The Meyer Family

Changes

2011-11-06T18:00:00.000-08:00

Can I just say that I can't believe that my baby has turned two!? I can not believe that two years ago I was holding my little Isaac in my arms. What a change from then to now. I wish that I had the doctor stats but..... I haven't brought him in yet. I know I am horrible but it seems like there is always something to do.
So here is a little on Isaac and the stage that he is in.
1. What a different kid from his brother! He is much more snugly and attached to me the Lucas ever was. He loves to just come and snuggle on my lap and watch movies. He will randomly come up to me and lay his head down on my lap and say "Mommy!" He is sad when I leave and gets super excited when I come back. Makes my day I must say.
2. He is a talking machine. He is always catching us off guard when he talks to us. Maybe because Lucas was so delayed. He is always telling me to "Hold this!" and to "Help me!" and so on. I love it. He understands a lot too. The worst is when you are telling him to do something and he looks at you mischievously and then doesn't do it.
3. He can count to ten! I know he just turned two! You have to help him and he leaves out four sometimes but will get all the way up to "Ten!" He will randomly go through the house saying "One, Two, Three"
4. He is a very particular child. Hates having his clothes taken off to get changed. It is like mega melt down. But things turn out better once he realizes that you are going to put more clothes on him. He HATES having his sleeves pulled up. Like he screams "NO!" and then will commence to pull them down. I cringe a little when I see his sleeves after eating. Not pretty. If you cut up his sandwich or and food, he freaks out. Especially when he sees you do it.
5. He loves shoes. He is constantly bring his shoes up to me and saying "shoes" or "socks". He will wear anyone shoes it they are left around the house and I mean anyone.
6. He is not as into the out doors as his brother. He is just more content to hang out in the house with mom and shout at the other kids from the door.
7. He loves his big brother. They play together and always get in trouble together and is most of the times the scapegoat for his older brother. He is always copying Lucas. If Lucas is doing something, Isaac is doing that exact thing. He loves his cousins as well. Him and Grace are always playing together. Maybe because Grace has, as her preschool teacher told Crista, a 'mother hen complex' and Isaac is the only one she can boss around who will actually listen. She loves to pick him up and carry him, although I think they weigh about the same amount.
8. He loves animals, especially horses. However, he is leery about cows. Ever since he watch a Kipper show where a cow reaches over the fence to grab some grass out of the dog on the shows hand and Isaac screamed bloody murder, he hasn't really liked them. If he sees the Kipper show his eyes get big and he worriedly says "Cow?"
9. I took the guard rail off his bed a few days ago. He has already figured out how to climb through the slats in the bed so the rail was pretty useless. He has only fallen out once so that is positive. He has also been moved to a bigger car seat.
10. He loves babies. Sometimes a little too much. He was sitting on this poor 1 year old that the Memorial day picnic. I was a little mortified. But every time he sees a baby he is always pointing at them and saying "Baby!" Even if they are the same age as him.
11. He LOVED Halloween this year. He went as a monkey but of course, 10 minutes before we left, Lucas and Grace ripped off his tail. So he was whatever people thought, monkey or bear..... He loved going to houses and he was even trying to say "Trick or Treat" but it came out more as "Rick Reat" He got fistfuls of candy though because people thought he was too dang cute. Also because he insisted on picking out his own candy after they had already given him some.
12. He is definitely a groupie. Hates doing things by himself. I bought him a pass to go into this giant pumpkin blow up at the pumpkin store but he was the only one who could go and he scream at the top of his lungs when I tried to put him in there. I have a feeling though, if the other kids could have gone with them (which they so badly wanted to) he would have jumped around like crazy.
13. He is a little more emotional then Lucas was. He gets upset easily and I have such a hard time telling him "No". I will have to work on that!
Well, that is Isaac right now in a nutshell. I love him dearly and I am so grateful to have him as part of our family.

Update

2011-08-28T18:44:00.000-07:00

So I failed, horrible, miserable, awful failure. Not that we were lacking in absolute fun this week, I just managed never to have a camera and since Sean and I have boring pre-paid phones, a camera in my phone just doesn't work. (Sad I know but 100.00 for over 4 months of phone use per person instead of 100.00 per month for two phones, yes please!) So, we will see, I can't make any promises but I thought instead I would tell you what happened! (It does get personal!)

So last Sunday I went online to check our bank accounts to pay our tithing and I was met with a huge shock. Our accounts were down to bone dry. Now we do have a reserve in a savings account like that Debt reducer guru said but as for the spending account, it was pitiful. I was in shock and needless to say, not in a good mood. I paid my tithing because no matter what, it gets paid but began to feel really sorry for myself. I see all those around me and I feel like they circumstances are getting better. I actually have been complaining to anyone who would listen about this. Now I love all my friends and I am so excited for them to be moving up in the world but I, like everyone, see this and throw myself a little pity party (complete with confetti and everything.) Are Sean and I just completely missing the boat on life? How is everyone around able to afford nicer things when we live in a trailor and just barely scrap by? Sean is a college graduate and so far, our income is still pretty low.

During the course of last Sunday, I got this idea to print out the transaction record of the last three months. I was going to highlight all the transactions into bills/gas, deposits, monthly budget, and excess spending. Boy was I shocked. (If you ever want to have a deep look at yourself, do this!) Over two thirds of our spending was excess. Now I like to make myself feel better by telling myself what Sean tells me "You never make a bad purchase, just sometimes you purchase things at the wrong time." But I knew the truth. I am a shopaholic. When I get stressed, I trudge out to the thrift store for some retail therapy. Now, I am not saying I buy 200.00 shoes, most things I buy are .99 or 1.49 but after multiple trips to the thrift store, it adds up to a lot of excess spending.

When I looked over the amount we had spent I realized that if we had saved up that money, we would have been able to pay off half of what we owe on our 2009 Honda Fit. What a shock. So right then and there I made a few goals:
1. Declutter my home
2. Do NOT go to a thrift store in 30 days (my straitener decided to poop out on me yesterday :-(!)
3. Make and stick to a budget
4. Go out to eat once a week
I am happy to say that I stuck to my goals this whole week. Sean and I set up a budget and plan on taking all of our excess money and put it towards paying off our car. After the car is done, all we have is student loans.

I made a realization while I was going through this process. I had been complaining about how the Lord wasn't blessing us in monetary things. Our financial life has been increasing but slowly. Not as fast as I would like but it has. I realized that the blessing didn't lie in what we had, but it was in what we didn't have. Sean and I have absolutely no credit card debt. We have a car payment but we have been trying to pay it off as things present themselves (taxes and extra income). The Lord blessed us in that he protected us from ourselves. We never spent ourselves into a giant hole (well me more then Sean). I can just imagine that he was up there watching over us and just putting the hand to the forehead and thinking "Come one Meyer family get it together!"

So this week, instead of packing the kids up and heading off to the thrift store everyday, we went off and did things around town that cost nothing. We went to the zoo on Monday where we played in the water and saw the Grizzly Bears. On Tuesday we went to the local mall where they have a preschool type thing that had open gym right when we walked into the mall so we played there and at a small play area in the mall. On Wednesday we went our wards play day and then to the lake in the evening. On Thursday we went back to the zoo (thanks mom and dad for the membership for Christmas!) where this time we walked the Tropics Trail, the Minnesota Trail, and went to the barn. On Friday we rented a row boat (as a family), took it out to the island and at a picnic then went back to the play ground. On Saturday all of us went to the State Fair!

It was a busy week but we enjoyed ourselves. I enjoyed my kids so much more. I felt happier and at more peace with where we are in life. I have beautiful children and a hard working husband. I have couponed food on my table and a roof over my head. I have the gospel to show me the tender mercies that the Lord does bestow on my family. I need to learn how to be a better steward over what I have and quit complaining about what I don't have. I truly believe that when the right time comes, we will have a beautiful house with a white picket fence. But for now, we live in our tiny little trailer and our purpose in life is to ...... pay off our debt. Which we will do.

Sorry for the long drawn our story but I wanted to write it in hopes that if anyone feels like I do, they can draw strength from the knowledge that they are not alone. I am here and we will get through this together!

Second Attempt

2011-08-08T17:33:00.000-07:00

I was thinking recently that I love the idea of a picture a day for a year. Now I am not promising anything but I am going to try!

August 8, 2011

Isaac playing the Horton game and Aunt Crista's house.

Point of the game is to pick up these clovers with the Velcro nose of Horton. Isaac tried to hard. It was adorable!

Lucas at it again!

2011-05-09T18:52:00.000-07:00

Just when I think that Lucas can't get any funnier, he proves me wrong. On sunday the primary got to go up during sacrament meeting and sing to the mothers. This was Lucas's first ever time singing in the primary. I watched my little baby walk up to the podium all by himself. I was already a little weepy from a talk that had just been given. Lucas stood right in front of the railing and I made a mistake. I waved. Lucas waved back. Then he decides to leave his post, go back to the choir pews and stand on them. With the biggest smile he started to wave. I was laughing so hard, he kept waving. Everyone else in the audience started laughing. Sean leans over and wispers "Stop laughing!"

It was so cute and adorable. I love Lucas!

Lucas turns 4!

2011-05-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

My little boy turned 4 on Monday. Where does the time go. I think back to when Lucas turned 3 and I can't believe how much he has changed. I think about all the struggles we went through this last year and how much Lucas has gained!

Last July he was admitted into the Early Childhood Special Education program in our school district. He goes to school Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He has gained so much and you can just tell he is more confident and happy. So much so that my little 4 year old bore his testimony in sacrament meeting on the 1 of May!

Crista had gone up to bear her testimony, a babysitter of ours was up there and Lucas looked at me and said "You stay here mom, I go talk." and began heading up to the podium. I had to hold him back and told him when Carly was done we would go up there. When she finished Lucas proudly marched up there. I wispered in his ear what to say. "I know Jesus lives, I love my family, I know this church is true." It was so amazing and so simple, it brought tears to my eyes.

Here was a little boy who struggled with speech, up in front of 100+ people talking about Jesus. What an amazing child I am blessed to raise! He has such a good spirit and is such a good kid. It is moments like that that I a realize what all the struggles are about!

December 14th, 2010

2010-12-14T12:20:00.000-08:00

I. AM. TIRED.

My life has gotten extensively more stressful these last few months. My sister and her two children moved in with us and I have been her full time daycare since July. Not only do I care for her kids when she is not here, she also lives here so they never really leave.

I love my sister but I wonder how much longer I can do this.

Any Advice?

12.9.2010

2010-12-09T20:53:00.000-08:00

Today was a good day. Besides me sort of yelling at a crabby old lady at Walmart today, it was a good day. You are probably wondering about the old lady. Well, Sean and I were leaving Walmart and Lucas and Grace were walking. I stopped by the vending machine to get a soda and Sean, confused with what was going on, lost track of Lucas. Lucas was upset about not getting a cookie and walked through the doors and headed into the parking lot. I think that he thought that we were with him. Panicked, I yelled at Lucas to stop. This really crabby lady behind said "Geez!" really loudly. When I turned around she gave me the dirtiest look I have ever seen. I snapped back "Excuse me but my son was walking into the parking lot." Now I am not one to yell at people, even when they are really rude to me. I normally just try and shrug it off. But not this time.

I guess I am tired of people looking at me like I am some young mother who doesn't take control of her kids. I am a good person who loves her children and try as hard as I can to serve. I had money for the kids to donate to the Salvation Army ringer right outside Walmart. We were headed to the Post Office so I could send off my 12 inches of cut hair to Locks of Love. I do great things but I think that people take just one instance and judge me from it. In hindsight I probably didn't do the Christlike thing but I am learning that I do need to stick up for myself and people don't have a right to treat me that way.

Aside from that bad experience today was good. We decided to take an impromptu trip to the Mall of America and have the kids visit Nickelodeon Universe to ride some rides. They LOVED it. I guess it is a good thing that Lucas is freakishly tall because he got to ride some rides that kids his age don't get to. He really love the Splat-O-Sphere, a ride that takes you up and drops you and the Pepsi Ride, which is an actual roller coaster. Oh, did the three kiddos love it.

Isaac did the cutest thing today. Grace is shorter then the boys so didn't get to ride on some of the rides. I had Grace propped up on my knee and was holding Isaac in my arms so they could both see the riders. Grace was crying and Isaac, concerned, kept tapping Grace on the shoulder and then leaning forward to see her. When she would look at him, he would break out into a big smile. I couldn't believe that my one year old was showing compassion on his cousin. He is such a sweet spirit and it today it really showed. He had so much fun watching the kids ride the rides. What a amazing little guy.

Here are some pictures of our adventure! Enjoy!

Riding the Reptormobiles!

On the Wonder Pets Fly Boat!

The only ride Isaac went on!

The Splat-O-Sphere! Lucas and James loved it!

Riding the Dragon on the Merry Go Round

Of course they rode more rides but these are just highlights!

12.8.2010

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

I spent today reading all my old posts on this blog. How time flies. I captured some great moments but also a lot of memories are lost and forgotten. That makes me sad. I know that my sons will probably never care about what their first words were or when they got their first tooth or when they went to the bathroom all by themselves but I hope their wives will. Or at least, when they are all grown up and gone, I will be able to pull up this blog (hopefully one day made into a book) and reminisce. For that to happen, I need to be more diligent with writing consistently. Taking time out of my day to write on this blog. My craft blog, no problem, but this one, this one should be more important.

Today Lucas went to school. It is so nice to have a three hour break from him. I love my son but he can be a hand full. Don't let my last post fool you. Crista had the day off and she and James and Grace loaded up the car and ran over to the local laundry mat. This left the morning to just Isaac and I. It is quite nice actually. Isaac slept for most of the morning which meant that I got to sleep as well. My children religiously wake up between 6am and 7am no matter what time they went to bed or if they had a nap. It is quite frustrating actually. Sometimes I want to stay up so one would assume that if you keep your kids up then they will sleep in too. Not for my kiddos. So a nap was welcomed.

When Lucas got home I was in full swing cleaning the house. When you have a big black Newf around sweeping is a daily task. So I plopped Lucas down in front of the computer to watch a little Wonder Pets on Netflix (that right, I am that kind of mother). Lucas loves that show. He is into anything animal. Makes me think he might be a vet someday. He especially loves anything amphibian or reptile. Also bugs, Spiderman, Batman, you know, normal boy stuff. It makes shopping for Christmas presents more fun. Anyways, he knows the theme song of Wonder Pets but can only sing one line "Teamwork". So if you sing out "What's gonna work?" he will follow with "Teamwork." It is very cute. One time even, we told the kids to clean up the toys in the living room and Lucas started out singing "Teamwork" over and over. It is quite cute.

On another Lucas note, he is officially potty trained day and night. I have to say it is about time. I started around this time last year and although he has been day potty trained, it isn't until now that he is night potty trained. Sean remarked to me when we got home from the gym (Crista watched the kiddos) that we might be training a nudest because Lucas can get his clothes off but not back on. In the bathroom in a pile was his pj's and underwear. He got up from sleeping, took off his sleeper, went potty, didn't put them back on, and went to bed. I am just relieved that he wakes up, goes and gets back into bed.

Isaac has become a little climber. Always climbing up chairs, onto furniture, getting into things that he shouldn't. Lucas and Isaac actually had a minor fight over toys this morning. They were playing in their room and Lucas is willing to share his toys but only the ones that he wants to share. Isaac, not so found of that, lets his voice be known. A few weeks ago, I had given a sucker to Lucas and I don't know how he did it but Isaac, half Lucas's size, stole the sucker from Lucas. I went into the room and Isaac was sitting on the floor with a death grip on the sucker screaming at Grace and Lucas who were trying to get the sucker from him. I couldn't help but laugh. Isaac is showing that he won't be bullied by the older kids. If you try and take a toy from him, watch out, he will let you know that he is not happy.

I am planning on applying to nursing schools again. I have until February 1st. I am really nervous about doing this, I guess being rejected 2 years ago, has taken its toll. I just hope that the right will happen.

12.7.2010

2010-12-07T19:15:00.000-08:00

Today has been a great day. Besides my fabulous mother-in-law coming over so I could do some much need Christmas shopping at the local thrift stores, Unique and Good Will, Isaac and Lucas have hit some major milestones too.

We recently set up the Christmas tree and although it was the one-year-old I was mostly worried about, Lucas has proven to be a contender with him. They both love to take off the ornaments, play with them and put them back. I have stopped worrying about the perfection of the tree and try to enjoy their enjoyment and love of it. Isaac is so funny, when he goes over to the tree to start tinkering with the ornaments, I go "Isaac, no no no..." To which he looks at me, smiles, shakes his head "No" and continues right on touching. You can now get him to copy you when you shake your head at him. It is quite comical and lovely, however, it just reminds me how much Isaac is growing up.

Lucas has become quite a chatter box. I seriously love LOVE the special education program he is in. Not only do they make me feel like I am to best mother in the world and that I also have the greatest son, but they have made AMAZING progress with Lucas and speech in the short amount of time that he has gone to school. I could kiss each and everyone of them. Call me crazy but I feel that I need to give back to the school. The program that Lucas is in is totally free but I am very aware of the lack of revenue that is streamed into schools. Although Sean and I have very little, I still feel this great desire to give to the school.

Monday, Lucas got off the bus with the biggest grin on his face. Clutched in his hands was a bag labeled "Ms. Courtneys Class Snack Bag". You would have thought that Lucas had won the lottery with how hard he was clutching the bag. He loves to get assignments and will carry them out with joy and happiness. As every mother dreams of the time that she gets to take her child out and let them pick snacks for school (is it just me?) we headed to Walmart this evening to do just that. When we entered Walmart Lucas promptly stated "I walk!" Being just the four of us I obliged him. He does really well on his own. He had so much fun running around the grocery part of Walmart. We picked up bananas, had to steer Lucas away from the bakery, the cupcakes were just too tempting for him. Headed over to the crackers and cookie aisle where we picked up an array of goodies. Lucas honed in on a bag of Cheetos and proceeded to carry them all around the store, he even insisted on holding the Walmart bag with the Cheetos in it until we got home. We picked up some Lysol wipes for his class because they were on his classroom "wish list" and by buying them, I feel like I am giving what little I can back to the school.

I can see his personality really coming out. He is talking more (that comes with good and bad) and interacting with kids more. As a mom you really wish that you are instilling in your child good habits, a love and charity for others, a responsibility to follow rules and obey the law (in Lucas's case, mom's law!) Those things that made me cry in the past are almost all gone. I rarely have to worry about Lucas hitting or pushing, he is using his words much more now. He is using full sentences, his Grandpa McCabe taught him how to say his whole name "Lucas Daniel Meyer". It is so funny, when you as him what mommy's name is he says "Mommy Daniel Meyer." Ahhh, we will work on that. He is just a joy to be around. I really have had a hard time connecting with Lucas. Vocabulary is such an important part of bonding when children are this age. The age of cuteness has gone and there is a need to start bonding with your child on other levels.

I am so grateful of the opportunity that Lucas has to go to a special education school. Where he gets the help that he needs. He has truly become a new little man in just a short amount of time.

Well that is my thoughts for today.

Redo!

2010-11-03T11:26:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I totally sucked the whole writing everyday up. I can write everyday on my craft blog, but stunk up this one. Well, time for a new beginning. Today seemed like a fitting day because, it's my baby Isaac's birthday. Eeek! Where did the time go?

Let's start at the beginning:

Here is my baby all fresh and new. I was in labor from about 2pm on Monday November 2nd and had Isaac VBAC on November 3rd around 10:30 am. I had an infection in my amniotic fluid so he need to spend the days in the hospital in the NICU. No one got to seem him but Sean and I.

Brothers meeting for the first time. Lucas took really well to Isaac. He would bring him lots of toys and would try and share his food with Isaac. No jealousy or anything. What a relief!

After a day or two of being home Isaac became jaundice. Poor kid, had to spend day and night on the light. Poor mom too, I hated not being able to snuggle my baby!

Thanksgiving came and went (I didn't snap any pictures of Isaac, weird). Here is my baby at 1 month old. Pretty dang cute, huh!

Christmas is next! I have this crazy idea that a tradition I would like to start is making pj bottoms for my kids every Christmas. So far I have been diligent, however, they do need lots of work because they come out too small or too long, etc.

And then ofcourse, the traditional family picture around the Christmas tree!

Second month came and went. What a cutie pie!

Then February and my little ground hog boy!

March came sitting up and experiementing with cereal and....

Discovering your thumb!

April brought going to Florida and meeting....

Your two uncles and aunt plus two cousins for the first time!

May was Lucas's birthday and Isaac's half birthday. Hooray for Kokomo's in the good ole' MOA!

Yay! For six months of life!

June brought another trip to Florida this time to meet Grandpa for the first time! Also two teeth!

July was filled with trips to the park and even more teeth!

August was an exciting month because it meant that James and Lucas were going to a school in a month. We went to movies, MOA, hung out around the house and just played! Isaac is getting more mobile and crawling all over the place!

September and Lucas and Isaac are starting to play even more now! Playing in the laundry baskets is a favorite past time!

Also September brought the State Fair! Woo Hoo!

In October we chopped off all Isaac's hair plus it was also his first

Halloween where he went as a chicken!

And then we are back to November! Happy Birthday my big boy! I loved spending this last year with you!

6.26.2010

2010-06-26T19:02:00.000-07:00

Day 17

Rainbow doubled 10 coupons today. Got all of this for 30.00 and saved 100.00. Not bad ehh?

Went to Target and got this for 12.00.

Total spent today: 42.00

Total saved today: 121.00

I can live with those numbers!

6.25.2010

2010-06-26T18:59:00.000-07:00

Day 16

Isaac and daddy just playing around!

Lucas making a "bed" on the couch!

6.24.2010

2010-06-26T18:55:00.001-07:00

Day 15

Lucas was hiding in our closet. Here are his feet. That silly boy!

6.23.2010

2010-06-26T18:54:00.000-07:00

Day 14

Brothers! Lucas loves Isaac, he likes to go up to him and give him lots of kisses and hugs. He blows raspberries on his belly and goes "Ohhh eee ahhh ahhh" like a monkey in his ear.

6.22.2010

2010-06-26T18:52:00.000-07:00

Day 14

Isaac's second major "owie". I sat him down on the counter and he was too fast for me. He grabbed the razor and cut his little thumb. He didn't seem to mind however, he was just fascinated by the band aid on his finger. He kept trying to suck his thumb but I kept pulling it out, he was not happy!

I know it is supposed to be one picture but I couldn't help but post this one. Isn't he adorable!

6.21.2010

2010-06-26T18:45:00.000-07:00

Day 13

We took the boys to see this movie! Grandma and Grandpa McCabe joined in on the fun. Lucas liked it however, when they were in the incinerator Lucas actually hid his eyes. Isaac did well, fell asleep half way through!

6.20.2010

2010-06-26T18:40:00.000-07:00

Day 12

We called daddy at work and Lucas decided to share his food via the phone. He will also pick up books and try to show the person on the other line the book!

6.19.2010

2010-06-20T13:53:00.000-07:00

Day 11

Lucas loves all toy weapons. I have no idea where he got this love, but I guess it is just an ingrained boy trait. We went to Katie (Morales) Fults reception and Lucas thought that that was the perfect place to bring a shot gun. He carried it around the entire time. When we got back, Lucas saved us by getting all the flies on the shed. It also doesn't help that Lucas's new favorite rewind is Jumanji.

6.18.2010

2010-06-20T13:50:00.000-07:00

Day 10

Grace and Pa-Pa. This was our farewell/fathers day dinner at Outback Steakhouse.

6.17.2010

2010-06-20T13:48:00.000-07:00

Day 9

Grace, Isaac and James! Those two just adored Isaac. Crista was telling James to get his shoes on and James said "But mom, the baby will cry and he needs me to make him laugh!"

6.16.2010

2010-06-20T13:45:00.000-07:00

Day 8

My dad got us into the Food Conference (he is in charge of the mess halls in Iwakuni). We ate lots of food and picked up lots of samples. It was a great day!

6.15.2010

2010-06-20T13:42:00.000-07:00

Day 7

We went to visit Pa-Pa at his hotel, had lunch with him and while he went to conferences, we swam in the pool! Much nicer then the beach I must say because, no sand!

6.14.2010

2010-06-20T13:39:00.000-07:00

Day 6

James and Pa-Pa playing in the sand at the beach.

6.13.2010

2010-06-20T13:37:00.000-07:00

Day 5

Isaac discovering the baby in the mirror!

6.12.2010

2010-06-20T13:34:00.000-07:00

Day 4

Out to lunch at Wendy's with Aunt Crista. Right after this I showed Crista the ins and outs of couponing. Let's just say that she is addicted!

6.11.2010

2010-06-20T13:31:00.000-07:00

I was down in FL this last week so most of the pictures involve my sister, her children, my dad and just Isaac!

Day 3

First day I was down in FL. Crist took me to a dinner with some of her friends and they had this adorable 5 week old pit bull. He was so sweet. I had to take a picture with him. (ps I don't know why I always look like I am grinning like a fool in all of my pictures!)

6.10.2010

2010-06-10T18:05:00.000-07:00

Day 2

I thought at this was just hilarious. Every night before bed we read the boys a story. Lucas loves to look at the books when we are done. He always asks "Can I? Can I?" and reaches for the book. Isaac has taken an interest in the books, more for eating the knowledge!

6.9.2010

2010-06-09T13:38:00.000-07:00

So a lady I know is doing this "A Year in the Life of The ____" as sort of a journal for her family. So, I am going to try this out. Everyday you take a picture of something mundane and then you write about it. So here starts........

A Year in the Life of The Meyer Family!

June 9, 2010

Isaac is such a smiley baby. Here he is hanging with mom while Lucas is laying down for his nap. What Isaac doesn't realize is that in about 10 minutes, Lucas's fate will become his fate!

7 months old

2010-06-09T13:26:00.000-07:00

I can't believe a whole month has already gone by! My baby is 7 months old. Crazy! I was thinking the other day how if we want to have another baby and not have them that far apart, I am going to probably get pregnant in the next 7 months. Time just flies! I love not being pregnant but Sean and I both agree that our family needs some more members. Here are some pictures of recent happenings!

Isaac has become quite a charmer. Every passer-byer stops and smiles and coos at him. He in turn loves it and smiles back.

Here he is charming us again! (If you can't tell, he has two bottom teeth). What I love about this picture is that he has nice after-bath hair! Nice and fluffy!

Lucas decided that this was the best place to eat his cheese roll up. My oldest, he drives he crazy! Always into things and on things and in things...... But he is adorable! We have started to cut a few things like how much TV he watches, food colorings, processed foods and sugars in hopes that it will help with his attention, his language and his skin. From making an effort to include more healthy oils in his diet, the bumps on his face and ears have completely gone away! (Something we asked the doctors about when he was younger and they just said it was because of his skin being dry and we should bath him less and lotion him more. After trying that, nothing changed. Two days of just making sure he gets his oils, all clear!) His behavior is changing, we are no longer using TV as a way to contain him and are getting at the root of some of his behavior outbursts. He is talking a lot more and things just seem to be looking up!

The best part of this last month is seeing Lucas and Isaac bond. Lucas loves to blow raspberries on Isaac's tummy, show him books, be silly so Isaac laughs, asks "What happened?" when Isaac cries, etc. It is nice to see them getting along. I took the bumpers off of Isaac's crib (he is quite the mover now) and discovered that they are very good "blinders" when you have two kids in one room. Lucas's now goes to sleep in his bed while Isaac falls asleep on ours. When they are both out, we move Isaac into his crib. If not, we hear giggling and talking for a long time!

Okay, now this is just crazy. On chance, I managed to snap a picture of Isaac doing the same thing with a blanket as Lucas does. Weird, huh! I don't know, it must be genetic!

The worst thing that happened this month, Isaac got his first major injury! He fell off the couch (now I won't deny that this is the first time this has happened but this was the first with major damage). Now, don't think that I am some neglectful mother but when you are sitting on the couch, playing with your baby and your oldest needs a drink of water, you plan on just being gone for like, 30 seconds. I don't know how Isaac does it but he manages to fall off the couch in that 30 seconds. This time there was major blood because he fell in a way that ripped the skin that attaches your upper lip to your gums and skinned his lip. It bled and bled. Sean was home and being recently certified as a EMT took Isaac to do a little exam. I was so impatient. I was like, "Give me my baby so I can comfort him!"

Other then that, things are pretty mundane. Going to FL on friday, whoo hoo!

Lucas turns 3 and Isaac turns 6 months!

2010-05-10T12:28:00.000-07:00

May is a big month for us. When you have one child turning three and another turning 6 months a day later it makes for a big month. I can't believe that I am saying that I now have a full blown three year old. For all of you new parents out there, people were not kidding when they said that time flies. It truly does. We went out on Saturday to have Lucas's birthday dinner because this year his birthday landed on Sunday. We took him to Kokomo's in the Mall of America. Here we all are after eating:

Giving thumbs up with Grandma and Grandpa:

Funny story about giving thumbs up, Lucas really didn't do that until we went to visit my sister in FL. My nephew James is always giving thumbs up or waving so Lucas started to do it. But when you give him a thumbs up he would in turn raise his pointer finger and either keep it straight up or curve it like a hook. It took quite a few attempts for him to get it right but now he is giving thumbs up to just about anyone including the people in the car next to us at a light.

Smiling with Mom:

Lucas is getting fun and challenging everyday. We are going to have him evaluated for speech tomorrow because even though he has always been physically advanced his speech is slow. He rarely uses sentences and can be difficult to understand. I am hoping that with some speech therapy, it will help him in his communication and his tantrums will lessen.

For those out there struggling with behavior problems, watch SuperNanny. I know it sounds stupid but I did and have been using things that she said to do with Lucas and it has made a big difference. He has gotten better at listening to me when I give him directions.

Took him to the doctor today and here are his stats:

Weight: 47lbs - 97%

Height: 40 1/4 inches - 96%

We have a very big healthy boy.

One more funny story about Lucas:

For those of you who have seen Spiderwick Cronicles you probably know that in order for the kids to see the gremlins they needed to look through that doughnut thing.

Well, Lucas watched that movie at my sisters house and afterwards we were eating lunch and my sister had one of these sitting on her counter:

Lucas was looking at it and then picked up the part of the lid that twists onto the jar, went to her sliding glass door and was looking through it.

I was so suprised! I couldn't believe that Lucas thought like that. He has such an imagination, it is so amazing to me.

Onto baby number two, Isaac

He is growing so fast. He can now roll over and scoot around on the floor. He is getting much more mobile in his crib. When I come into their room in the morning, Isaac is always in a different position. Most of the time on his back looking up and me, all grins.

A funny thing that he is doing now is sucking on his big toe like it is his thumb. I try and try to get a good picture of it but he always stops when I come near and grins at me. Here is the best I could get:

Pretty nimble little guy.

Here is his 6 months pictures:

He is looking more and more like Sean everyday.

Here are his stats from the doctors:

Weight: 20lbs 13oz - 93%

Height: 28inches - 93%

Head: 17.5 inches - 65%

All around proportionate, all around big!

He is eating more solid foods, however, is not that big of a fan of fruit. Loves to eat vegetable but when it comes to fruit he gets this sour look on his face like you are feeding him a lemon. It is quite commical.

He loves to grab at anything and everything. You can't have him on your lap and eat at the same time or he ends up pulling your plate off the table. He is getting better at grabbing but it is still the normal slap and then drag that most kids do. He loves other kids and laughs at them all the time.

Anyone who watches him says that he is the happiest relaxed baby they have ever watched. He will lie on the couch swak for about 10 seconds, suck his thumb and fall asleep. He loves to smile at anyone. He is truly a fantastic baby.

That's the update!

Isaac Turns 5 Months!

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

So here is the much awaited 5 month photos of my little baby Isaac! I can't believe how old he is getting! Time goes just too fast.

He sits up for a few seconds by himself.

He has discovered his feet and is always grabbing at them. (One of the cutest things a baby can do, I think.)

He eats rice cereal and carrots and loves them! Yum!!

And he has discovered his thumb! I am now convinced that sucking thumbs is genetic, although he does also suck on his binkie.

He loves to grab at things that are in front of him (dinner plates are no longer safe). And when fed rice cereal at night, he sleeps from 9pm to 6am. Yay!

He is the most talkative baby I have ever met. He loves to smile and laugh! We love him!

Next month is special because Isaac not only turns 6 months by Lucas turns 3!! Eeek!

A Glimpse into the Linnabary Girls Past

2010-03-16T20:08:00.000-07:00

Here is a funny story that happened between my sister, Crista, and I and a babysitter we once had:

Crista and I were watching this olden day movie with a babysitter when we were about 5 and 7 years old. As you probably know, women in olden day movies find it important to be billowing out of their dresses meaning in the upper portion of their body. Me, being innocent, comments "Why does that lady have her boobies showing?" To which my sister comments, "She is trying to get a man." The babysitter, hearing this, feels that it is necessary to intervene and comments "I don't show my boobies." To which Crista asks "Well do you have a man?" At that exact moment that girl didn't actually have a boyfriend.

Ahh, the things you say when you are little. Thankfully I got a amazing man and I didn't have to show my boobies to get him!

'Cause Babies in the Bathtub are Sooo Cute!

2010-03-10T12:12:00.000-08:00

Here is my Isaac man in the bathtub last night! Enjoy!

Love that smile!

Isaac is 4 Months!

2010-03-06T19:16:00.000-08:00

On Friday Isaac had his four month check up! According to the doctor we have a beautiful and healthy growing boy! Here are his measurements:

Weight: 18.3 lbs (96th percentile)
Height: 26 inches (85th percentile)
Head: 16 3/4 inches (60th percentile)

For a baby who was 2 weeks premature that ain't bad! What is crazy is Isaac is 100% breast fed. I must produce whole milk or something! We love our little man! He is becoming more and more of a chatter box. Always talking! A lady who watched him during 2nd and 3rd hour (Sean and I teach the 5 year olds in primary) said that Isaac wins the happiest and most smiley baby award. He is so calm and loving he only cries when he is hungry or ready to go to sleep and even then, it is more of a low whine. I love it when I wake up in the morning and he is just smiling away. Brings joy to my soul. I can't believe that I was ever worried about my next child. Boys are definitely a challenge but I am so blessed with such sweet and loving boys!

I love that he looks a little crazy in this picture!

Tomorrow we are blessing Isaac so be ready for some really cute pictures of Isaac in a white tuxedo I bought for him at a thrift store!

Seeing the End in Sight!

2010-02-19T05:57:00.000-08:00

So after two months of potty training I think that Lucas is finally crossing the finish line of potty training, at this house that is (he still has accidents at Grandma's house). Sean and I have been trying to figure out what to do during naps and at night because it seemed to us that Lucas was holding his body movements in until we put a pull-up on him and then he would just go. Plus, pull-ups are counter productive in that they are just like a diaper. But when we put nothing on him, he would have accidents in the bed because he still has a lock on the door so he can't come out (that opens another can of worms if we took it off and I really don't think that Lucas knows enough to get up and go out to the bathroom.) So one night Sean and I put Lucas's little training potty in his bedroom and told him if he needed to go to use the toilet. Much to our suprise, at about 4 am Lucas was knocking at his door to let us know that he went pee in the toilet! Hurray! No more pull-ups for Lucas!

The only bad thing is that now, when he needs to take a nap he basically empties his body so that I have to keep coming in to clean it out and he can prolong his nap. But I am thrilled with how well he is doing, plus as an added bonus, a couple of weeks ago when we went to see the Princess and the Frog he actually told me at the movie theatre that he needed to go potty! I was floored! I really think we are starting to see the end of this long tunnel that has been potty training. I was talking to a lady in my ward and she was saying that she thinks that potty training is the hardest job for a parent and I think I would have to agree with her!

Isaac is doing well, I can't believe my baby will turn 4 months in March (and Lucas will turn 3 years in May!) He is drooling a lot so we are all convinced that he is going to be making teeth soon. He is already in 6-9 month clothes and still growing. I must have whole milk or something because he is 100% breast fed but still getting huge! He is definitely a smiler which we all love. When you are having a hard day, just pick him up and smile at him and he will smile back a huge toothless grin! I am in the process of making him a play mat so he can lay on the hard wood floor and maybe start working on rolling! Check out my craft blog to see the progression!

Craft Blog

2010-02-17T06:49:00.001-08:00

I decided to start a craft blog. If you want to follow my crafts visit me at:

http://www.crazycraftbugs.blogspot.com/

Come an join the fun!

The Most Amazing Hooded Towels

2010-02-12T07:48:00.000-08:00

I finally made it over to my mother-in-laws so she could teach me how to make her amazing hooded towels and they are just that, amazing! I love them! They are SO much better then the store bought hooded towels. They cover more, they are softer and they can be used for older kids too! So here is the tutorial I promised on them:

Supplies:
     1 regular towel
     1 regular wash cloth, tags clipped
     thread
     pins
     preferably a sewing machine
     10 minutes of you time because that is all the time they take to make!

Step 1: Fold the towel in half and mark where the half point is with a pin

Step 2: Fold the washcloth in half and mark where the half point is with a pin

Step 3: With the wash cloth, fold over the decorative part of the wash cloth and pin

Step 4: Fold in corners, start buy pinching the corner and folding in towards the center, pin (on the same side of the decorative piece

Step 5: Do the same on the other side so it is even.

Step 6: Line up center pins on the towel and washcloth, make sure that you are pinning on the outside of the towel so when you flip it around, everything is on the inside) pin together. Then begin to pin down the sides of the wash cloth. Pinning vertically allows you to sew without taking out pins!

Step 7: Ready to sew. It should look like this. Towel will be curving to accomidate the washcloth

Step 8: SEW! Because of the bulkiness of the towel sew 6/8 inch in and sew it twice to make sure that it is secure. Take your time to ensure you get through all layers.

Step 9: Fold out and enjoy!

(My less then enthused model!)

I hope you enjoy this tutorial and if you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them!

February Project

2010-02-06T08:50:00.000-08:00

I hate to admit it but I think my family may be a little to addicted to TV. When you have a crazy two and a half year old it is nice to stick in a movie just to have some peace and quiet. If you aren't there yet, trust me you will get there. But as much as I love being able to do that, there is still alittle voice in my head that feels guilt about doing it. So some things in the Meyer house are going to change this month. Not sure when or how but they will. So my project for this month, besides crocheting like a mad man, is to make some felt food. I have seen on numerous blogs and etsy shops, this has become a new fad. So I am going to set out this month to make Lucas some food. He got some kitchen supplies from Grandma for Christmas but he just needs some food to along with it. I am not as skilled on the sewing machine as I would like to be so this will be an adventure. Hopefully, like last month's project, I will grow in my skills and aquire new ones.
As a side note, I will be posting some tutorials. One will be how to applique and I plan on having my mother in law teach me how to make her fabulous hooded towels, so I will write a tutorial about that. Also, if anyone is interested in my crocheting pieces I opened a shop on etsy.com so that they can be purchased. The website is www.esty.com/shop/ahlaam and I know it looks ugly now but it will get better. So today it will be onto JoAnn's to purchase some felt!

Grocery Shopping 2/3/2010

2010-02-04T07:58:00.000-08:00

So as you probably know my addiction, and it really is my addiction, is couponing. I love the feeling of standing up at the cash register and watching the amount I owe widdle down to nothing. If I spend more then 20 dollars in one transaction I start to wonder what I did wrong! Here is a picture of what I purchased yesterday at Rainbow.

The total for all these groceries came to $75.70, I paid $14.96 plus I got a coupon for $5.00 off my next purchase, so really, I only paid $9.96. That would be a total of 87% in savings! Not bad for all the groceries pictured! I am also excited because on Saturday the 6th and the 13th Rainbow is doubling 10 coupons! We will see what I get if I choose to go out again.

Last night I finished another hat. This time I used Ecru and Burgundy Cotton Yarn. What do you think?

3 Months!

2010-02-03T09:17:00.000-08:00

Isaac has now turned 3 months old! I can't believe that time is just flying by. He is such a good baby. We are so blessed in this family to have him be a part of it. I can't wait though until him and Lucas can pal around!

Here is a picture of my shopping trip to Target last night. We were in great need of diapers so I took advantage of the fact that I had 8.00 in coupons plus they were giving a 5.00 gift card with the purchase of two boxes. So for diapers I ended up getting both of those boxes for 27.00 which is not bad when you think that I bought a little less then 200. The wipes were the only thing I paid full price for. Everything else I got for alittle over or under a 1.00. Pretty cool huh? All in all I paid 52.00 for everything on the table plus got a 5.00 gift certificate.

Here are more crocheting things that I have accomplished this week. My new addiction is to crochet. It is so fast and easy and I love the way they turn out. I hope that I can make up a ton and then open a shop on etsy.com, we will see though. Just trying to get through each of my patterns I bought.

Little Girl's headband and hat

Boots for Isaac that are alittle big but by the way Isaac is growing it shouldn't be long until he fits into them.

A Real Headache

2010-02-01T09:00:00.000-08:00

Here is the result from the project that I embarked on. After throwing away the first one because I cut it too short and almost screaming profanities while I broke my sewing needle on this one, I finished the project. I started with no pattern, just an idea in my head. Hopefully if I make any more, they will turn out a little more professional. So here it is!
I am huge into coupons, if you couldn't tell and I have been using the baseball card sheet and binder method to keep my coupons organized. However, the binder that I use doesn't have straps and Sean was always complaining about how hard and ackward it was to life my coupon binder. Anyways, they do have binders that have shoulder straps but I think that they are ugly and expensive. So I set out to make my own binder cover that would fit a 1 inch binder. This is the result.

I sewed zippers up both sides so nothing falls out and they stay together. I was thinking about having zippers go all the way around but I was not going to even attempt that! But now I have a binder that has handles and looks pretty!

Shoes!

2010-01-27T17:43:00.000-08:00

Here is the final result from on of the crochet shoe patter that I bought off etsy.com, aren't they adorable! If only I had a little girl. But Isaac won't totally miss out because I bought a pattern for baby boy boots so that will be the next project!

I also plan on making a matching hat to go with these. I was thinking about selling these and others (obviously in different colors) what do you think? Do you think I could?

Super Wednesday Excitement!

2010-01-27T13:11:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of my shopping trip to Rainbow today. I love Rainbow because on Wednesday's they double coupons. This week instead of doubling 5 coupons for every 25.00 purchase you make, they were doubling 10. (Because of such great deals I just might have to go out again!) Everything on that table, if boughten without coupons or not on sale would have cost me a grand total of $105.03. I will say that again, $105.03. Wow! That is a lot but the real shocker comes when I tell you how much I actually paid. Out of pocket for me I paid a grand total of $18.81. I will say that again, $18.81!! Can you believe that! To put it in perspective it is like I bought those six boxes of cereal and got everthing else for free. Definitely the best shopping trip I have ever done. Plus, if that wasn't enough, I got a $2.00 off your next purchase at Rainbow coupon for buying those Pillsbury rolls. So inessence I spent $16.81. That is a savings of 84%! Whoo-Hoo I am estatic!
Here is a breakdown of what I bought:
6 boxes of cereal- Used 2 1.00/3 coupons, on sale for 10.00 off puchase when you buy 6
1 gallon of milk- another promotional things with the above cereal, buy 6 boxes get a coupon for 3.50 towards a gallon of milk
2 boxes of Quaker Instant Oatmeal- used 2 1.00/1 coupons
1 bag of Rhodes Whole Wheat Warm and Serve rolls- used 1 1.00/1 coupon
1 bag of Purely Potates- used 1 1.00/1 coupon
2 bags of Uncle Ben's Ready Rice- used 1.00/2 coupon
2 rolls of Pillsbury holiday cookie dough- used 1.00/2 coupon
2 rolls of Pillsbury breadsticks- used .40/1 coupon
4 boxes of Macaroni and Cheese- used buy 3 get one free coupon
1 box of Ortega taco shells, 1 packet of taco seasoning, 2 cans of jalapeno's- used 2 .75/2 coupons
1 bag of Baked! Cheetos- used 1.00/1 coupon
2 bottles of Gatorade- used 2 .50/1 coupons
3 containers of lunch meat- used 3 1.00/1 coupons
2 Clean and Clear pads- used 2 2.00/1 coupons
1 Olay face wash- used 1.00/1 coupon
1 Energy Smart bulb- used 1.00/1 coupon
1 3M lint roller- used 1.00/1 coupon
All of that for just $16.81!

Finished!

2010-01-26T17:59:00.000-08:00

Here is the finished project! I am way excited that I actually started and finished a project. Normally I have about 10 projects that all need to get completed.

Now I have started to crochet baby shoes and hats. I bought some patterns off of esty.com. I will post as I finish.

For those who are interested and live in MN, Rainbow is doubling 10 coupons tomorrow instead of their normal 5. YAYAYAY!

Streptococcus Bacteria

2010-01-14T14:57:00.000-08:00

It is true. I am the new carrier for the streptococcus bacteria. After one agonizing day of a throat that felt like I swallowed sandpaper and a whole body that went hot and cold about everyother minute, I took the trek out to the Urgent Care to find out that I indeed had strep throat. I guess I haven't had strep in a long time because I did not remember being this sick. It is miserable! I can't do anything for my family. Thank goodness I have relatives close by that can take the children so I can sleep. Sean also took yesterday off so I could spend the whole day in bed. (To which he said "While I am gone don't be up and walking around and calling your sister and doing crafts!" Who knows his wife?!) Anyways, I just hope that Lucas doesn't get it and I found out that there has been no documentation of any baby under the age of 18 months contracting strep so thankfully Isaac should not get it. It is just lots of liquids, rest, and penicillin for me!

Project Progression

2010-01-12T08:01:00.000-08:00

Since I posted last here is what I have accomplished in regards to the Pond's Stacking Toy. I realized that it was not as hard as I thought it was going to be. I am really excited about the way it is turning out.

Went to JoAnn's and thanks to a Christmas gift card picked up the yarn. However, I will not use up all of the yarn so hopefully I will have enough for another one.

Made the Frog and Pond which Lucas lovingly calls a "Snake!"

Finished the bee. This was probably the most difficult to start. I think that I must have started and restarted the bee a number of times!

So the Lady bug and Dragon fly is all I have left. Hopefully I will get those finished this week and maybe I will start another project.
FYI: The project is much bigger when you make it then it looks in the picture!

First Craft Project

2010-01-08T08:47:00.000-08:00

I love that when you walk around JoAnn's you can pick up fun little free craft projects. I found the cutest one. Since Isaac is just a baby and will soon grow into a crawling, mouthing child I thought that this project would be fantastic for him. Titled "pond friends stacking toy" it is a crocheting project that I am going to attempt in January 2010. I am no expert by any means but I have mastered the back and forth single stitch so hopefully I can accomplish this task with minimal difficulty. I hope to learn a lot more about how to do crocheting projects and impart a little of my failures and success on to you.

First task: go to JoAnn's to pick up yarn and necessities.

Two seperate blogs

2010-01-08T08:39:00.000-08:00

Here are the urls for the two blogs that I have started to accomplish my weight loss goals and my spiritual goals.

http://www.getskinnyamy.blogspot.com/

http://www.meyerfamilyfindingfaithinchrist.blogspot.com/

Craft and family blog will be located right here.

Goals in 2010

2010-01-08T08:34:00.000-08:00

So for those who read my blog, here are some goals that I would like to accomplish in 2010 in regards to this blog.

1. I would like to do at least one craft project per month. With two children I think trying to do any more then that would seriously imped on my sanity as well as my childrens. I may accomplish more smaller projects but I want to do at least one big one per month.

2. Lose weight. It's that everyones New Years resolution? I just recently joined Weight Watchers and purchased some workout videos. Sean has also agreed to be my personal trainer. Although it is hard to mix business with pleasure! I hope to blog about it three times a week. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, those days are my strength training days.

3. Build my faith in Christ. Read more of my scriptures and Ensign articles. My goal is to read daily but blog about three times a week about insights and revelations I obtain.

4. Blog more about my family. Children only stay children for a short period of time and since I have forever sucked at writing a journal, hopefully this blog will become and memory bank of my children and our experiences together.

Here we go!

The Signs

2010-01-07T13:48:00.000-08:00

Signs of an exhausted mother:

Crying in the bathroom after her son pooped on the floor for like the fifth time this week. Lucas then proceeded to give me a hug. Love him even though he frustrates me...

Many Appointments

2010-01-05T07:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Isaac had a doctors appointment and Lucas had a WIC appointment. I am so thankful to live next to grandparents because then I can leave one child with them and focus just on the other. Here are the boy's stats for how they are growing.

Isaac is now 2 months old weighing in at 14 lbs 2 oz. He is 24 inches long. He has a few sore legs from the 3 shots they need to give him and he is battling some yeast infections but other then that the doctor says he is looking fantastic!

My handsome smilely boy!

Lucas is doing well also. He weighed in at 45.8 lbs and 38 inches tall.

Here my big boy is sporting the cook ware given to him from Grandma McCabe.

I am so grateful to have my two beautiful, healthy boys!

"Hola!"

2010-01-02T20:40:00.000-08:00

So Lucas's favorite show to watch is Dora and Diego. He watches them day in and day out. (I feel less guilty about putting these on for Lucas to watch because they are in a way educational.) Anyways, today when Lucas got up from his nap he came out of his room and said "Hola!" to me and Grandma and Grandpa McCabe. I was really suprised! I had to ask everyone if they had heard he as well. He has been repeating spanish words that he has heard on the show but this was the first time that he actually used it right! I am sooo proud!
Cooked a turkey today as well. Invited the parents over and we had ourselves a very nice "Thanksgiving" dinner. I got a roaster oven from Target when they had their 'buy a turkey and roaster over and get a 15.00 gift certificate for free' deal. So the turkey got nice and crispy in the roaster oven while Sean and I cleaned out the cupboards and reorganzied so those nasty mice will stop eating our food. We haven't caught another one since New Years Eve (I am secretly hoping that there was only one). The joys of owning a home now!

Happy 2010!!

2010-01-01T07:32:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to write a little post wishing everyone a Happy 2010! Our year should be filled with interesting suprises! Hopefully Sean will graduate this year, Lucas will turn 3, Isaac will turn 1, I will lose all my baby weight, Beau will calm down and Oscar will catch and kill all of the mice we have in our house (they ate through 2 bags of brown rice, I was disgusted to know I was feeding these mice, and Sean put out a trap yesterday and killed one. YUCK!) Here is a little flash back from 2009.

Febuary: Got Beau on the 13; found out I was pregnant with Isaac
April: Decided to quit my job at Glen Pond and stay home with my children

May: Lucas turned two and my at home job began

June: Went to Grandpa Myers for a family Vacation; Found out Isaac was a boy

August: I turned 23

October: Purchased our Trailer

November: Isaac was born; Sean turned 26

December: Celebrated the New Year!

I am so excited to see what the New Year will bring!

2009-12-21T08:19:00.000-08:00

So, I know my resolution was to blog more often but with two kids, things get a little crazy. However, I have been better at bring my camera with me places to document things for the blog. I hope to get better though because Lucas does the funniest things that would make me so sad if I forgot! So here are the last two weeks activities.

Grandma invited Lucas over to help her paint flower pots. Lucas enjoyed it!

We took that time we were over there to take Isaac's pictures. Here is my personal favorite.

Grandma McCabe getting some holding time with the baby.

Grandpa McCabe snuggling with Isaac. I have a picture of me laying on my Grandpa Myers just like this, however, I was sucking my thumb and playing with his ear and a little bit older.

Now that we are not living in an apartment I was thrilled to realize that I could finally get a real tree! Sean's parents were so kind as to purchase one for us. Here was are out at Bachmans picking out the tree!

Getting it home and setting it up. To this day the tree stands a little crooked.

After letting the tree expand, we decided to decorate. Last year when all the Christmas decorations went on sale 75% off, I picked up a lot of stuff. Here is our first year using them. Lucas and daddy did the decorating and I was designated put the hook on the ornament person. Lucas loved decorating the tree and using the icicle ornaments as spears.

Isaac's first Chrismas! Just observing us decorate!

More decorations.

One of the traditions I would like our family to do is buy an ornament for each child, each year so that they will have enough ornaments to decorate their tree when they move out. Here is the ornament that Lucas chose.

Isaac's ornament that we chose for him.

Finished product! (Yes we know that is tilts but it smells so good!)

One of our favorite places to shop is a consignment store called Unique. We find lots of good stuff there. Well Sean found this life vest for Lucas when he goes swimming. Lucas thought it was a helmet and wears it on his head. He wore it all the way through the check out, out to the car and threw a fit when I wouldn't let him wear it into Target. He is such a funny kid!

One of the nice things about where we live now is we are literally 1 min away from the MN Zoo. We have a membership there so we decided to go to the Zoo. Here is Isaac all packed up and ready to go!

Lucas got to meet Santa at the Zoo and loved him! He kept going up to him and hugging him and trying to drag him by his hand over to the window (there are monkey's there). It was soooo cute and nice that they had Santa there because it is like 40.00 to have Lucas's picture with Santa at the mall! I am so excited to have a child who can start to understand the concept of Santa!

Lucas and daddy at the zoo!

One of my many craft projects. Here is the nursing cover I made for my cousin's wife.

So here are a couple of funny stories about Lucas that you might enjoy.

Having a new brother comes exposure to new things. I was really blessed to get a breast pump from my insurance completely free. So on occasion I pump so that I can leave and Isaac will be fed. Anyways, Lucas has been in the room while I have pumped. On day, when Sean got home, I was laying on the bed and Lucas was puttering around in our closet. Sean was sitting on the bed so he could see into half of the closet. All of a sudden Sean started to laugh. Inside of our closet hunched over and with two breast pump covers up to his chest was Lucas. The funnest thing was he was mimicing the sound that breast pumps make. Sean and I both wish that we had had a camera at that very moment!

Yesterday was Sunday so obviously we went to church. Lucas loves nursery. Lucas's Grandma Gordhamer (Sean's mom) was asked to sub in nursery for 2nd hour. During Relief Society she scooted in but had chalk all over the back of her black dress. When she came to sit down next to me I told her that she had chalk all over her back. She responded "Yes, I know. Lucas drew all over me with chalk. I just thought he was giving me a back massage!" I could not stop laughing!

My parents live in a four level split. You walk in there are stairs going to the upstairs, and next to those stairs going down to the family room and next to those stairs going to the basement. Well, Lucas was being watched by my parents and was being entertained with Grandpa McCabe in his work room which is in the basement. Jim has lots of lights in the basement and most of them are controlled by the light switch. Lucas, of course, found the light that was turned on by a pull string (the light is attached to the ceiling). I guess that I should preface this that Lucas has learned that when he needs to reach something he gets a chair and then can stand on it. Well, after discovering this light and feeling the need to pull the string Lucas went up two flights of stairs to the dining room where he knew there were chairs. He picked up this barrel like chair brought it to the stairs, pushed it down after which he followed to only push it down the stairs again. Then when he got it to the basement he picked it up, brought it over to the light and then had a grand old time pulling the string. Jim said he was downstairs when all this was happening and was trying to figure out what the loud banging noise was as something came flying down the stairs!

We love Lucas and love all the silly and at that moment, frustrating things that he does. Lately, Lucas has not wanted to go to bed. My mom says it is just a faze and all children go through it. Before we got a door knob cover it would take about an hour and a half of Lucas getting out of bed and us putting him back before he would go to sleep. Then, in the middle of the night we would find Lucas in our bed which the followed another half an hour of getting Lucas to fall asleep in his bed again. Thank goodness we finally got a door cover because it is very sad to have your child crying outside your door. However, he will lay down just outside his door so he can see through the door crack until he falls asleep. We have to go in there and put him in his bed or he will sleep on the hard wood floor.

Isaac is doing well. He is smiling now! That brings joy to my soul and sleep to my body (I am lacking it immensely!). When he is awake and smiling in the morning it helps me forget how little sleep I got that night. He is starting to coo as well which is fantastic. When we went to WIC this last Tuesday he was 11lbs 14oz and 22 1/2 inches long! He is a growing boy!

Freezer Cooking Day with Lucas and Isaac

2009-12-06T18:35:00.000-08:00

So in efforts to become more frugal and fending off any temptation that I have to say "Let's just go and get dinner" I have decided to do what is know as freezer cooking. You basically cook massive amounts of food up and then freeze it all and take it out to eat when you need it. It is nice to just thaw and go. So Saturday while Sean was at the Bishop storehouse volunteering the boys and I set out to get some cooking done. While I was in the kitchen Lucas and Isaac were being very cute together so I decided to take some pictures. Here they are.

Brother laying together on the couch!

Gotta love the security blankets!
Smiles! When they fight I will show them this picture and say "See, you do love eachother!"

My loyal kitchen companion who always seemed to be laying right where I needed to stand. Kisses!

Almost 5 weeks old and getting so big

Lucas up on the chair (Grrrr) and showing me that the griddle is hot!2 batches of french toast to freeze. Which is my favorite breakfast food. 3 lbs of meat that I cooked for taco meat and spaghetti along with a batch of sloppy joesChicken Enchiladas Yum!2 batches of waffles made up and ready to be frozen.

I have a couple more meals to make up and freeze but unfortunately I ran out of time and materials but all in all it was a pretty successful day. Lucas did well entertaining himself and Isaac.... well did what most 4 week olds do, ate, slept and pooped! Hopefully when all is said and done I will have made enough food to last the whole month of December. We will see if we can stick to eating in instead of eating out. Keep your fingers crossed!

Ansel Adams

2009-12-05T07:54:00.001-08:00

Having a two and a half year old is definitely an adventure. This kid does some seriously funny things and some things where you are like "Where did you learn that?" At my parents house a few nights ago Lucas discovered a music box that he had since he was little. But instead of using it as a music box it became his camera. He would walk around the house and say "Cheese" and push down that blue thing like he was talking a picture. It was hilarious!

Sleep

2009-12-05T07:45:00.000-08:00

Last night Isaac slept from 10pm to 4am which means I would have gotten 6 hours of sleep (I didn't go to bed until 12am). My little man is definitely growing up and fast! Today's goals are to make a couple batches of french toast and waffles to freeze. Browning up hambuger for tacos, spaghetti and sloppy joes. Make up Kate's nursing cover, start making Christmas bags and finish my scrapbook pages. We will see how much I get done!

"The Special Case"

2009-12-04T07:34:00.001-08:00

Isaac James Meyer Born Nov 3, 2009 VBACFor those who don't know, my first child was born c-section. I went into labor at 2 am on May 2nd 2007, my due date. I excitedly went into the hospital where I was told that I was 1-2 centimeters. After an hour of walking around I dialated to a 3 and was then formally admitted into the hospital. I requested that my water be broken to which the doctor told me "If your water is broken then you can not leave the hospital. If you are not progressing fast enough we will give you pitocin because you don't want to be here all day." Now it is important to note that this doctor was not my original doctor. To what the doctor said I responded "Can we just wait and hour to see if I progress." He agreed. The nurse standing by said "I don't know why he said that, you are progressing just fine." I had also told the doctor that I was not interested in getting an epidural to which he said, after about 5 times of telling me that I should get one because we need to start pitocin "What do you have against an epidural?"So around 2pm I had dialated to a 8 but then because my cervix was getting irritated I shrank to a 7. Lucas's heart rate kept dropping so they would make me get off the birthing ball (which are amazing) and lay in bed. For those who have labored with no drugs know that is all a mental game. If you have mental control laboring is not that bad. Anyways, I was in so much pain because of being made to sit down and lay down and I had about 50 people checking me and I wasn't given the time to regroup. Anyways, after much deliberation the doctor concluded that I needed a c-section. So they wheeled me down the operating room and Lucas was born at 3pm. I was able to see him for about 3 seconds and they scooped him up and brought him upstairs where just about everyone got to hold him before me. I went on to having a rocky recovery. The doctor came up later and told us that the reason I needed a c-section was because Lucas was head down but facing the wrong way and because of his size, 9lbs, 10 oz.

Ever since this experience I have felt cheated and much disappointment. I felt that this doctor was more interested in getting me through the labor process as fast as possible because he did not want to be at the hospital. I was nobody to him. I felt that he robbed me of the whole birthing experience. I felt that the first moments of Lucas's birth were meant to be spent with me and I missed out. Instead, I layed on an operating table while everyone else got to see him, touch him, and hold him. So when I found out in February 2009 that I was pregnant with my 2nd child I know that trying a VBAC was important to me. So I knew that I needed to find a doctor who was willing to help me meet that demand. Sean's mom had a c-section with Sean but with the next two births had a VBAC. The doctor that delivered them is still practicing at the same clinic I went to with Lucas. So I decided that he would be my doctor. I let Doctor Sabal know from the beginning that a VBAC was my desire. He said he was not against VBAC's but the size of my child are a concern for him so we will see as I get closer to my due date. During the first week of October I went into the clinic to get an ultra sound which was going to tell us the size of Isaac. A month before my due date Isaac was measuring at 7 lbs, 11 oz. Babies put on about 1/2 a pound per week. After finding out that I would probably be having another 10 lb child, Doctor Sabal told me that the only way of having Isaac VBAC is if I go into labor by myself before November. Because of the c-section he was reluctant to induce me just so I could do a VBAC. So, defeated, I scheduled a c-section for the 11th of November with the secret hope that I would go into labor.

October 31st came and went and there was no baby. I had finally came to the acceptance that I was probably going to have to have a c-section. But on November 2nd at around 2pm I began to get regular light contractions. Not wanting to jump the gun I sent Sean off to work telling him that if I was indeed in labor I would call him and have him come home. So the day progressed and the contractions did not go away. At around 7pm I called Sean and told him that I thought I was in labor and that he should come home. I called my mother-in-law to come and pick up Lucas. At around 8pm I called the oncall doctor who told me to wait until my contractions were more painful. About 2 hours later I called her and told her that I was in more pain and thought that I should go in. So Sean and I packed up and went to the hospital. There I was about 2 centimeters. After an hour of laboring in the bed I was unchanged. They gave me a few options on included walking around for a half an hour. After walking around I dialated another centimeter so they hooked me back up to the monitors and told me I was admitted. They however, refused to break my water because of my "special case" that I wanted a VBAC. So we were left to labor in the room. It was such a strange experience going from not being left alone with Lucas to not seeing a nurse for 2 hours. We finaly buzzed the nurse's station and asked if anyone forgot about us. They said that I want to do this naturally so that is what they were going to let me do. It was such a nice experience to be left alone though. It was just Sean and I and we turned down the lights, listened to Yanni, and thought of dialating thoughts. However, at 5 am I was checked and was told I was only 4 centimeters (I was not allowed to get up an walk because they need to monitor Isaac's heart rate based on Lucas's issues). Exhausted, I decided on an epidural. I knew that I could get through labor, but the whole pushing a baby out was going to be hard on no sleep in 24 hours. Sean also looked extremely beat so I got the epidural. It was nice at first, the pain went away and I was able to sleep 2 hours but it got annoying to have tinglely legs for so long. After the epidural they broke my water and I slept. When I woke up I was really warm, the nurse thought that it was because our room was super warm so she turned the heat down but I still continued to have a temperature. At around 930 am I began feeling like I was going to vomit, I was shaking and I did not feel good. But because of the epidural I had no desire to push. The nurse check me and I was at 10 centimeters! So they began to tell me to push a little at every contraction to get Isaac to come further down. The doctor came in and was pretty confident that I was going to be able to do this on my own (he was the doctor that I saw for Lucas's appointments who actually told me that I was not going to be able to have Lucas's vaginally if he was 8lbs or over). Now he was telling me that he was pretty confident that I was going to be able to have Isaac no problem. The only problem with Isaac was, you guessed it, he was head down but facing to wrong way, he was sunny side up. Just like his older brother. So the doctore opted to use a vacuum to help bring Isaac down. However, at the last minute the doctor tried to turn Isaac's head and Isaac popped right into position. (The doctor did use the vacuum for about 5 minutes Sean told me afterwards). After an hour a pushing Isaac was born VBAC at 8 lbs 12.7 oz. I was called "the special case" at the hospital because VBAC's are getting to be very, very rare. That day Dr Sabal was in the hospital for a c-section and actually came in and congratuated me on the success. I would have to say that c-sections are so much easier in the labor sense because you don't labor! But in the recovery sense, vaginal births are so much more amazing. I was able to see Isaac, hold him and be in the room with him while they cleaned him up. I did however, get and infection in my amniotic fluid so Isaac had to spend 48 hours in the NICU but I felt more bonded to Isaac then Lucas. That is not the case now, I love both my sons but there is something to be said about going through so much pain and the feelings you have in the end when you hold that child. I hope that everyone gets to experience that. I hope that women understand that what they want in the labor process is important. This is something that we have been doing for centuries and c-sections have only been around for about 20 years (meaning, they are pushing for them more and more). From now on, I will definitely opt for vaginal births over c-sections.

Thanksgiving Happenings

2009-12-03T16:13:00.000-08:00

So I couldn't help but put up pictures of our Thanksgiving apple Turkey that Lucas and I made. I am trying to be more active with Lucas during the day. So I have been finding projects that we can do during the day. For Thanksgiving we made a apple turkey. Enjoy the pictures.

Lucas and I getting ready to begin. Look at that grin!

Sticking the marshmallows and Raisins on the sticks. What actually happened was I made the turkey and Lucas ate the marshmallows and raisins all the while saying "Yummy" which each bite.

Happy boy!Picture with Daddy
Finished product, Lucas then decided to take a big bite out of the apple!Showing off his apple turkey! Final product

Goals

2009-12-03T06:25:00.000-08:00

With the year of 2009 coming to a close I have decided to try and do more blogging as a early New Year resolution. One reason is so that I can have a record of family memories. When you have a 2 year old, the things he does are so funny and I don't want to forget those moments. Also, when you are a stay at home mom, you feel that the only people you talk to are 2 1/2 year olds and 4 week olds. Not that I am complaining, I love my kids but it will be nice to be able to talk about other things then dinosaurs and bugs. So stay tuned as I attempt to blog everyday.
Today, I woke up and it is snowing. For someone who is an advid Christmas fan it is amazing to me that it is already December 3rd and I have no Christmas decorations up. My goal today it to clean the house, begin decorating and do some cooking. In an attempt to be more frugal I am following the steps of many frugal women as they cook all their month meals in one day and then freeze them all. So that is my goal to begin doing that this month. It is takes so much guess work out of what you are going to eat if you have a list of things that are pre-made. All you have to do is pull it out of the freezer and cook it. We will see how productive I actually get.
Next blog, I plan on talking about my birth experience with Isaac, my new baby. With my oldest I had a c-section and it was my hope and desire to have a vaginal birth with Isaac. Stay tune for that story!

Life

2009-09-17T10:39:00.000-07:00

It is amazing to me, after two weeks of coupon, how much manufacturers mark up the prices on products. A few days ago I went into Target, my total rang up to be around $21.00 and after coupons I walked away having spent only $3.41. Now where is the sense in that! I saved myself 84% by clipping coupons. And what is even more crazy is that is what I used to spend when I went to Target and such. Below is a shopping trip I did where I spent $24.71 out of pocket, gained a $5.00 gift certificate and $15.00 in register rewards at Walgreens. Yes, that is right that is John Frieda shampoo and conditioner. I get to buy things now that I only dreamed of buying before I discovered couponing.

Sean and I are poor, I am not going to lie. We have very little money and the money we do have is basically borrowed because we are living off of only one income. I have $40.00 in my wallet and that used to scare me. How am I going to live off of only $40.00 for the rest of the month. Now I am like '$40.00 I can buy so much with that'. My minds set has changed also. If you go out to eat as a couple to like Wendy's you will probably spend like $12.00. Give me that twelve dollars and I can get you so much stuff with that! I am also thankful I live in an apartment complex. As crazy as this sounds I went out this morning and dug through recycling bins of 4 buildings and accumulated a TON of sunday coupons inserts. And then went to target and took a $80.00 bill down to $19.00 and then at Rainbow a $20.00 bill down to $9.00. Although I am sure I got a lot of strange looks, a ginormously pregnant woman digging through a recycling bin I couldn't help but chuckle because I knew just how much I was going to save. If anyone who is reading this needs coupon inserts, I now have a huge stack of them just sitting on my desk.

My Rainbow and Target shopping tripMy Target, CVS and Walgreens trip.

Needless to say, I am thankful the Lord opens a window when he shuts a door. When I quit my job to stay home it was like having the rug pulled out from underneath us. I guess I kept waiting and waiting for Sean to get a better paying job, us to win the lottery, or for an old rich relative that no one knew about to die and leave us a ton of money. Instead, he gave me tools to use so that we can not only save money but being to store away essentials so that if that rainy day comes, we will be prepared.

Couponing

2009-09-10T20:17:00.000-07:00

So my new addiction has become couponing. It is an amazing feeling to walk out of a store having purchased so much for so little. Sean is pretty supportive of this because he figures it is something the family will benefit from. Our pantry is starting to burst at the seams and it is only week 1! I an not the best but with every shopping trip I get better and better! It is also fun to buy those what you used to think were expensive things for next to nothing. If couponing is something you want to do I would suggest checking out moneysavingmom.com and stretchingabuckblog.com they post deals for pretty much any store! I would have to say that I am addicted to shopping and for someone who is on a budget it is nice that I can stretch it so far! Here are my successes this week:Purchases made at Rainbow and Walgreens.
Rainbow: Progresso Soup 10/$10.00 had coupon for $1.10/3 so 6 cans for $3.90
Pillsbury Grands! 10/$10.00 had coupon for $1.00/2 so 4 containers for $2.00
Green Giant Steamers 2/$3.00 had coupons for $.50/1 so 2 bags for $2.00
Olive Oil Buy 1 Get 1 and $1.00/1 so spent $5.98 on 2 bottles
Total: $13.79
Walgreens: Chex Mix $0.99 had coupons for $0.50/1 so spent $0.98
Reese's bars (I did have 2) 2/$2.00 had coupon for $0.55 so 2 for $1.50
Aquafresh Toothpaste $3.49 had coupons for $1.00/1 so $4.98
Glade Sense and Spray $5.99 had coupons for $4.00/1 so 2 for $4.99
Plus Walgreens has Register Rewards and everything (minus the Chex Mix) gave me basically instore credit back. I got $8.00 back in Register Rewards.
Total Spent: $12.45 minus RR
Grand Total: $4.45

Total Shopping Trip to Rainbow and Walgreens cost me $18.24.

Trip to CVS, Walgreens, Target

CVS: Aussie Shampoo & Conditioner $2.99/1 so $8.97 for 3
Cover Girl Foundation $4.99 had coupons for B1G1 and $1.00/1 so 2/$3.99
Dove Chocolates 1/$3.50 coupon for $1.00/1 so 3/$9.50
Shick Quattro for Women B1G1 $8.00 had coupon for $4.00/1 so 2/$4.00
Colgate Total B1G1 for $2.79 had coupon for $0.75/1 so 2/$2.04
CVS has rewards similar to Walgreens. Works like instore credit. I earned $15.00 in instore credit with my purchases.
Total: $32.42 minus EBC's
Grand Total: $17.42
Walgreens: Carefree Ultra Pantiliners $1.99/1 coupon for $1.00/1 so $0.99
Batteries $2.99/1 coupon for $0.75/1 so $2.24
Crest Toothpaste and Mouthwash 2/$7.00 had coupon $0.75/2 so $6.25
2 Glade Candles 2/$4.00 had coupon for $3.00/1 so 2/1.00
Glade Sense and Spray $5.99 coupon for $4.00/1 so $1.99
Total: $13.14 minus RR $10.00
Grand Total: $3.14
Target: Yogos $1.75 coupons for $1.00/1 so $0.75 each
Poptarts $1.52 coupon for $0.75/1 so $0.77 each
Dove Deodorant $3.64 coupons for $3.00/1 so $0.64 each
Cookie Mix $1.65 coupon for $0.40/1 so $1.25
Beef Roast Hormel Entree $4.99 coupon for $2.00/1 so $2.99
Ragu Sauce $3.74 coupons for $1.75/2 so $1.99/2
Schick Quattro for women $7.84 coupons for $8.00/1 so FREE!!
Candle $2.99 coupon for free candle so FREE!!!!
Total $10.08 with $5.00 gift certificate earned previously
Grand Total: $5.08

Overall my trip to CVS, Walgreens and Target cost me: $25.64

I made other trips this week but did not take pictures but this is what they looked like:

Cub Foods: 2 lbs of grapes $2.24/1 lb coupon for free lb so FREE!!
Kelloggs Cinnabon Bars $2.50 coupon for $1.00/1 so $1.50
Jolly time Popcorn 2/$5.00 coupons for $1.00/1 so 2/$3.00
Healthy Harvest Noddles 10/$10.00 coupon for $1.00/2 so 4/$2.00
Del Monte Fruit Cups 10/$10.00 coupon for $1.00/3 so 6/$4.00
Dole Jar of Fruit 2/$5.00 coupon for $0.55 so 1/$2.00
Total: $12.48
Walgreens: Quilted Norther Toilet Paper $4.29 coupon for $1.00/1 so $3.29
Reese's Bars 2/$2.00 coupon for $0.55/1 so $1.45/2
Total: $5.48 used $5.00 RR earned $1.00 RR
Grand Total: $0.48
CVS: Old Spice Deodorant 2/$4.50 coupon for $1.00/2 so $3.50
Kotex Tampons and Pads 2/$10.00 coupons for $1.75/2 so 2/$8.25
Softsoap body wash $4.99 coupon for $1.00/1 so $3.99
Total: $16.67 used $15.00 EBC earned $5.00 EBC
Grand Total: $1.67

Trip to Target

Let's just say I purchased all of this food for $27.75 plus got 1 $5.00 gift certificate from it. So overall I got this all for $22.75!!!! Crazy huh! Needless to say I love couponing and getting groceries and household items for next to nothing! If anyone wants to join me I am all game. It takes alittle bit of homework but it is so worth it in the end. If you can't use something you buy right away then you can either donate it, use it as a gift or keep it until you need it!

I Love to See the Temple

2009-08-17T11:12:00.000-07:00

So for our family outing today we decided to go and have a picnic outside of the Temple. We even taught Lucas to say temple. It was pretty cool because Sean and I were like "Three years ago we were standing here taking pictures after we got married and here we are with our family now!"

It was fun to spend time looking and walking around the temple. So peaceful.

Here is dad and Lucas!

Mom and Lucas!

Awe.... Sean and Amy!

Lucas thinks that every thing whether it is a flower or in this case a mushroom is like a dandelion and will loose seed if you blow on it. Here he is demonstrating it.

Updates

2009-08-16T18:39:00.000-07:00

So much has gone on since the potty training experience. It got to the point where Lucas just didn't care about going in the potty and would rather go in his pants then tell me. Since I knew that this was a power struggle, I decided to take a break for awhile and if he said he need to go I would take him but not push him. We will start up again soon because the idea of 2 in diapers...yikes!
It is sad to say, but I have definitely taken less pictures during this prenancy then with Lucas. So, with that in mind, here is a picture of me taken probably about two months ago so that would make me 18 weeks. I feel so small but I think it is because I am comparing this pregnancy to Lucas when I was at the end of that prenancy. So here is my second baby bump.

Fourth of July, here is Lucas and his buddy Aidan. They live in an apartment on the first floor. It is nice because we just have to walk down two flight of stairs and down the hall and we are there. Lucas and Aidan are typical boys and love eachother only when the other is giving them exactly what they want and not touching their toys. It is good though. Also, hanging out with Sam helps me keep my sanity.

So on July 18, we moved to a smaller apartment. Although it is sad to give up the amount of space we had it is nice that we pay about 160.00 less in rent and there are more windows and sun in the new apartment which is an added bonus. Here is Lucas in the new apartment sporting my rain boots. He has an obsession now with shoes. He always wants his sandals on and is constantly putting Sean or my shoes on. He then has to walk very carefully around the house so as not to trip. It is quite comical.
Beau is doing well. Getting bigger everyday but as Sean says "When are you going to get bigger Beau?" On Aug 18 he will be 8 months old. I have to continually remind Sean that Beau will grow until he is about 2. With the heat of the summer Beau often finds refuge in the bathroom and after Lucas's bath, the tub. Here he is getting comfortable in the tub.

Lucas graduated from a crib and a mattress on the floor into a big boy bed. Here he is enjoying his first afternoon nap in his bed. Courtesy of his Uncle Matthew.
One thing that as a parent you never realize is how hard it is to get a now mobile and free child to lay down and go to bed. Lucas these last couple of nights has literally refused to go to bed until about 1030 or later. It takes about 20 times of going into his room and telling him to go to bed until he finally does. However, most of the time he is conked out on his floor, lights on and toys all around him. I finally gave up one night that I went to bed and when Sean came home at 1130 Lucas was sleeping on the floor with his light on. I rigged his light switch now so he can't turn his light on and his door knob so he can't come out. However, my child is still content to play in his room with the lights out.
Other then that, Sean finished his Summer semester of school and is ready to enjoy his week off of school before he begins again. I am keeping busy with always a list of things to do and tasks to accomplish. A mothers work is never done!

Escape Artist

2009-06-19T07:20:00.000-07:00

Good news! Lucas went through the whole night with out pull ups and didn't have an accident. I got this instructions off line and it said that you restrict fluids 2-3 hours before they go to bed, then you take them before they go down, then wake them an hour after they have fallen asleep and then an hour before they officially get up. So that is what we did last night and he did not have one accident.

So really weird thing happened this morning. Beau sleeps in the kitchen and we have a leash that we attach to him so that he can't leave. This morning he was barking because he wanted to go outside and Sean was procrastinating taking him out. All of a sudden Beau showed up next to me. I looked over and Sean was still in bed. Some how Beau got loose from his lease (with out breaking his leash or getting his collar off) and made it to our room. We have no idea how he did it. We have a Houdini dog!

Potty Training Update

2009-06-17T14:03:00.000-07:00

So I know that everyone probably doesn't want a play by play of my son's bathroom occurances but since I have no other adults to talk to the blog will have to do. I almost gave up on potty training yesterday. It seemed that eveytime I put Lucas on the potty he screamed bloody murder and wanted to get off. I got really frustrated and had a few tears but after praying for strength and patience I decided to finish off the day and put Lucas in his room to go to bed at 6pm (which he didn't really fall asleep until 830pm). But I needed my sanity. As I sat in the bathroom I kept telling myself I have never give up on anything and I am not about to start now. I potty trained Beau and kept at it even though it got really really hard (the 30th day of waking up to find a poop covered dog was when I was reaching my breaking point). I taught Lucas about time out, they say a minute for every year so at 1 year when he did something naughty he got warned but then if it continued he got stuck in the time out chair. The first few times were hard but everytime he got up his minute started over again. Finally, it really didn't take that long, he got the hang of it and if we tell him to go and sit in his time out chair from another room he knows where it is and we know when he gets there because we hear this whine of definace. And lastly, we were having a very picky eater for a while. It drove me crazy because he never wanted to eat what I cooked and I never wanted to cook him a special meal. Now I am not some crazy parent who will make their child eat for breakfast what they didn't eat for dinner, but I do expect my children to try the food in front of them. Again, we learned a bite for every year old, so Lucas was only expected to eat one bite of what ever was in front of him. Now I have a strange child who would love to eat fruits and vegetables but refuses meat. The first time we implemented the one bite per year rule it took me 20 minutes and finally force feeding my child to try a bite. It slowly got easier from there, very slowly. There were many time outs and tears on his end but he learned if he just took one bite then he would be off the hook. Then one bite turned to two bites and so on. Now, Lucas will eat pretty much anything, however I do respect his tastebuds and if he is getting sick of the dinner I don't force him to finish his whole plate. I am also happy to report that he is eating meat with little to no struggle. So, with all that under my belt, I just knew that yesterday I could not give up.
I am happy to say that today went a lot smoother. He actually went into the bathroom himself, moved his stool to the toilet and started to climb up when he needed to go potty. I had to help him the rest of the way but he went potty with no struggle. He has also told me on numerous times that he needed to go potty (the word he uses unanimously for pee or poop is "poop"). I hopefully can teach him the better words for when we venture out into the world so I don't have a child screaming "POOP" in the middle of the store. I have to say to all those out there who are changing poopy diapers, it is so nice when they go into the toilet. Lucas pooped on the toilet for the first time today and that was such a relief!!! I am hoping that by the end of the week Lucas will be pretty much potty trained. We have come so far in just 3 days!!!
Keep your fingers crossed for me that this is successful and I maintain my sanity!

Family Vacation

2009-06-15T15:59:00.000-07:00

So recently we just got back from MI where we visited my grandfather. My sister flew in and my dad just happened to be in from leave and my baby brother was also there. We drove to MI on the 5th and got back on the 13th (btw I hate Chicago, talk about bad traffic and no fun!) It rained a lot there so we weren't able to do as much as we wanted to but we had fun catching up with the family and I loved seeing my sister and neice and nephew.

Here are the cousins in the car getting ready to go somewhere. There is Lucas, Grace and James. Lucas is 5 weeks younger then Grace.

Here is Lucas and Grandpa on Grandpa's motorcycle. FYI that face is a common recurrence in all his pictures. He hates sitting still for anything much less a picture.

Sean, James and Lucas at the Detroit Zoo. Pretty much the only place we went the whole week. The last day we were there the weather decided to be nice and be sunny and not rainy for once.

My child has a tendency to run away from me and not follow directions so we got this nifty Monkey backpack for him. He really didn't mind it much...

So baby number two is growing. I don't know why but I feel smaller then I did with Lucas. It might be that I am now at the weight that I started with Lucas. Or maybe this baby is just smaller. We find out the sex on June 29th so keep posted because I will let people know. I finished the baby quilt that I started when I was pregnant with Lucas (I was smart I knew how long quilts take me). It was my first attempt at applique and I will have to say that it isn't too bad.

Hopefully we have a girl because the quilt is alittle girly.

So as of yesterday June 14th Lucas has started the long journey towards potty training. Yesterday he only peed in the potty once, but things today have been better. It is 6pm and he has peed 3 times, however while I was making dinner he pooped on the floor, but all the joys of being a mom right?! I just have to keep telling myself that I can't quit. I never quit at anything so this shouldn't be different. I am hoping that I will only have to be on basic house arrest for a week before we can actually leave and venture out into the world.

Beau is doing well. His pooping has gotten under control. We have the best Vet Clinic in the world. Here is our big puppy!

6 Months old!

Sad, Sad, Sad

2009-05-08T19:11:00.000-07:00

So it is really sad that I have not posted any new information since Dec 2008. Where have I been? Well, Christmas came and went. I ofcourse bite off more then I could chew with trying to set Christmans traditions. I figure that this Christmas is the start of Christmas's that Lucas can remember so I wanted to begin those family traditions that my children would tell their children that they did on Christmas Eve. So we did stockings (which I never did as a child), I mad Lucas Christmas pj bottoms (which I did not buy a pattern for and ended up being too small in the rump for my child), made a very sad ginger bread house on Christmas Eve, etc. It turned out fun but it definitely will need some tweeking over the next how many years. Here are some lovely pictures.

Lucas deciding that the Ginger Bread house is too much work so he was going to decorate his cookie then proceed to eat the buttons...

Our crumbling ginger bread house. I think that the frosting was too thin. (BTW thanks Emily Stephenson for the recipe website that you had posted!)

January came and went with not too much stuff happen that is extremely exciting. We were busy waiting for Feb to come when we would get our puppy. Now, only people who have had puppies know what it is like to have a puppy. For those who have never had one it is like having a newborn, with out diapers. We got our Newfoundland puppy on Feb 13, 2009. Sean named him Black Wolf's Beau Valentine because he was so close to Valentines day. After many attempts at trying to figure out his name we ended with Beau. I would just like to state for the record that we named our dog before the president and Obama had no influence on his name. Anyways, it start good but then Beau got sick and when I say sick I mean diahrrea everywhere. I think on the 30th day that we woke up and Beau was yet again sitting in his poop Sean and I were just about willing to give it all up. I am happy to say that Beau is finally on his way down the healthy path and we are actually getting to enjoy having a dog. It took him eating an entire bottle of Immodium, an very expensive trip to the Vet where he had to stay over night and a slow walk back into normal food to get him better. Here is Beau when we first got him:

Our cute Newfie!!

Anyways, more to come tomorrow because I am wiped out and ready to sleep!!!

Family Addition

2008-12-20T08:18:00.000-08:00

So on December 18th our puppy was finally (as Sean would say) born!!! YAY that means we have only 8 weeks until we get to take the little guy home! It will definitely be interesting having a puppy in the house. But we are excited and ready for it. Sean has been waiting his whole life to get a dog and he is finally getting one! If you would like to see pictures of mom or dad or of the puppies go to www.bwkennelsmn.com and click on the Newfoundland button. Mom and dad are Kaine and Joy. We can't wait until we get to take the little guy home!

The Craziness of Christmas

2008-12-17T10:26:00.001-08:00

So things around here have been hectic and CRAZY!!! We just got the christmas tree up on Sunday, although we only decorated with lights because ornaments would have been just too crazy with a very curious 19 month old. Lucas loved helping with the tree although he really didn't understand the putting together of the tree so he just hung the branches where he thought that they should go.

Here he is helping us put together the tree!

The craziness continued onto Monday at 1130pm when we get a knock on our door. It is a firefighter and we were being evacuated because of a gas leak in our building. Sean came in a told me right after I had fallen into deep sleep. So we packed up Lucas and Oscar and got into our car and went to Wendy's for a littls snack. At about 1230am we were allowed back into our apartment. The next day however, we left Oscar's kennel sitting in the living room, Lucas decided that it was his toy and decided to crawl into the kennel. Here he is starting to come out of it, but he got his entire body in the kennel and shut the door

He is such a crazy kid!

Anyways, I have been trying and trying to get all of our Christmas stuff in order. I finally ordered a Fisher Price Nativity set for Lucas that is now all over our living room floor. I decided to make Christmas bags and tags instead of buying wrapping paper and I decided to make Lucas Christmas PJ's to wear on Christmas Eve. I definitely spread myself too thin. I also am hand making all my Chrismas cards and for those of you who have not recieved one I either don't have your address or an in the mist of making them. Don't worry you will get one!

Here is an example of my Christmas bags and tags:

Here is the front

Here is the back. If you can't read it I stiched To and From on the back. The whole idea of this is to reuse them again. I am planning on getting washable fabric pens or washable markers to write who it is To and From.

They are really cute but they are a lot of work.

So funny thing happened today. I decided to take a half day at work so I had my morning free. I went to the gym and when I got back Sean told me that Lucas must have cut himself because there was blood smears all around his room. It seriously looked like a murder scene. Although Sean said that he didn't even notice because Lucas wasn't whining or anything. I decided to wipe down his room. It is amazing how much a 19 month old touches. Every single toy had a blood smear on it. Then I go out to the living room and dining room and everything out there had blood on it.

Well that's about it for now, but I am sure I will have more stuff once the holiday's are over!

Thanksgiving

2008-11-29T15:40:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a very happy thanksgiving, I know we did. I thought I would write about the funny thing that Lucas did so that I won't forget. Thanksgiving morning I woke up and went to the gym and ran a hour so as to off-set the amount I was planning on eating. Anyways, I was supposed to bring a dessert to the family get together and I ofcourse forgot. So after running I called up my mom and made a fine suggestion that we get together at her house and make a memory by baking my grandma's amazing butter cookies. So we get there and I am really excited to make cookies because Lucas is going to help me cut them out with cookie cutters. So I make the dough and roll it out and then get a chair so Lucas can stand on it and punch out cookies. So I put the cookie cutter on the dough to show him the first one. The first thing that proceeds out of my childs mouth once he saw the finished product was "EWWWWWWWW!" He then began to use the cookie cutter and after every cookie he continued to exclaim that same noise. I think my child has gotten "EWW" and "WOW" mixed up. It was hilarious and I wish that I had gotten it on tape but unfortunatly we have no batteries so this will only be a memory in our mind. I can't wait until Christmas when we can make cookies again!

To make Dad Happy

2008-10-04T17:11:00.000-07:00

Here Honey, to make you happy I videoed Lucas in his Halloween Costume.

Mr. Polite

2008-09-25T05:27:00.000-07:00

Lucas has learned to say "Thank you!" On Monday I though I had heard him say it but I wasn't sure. Yesterday, it was all he said. So here is a video of Mr. Polite.

No more baby....

2008-09-21T12:56:00.001-07:00

So the last few days have definitely proved that Lucas is no longer a baby. He is a full blown toddler and proud of it. In out dining room I have this make-shift pantry where I keep a lot of the food storage cans that my mom and mother-in-law gave me. Well, Lucas likes to go in it and play with the cans. A couple of weeks ago Lucas went into the pantry and pulled out a can of dried celery and spilled it all over the floor. That wasn't so bad. I cleaned it up but ofcourse did nothing to remove them from his grasp. Yesterday, while I was at work I got a call from Sean and he was very upset. While Sean was making dinner Lucas got into the pantry and opened a can of wheat gluten and dumped the whole can all over the dinning room floor (we have carpet). He then proceeded to roll in it, inhale it, eat it and dump dried celery on top of it. Needless to say our house is completely covered in wheat gluten and our vacuum cleaner is pretty much useless.

Then today I was up early because I had to write a talk for church. I had finished and went to print it. The paper kept jamming and jamming. All of a sudden a magnet fell out of the printer. We bought Lucas this book where it comes with magnets you stick on it. It was one of those magnets. My guess is Lucas saw an opening and took the initiative to stick his toys into it. Good thing it wasn't a peanut and butter sandwich. I think my life now is just damage control. My crazy little child is everywhere. But he is definitely the highlight and stress of my life.

Amazing Thing About Minnesota

2008-08-28T18:24:00.000-07:00

One of the most amazing things about Minnesota is the STATE FAIR. Which is where we went today. It is an event that many look forward to each year. All the food there is deep fried and on a stick. The newest food morsel that is there, although I did not attempt to eat it, was chocolate covered bacon. I like to stay more around the mini donuts, caramel apples end of the fair. But amongst all the crowds you can find deep fried candy bars, ostrich on a stick, cheese curds, an all you can drink milk stand, etc. etc. The first place we went today was the Miracle of Birth building where all the farmers bring their pregnant animals to and they then give birth to their young with about 200 Minnesotans watching. While we were there a Mommy pig was giving birth to her 7th little piggy (ouch!). A cow was going into labor and much to Sean's disappointment we did not see her give birth.
Here is Lucas admiring a very pregnant and uncomfortable momma cow.

Next we headed to the farm exhibits. There farmers from around the state bring in their best animals to be judged and awarded ribbons. They have sheep, chickens, ducks, pigs, horses, cows, and lamas (yes lamas). I thought is was very disturbing however that outside of the sheep barn they were passing out basically lamb slim jims. I declined eating on because it was just too weird. They also had a lamb on display that was wearing this speedo and on it it showed where all of it's body parts are that we eat. I will definitely not be eating sheep for a very long time.
The Lukers and I petting a very soft sheepy.

I think that after they shave sheep they dress them in this weird cloak thingy. In this picture we were trying to get Lucas to feed the sheep but he did not like that one bit. He loved the sheep and running up to them to look at them but giving them nourishment was not his cup of tea!

I would have to say that my favorite part of the fair was the poultry house. I did not know that there was such a variety of chickens and roosters out there. This was one of my favorite because it was the fluffiest chicken I have ever seen. It was all feathers!

This one was probably my most favorite. I mean, look at that hair feathers! They were so funny they ever were twitching their head like they were saying "Look at my lovely hair!" I couldn't believe the different types of poultry there was out there.
"I'm a Lama!!" The softest animal that I have ever petted hands down. It was so cute and it let Lucas pet him as well. The lady that owns this lama said that they are better sheep herders then dogs are. I never knew that!

After we saw the animals we pretty much walked around and ate food and went into a variety of exhibits like the Horticultural exhibit where we learned about bees and saw all the types of fruit and vegetables that you can grow in MN. Funny thing that I learned about bees is they are all females. There are only a few males and after they mate, they fall the earth dead. Wouldn't that be interesting if that happened to all species! After that we went to the pet barn where we saw lots of dogs. Then the DNR exhibit where we saw fish and all the animals that can be found here in MN. The state fair was a blast although I definitely ate my calorie allotment for the month!

Our Life the Last Couple of Months

2008-08-08T18:17:00.000-07:00

So here are pictures from the last couple of months. When I downloaded them they got all out of order but I will try my best to explain each one.

Sean and I decided to take Lucas to the Science Museum of Minnesota and Lucas thought that it was the coolest place ever. He loved the Dinosaur part of it and the hands on Experiment part of the Museum. Here he is making experiments happen.

Here Lucas and I are in the Dinosaur part of the Museum. Of course he is too preoccupied with looking around to look at the camera.

He is so fun to take pictures of when he is sleeping. Isn't he a doll!
We had to give him a hair cut and we decided to buzz it. Lucas wasn't so excited about it because it was right before bed time and he was getting tired!
This is the face that we wake up to every morning. Aren't we lucky! The huge bear that he is lying on is a bear that my parents bought me when I was little. I thought that when he was younger he would get lonely in his crib so he sleeps with my teddy bear.
We thought that it was adorable that he was sleeping on the bear like pillow.

Here he is again!

Here he is at the science museum again. Running around like a crazy man!

We went to Sheri Easton's wedding in Missouri and there was so much flooding that the stop sign was almost covered with water.

Me and Janae in line for the ride to the top of the arch! I love that girl!

Me and Sean are smiling for the camera while we were inside of the arch!

Sheri and Mckay when they came out of the temple. Don't they look so happy. I am so happy that they are married!

We bought this backpack from REI and it is the coolest thing ever. It has a camel back in it and so Lucas can drink water when ever he wants. We put his diaper and wipes in it and he carries his own diaper back with him. We love it and he loves it.

Lucas and I cheesing for the camera.

Sean took Lucas to the Como Zoo while I was working and they have this Conservatory and Lucas loves water and could not help himself of course he has to play in the water.

Looking at the big cats. Which leads me to say that Lucas has said his first word "puppy". Although he says it for pretty much anything that has four legs. He loves to call Oscar a "puppy" and when he sees any dog he gets so excited when he sees a real dog. He loves them.
This is the cake that I decorated. Cake decorating is the new hobby that I decided to pick up.
The grand old arch!

Forever........

2008-05-11T17:05:00.000-07:00

It seems like forever since I posted last. Probably because it has been forever. I have just been super busy lately that I have not had time to post. So today I decided to write instead of just lay in bed.
Let's start at the beginning. Last I wrote Lucas began walking. Well now he has mastered that art and has begun running when he gets excited enough. Although the ending result is him falling but other the that he is pretty good. Last week Lucas had his first big injury. I was downstairs folding laundry and he pulled a can of soup off a table. He, not being strong enough, dropped it promptly on his poor little piggy (his big toe). He cut it open and was bleeding profusely. It was quite sad but I must say that he has a nice battle wound on his toe.
Other news on Lucas is that he officially turned one on May 2. Yes, I now have a one year old. It is very fun to say that when people ask me how old he is. We went out to the Rainforest Cafe for his birthday dinner and then the following day we had a big birthday bash for him. When we bought the invitations for his party he picked the Cars (from the movie) ones and so that was the theme of his birthday. He was hilarious however when he was eating his cake. He got it all over, it was quite entertaining. Other then that he has just been a busy little boy with big things to do.

Here Lucas is the day he was born a little after 3 pm on May 2, 2007!

Here is Lucas at exactly 3 pm on May 2, 2008. One year old!

Here we are outside the Rainforest Cafe after eating dinner!

At Lucas's birthday party we naturally sang happy birthday to him although he really didn't like it and started crying! He quickly cheered up however when we gave him a piece of cake that little sugar maniac!
For other pictures click on this link http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2178769&l=66753&id=17805274
It's from my Facebook albums.

News on me. I just finished my first half marathon yesterday, May 9. I did ok time, 2 hours and 16 minutes. It was not the greatest but I blame it on the fact that I was getting sick. (Poor Lucas he is sick sick too!) But I did it and I am so proud of myself for finishing. Also, school is coming to an end, thank goodness, and I took a job at the old apartment complex where we used to work. Instead of caretaking, however, I am working in the office. It is a pretty sweet deal. They offered me a free apartment and hourly pay. We are really blessed. Anyways, because I did not get into nursing school I am going to sit back and let Sean finish (he only has a year and a half left). Once he gets into his career, that being the Border Patrol or some secret ops in the military, I will start my school back up again. But I am going to take my time and figure out what I really want to do. Right now I am really enjoying being mom and doing the mom thing.

Here I am right before the run!

Finish Line! Done finally!

The whole reason why I started running the first place.....for the shirt. Best shirt that I have ever worked for!

Walking Man!

2008-03-24T07:28:00.000-07:00

We have a walking child! It was amazing. While Sean and Lucas were gone, Sean said that Lucas had taken like 2 full steps and that was about it. After that day, which was Friday the 21, Lucas had not walked since. I was completely heart broken that I had missed my baby's first steps! But Sean had insisted that he hadn't walked since then. Well, yesterday, Easter, I picked them up from the airport and brought them over to my Aunt Jeans for dinner. While Sean was taking a shower, me and Lucas were just hanging in the living room. Lucas had pulled himself up on the couch and all of a sudden he saw his goldfish crackers and WALKED right for them. I couldn't believe it! The rest of the day we spent (the whole family) spent getting Lucas to walk all over the place! It was so exciting. Here is a video we took of him. He is a little wobbly at times but sometimes he will just see something and walk right for it with complete control! I can't believe that my little baby is becoming a little boy! It is so great!

Update

2008-03-18T12:36:00.000-07:00

So I have been trying to post for a couple of days now but the video that I keep trying to post takes forever to upload so I never end up fully posting. It is a little disappointing. But I will continue to try. But in spite of that I figured that I would get on and just give and update on where we are right now.
I am currently home alone. This week is spring break and I was going to have to work a ton at the theater. So I decided to surprise Sean with a plane ticket to go and see his father for a week and a half. My rational was that he was just going to have to sit around here and watch Lucas so why not in West Virginia. So since last Thursday he and Lucas have been gone. I have to admit that having a few sane minutes to myself is quite nice but when I am no working or have nothing to do.....I miss my little family. Every time I call Sean I have to know what Lucas is wearing, how he is doing, what he ate and how many poopy diapers he has had. It is weird that although he is not here I still need to know all of those things. It's sad, even now talking about it is making me miss them a lot.
But good news, I found another job. I am going to be a nursing assistant at a assisted living center in Burnsville. I actually got a job offer from two companies and after much deliberation, I decided to go with the assisted living center. I start training on Thursday of this week and I am pretty excited. Although I am going to be sad when I leave the theater. Free movies is pretty hard to give up. Also, on Monday I ran 7 miles without stopping. It was exciting. I did it in 65 minutes. My miles are starting to creep up there which has me thrilled! I will probably run a half marathon in New Prague in May and keep training to run a marathon in late summer/early fall. It is so nice to accomplish the tasks that you set out to do!
Anyways, that is an update on us so far!

On the Mend

2008-03-02T07:38:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture I took of Lucas last Sunday. It was right before church and I put gel in his hair. Isn't he such a cutie!

We finally seem to be on the mend which is a gigantic relief. Having the flu is noooo fun! Sean and I woke up on Monday feeling awful. We tried hard to stay away from Lucas, hoping that he wouldn't get the flu. Little did we know that he already had it and later that day I found myself, very queasy, cleaning up baby puke. It was not fun. The rest of the week we felt sick and tired although the puking only happened on Monday. Need-less to say, we are feeling much better and hope to be tip top soon.
What sucked about getting sick is that my training for a marathon got shot. I hope to be picking up where I left off because I am going to accomplish my new years resolution and nothing is going to stop me!
I have decided that I love to cook. Yesterday Sean and I went on a date to the Mall of America and I got another cookbook. This one is a Better Homes and Garden Dietary cookbook. It has so many scrumptious food to cook, if it wasn't fast Sunday I would be down there right now cooking.
So a little news on Lucas. He loves to make noise with his mouth. He is always blowing air through his lips and making all these funny sounds. Anyways, lately he has been doing the funniest thing. You know how you can blowing air through you lips and strum them with your fingers. Well if you do that to him, he will do it back to you. It is hilarious. I am hoping to get it on video so that people can see it. He is such a goof ball!

Viruses

2008-02-25T19:19:00.000-08:00

So today was a very crappy day! The family is sick with the flu. It sucks. So we pretty much spent the entire day sleeping in bed. I hate being sick!

Funny Photos!

2008-02-24T07:44:00.001-08:00

Here are some pictures that I took of me and Lucas. We spend the days together while dad is at school and then in the evenings on Monday and Wednesday I go to school. It is a nice set up because we try as hard as we can to make it so one of us is home to be with Lucas. So these pictures are a day in the life of Lucas and Mom!
Here he is cheesing for the camera. He knows what the camera is and every time he sees it he has to strike a pose! I love it.
In the left top one Lucas is doing what Sean and I call snuggling. Every time he finds a piece of fabric whether it is a blanket or a sock, he brings it to his face and sucks his thumb and rubs the fabric to his face. It is so cute and funny!
(Pictures taken February 20, 2008)

Standing Man

2008-02-24T07:28:00.000-08:00

Well good news! Lucas can now stand on his own. It was the coolest thing! Yesterday, when he was terrorizing of course, he pulled himself up to get our phone, pulled it off, and just stood there for like 15 seconds before he sat down. I couldn't believe it! Then, of course, I had to keep pulling him up and making him stand. He is so annoyed about that now that once standing, he immediately sits down. A lady at work told me that I have no idea what I am encouraging but I don't care! He is such a little boy! I love it.
Today, however, he has a bad cold. He has been coughing on and off but today the runny nose started. Also he is being really cranky and whiny. I feel really bad for him. He is a trooper though. He could act a lot worse. He is also getting in his bottom, left, second tooth (if that makes sense.) So things are hard for the little guy.
So something that you didn't know about me. This year for my new year's resolution is I am planning on running a marathon. I am nervous about it. I am following this guys 18-week plan. So far I am on the 4th week and doing ok. Today I have to run 9 miles. The most I have ever run. It's scary but I know I can do it!

The Beginning

2008-02-20T20:19:00.000-08:00

Well, here is my first go at blogging. I hope it goes well. For starters I am a 21 year old full time student and an even more full time mom. I got married on July 13, 2006 in the St. Paul Temple to my best friend and the only person I enjoy play fighting with. After a month of marriage we promptly decided to get pregnant which I did. My son Lucas Daniel was born on May 2, 2007. He was delivered by c-section and came out a whopping 9 lbs 10 oz. He was and still is a big boy. Currently he is 9 months 26 lbs and 31 in long.
My husband and I are full time students at Normandale Community College where he is pursuing a degree that will eventually get him a policing job and finally a spot in the FBI. I am currently waiting to hear if I got into Nursing School (either at the UMN or NCC). Keep your fingers crossed. Anyways, we are living with my parents (lame I know) but at the end of the summer Sean will hopefully get a job as a state trooper and me as a CNA and we will move out! YAY! Anyways, that a little about me. Until next time!