this is the spoon that Weston insists on using to eat cereal with. I have no idea where he got that idea,lol.

Daddy Day

2010-06-20T20:55:00.001-07:00

When I married Ryan I was so excited for him to become a dad.

Once we had Weston, my heart smiled as I saw him completely fall in love with our little monkey.

He has exceeded my expectations as a father.

This is why....

Ryan shares his bowl of ice cream with Weston when I'm not watching.

If Weston is in tormoil Ryan is the first arms he is in.

When they can, Ryan and Weston go for a walk to the mailbox and get the mail together.

Ryan chases Weston around the house creating squeals of delight that you can hear a mile away.

Last night I came into the living room and Ryan and Weston were sitting side by side of the couch watching Cops while sharing a Popsicle ( Ryan's dream activity with his son)

Ryan is so excited when he can take Weston on his first fishing trip.

Lastly, Ryan never forgets to kiss our little guy goodnight and tell him how much he loves him...he always says " goodnight little man"...

Weston is one lucky boy.

And I am one lucky mother.

Adventures

2010-06-10T18:26:00.000-07:00

This month has been non stop craziness. Family has been here for the past 3 weeks and we have done anything but slow down. Weston has also been cutting more molars, which of course is wonderful timing with all this company. You will notice in the upcoming pictures that he is not afraid to let people know just how crabby he can be. However, he had so much fun in between the lack of sleep and those wonderful molars that finally broke through the day after company left.

We loved having Kayla, Nick, Brody, and Gramma and Grampa Patterson here for a few weeks.
Our kazzillionth attempt for a family picture with Weston attempting to smile. The day that it happens I am going to blow up the picture as big as I can and will plaster it on my wall for the whole world to see.

Again, Weston being crabby and refusing to take a picture with his adorable, smiling cousin. I am quickly learning I cannot force my 18 month old to do anything he doesn't want to do...like taking pictures.

My attempt to give Weston a fun adventure of the carousel.Notice how he is terrified and wants to get off. Thank goodness I had a great time.

Having a fun time on the gondola ride over the Spokane Falls.

Weston loved looking out the windows at the water.

Catching up on some much needed rest with Grampa.
Learning from his daddy on how to do homework. Now we just need to focus on drawing on paper and not walls, books, and chairs.
Being a monkey and climbing everywhere. His newest adventure are the tables, which is completely stressing me out.
Going on a picnic and enjoying his yummy peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

So you can tell from these pictures than in our family we try to have fun even though we are in the storm on the world teething. Weston seriously is a joy to have around and makes us smile every day...he just hasn't learned to show it for the camera;)

2010-06-02T19:06:00.000-07:00

"As you create a home, don't get distracted with a lot of things that have no meaning for you or your family. Don't dwell on your failures, but think about your successes. Have joy in your home. Have joy in your children. Have joy in your husband. Be grateful for the journey."-Marjorie Pay Hinkley

101

2010-06-01T09:59:00.000-07:00

Curious George here loves to watch....

this movie.

He has watched it way more than 101 times.

It is the only tv/movie he will watch (oh, besides Ellen).

He laughs at the same parts, screams at the same parts.

He is obsessed.

And he has convinced mom and dad that eating popcorn while watching a movie just makes life so much better!

Best Buddies

2010-05-16T20:45:00.000-07:00

These two are inseparable.

I feel so lucky to have a son who I know looks up to his dad.

I feel blessed to know that my husband is someone worth looking up too.

Hello Spring!!

2010-04-17T18:57:00.001-07:00

Spring is finally here! Ryan, Weston, and I are beyond thrilled for the wonderful 70 degree weather and this past weekend we have spent every moment we can outside. Weston loves it so much and every time we have to come back in he has a breakdown like no other. I swear if he had his crib on the porch he would be more than thrilled to sleep outside. Here are some pictures of our weekend.

Proof that Weston can smile for the camera when he wants to. I seriously cannot wait till he understands to pose for the camera with a big smile:)!

Being studious and reading his books in the buff.
Having way to much fun in the sprinkler.

And more fun....

Knocking on gramma and grampa's door wondering where they are.

Loving his new swing that grampa built him.

Throwing rocks in the river and attempting to walk into the river. Too bad I wasn't as adventureous as my child.

Having fun with dad!

3 years and going strong

2010-04-06T18:06:00.000-07:00

For 3 years....

this has been my source of true, eternal joy. I love you sweetheart!

Forever

2010-04-05T14:10:00.000-07:00

This is what life is all about.

( I promise you Weston smiles...just not for the camera)

Easter!!

2010-04-05T13:56:00.001-07:00

This Easter we had so much fun with our family down in Rexburg. Weston loved playing with Grant, Noah, and Ben and seeing him have fun was so much fun for Ryan and I. I loved being back in Rexburg for a few days and enjoyed my yearly fix of Bajio pineapple shrimp salad...oh how I love it!

Weston loved his Easter basket in the morning. Between the bubbles, toys, clothes, crayons, and fruit snacks it is safe to say he was spoiled. Thanks a ton Dawn!
The boys got guinea pigs for Easter and Weston loved them. He also was obsessed with their dog, which is causing Ryan and I the debate of when to get him a puppy.

The freedom of dying eggs without me going crazy of the mess he is making!

Wondering why I am trying to get his attentions and disrupting his egg dying session.

Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Chips

2010-03-28T11:22:00.000-07:00

Last night I needed a little treat to relax from tending a very sick, cranky little boy. He has strep throat and I have never seen him so miserable:(. I needed a break so Ryan took over and I made this super yummy desert. I didn't have all the fruit they asked for so I just used what I had and it was so good!

Fruit Salsa and Cinnamon Chips

2 apples

2 kiwis, peeled and diced
peaches
pinepple

2 bananas

strawberries
2 tablespoons white sugar
lime or lemon juice

10 (10 inch) flour tortillas
butter flavored cooking spray
2 cups cinnamon sugar

Directions
1.In a large bowl, cut all fruit up into tiny pieces and add a little bit of lime or lemon juice for flavoring. Then add sugar. Cover and chill in the refrigerator at least 15 minutes.
2.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
3.Coat one side of each flour tortilla with butter flavored cooking spray. Cut into wedges and arrange in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Sprinkle wedges with desired amount of cinnamon sugar. Spray again with cooking spray.
4. Bake in the preheated oven 10to 13 minutes. Repeat with any remaining tortilla wedges. Allow to cool approximately 15 minutes. Serve with chilled fruit mixture.

Reading Drawer

2010-03-25T16:54:00.001-07:00

Weston has a new favorite place to read his books. It also appears that he likes to multitask. Read 3 books while watching Baby Einstein up close and personal in a drawer...who would have thought!

Sleepy Head

2010-03-20T13:52:00.000-07:00

When he is tired he will crash anywhere at anytime.

Busy Busy Busy

2010-03-18T19:42:00.001-07:00

So things have changed in the Poffenberger home the past 3 weeks which is a reason why I am neglecting this blog. I am babysitting my nephews who are 1 and 3 at their house for the day during the week and it has been great for Weston to socialize and play with kids other than me. I have learned that he is a very sensitive child who runs to me whenever a toy is taken away from him but overall he is adjusting pretty good. He loves going outside with the boys and he has learned to climb on everything in sight. Today he managed to climb on their picnic table, which he fell off of, of course, and received his first bloody lip. It has been a great blessing to Ryan and I financially and it feels great to know that we don't have to take huge amounts of money out for student loans. On the other hand, the house is getting more and more neglected as the days go by and dinner has been less than mediocre than what it use to be. Thank goodness Weston and Ryan are not picky eaters cause I would be in trouble. As for the apartment....spring cleaning is going to be a scary sight when the times comes;). Overall, at the end of the day I am exhausted but I feel like a have been productive and that is the best feeling in the entire world.

In other news, Weston had his first case of the stomach flu and it was horrible. He threw up 5 days straight ( I was so proud of myself for surviving day 1...come day 5 I thought I deserved a 5 star vacation) and one day slept for 18 hours! Poor guy...he seriously could not keep anything down and he lost 1 pound because of it. We are now at 23.8 pounds but for some reason feels like 50 pounds. He also got 4 new teeth this week...1 on the top 1 on the bottom and 2 molars. And let me tell you, these molars are creating more drama in our house than ever before. I feel like a am drugging my child like crazy with Tylenol, but it is the only thing that can bring relief to all of us:(.

Weston loves his new magna-doodle from Grammy Marshall. He carries is around all day long and draws pictures that he loves to show us. So fun!

All you Need is Love

2010-02-15T22:00:00.000-08:00

Valentines Day is so much better when you have someone to make it so special with. This year was even better cause now I have 2 cute boys to celebrate it with:)

We went to this.......

( Ryan's dream Valentines day date....a hockey game with hot dogs for dinner)

I made this....

(Short, sweet and it didn't cost me a thing.)

I was made this...........

(my favorite part was the ultra cute plates)

Ryan and I had SO MUCH fun with this..........

(7 reasons why I love him, and 7 activities to celebrate our love... reminising, dancing, cuddling, and just having fun was never so great)

I heart attacked this door....

(I could think of a kazzilion reason more why I love my little guy)

To make up for the hockey date for Valentines day we saw this.....

( move over Twilight and The Notebook,I think I may have a new favorite movie....so so good;))

Learning

2010-02-11T15:40:00.001-08:00

So I have always believed that learning should be fun. I have been trying to teach Weston how to use a spoon while he eats instead of him just shoving the food in his face. This is the idea I came up with for a "fun" way to eat with a spoon.

Do you think it is working?
I don't know but it sure looks fun!!!!

Learning doesn't get any better than this. I wish all learning involved chocolate and bubble baths:)

Cookies and Milk

2010-02-11T15:21:00.001-08:00

So I was craving chocolate chip cookies today and found the

perfect helper! Don't you love the consentration that he has when he is stirring. He knew that he couldn't mess up my cookies!

14 months

2010-02-06T12:18:00.000-08:00

Weston is turning 14 months tomorrow and the past couple of weeks have been so much fun. He has convinced me that I do not need to exercise because I am burning enough calories just chasing him around the house. Here are some of the things he has been up to.

Weston has been teething so much these past few weeks and has had some pretty crabby moments. Let's just say Tylenol and Orajel have become my new best friend;)
Weston still refuses to let me take a picture of him because he is obsessed with the camera and the second he sees it he literally runs for it and tries to grab it out of my hand.

Loves to play with his waterfall soother instead of taking a nap. Last night I woke up at 3 in the morning to this.

ADORES his daddy and honestly would go to him any day over me. If Ryan is in the room he is always wanting to be with him and trying to copy what he does. There are moments when it just melts my heart seeing him and Weston play together.

Loves to talk on my phone. He will not touch his phone but give him my phone and he acts like he has a million bucks in his hand. So just know that if you get a random call from me with a toddler rambling on the other end it is just Weston wanting to talk. Trust me, it has happened more than once already.

Loves to help me in the kitchen. If I am cooking dinner he has to be right by my side trying to see every move that I make.

Weston is such a bookworm and I love it. I cannot get him to sit still for more than 3 seconds unless I put him on the lovesac with a bunch of books. He will seriously sit there for 15 minutes just looking at his books!

He loves the shower and bath time. Sometimes I just stick him in the shower during the daytime if he is getting bored and he will laugh and squeal forever.

Weston also has learned to give the best slobbery kisses ever. However, it is the Eskimo kisses that he gives me that I LOVE.

He loves to eat anything in front of him. Nothing new there. Is it wrong that your 1 year old eats more than his mom?

Weston is also learning sign language due to the fact that is refuses to talk. He has been cursed with a mom who went to school for special education so has a brain full of information that has been a curse to herself and her son. Lets just say I have been narrating everything Weston and I do, label every object that Weston touches, and have been crazy about teaching him baby sign language. Most of the time Weston just looks at me and give me a look that says "your crazy" and reminds me to just calm down and let him go at his pace and have fun being a toddler. Being a mom creates a worry within my that I never knew existed and I have a feeling it will never go away...oh my poor kids and husband;).

Happiness

2010-01-25T13:37:00.001-08:00

Keeping busy

2010-01-25T12:55:00.000-08:00

So my mom called and wanted to know what I do all day. Well here, you go mom....

1. Laundry- it never ends and I know it will just get worse with the more kids I have. However, every day without fail I have a least a load to do....today it was 3.

2. Cooking- oh how I love to cook. This is the one time of the day where I enjoy creating something and lately I have been having so much fun with all the spices Ryan got me in my spice rack for Christmas. However, I hate grocery shopping...sometimes I wish you could do online shopping for groceries.

3. Cleaning- this is something I am doing every second of the day....it never ends and I know it never will. Weston is in the phase where he finds something and brings it someplace across the house for me to pick up. For example, I couldn't find my deodorant this morning and I was running late for visiting teaching...I searched high and low for it but couldn't find it. I later found it in the kitchen drawer. Never thought I would find it there.

4. ATTEMPTING to keep this little stinker out of trouble. I love him more than life but let me tell you...he is keeping me on my toes every second of the day. We moved our DVD player up 2 shelves because of his recent obsession with taking the DVDs out of the DVD player (refer to previous post). Well yesterday he attempted to stand on his tip toes and pull the DVD player off the shelf so he could play with the buttons. Never saw that one coming ;).

Now to keep my sanity I attempt to do fun things for myself when he is sleeping or Ryan is home playing with him. Here are a few of my fun little projects and activities.

Scrapbooking

I started Ryan and my scrapbook of our dating, engagement, and marriage. I am currently on our honeymoon and it is so fun looking back on all our love notes, and fun trips we had together. It is nothing fancy because I am not that creative but it is still something worth having.

I finally caught up with Weston's scrapbook and I am so happy that I finally did it!

Crafts
(Carlin this is only because you asked me to show you)
I made Weston a temple book of old pictures from one of my temple calender with the words of "I Love to see the Temple" on each page. He loves it and it is a good Sunday book.

I made this clock that doesn't work but it looks nice.

Picture frame

Love sign

Magnet Board

The Quilt

I do not have a picture of the quilt because I am still doing it and I have a feeling I will not show anyone because of how horrible it looks. Let's just say I have issues threading the machine, let alone making a huge quilt. So it is a work in progress to make it short...

Valentine's Advent Calender

I have been working on this for a while and I can't wait to put it up for Ryan on Feb. 1. I am still making up each box and the different activities for each day proceeding to Valentine's day but it should be so fun.

Last but not least I love reading. There is nothing more relaxing to me than curling up on the couch with a heated blanket, some hot chocolate, and a good book with my new Michael Buble CD in the background....:)

Caught in the act

2010-01-22T09:48:00.001-08:00

When found out we were having a boy my mom told me that boys are so much easier to raise when they are teenagers because you don't have to worry about a the drama that comes hand in hand with teenage girls. However, she warned me that boys can be a more ciourious when they are younger and a little more of a challenge....... This is why I believe her.

Figuring out what buttons to push to open the dvd player.

Opening it up, and then discovering that there is a dvd to play with.

Taking the dvd out of the player and then putting his dirty finger prints all over the dvd.

Dropping the dvd on the floor and then scratching it all over the remote control.
( Ryan would be flipping out if he knew I was taking pictures of this and not running after Weston to stop the destruction of the dvd)

The reaction I get when I take the dvd away from Weston. Do you think it is too early for anger management classes?

The Best Gift!

2010-01-14T15:20:00.001-08:00

Christmas

2009-12-29T10:26:00.000-08:00

This year Christmas was so much fun for our little family. We had so much fun together just enjoying Weston and each other and I truly am so thankful for the love that was in our home during this season. To start of our little Christmas fun we went to our family Christmas party on Christmas Eve and had so much fun with family. We ate really yummy Cafe Rio style burritos which I LOVED and Weston enjoyed walking around begging for desert and cookies from anyone who would give him some (there is a reason I gave him a toothbrush in his stocking this year). After the party we went and looked at lights listening to Christmas music and Weston loved it. They were so pretty and I can't wait for the day when I can have a place to call home to decorate for the Christmas season. We then came home and opened our Christmas pajamas up and watched Frosty the Snowman while Weston refused to go to bed because he was having too much fun. I figured it was Christmas Eve so he giggled and squealed till 10:30 that night.

Come 7 am we all went into the living room and had fun opening our gifts. Too bad Weston wanted nothing to do with his gifts. He seriously just sat there and looked at them as I opened them for him,lol. I think the staying up till 10:30 made him a little confused at why he was up opening up presents instead of sleeping in his warm comfy crib. He was spoiled though and he now is obsessed with all his new toys and books! I was spoiled with books, candles, socks, a beautiful willow tree figurine, scrap booking items, lotions, and a spice rack. I got Ryan his ultra comfy desk chair and some shirts while Weston got me the Polar Express book and Ryan a movie to watch with him. Ryan and I then gave each other our traditional Christmas letters to each other which was by far my favorite gift. Once we finished opening our gifts we went to Ryan's parents house and had French toast for breakfast. It was so much fun! The rest of the day we just enjoyed family and our new toys!

So the past couple of nights before Christmas Weston was so NOT on Santa's nice list because he kept mom and dad up all night long just not wanting to sleep. We later realized he got 4 teeth within a week and then we felt bad for saying he was on the "naughty list". Overall, this smile is the real reason Weston was on Santa's nice list this year. Once he starts to smile it is an automatic decision.
Weston only wanted to play with Ryan's stocking stuffers which was candy, candy and more candy!

Playing with his new keys and remote control.

Christmas Eve night with our Christmas pajamas!

Here is a video of one of Weston's favorite things to do. Oh so fun!

Walking

2009-12-17T14:21:00.001-08:00

This has been the look on Weston's face for the past week. His top two teeth are coming through and he spends his day climbing up my legs begging me to hold him. Of course I do it cause I can't resist a moment that he allows me to snuggle with him!
When he is not begging for me to hold him he is walking! Last night he refused to crawl and ever since then it has been walking all over the place. As Ryan stated last night "our lives are never going to be the same" with a grin on his face. I second that one!

I can't get over how much he has grown. My mom didn't lie when he said tha time will fly with him. I just wish he would be my little baby forever....oh well, I guess that is why baby number two will someday have to come and entertain our crazy family! As for now, this one is keeping us more than entertained and busy... ask me how we are going to do multiple children and I just shake my head and laugh. seriously?! there is a reason I have nicknamed my child "hurricane weston";).

Weston's First Birthday

2009-12-08T12:13:00.001-08:00

So today is the day that I have been so excited about for so long. It is Weston's first birthday and it is very bitter sweet because my baby has suddenly become a toddler who is no longer considered my tiny baby boy. However, I was looking forward to this day until last night when my birthday boy woke up with a temperature of a 103.6 and wanted nothing to do but scream. We had taken him to the doctor earlier in the day who informed us that it was only viral and it just had to take it's course and there was nothing we could do....great. So the doctor asked me if I was giving him any medicine to help reduce his fever which I was. However, I learned last night that my "baby" weighs a whopping 23 pounds and needs a high dose than what I was giving him. Yes, I know Weston is a good eater...but 23 pounds! Jeesh, I hope he slows down once he masters this walking business. So last night I gave him his high dose, which was not working so at 2 in the morning I decided to give him a luke warm bath to help his fever go down. Well, Weston wanted nothing to do with it and I am surprised he didn't wake up the entire apartment complex with his high pitched screaming. Last night I think we all got a max of 3 hours of sleep between rocking, baths, and just trying to get our little boy comfortable. His fever is now at 101 which still stinks but is a lot better than what it was. I feel so bad and to be honest he has been miserable all day long. Thank goodness he doesn't understand its his birthday cause I would feel that much worse. So his birthday will consist of lots of cuddling, Baby Einstein, reading books, and just hanging with mom on the couch.:(

The good news is we celebrated his birthday last Thursday with family so my mom could be at his party before she leaves. We had such a fun time, and Weston was clueless what was going on but he still had fun and I am SO THANKFUL that we got to experience a birthday party. Here are some pictures of the party.

Right before his party he decided to take 10 steps to grammy and me! I was so proud of him!

I made a caterpillar cupcake cake that was so fun and everyone loved. I decided to have fun and tie dyed the cupcakes which were a lot of fun.

Everyone started to sing Happy Birthday to Weston and he had no idea why everyone was looking at him, let along singing to him. However, he loves attention and had fun being the center of it.

Weston is going through a stage right now where he is terrified of certain toys and sounds. Gramma Poffenberger has a Santa Clause that laughs and Weston is just scared to death of. As he was eating his cake she turned it on, and this is the reaction he gave when he heard the toy.

Once the toy was turned off he continued stuffing his face with his yummy cake.

He had so many presents and didn't have a clue what to do with them. He wanted nothing to do with unwrapping them so his cousins helped him and had just as much fun as he did.

He loves the Lego's and wheelbarrow that my mom gave him. Let's just say this kid has so many toys and Christmas is right around the corner. Half the time he just wants to play with items that aren't even toys so sometimes I wonder why we even try entertaining him with toys,lol. I think it is time to start rotating toys and putting some away;) Overall, it was a fun night and thanks everyone who made it special!!!

1 year old and wiser too.....

2009-12-06T19:29:00.000-08:00

So I am officially a quarter of a century old. When I say it that way I feel a lot older than 25, but then I think about it and I really am not as old as I think. Saying goodbye to 24 was kinda sad because this year has by far been the best year of my life. Becoming a mom brought so much purpose to who I am as a person, and this has been a year of a lot of learning and discovery. I have never worried, doubted myself, cried, been more sleep deprived, and more frustrated than in my 24th year. However, I have never felt more joy, peace, and satisfaction than in my 24th year. I have laughed harder and smiled more than ever this year and felt a quiet confidence that I never knew I had until this year. I learned what it means to trust myself as a mother and to love my child unconditionally and expect nothing in return other than a happy baby. I have learned the power of forgiveness and patience in a marriage. We have grown so much as a couple this year and it has been rough at times with the adjustment of a newborn, but it has also brought us so much more closer together. I have gained a new more powerful love for Ryan this year as I see him love our son and it has blown all my expectations out of the water of what I imagined it would be:). As you can tell, this year has been a roller coaster ride in many sorts but I can say without a doubt in my mind that I wouldn't trade a second of it for the world! I became a mom this year and that is by far the best gift I could ever have been given.

I remember last year for my birthday I was told by my doctor that I could go off my medicine to stop my contractions and go off of bed rest. I had made it to 36 weeks so Weston was no longer in danger of being in the NICU so I was free to get up and move around. Of course I was still nervous of him coming at 36 weeks, so me being the worry wart that I was, I still kept it easy and tried not to do anything strenuous. However, that only worked 3 days until he came but I still say that he was my best late birthday present ever. That was then....this year was a little different:)!

2 days before my birthday, my mom bought me my favorite food ever, lobster, and Ryan and I enjoyed every single bite of it. No, I wasn't in Maine eating it like I always did but it was so worth it in every other way. I then had some cheesecake which was heavenly as always! So that was my official birthday dinner even though it wasn't on my actual birthday.

My actual birthday Ryan took my out to Azteca for some wonderful Mexican food that I really enjoyed. We then went shopping around the mall and just enjoyed a quiet evening to ourselves. Weston and Ryan then surprised me with .......

DAY AT THE SPA!!!!

I am so excited for this because I love to pamper myself and this past year I haven't gotten to because I am so focused on Weston and helping Ryan through school. The day consists of a massage and facial so I am so excited to just sit back and go to some tropical beach in my mind and relax for a nice afternoon. So yes, this is a much need present that I am so thankful for!

Weston having fun with the lobster that he was at first very hesitant to get near.

Oh how I LOVE lobster!

Overall, it was a wonderful day and I am so thankful for everyone in my life who made my day special.

Christmas Time

2009-12-04T13:59:00.000-08:00

The day after Thanksgiving this year I went fully into Christmas mode and have not stopped since. The Christmas music is playing at full blast all the time in our apartment, goodies have already been cooking in the kitchen, I hung up all the decorations, started lighting my yummy scented Christmas candles, already finished my shopping, and I just am happy for this Christmas season. Last year, Ryan and I hardly celebrated because Weston was just born and we were so caught up in taking care of a newborn that the other great parts of the season kinda flew by us. Yes, it sounds horrible but we are totally making up for it this year.

This year we got a fake tree at Target for $20 (this is all we could manage for afford) and it is perfect for our little apartment. And yes that is a santa hat on top of the tree. I cannot justify buying a tree topper that is the same amount as the tree. The joys of living frugally because we are poor college students:).
Weston having fun with Aunt Lindsay!

We took my mom and sister to Coeur d'Alene to see the lights and they were so pretty. It was FREEZING and Weston wasn't as crazy about the lights as we were and just wanted to get inside to dethaw his poor cheeks. He get's the hatred of cold weather from his mom;).

The family!

Some of the pretty lights of the boardwalk.

Turkey Day

2009-11-27T16:08:00.000-08:00

This year we had such a wonderful time for Thanksgiving with our family. My mom and sister came out to visit us and Weston is having SO MUCH fun being spoiled. He has been basking in all the attention and lets just say I no longer have a child who can put himself to sleep on his own. My mom wants to rock him every night and since she lives across the country I cannot refuse that special moment for her. All I can say is in a week I will be in misery as I retraining him to put himself back down on his own. It's worth it though to see him enjoy my mom so much!

Weston loves my sister's cell phone since I no longer let him use mine. As you can tell her is amazed at all the buttons and sounds it makes. To bad he won't play with his toy cell phone...it has to be the real thing,lol.
A family picture that we took quickly.

Weston loved the food. He ate everything on the table and loved making a mess. There is a reason why I call him my "chunky monkey":).

Weston loved watching Grampa cut the turkey. If it is something he has never seen before he will be up front and center within 2 seconds.

Loving his rocking horse at Gramma and Grampa's house.

Keeping an 11 month old busy

2009-11-19T14:07:00.000-08:00

Ever since it has started to get cold and Weston and I are stuck in the house I have been trying so hard to keep him entertained for more than 5 minutes. He is so busy which means his attention span is about 30 seconds with each activity that he does. We have a great routine but sometimes playing with the same toys and reading the same books can get boring for both me and Weston ( I wonder why his new activity is unrolling the toilet paper roll in all of our bathrooms). So today I decided that I would plop some whipped cream in front of him and see what he would do with it.

As you can see, at first he wasn't sure what was in front of him and wanted nothing but the camera I was using to take pictures of him...go figure on that one,lol.

After I put the camera away and gave him a second to explore the whipped cream he went crazy and discovered how good it tasted.

And then I gave him a spatula and the squeals and giggles started to appear.

It was totally worth it! Between the whipped cream craziness and bath I entertained him for 45 minutes! Seriously, that is an accomplishment for me right now:)!

Electronics

2009-11-12T09:36:00.001-08:00

Weston is obsessed with electronics. Here is a list of his new "toys".

1. The Phone- Every time I call someone he sees the phone and zooms over to me so he can get a hold of the phone and communicate to whoever I am talking to by pressing as many buttons as he can.

2. The Remote-Whenever he sees a remote he gravitates to it and manages to change every channel on the tv while we scurry to grab the remote from him. Once this happens he will zoom to the tv and press the buttons on the tv to either turn it on and off, or raise to volume to as loud as it will go. As this is happening he is grinning from ear to ear and Ryan and I are trying are hardest not to lose our minds,lol.

3. The Computer- He loves to computer and whenever I am on it he tries to climb on my lap so he can go crazy with the keyboard. However, that is no longer happening since we got a new computer and he doesn't seem to like that rule.

4. The Camera- This is his new "toy" and Ryan and I are standing firm in not letting him have anything to do with this new discovery. As you may notice a lot of my pictures of Weston are up close. This is due to the fact that he is crawling towards me trying to get a hold of the camera and I am trying as fast as I can to take a picture before he has a breakdown when I pull it away from him.

Here is a picture I wanted to take of his new haircut. As you can see it is up close and you can see the smile on his face that is anticipating the joy of grabbing his favorite new toy.

Now here is the after picture when Mommy took away the camera and he did not get his "toy". He acts like the world is coming to and end. My angel as discovered what a temper tantrum is and he knows how to throw a big one,lol.

Oh on the haircut. He was so amazing. Ryan got the buzzer out and we were positive that he would freak out so I had a sucker ready and everything. However, he sat there perfectly still and played with his matchbox car. Everyone once in a while he would look up at the razor with a puzzled look on his face but would go right back to playing with his car. At least we didn't have a breakdown in that situation.

Mickey Mouse

2009-11-12T09:28:00.001-08:00

The reason why I am so in love with this little boy:)

He just is getting more and more fun as the days go by!

The Cowardly Lion

2009-11-02T09:58:00.000-08:00

To begin Halloween Ryan and I decided to go buy a computer at Best Buy which was random but we needed it so bad. Hopefuly this computer will last us a while and Ryan will be able to get through school without issues that we have had with our current lap top. I then decided to make dinner in a pumpkin which was so much fun. I have done this in the past and decided to make it a tradition for every Halloween. Weston and Ryan both loved it and I was so glad to see them so happy. Next, we forced Weston into his lion costume which he hated and wanted nothing to do with. However, Ryan and I wanted to give him the experience of trick or treating and forced our poor boy out into the cold Halloween night. I know, such horrible parents we are,lol.
So we only took him to 5 houses which were family and at each house he screamed at the top of his lungs when they would give him candy. We got tons of candy for just 5 houses but Weston didn't want anything to do with it. Ryan stated he was just in character and roaring at everyone and I just called him the cowardly lion. He was SO CUTE though and everyone who saw him just smiled and gushed over just how cute a lion he was (even though he bawled as they freely gave him handfuls of chocolate). To say the least, Ryan is thrilled because he has a bucket full of candy waiting for him when he gets home every night.

At the end of the "trick or treating" episode we went to a party with family and had a fun time with them. Once Weston was out of his costume he was all smiles and flirting with everyone in sight. To say the least, he stayed up till 10:30 that night laughing and giggling untill I switched into mommy mode and forced him to sleep against his will. Overall, we had fun and I am so glad we did it :)!

10 months

2009-11-02T09:37:00.000-08:00

Weston turned 10 months this past month and is growing more and more as the days for by. Here are a few of the things he loves to do.

Eating

Weston is obsessed with food. He loves real people food and will have nothing to do with baby food. There are times he shocks me because he eats more than me during some meals. Where does it all go? I wish he could tell me because he can pack it down and not a gain a pound,lol.

Crawling

Weston has finally mastered crawling and is everywhere. He loves getting into everything he is not suppose to and his favorite activity right now is turning the tv on and off. It is cute at times but last night Ryan was trying to watch the World Series and Weston was constantly turning it on and off. As you may guess, Ryan didn't think it was that cute during that moment;).

Jumping in the Crib

Weston can finally put himself to sleep on his own. We have tried to cry it out method a kazzilion times but we can say that this time it worked and we are so happy. For a while during nap time he would either be screaming at the top of his lungs for me to come save him or would just give up and jump on his mattress for 40 minutes at a time giggling and laughing. What is worse? I would take the jumping of course but then it is horrible when I have a crabby boy who played during his nap instead of slept. However, these days have past and he is now a champion at sleeping at night and learning to take longer naps during the day.

Pat-a-cake

Weston loves to play pat-a-cake and it is the cutest thing in the entire world. He claps his hands when he is excited and I love every minute of it!

Talking

Ever since Weston had tubes put in his ears he has begun talking so much better. He talks all the time and Ryan says he is going to take after his Grammy Marshall which is so true. He can say "dada" which is slowly turning into "dadde", "rara", "baba", "yaya" and any other gibish that comes out of his mouth. he still can't say "mama" yet which is driving me crazy,lol. I will be patient though because I know it will be worth it when it happens!

2009-11-02T09:33:00.001-08:00

Pumpkin Patch

We went to Green Bluff and picked out some pumpkins for Halloween this year and tried some yummy kettle corn. We had issues with taking pictures of Weston because he was so distracted with all the people around him that he would never look at us while we were taking pictures of him. But we did manage a few.

Fall Happenings

2009-11-02T09:13:00.000-08:00

Yes I am guilty of neglecting this blog and honestly forgetting it even existed. I then got to thinking that this is a great way of recording what has been happening in my life because I cannot seem to master other ways of recording such a scrapbooking or journal writing. So this is how I will do it and I will be able to show my family just how much fun we are having in our lives. So here is a recap of what we have been doing this fall.

Train Ride

Ryan and I decided to enjoy the beautiful fall leaves by taking Weston on a train ride in the country a few hours from Spokane. It was so freezing that day but Weston was such a great sport and had so much fun looking out the window at all the pretty leaves!

Time at last...

2009-03-30T13:59:00.000-07:00

Time at last....yes, I have more than 5 minutes ( knock on wood) to myself to sit down a try to update what has been happening the past month in my life. Weston is growing a TON and he is showing it by how many bottles he is chugging down during the day. He is always hungry and I am just waiting for the 4 month mark so I can hopefully satisfy him with some rice cereal. I am also praying that it will help hold his food down also due to the fact that he loves to spit up. All he does is spit up these days. He has had acid reflux since birth and the spit up just keeps on coming and coming. I feel like we go through 5 outfits a day just because he drenches them with spit up after every feeding. At one point he was taking 4 ounces and I swear spitting up 3. He is gaining weight fine though now so I am really not that concerned with him not keeping enough down. He loves to babble and someone Ryan can get him talking up a storm and it is just the cutest thing ever! Every night I put him in bed at 8 and for 45 minutes we can hear him babble and laugh at his mobile before he puts himself to sleep. He is such a good baby and I never had a lot of issues putting him to sleep.However, naps during the day can be a challenge cause he is a huge cat napper, which is a good things and a bad thing a time. He takes around 5 naps a day but for only 30 to 40 minutes each time, which can be hard for me when I am trying to get things done. He also has been spoiled during his daytime naps because family, including myself, LOVE to hold every second on the day including nap times. So I am trying to get out of the habit of holding him so he can learn to sooth himself during his daytime naps. Nights are a blessing though and the Lord knew how much a adore sleep and I couldn't survive without it,lol.

The moment Weston came out of me is was playing with his tongue and we have nicknamed him the lizard because he is always playing around with it. It is the cutest thing and just one of the many quirks that I love so much about him!

Isn't he an angel....I love watching him so peaceful.

He is watching the television in this picture and Ryan just loved it and had to take a picture. When I saw him doing it I freaked out but then realized it was golf and just had to laugh.

Lastly, Weston loves to smile...just not for the camera. It is so frustrating because the moment I pick up the camera he looks at it and for some reason he becomes this serious baby who just doesn't want to smile. He is so camera shy and I just don't know why. I always say he is so happy but when it comes to proof in pictures I just can't seem to get that perfect moment. So if you want to see him smile you are just going to have to come see him!

Smiles

2009-02-17T19:36:00.000-08:00

Weston has been smiling so much lately but I have never been able to catch him on camera. I am either to fast or to slow untill today when he decided he would let me capture his moment of happiness. Enjoy

Here is a video that is fun of Weston being entertained by Ryan. Ryan was making grunting noises ( please don't ask me why cause I still don't know) but Weston seemed to be entertained for a while. You can tell that Ryan is just soaking up the fun times with Weston, even if involves crazy gross sounds...oh the joys of living with two boys,lol.

Here it goes.....

2009-02-14T21:57:00.000-08:00

So this is my first post on this blog and I hope that I will be able to keep up with it as well as I need to. My life has changed in many ways over the past year and words cannot explain just how blessed I feel. Ryan and I are living in Spokane Washington while he is going to school to be a Cardio Vascular Tech ( don't ask me what he does....all I know is he is getting a degree and I am so happy!) I have finially adjusted to living across the country from the rest of my family and I am more and more dependant on my cell phone calls to my mom than I ever thought I would be. I am so in love with my husband for every little act of love he has shown me in the past 2 years of our marriage and for creating a beautiful family with me. Weston Ryan was born on December 8th, 2008 and just turned 2 months last Sunday. He is such a happy baby and his smiles and coos are melting my heart more and more as the days go by. I am currently very spoiled becasue he is a wonderful sleeper and has been sleeping through the night since around 6 weeks old....Ryan has been a sweetheart also and has helped me feed him when I need an extra moment of peace. Overall, my life has been full of love and I never imagined how powerful a mother's love was untill I held Weston for the first time. It was instant and everything he does and is is apart of me and what I hold so close to my heart. The little things are what brings me so much peace and I find that so much in Weston...all the snuggles, the trust I see in his eyes as Iold him, the smiles he gives me more and more, and finially the realization that he is a child of God and I am worthy to be called his mother. What more can I ask for? Like I said before, I feel so blessed!