Sleep.

I am a new woman.

It is amazing the power of sleep, or the lack thereof, has over a person. My ability to grip my nerves and lead with love, patients, gentleness, and all those wonderful womanly, motherly traits was guickly slipping into the dark hum of the night. My role as a wife, mother, and homemaker was severely suffering and I felt so lost. I had always done what felt natural and what I thought was best for Maverick and I knew we had reached another turning point on our journey together, but had no idea which direction to take. It seemed the road I had chosen was not proving to be successful. Little Mav sure has a nose for his mama.

That nose of his is the cause of our sleepless dilemma and so in a whirl of frustration and desperation I moved his crib into his room. I then decided if he was to be sleeping in his room it needed some love (aka: it needed to be cleaned (particularly the blinds, in a really bad way) and the curtains needed to be hung because it is broad daylight outside when he goes to bed at 7:30 and his is the sunniest room in the house). So some love I gave it. The blinds... gross to say the least. It isn't my fault either, they were like that when we moved in. Dead crusted spiders and flies. They were brown with old and new dust and I'm pretty sure the people who rented before had a cat... that's all I'll say on that matter. 

helping hang the curtains :)

Then I washed windows and swept and moved in his changing table and the rocking chair. First nap was pretty successful, short, but he was happy for a minute clicking his tongue, then he only cried for a couple minutes and fell asleep. Maverick and I hung out and played on the floor, laughing and crawling around (he really likes playing in his room, even before it was set up). When Kyle came home I kissed him, then we got curtain rods and he hung up the wonderful curtains his mom made for us. 

Then it was bed time.

Oh! I was so nervous! and it was so strange. 

I changed his diaper on the changing table instead of our bed and put on his warm pajamas because I'm don't want him to be too cold. We darked the room. Kyle read him "On the Night You Were Born" in the rocking chair instead of on our bed and I listened over the monitor. Then I nursed him in the rocking chair instead of snuggled on the bed, say him a few primary songs, put him in his crib, and quietly left the room.

He cried.

To my relief, my prayers were answered and he only cried about 5 minutes and fell asleep around 8. Kyle and I rearranged and cleaned our room and I went to bed.

So strange.

Midnight. He slept until midnight! I nursed him and rocked him and sang to him and put him back down. Quiet. He then woke up periodically throughout the night crying a little and then falling back to sleep. I would listen and wait and then fall back to sleep myself. Oh sleep! How I have missed you! He woke up at 5 and I brought him back to bed with me and we snuggled and nursed and slept until 7:30. When we woke up the sun was up and the birds were singing and the roosters crowing and we were both so happy and well rested! It was magical. 

I am a new woman.

And I thank Heavenly Father for his tender mercies! I was so much in need of that.

Now I'm going to do laundry... and dishes... and play with my baby and laugh and be silly with him because today is a new day and I am in love.

7 months without a car and so much snot!

Today I am so so SO TIRED, but since Mav seems to be okay with me using the computer so long as I'm sitting on the floor sharing my animal crackers with him, I decided to write a little something.

Kyle's parents came to visit and we had a great time... well, I did at least. We didn't venture out to do many exciting things, but Mom made curtains! and they are amazing. I can't even express how happy I am to have curtains up. We also ate good food... and if anyone knows my mother-in-law you probably know she is basically allergic to everything... so it was a challenge to cook for her, but I had fun and everything was delicious. Which has led me to the conclusion that if some horrible stroke of fate occurs and I can't eat hardly anything... I will survive.

They had a great time hanging out with Mav and getting to know him... but who wouldn't ;) and he liked them and didn't cry at them, so I was happy and beaming with pride.

Then Mav got sick.

It was horrible.

Cold.

Throwing up. (apparently mucus does that. (Gross.))

Ear infection.

Medicine.

Medicine causes diarrhea.

Diarrhea cause horrible diaper rash.

Ear infection gone.

Cold in full swing.

So much snot!

And teething.

Needless to say I am still catching up on sleep, hence no blogging.

Oh. And Lucy and I went on an African Safari for my birthday! And we had pizza and cheesecake.

And Kyle's birthday is tomorrow, but we celebrated early since he might have been gone and I'm a bad wife and didn't take pictures :(

And yesterday we got our car back from the mechanics! Since between Kyle, Maverick, and Dad it couldn't be fixed we had to get professional help and so after 7 months without a car... we have one and Kyle won't let me have it until he knows it's fixed and I'm pouting about it a little even though I probably wouldn't go anywhere anyway because I am SO tired.

Splurge

Spotted this beauty on pinterest and just had to have it! It was quite the splurge! Its a special bathtub for your baby that is just his size. It keeps all his toys in arms reach and is soft enough that if he bumps his head on the side it doesn't hurt like the hard tub. I even use it while I shower... it holds just enough water so baby doesn't freeze while he sits at my feet playing with his toys :)

It's a laundry basket! (In case you couldn't tell.) Tada! I love it... and whoever came up with this idea is brilliant!

And we have two already so really... no money was spent here, in case anyone was worried that we actually splurged of something ;)

Saving Money Never Looked So Good!

So we have been cloth diapering for about three weeks now and loving every minute of it! The diapers are so cute that I can hardly wait to change little one's diaper :) seriously. AND I am VERY happy to report that after three massive poops... NO blowout! Nothing! He only poops about every 4 or 5 days right now so they're pretty impressive. So far no poop trauma to scar me forever and not overwhelmed by the extra laundry (and currently I have to wash them every night, when we get more I will be even less not overwhelmed).  I decided to write my own little review because starting cloth can be overwhelming! I thought just maybe I could help... at least share my experience. I was going to get a full stash all at once, but that can be expensive and what if you don't like what you got? So the hubs and I decided to start small and try three different brands and go from there. So far we have tried bumgenius freetimes, rump-a-rooz pockets, and thirsties duo all-in-ones.

The bumgenius freetimes are my current favorites. They fit great, not very bulky, so far no leaks (hasn't pooped in one yet), love that it's all-in-one (although, not a huge fan of the opposing flaps), and they are cute. Also, I'm not a big fan of the aplix velcro stuff, it just doesn't seem as durable as the snaps and remember all those tremendous abouts of children? Yeah, we need these to last.

The rump-a-rooz are the hub's fave. I love their bright vibrant colors and they fit well. Also love the double gussets on these, really holds the poop in there. They have leaked a little wetness around the legs a few times (not that big of a deal and I was probably just leaving him in them too long or not having the liner in right.) but they hold up GREAT to poop (these are the only diapers he has pooped in so far), and the pockets? well, I just stuff them in the mornings while we are lying around in bed so they are ready to go when I need them. Pulling out the dirty liners can seem gross the first few times, but seriously, wash your hands, it isn't that big of a deal.

The Thirsties... such a cute print! They fit well and look really cute on. I really LOVE the all-in-one design of these, it's so simple! However, I feel like every time he wears them they leak. I change his diaper right before a nap and when he wakes up an hour and a half later, the sheets are wet and the outside front of the diaper is wet. I don't feel like he is a heavy wetter for naps and none of the others do this. I tried drying them on high for a half hour to seal any pinholes, but it didn't seem to do anything. So unfortunately, I won't be adding more of these to our stash :(

We have not tried any at night yet... we only have 6 dipes and wash them at night. So not sure how they will hold up to his extreme wetness at nighttime yet :\ but we have ordered 6 more... I'm super excited! We will be trying the bumgenius 4.0, blueberry delux, and tots bots easy fit next and trying some out for the nighttime trek. Should be interesting.

Saving money never looked so good :) and, word has it, babies who wear cloth diapers potty train earlier! It's a win-win-win!

3 years of love

"I do"

2nd Anniversary "It's a BOY!"

1st Anniversary

3rd Anniversary

Yesterday was Kyle and my 3rd anniversary!

It was a special day.

Kyle didn't get home until 5:30? I'm guessing because I'm not really sure, but regardless he had our anniversary off so that was a treat. He slept until noon. He got me mint fudge cookies and I.... well... my gift didn't work out, let's just leave it at that. We watched Coach Carter. Mav fell off the bed. We.... Kyle really... made meatloaf for dinner.

Mav? Oh right, you caught that... yeah fell right off. He was taking a nap and apparently when he woke up he decided not to alert us as usual and just go exploring all by himself.

Thud!

Sprint.

Cry. Surprisingly he didn't cry much... I'm very good at my job :) right, that's why he fell off the bed?
Really though, he was happy and smiling 5 minutes later.

Kyle gave Mav a bath. Then we sang songs and Kyle read him a story and it was bedtime.

We washed diapers.

Then, Kyle and I reminisced about our three years of marriage and everything we did and how much fun we had and how hard and depressing it was sometimes a lot of times and how exciting and wonderful it was other times and how much we are honestly, truly, and wonderfully blessed in SO many ways.
a. the gospel
b. each other
c. Maverick
d. our families
e. Kyle has a good job
f. food to eat
g. a home
h. I can stay home with Mav
i. can walk to church
j. can walk to the store
k. have good friends
l. love our ward
m. have seen a lot of the country
n. we are healthy
o. the internet
p. books to read
q. games to play
r. clothes to wear
s. a car
t. electricity
u. an education
v. got to know our extended family better
w. we have learned much
x. we have loved deeply
y. we have laughed joyously
z. we have lived happily

There are many more blessings in our life, but that's the alphabet. We have a lot.

Mav helped me make the bed this morning. He had so much fun.

And in case anyone was wondering... Kyle is still awesome and Mav now has 6 teeth... he finally got him two front teeth! This is his teething face.

Me and my Happy Hippie Self

1. I decided to try my hand at homemade wipes. I was inspired by a recipe I found on, you guessed it, pinterest. You can find the recipe here. It was super easy and Mav has had quite a few diaper rashes in his day, plus his bum always seems to be a little red. I used coconut oil in them because of its natural anti-fungal and antibacterial-ness. The wipes feel nice and moisturizing and Mav's bum has never looked better!

2. We have also been spending a lot more time outside lately (I always feel a little "Little House on the Prairie" while I'm hanging out the laundry) and with that we are getting our fair share of vitamin D and Mav has discovered grass. This also means I have to start thinking about sun protection and since I'm not ready to slather my baby with sunscreen we got the little man a sun hat. It's reversible and adorable and keeps the sun off his head and out of his eyes. Also... coconut oil is a natural sunscreen and makes Mav's curls look delicious.

3. I am trying the "no-poo" hair wash (found here) and so far I'm not sure. I've been at it for about 4 days and apparently there is an adjustment period of a week or two... so we'll see.

4. Cloth diapers.

Seriously?

Yep. Mav is wearing one right now and I couldn't be more excited! 8 months ago I said I would never use cloth diapers because this reason at that. Then I got tired of dumping money into disposables and really, you don't use paper plates for every meal, it's a waste of money. I also have a couple friends who use cloth and love it AND... hardly ever have blowouts if at all!!! Yeah... I hate blowouts.

First creeps as a creeping crawler!

So I did way more research than I was prepared to do and finally decided to start off with 6 diapers, 3 different brands. Not a lot, but enough to get started and wash every night while Mav sleeps with a disposable on.

And they're SO CUTE! So easy too... the all in ones are just like disposable, but you throw them in the wash instead of the trash.

And since we plan on having a tremendous amount of children this should save us a tremendous amount of money and spare a tremendous amount of diaper rash and a tremendous amount of blowouts! :)

And Kyle thinks it's pretty cool.

Shots, Bacon, and more Teeth!

For those of you who don't know and those of you who do, a friendly reminder that we live in Texas. So far we LOVE it. We have heard though that it gets HOT! Heard because we have not yet experienced a summer in Texas yet. It was January and 80 degrees so as you and I can imagine, it gets pretty brutal.

Our air conditioner broke.

The guy came and said it was probably a dirty filter (as everyone knows when you take it in to the shop, it works like a dream). Well, we bought a new filter, the old one was disgusting. Guess what? It's not working.

Anyway.
Mav is 7 months! and he got his first ever shot on the 26th [GASP] ... calm down ...  :( I still don't think he even knows he got a shot, I mean the kid didn't even cry, not one tear. I just sang to him, he got the shot, he made a face for half a second, oh, but mom is singing, life is good. Done and done!

He has also been reaching, more for Kyle than me and it's so cute! He loves his daddy.

He also loves bacon.

Just look at those teeth! He already has his lateral incisors and no front teeth... goofing looking kid :)

And Mav made a friend. They were so cute... Liam was so patient while Mav was trying to eat his head :)