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| I like this picture except his eyes are closed. |
Oct. 2017
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
1 Year Photos
A lady in our ward who does photography offered to take some pictures of Koyle. It was kind of a crazy morning and I was worried about how Koyle would do. He got his immunizations yesterday and he woke up today with a fever, and he caught Matthew's cold and runny nose. He was a disaster and pretty much screamed the whole morning we were trying to get ready. I looked up her address online off the ward directory and it said she lived out in Littlefield. I was a little surprised by that but there was no time to mess around we had to get in the car and get Justin to school, especially since we had to drive all the way out to Littlefield. After our 45 minute drive out there, nobody was home. You see how this is going, right? I called her only to find out she lived in that house over the summer, but not any more. Turns out she actually lives less than 5 minutes from my house. So, we drove all the way back to Lubbock and finally made it to her house. Despite all that, Koyle did pretty good. Here is what we got!
Now I just have to choose which one I will put on my wall.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Koyle turns 1!
Can you believe it? It feels like just yesterday I was recovering from my c-section, but in reality just yesterday I celebrated Koyle's 1st birthday!! (Pictures of the party are at the bottom) Let's start with a little update:
Stats: 19 lbs 7 oz 30 inches Head circumference was 47cm I think. He is definitely our smaller kid.
Sleep: Koyle is still a great sleeper. He goes to bed at 8 every night and usually sleeps through the night. Occasionally he will wake up and I just have to give him his binky back, but sometimes he can put himself back to sleep. He goes through phases of when he wakes up but it is usually sometime between 6:30-7 a.m. Most days he will take a morning nap around 9:30 that is about an hour long. He is starting to phase this nap out which sometimes is nice and sometimes I miss it. Then he takes an afternoon nap around 12:30 or 1 which is usually about 2 hours long.
Gross Motor: Koyle can stand himself up from the middle of the room and can hold his balance pretty good when he wants to. He has taken 2-3 steps but can't seem to go much more than that. He loves to walk around with me holding his fingers. He's getting close to walking on his own, I just need to practice with him more. Koyle loves to crawl and push cars around on the floor. Koyle will throw a ball on command and he gets so excited to play catch with Matthew.
Fine Motor: Koyle can feed himself pretty good with a spoon. He also thinks it is great fun to make a big mess with his food. He enjoys scooping things out of the bowl, dumping them on the tray, and then smearing them around. He is also pretty good at stacking blocks. He loves to point at pictures when we read books.
Communication: No real words or anything yet (obviously), but Koyle has a few ways he communicates. If he wants something he will hold the object out towards me and make a repeated sound that is a combination between a grunt and an "oh" sound. He always makes this noise when he is telling me he wants something. He also has a certain sound he always makes when he drives his cars around on the floor. I find it pretty adorable. His first car noise! He can point you towards what he wants or where he wants to go. He still throws his hands in the air when he gets excited or happy about something. I have made weak attempts at teaching him some sign but I don't do it that often with him. Koyle does say "hot" though. He will very clearly repeat it back to you when you tell him something is hot: "haw, haw" he will say in a breathy way. He understands a lot and is VERY OBEDIENT. He has been ever since he was little. If I tell Koyle something is yucky he will always take it right out of his mouth. He follows all basic commands that we give him and he knows when he is being naughty. For example, he thinks it is a great joke to turn off the t.v. He will do it and then laugh as he turns around to look at you. He also makes a sound like an owl a lot. If he is intrigued by something he will point at it while saying "oo, whoo, oo"
Food: Koyle eats great. As said before he can pretty much feed himself, although I will do it sometimes for sake of time and cleanliness. I weaned Koyle just before he was 11 months and he didn't even blink an eye. His favorites include chocolate milk......and that's all I can think of. He doesn't really show favorites to many things, he just eats whatever.
Health: Koyle has been really healthy. I think he only got ear infections once, he had thrush twice and he got croup really bad that turned into early pneumonia this summer. Along with a few minor runny noses and such, he has really been pretty healthy.
Teeth: Koyle has 6 teeth. 4 on the top and 2 on the bottom. We are expecting some more bottom teeth soon. We thought they were almost here once, but it was a false alarm!
Favorite Things: He loves to drive cars around, and read books. He LOVES electronics-computers, phones. He also loves to turn the t.v. on and off. He always wants to go outside and play and he particularly enjoys being in the road. He will often sit in the gutter and play or if we are walking he insists on walking down the middle of the street. He enjoys stacking blocks and putting things into holes or containers. He loves sitting on things. One of his favorite things to do is spin around in the office chair. He is very good at hanging on with both hands. He also loves sitting on Matthew's bike and being pushed around. He doesn't like being left out, but he is very good at playing on his own and doing his own thing. He also likes his binky way too much for my liking. I am going to have to take it away very soon. I just have to prepare myself for that battle.
Koyle is our snuggle bunny and we love him. He is so calm and content and happy. Koyle has a very peaceful spirit about him. Except lately he has been showing his fiery red head side. The kid can throw a good tantrum and he is becoming more and more vocal about what he does and does not want. BUT... I am excited to learn more about him as he continues to grow. We love you Baby K!
Thank you to Grammi Tami for coming out to celebrate with us!
Stats: 19 lbs 7 oz 30 inches Head circumference was 47cm I think. He is definitely our smaller kid.
Sleep: Koyle is still a great sleeper. He goes to bed at 8 every night and usually sleeps through the night. Occasionally he will wake up and I just have to give him his binky back, but sometimes he can put himself back to sleep. He goes through phases of when he wakes up but it is usually sometime between 6:30-7 a.m. Most days he will take a morning nap around 9:30 that is about an hour long. He is starting to phase this nap out which sometimes is nice and sometimes I miss it. Then he takes an afternoon nap around 12:30 or 1 which is usually about 2 hours long.
Gross Motor: Koyle can stand himself up from the middle of the room and can hold his balance pretty good when he wants to. He has taken 2-3 steps but can't seem to go much more than that. He loves to walk around with me holding his fingers. He's getting close to walking on his own, I just need to practice with him more. Koyle loves to crawl and push cars around on the floor. Koyle will throw a ball on command and he gets so excited to play catch with Matthew.
Fine Motor: Koyle can feed himself pretty good with a spoon. He also thinks it is great fun to make a big mess with his food. He enjoys scooping things out of the bowl, dumping them on the tray, and then smearing them around. He is also pretty good at stacking blocks. He loves to point at pictures when we read books.
Communication: No real words or anything yet (obviously), but Koyle has a few ways he communicates. If he wants something he will hold the object out towards me and make a repeated sound that is a combination between a grunt and an "oh" sound. He always makes this noise when he is telling me he wants something. He also has a certain sound he always makes when he drives his cars around on the floor. I find it pretty adorable. His first car noise! He can point you towards what he wants or where he wants to go. He still throws his hands in the air when he gets excited or happy about something. I have made weak attempts at teaching him some sign but I don't do it that often with him. Koyle does say "hot" though. He will very clearly repeat it back to you when you tell him something is hot: "haw, haw" he will say in a breathy way. He understands a lot and is VERY OBEDIENT. He has been ever since he was little. If I tell Koyle something is yucky he will always take it right out of his mouth. He follows all basic commands that we give him and he knows when he is being naughty. For example, he thinks it is a great joke to turn off the t.v. He will do it and then laugh as he turns around to look at you. He also makes a sound like an owl a lot. If he is intrigued by something he will point at it while saying "oo, whoo, oo"
Food: Koyle eats great. As said before he can pretty much feed himself, although I will do it sometimes for sake of time and cleanliness. I weaned Koyle just before he was 11 months and he didn't even blink an eye. His favorites include chocolate milk......and that's all I can think of. He doesn't really show favorites to many things, he just eats whatever.
Health: Koyle has been really healthy. I think he only got ear infections once, he had thrush twice and he got croup really bad that turned into early pneumonia this summer. Along with a few minor runny noses and such, he has really been pretty healthy.
Teeth: Koyle has 6 teeth. 4 on the top and 2 on the bottom. We are expecting some more bottom teeth soon. We thought they were almost here once, but it was a false alarm!
Favorite Things: He loves to drive cars around, and read books. He LOVES electronics-computers, phones. He also loves to turn the t.v. on and off. He always wants to go outside and play and he particularly enjoys being in the road. He will often sit in the gutter and play or if we are walking he insists on walking down the middle of the street. He enjoys stacking blocks and putting things into holes or containers. He loves sitting on things. One of his favorite things to do is spin around in the office chair. He is very good at hanging on with both hands. He also loves sitting on Matthew's bike and being pushed around. He doesn't like being left out, but he is very good at playing on his own and doing his own thing. He also likes his binky way too much for my liking. I am going to have to take it away very soon. I just have to prepare myself for that battle.
Koyle is our snuggle bunny and we love him. He is so calm and content and happy. Koyle has a very peaceful spirit about him. Except lately he has been showing his fiery red head side. The kid can throw a good tantrum and he is becoming more and more vocal about what he does and does not want. BUT... I am excited to learn more about him as he continues to grow. We love you Baby K!
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| The Birthday Boy! |
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| The owl cake! I won this at our Relief Society Service auction. Danielle did a great job. The frosting was a marshmallow frosting and it was DELICIOUS!! I just ate the frosting off the cake all weekend it was so yummy. |
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| The birthday plate. A new tradition I am starting. Eventually I will get a real stand for it, but today the bowl worked just fine. Maybe better because then I could just set the plate on the tray nice and safe and easy to eat off of. So maybe I will just leave it as his. |
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| It's my party and I'll cry if I want to. Daddy is taking the candle away-so sad! |
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| Koyle insists on eating with utensils these days. |
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| But eventually fingers won and this was the result. He devoured his cake! |
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| Our mutilated owl. Matthew really wanted the eye. I followed suit and ate the other eye because that marshmallow frosting was calling to me! |
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| Happy Birthday to you!! |
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Redeeming Myself: Thoughts on Motherhood
I am feeling the need to redeem myself. Recently I have had multiple conversations where the topic of motherhood has come up and what my experience has been. In my attempts to be honest I'm afraid some people may have gotten the wrong impression of me. They probably haven't given it second thought but I keep running through these conversations in my mind wishing I could go back and expound a little more. Said people probably won't ever read, this since to my knowledge most of them don't know about my blog yet. But I think it will make me feel better just to throw it out into the cyber world...or something like that. So let's be clear.
I LOVE being a mother. More than anything else in the world. My testimony of motherhood runs deep and is very strong; mostly due to the fact that it has been challenged and carefully considered many times over the past three years. I have made comments about how I hate when women make comments like, "Motherhood completes me" or, "I wasn't fully me until I became a mother." Clarification: I don't really hate those women. Nor do I hate that that was their experience. It just hasn't been my experience. Many times I feel like I have given up my whole life to dedicate myself to my children. And that is a big sacrifice that challenges me. However, I wouldn't have it any other way. I believe so strongly in giving my children 100% of me and what I have to offer them, that I really do not want to be doing anything else right now besides raising my beautiful boys. I have offered countless prayers asking for that simple contentment that women feel when they say motherhood completes me. Mostly my feelings of animosity arise out of jealousy. But I am at peace with the kind of mother I am, and I am willing to make sacrifices for that. My friend and I have been talking about starting a preschool together. I have talked about doing this forever. It would be so much fun, and beneficial to me and my family in so many ways. But when I think about it in my quiet moments it makes me sad because I know it will take away from my time with the boys. I love being able to take them to story time at the library, playgroup, the park, long walks, swimming, you name it. As I said before, my days are dedicated to them and there is always a degree of guilt that comes along with wanting to do something besides just being a mother. But I also strongly believe that God didn't give me my talents and gifts so I could hog them all for myself and my children. He wants me to share the good I have to give with all whose lives he gives me the opportunity to touch.
Second, I do not hate newborns. Nor do I dislike newborns. The baby stage is just more challenging for me than other stages. Koyle was leaps and bounds easier for me than Matthew. Matthew was just a hard baby, and that doesn't make me a bad mother, it just means it was hard. It doesn't mean I loved him less, I didn't adore his cute smiles and precious toes any less, I didn't treasure the sweet moments of watching him sleep any less...you get the idea. My baby turned one this week and he is growing up so fast. Sometimes I wish he would just stay my baby forever so I could snuggle him on my lap and keep him in the palm of my hand forever. But he has to grown up and we have so many fun adventures ahead of us.
My friend recently had a baby and it is so special to watch her experiencing the magic of being a mother. It almost makes me want to have another baby. But life has taught me not to jump into that before I am really ready. So don't worry Justin :) I'm not baby hungry quite yet. But I will be because motherhood is the most beautiful thing. The most challenging, heart wrenching, confusing, frustrating, exhausting thing; but also the most rewarding thing I have ever done. Being a mother is what keeps me going each day. It fills my heart with more love than I knew was possible, and the most hope and assurance that I have a purpose here on Earth. This is my purpose:
I LOVE being a mother. More than anything else in the world. My testimony of motherhood runs deep and is very strong; mostly due to the fact that it has been challenged and carefully considered many times over the past three years. I have made comments about how I hate when women make comments like, "Motherhood completes me" or, "I wasn't fully me until I became a mother." Clarification: I don't really hate those women. Nor do I hate that that was their experience. It just hasn't been my experience. Many times I feel like I have given up my whole life to dedicate myself to my children. And that is a big sacrifice that challenges me. However, I wouldn't have it any other way. I believe so strongly in giving my children 100% of me and what I have to offer them, that I really do not want to be doing anything else right now besides raising my beautiful boys. I have offered countless prayers asking for that simple contentment that women feel when they say motherhood completes me. Mostly my feelings of animosity arise out of jealousy. But I am at peace with the kind of mother I am, and I am willing to make sacrifices for that. My friend and I have been talking about starting a preschool together. I have talked about doing this forever. It would be so much fun, and beneficial to me and my family in so many ways. But when I think about it in my quiet moments it makes me sad because I know it will take away from my time with the boys. I love being able to take them to story time at the library, playgroup, the park, long walks, swimming, you name it. As I said before, my days are dedicated to them and there is always a degree of guilt that comes along with wanting to do something besides just being a mother. But I also strongly believe that God didn't give me my talents and gifts so I could hog them all for myself and my children. He wants me to share the good I have to give with all whose lives he gives me the opportunity to touch.
Second, I do not hate newborns. Nor do I dislike newborns. The baby stage is just more challenging for me than other stages. Koyle was leaps and bounds easier for me than Matthew. Matthew was just a hard baby, and that doesn't make me a bad mother, it just means it was hard. It doesn't mean I loved him less, I didn't adore his cute smiles and precious toes any less, I didn't treasure the sweet moments of watching him sleep any less...you get the idea. My baby turned one this week and he is growing up so fast. Sometimes I wish he would just stay my baby forever so I could snuggle him on my lap and keep him in the palm of my hand forever. But he has to grown up and we have so many fun adventures ahead of us.
My friend recently had a baby and it is so special to watch her experiencing the magic of being a mother. It almost makes me want to have another baby. But life has taught me not to jump into that before I am really ready. So don't worry Justin :) I'm not baby hungry quite yet. But I will be because motherhood is the most beautiful thing. The most challenging, heart wrenching, confusing, frustrating, exhausting thing; but also the most rewarding thing I have ever done. Being a mother is what keeps me going each day. It fills my heart with more love than I knew was possible, and the most hope and assurance that I have a purpose here on Earth. This is my purpose:
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
What Pinterest Doesn't Tell You
I found this clever idea on pinterest 
and I just happened to have some shaving cream and food coloring laying around my house. So this morning we did a little shaving cream bathtub painting. The boys LOVED it!! How could you not? I had to resist the urge to jump in and do some painting myself.
and I just happened to have some shaving cream and food coloring laying around my house. So this morning we did a little shaving cream bathtub painting. The boys LOVED it!! How could you not? I had to resist the urge to jump in and do some painting myself.  |
| They started out pretty clean : ) And Koyle did start with a diaper on, but after pooping we decided not to waste another diaper and just went free willy |
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| Koyle seriously loved painting. And he had a death grip on his paintbrush. He was not letting go of that thing. He had to keep it with him the whole time he bathed afterwards too. |
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| Look at that adorable face! Koyle thought it was funny to try and paint me. |
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| My budding artist |
| Simply wash the tub with water when you are done, pinterest told me. What it forgot to mention was that the food coloring would stain my kiddos skin : ) Luckily it came off after a little soak in the bath so I don't have little blue and green gremlins running around the house. |
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Pocket Chart Schedule
I've learned a few things over the years and one of them is learning to recognize when I am reaching my breaking point. I could feel the frustration building and knew that I needed something to help. I came up with the idea to have more structure in our lives by using a daily schedule. My goal was for this to help with a few things:
For art we used some of those foam stickers that I found at Target in the dollar bin. Matthew LOVES these things (they used to do them in nursery all the time) and he had been begging me to open them. I am going to try and incorporate Koyle into as many of the activities we do as possible.
Top Left: Matthew's Top Right: Koyle's Bottom: Mine : )
For math we did some counting. I put different (mostly) edible items in a muffin tin. We counted how many things were in each tin, and then we counted 1-10 pointing to each cup as we went. Then the boys got to eat all the yummy treats!
This is a picture of our chart. I have about 40 different cards to choose from as well as some blank ones. The key to this for us is FLEXIBILITY. We do not strictly live by this. When we need it, it is there for us. And if we want to deviate or change our plans, then we do! This has also helped with bedtime. The first night Matthew looked at it and said, "we put on our jammies, we read our scriptures, we said our prayers." Then he paused and I said, "now what?" "Bedtime" he replied with a sigh. And then he went right to bed.
- Less meltdowns from Matthew. Matthew's meltdowns are not out of control, he is just very emotional (crying, whining, etc.) Every time I ask Matthew to do something it was a fight. Getting dressed, going to the bathroom, putting shoes on, giving me a few minutes of time to myself, whatever. So I was hoping that being able to show him in a concrete way the flow of our day would help. Matthew usually responds well to these type of things. Having something he can look at and talk through solves many a problem. My sister also suggested incorporating more choices into his life to help him exert his independence. So he gets to help me decide what types of things he wants to do throughout the day.
- Almost always when life with Matthew gets frustrating its because he needs more challenge in his life; he is ready to go to the next level. I knew that Matthew was ready to start doing some preschool type activities but wasn't sure how I wanted to incorporate it into our day. Usually we found ourselves simply wandering through each day. Now we can easily make time to do all of the things I want to do with him. They don't have to take long and be really involved, since he isn't quite old enough for that anyways. I can plan activities ahead of time the night before, or I can just wing it. But this can help give some purpose and direction to my days, as well as allowing Matthew to learn and explore and engage in new and exciting ways.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Before & After
We kept ourselves busy this Labor Day Weekend. Justin took his first Med School test on Friday, which means we all survived our first hard week! He said the test was quite hard and he will need to study a little more between now and the next test. He hasn't gotten his official score back, but he did fine on it. Friday after the test was the Boise State game and we had our friends over to watch that, as well as the BYU game which had been the night before.
Saturday morning Justin took Matthew golfing with him and his buddies. Koyle took a super long nap which meant I got to tackle an item on my To Do list: windowsills. The windowsills have been haunting me for a long time now. I knew it was going to be a huge undertaking and hadn't mustered up the gusto to dig in. I seriously wish I had Before & After pictures for you but my camera battery is dead and I can't find the charger. The amount of dust and dirt in the windowsills was gross. I had to get out the vacuum and suck up the dirt because it was too thick to wipe up with a rag. We are talking 1-2 in. of dust in the bottom of the windowsill; and you can imagine what the rest of it looked like. Anyways, it took me an entire hour to clean 2 windows!! And then Koyle woke up and I haven't had the chance to finish the other 2 windows. This is probably the only time I will be glad I only have 4 windows in the house. But now they are sparkly clean and I don't have to be scared to open the windows for fear of what I might find. Sunday afternoon we spent some time out on the back patio, which led to this.....
Justin sprayed our house with ORTHO Home Defense Max ( I totally recommend this stuff) on Saturday evening. Sunday morning when we went out to get in the car, there were SEVEN dead cockroaches. We found one out on the back patio. Monday morning there were 6 dead roaches on the patio, and only 1 in the garage. Today...no dead cockroaches found! At least we know the stuff is working.
Monday morning started without a plan but quickly turned into a day of projects. I have been wanting to paint the table for a while and so we decided to just go for it. Here is the before:
and the After:
I think it turned out really great. Not only does it just look nicer, it also adds some much needed color to the dining room.
Justin had found some old wood in the dumpster monday morning. I grabbed a couple of cupboard looking pieces that were in okay shape and stuck them in the garage so I had them if I ever thought of something to do with them. I have been mourning the loss of some old doors that I found in the dumpster and REALLY wanted to make a corner bookshelf out of. But somebody else got to them before we did-bummer! (Yes, my mother has officially dubbed me a dumpster diver.) Anyways, there was all this wood in the dumpster and I just couldn't let it go to waste and I was in create mode.
So we decided to make ourselves a head board. It turned out really awesome. We just used the extra paint from the table, and various items from the toolbox to hold it together and hang it to the wall. It adds such a nice touch to our bedroom!
Saturday morning Justin took Matthew golfing with him and his buddies. Koyle took a super long nap which meant I got to tackle an item on my To Do list: windowsills. The windowsills have been haunting me for a long time now. I knew it was going to be a huge undertaking and hadn't mustered up the gusto to dig in. I seriously wish I had Before & After pictures for you but my camera battery is dead and I can't find the charger. The amount of dust and dirt in the windowsills was gross. I had to get out the vacuum and suck up the dirt because it was too thick to wipe up with a rag. We are talking 1-2 in. of dust in the bottom of the windowsill; and you can imagine what the rest of it looked like. Anyways, it took me an entire hour to clean 2 windows!! And then Koyle woke up and I haven't had the chance to finish the other 2 windows. This is probably the only time I will be glad I only have 4 windows in the house. But now they are sparkly clean and I don't have to be scared to open the windows for fear of what I might find. Sunday afternoon we spent some time out on the back patio, which led to this..... |
| Matthew is taking a shower, and washing his hair. I had not been able to get Koyle to play in the pool for more than a minute all week long. Take off his clothes and he played in the pool forever! |
Justin sprayed our house with ORTHO Home Defense Max ( I totally recommend this stuff) on Saturday evening. Sunday morning when we went out to get in the car, there were SEVEN dead cockroaches. We found one out on the back patio. Monday morning there were 6 dead roaches on the patio, and only 1 in the garage. Today...no dead cockroaches found! At least we know the stuff is working.
Monday morning started without a plan but quickly turned into a day of projects. I have been wanting to paint the table for a while and so we decided to just go for it. Here is the before:
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| This was my mom's old craft table she gave us when we got married. The top was all scratched and had cut marks in it, and was pretty beat up-especially after the move. |
and the After:
I think it turned out really great. Not only does it just look nicer, it also adds some much needed color to the dining room.
Justin had found some old wood in the dumpster monday morning. I grabbed a couple of cupboard looking pieces that were in okay shape and stuck them in the garage so I had them if I ever thought of something to do with them. I have been mourning the loss of some old doors that I found in the dumpster and REALLY wanted to make a corner bookshelf out of. But somebody else got to them before we did-bummer! (Yes, my mother has officially dubbed me a dumpster diver.) Anyways, there was all this wood in the dumpster and I just couldn't let it go to waste and I was in create mode.
So we decided to make ourselves a head board. It turned out really awesome. We just used the extra paint from the table, and various items from the toolbox to hold it together and hang it to the wall. It adds such a nice touch to our bedroom!
It was so nice to spend some good time together with Justin and to actually DO something! It was so refreshing to get dirty. And one last before and after. We have had a few flies in the house for the past week or two. Kind of annoying, but whatever. There started to be quite a few though and on Sunday Justin counted 7 flies in the house. During our projects on Monday, the door got left open a lot and that night when we finally sat down on the couch, we counted 20 flies on the ceiling! GROSS! But today, after buying a fly swatter and having a little fly killing party, I think we are back to just one or two flies left.
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