Another Wesley post

Since I didn't start at the beginning of November with something I'm grateful for, I'll just run down a list of things I've been noticing that I love about Wesley...the little things I wish other people could think are just as cute as I (his mommy) think they are about my son. I've been keeping them in my head for too long and don't feel like getting out my journal.

1. when daffodils tickled his nose on our walk he giggled. (and then ate it as I tried to capture the sweet moment) I am so grateful to live close enough to Target for it to count as a "walk" and "errand running."
2. he ate a whole can of green beans for dinner
3. He can say sssss like a snake. I just taught him this week :) See...maybe this sounds lame, but I just want other people to be proud of his new tricks! And I think S is a difficult sound for kids to say...any one know more about child development that can back me up?
4. He has a book with a puppy in it and I stuck my tongue out and panted like a puppy while reading. Lately he's been opening his mouth and panting (no tongue, but wide-eyed and pointing) when he sees a dog in a book and in person. SO cute that he picked up on it while everyone else things a dog says "woof" :)
5. He panted at a giant stuffed dog at Target :)
6. He panted at the feather boa's at the craft store today! Cracked me up!!!
7. Another thing I love? His hair. It took him a whole year to grow some. (okay, first haircut was at 6 weeks but I had to get rid of that mullet.) I do love his perfectly shaped head (since more and more babies need to wear helmets, I count this as a blessing) and the fact that he wakes up with great hair. I can flatten it out by putting my hand on it. I do want daughters, but for now I am happy putting pants, a top, and socks on my little one. No tights, bows, or other accessories. When I do have a girl, you can send all of these products that your heart desires, for I love love love them...I am just still getting the hang of this "mom" thing and am still late for 1pm church sometimes.
8. To pass the time in lines, I have him identify things or make animal noises. Things like, what does a puppy (snake, monkey, cow) say? or Where is your nose (eyes, ears, head, toes, tongue)? Today I asked where his belly button was and you know what he did? He pursed his little lips together and spat! He's SO smart! Do YOU get it? (made you smile)
9. books make this little one happy. He has been falling and bonking his head a little more often since he started walking, but I have discovered that the simple mention of reading a book calms him down and refocuses his attention. of course, I follow through and actually read him a book. Such a blessing that he loves books so much.
10. On that note, when we read together he leans back against me and gets so cozy in my arms and I melt every nap/bedtime that I get to sort of snuggle with him in this way. He is growing to be such a fun little boy, but I still get my little baby at times :)

Wesley turns one in a WEEK!

Here's what he's been up to lately:

-He is walking all over the place
-What does a cow say? "mboo"
-What does a monkey say? "ah" (We have a book that says ooh ooh! ah ah!)
-I can ask him to get a ball or a book and he does it while saying, "buh."

-He can roll a ball back to me
-He can (still) say "hi," his first word
-He loves to look at books and thinks DVDs are the same so he pulls some off the shelf. He always ends up with this one

-Shows he enjoys food by saying, "num" or "mom"
-he can do sign language for "more"
-he blows kisses by putting his open hand anywhere on his face.
-he blows back at me when I blow on his food
-He understands when I tell him to take a bite... instead of shoving a whole grape in his mouth or when I hold a sandwich close to his mouth
-he really likes grapes, bananas, goldfish, teddy grahams, cheerios (with or w/o milk), broccoli, green beans, yogurt, salmon, meatballs, cheese, mexican rice, fajitas...well, everything for now.

-He really doesn't like: that I am trying to switch him to whole milk from mom's milk. Oh well, we have some time to get this down.
-He loves to play chase. "Here. comes. mommmmmmmeeeeee!" gets him really excited and he squeals and runs down the hall. Every time I get closer he squeals and runs away, which sometimes makes him fall over, but he gets back up as fast as he can and toddles away.
-He loves music. At home, on a toy, at the grocery store. If he doesn't do it on his own, all I have to say is, "Wesley, do you hear the music?" and he moves his little body and bobs his head.
-He gives high fives
-He claps
-He has a super cheesy smile when a camera is near

-He rode in his own seatbelt on a ride at Disneyland

-He sleeps with his bum in the air

And even though he only sees Daddy early in the mornings and on Sundays, there's nothing that can replace the love and pure joy they feel for each other!

Happy (almost) Birthday to my little guy! He sure makes the world a happier place.

A Wonderful Morning...

Wesley and I got up around 6:30, had a delicious breakfast (he had baby oatmeal and some applesauce and I had grown-up oatmeal), crawled around, read stories and we both went down for a morning nap at 8:30! I was going to get up when Adam left for school at 9, but well....kept sleeping until 10. I got ready for the day, made my to-do list of errands, and checked my email. Wesley woke up around 11:30! I fed him lunch and packed myself a pb&j for the car since I knew the rest of the day would be a whirwind of errands and activities.

We were out of the house by 12:30. My thinking: I'll go to the fabric store, then the grocery store, go home, bake a cake, leave the house by 2:20 to be at my eye appointment by 2:30, leave doctor to pick up friend for activity by 3:15 so we can be to activity that I'm kinda in charge of by 3:30. Be done with activity at 4:30, clean up and home by 5. Around 6 I can start his bedtime routine and have him down by 7 and I can whip out a pair of pj pants since I have to teach two girls how to make them next week and we'll be going out of town tomorrow.

Great plans! How'd it go?

That poor little sandwich is still in the diaper bag.

Ch.1
My fabric store plans: pj pants pattern that I have is missing the envelope but I had the pattern number, SO all I had to do was find the envelope, see how much fabric I needed to tell the girls to get, pick out fabric for myself based on that amount, get the fabric cut, grab pins and elastic, check out.
Actual: pattern is currently not in stock. Call mom. She saves the day and tells me I can just measure the actual pattern pieces to see how much fabric I need (perfect-I'll measure those while the cake is baking). Remember that JoAnns has a take-a-number thing for the fabric cutting station so I run to grab one before I pick out my fabric so I won't have to wait later...SO smart right? Well, usually. Today happens to be the only day they decided not to use it and there is already a line of 5 women each with multiple things they needed cut. This was NOT going to work with my time frame. Okay-rethink. I have coupons with me so I'll just grab my other things and come back after the activity around 5 to pick out fabric. Hooray-50% off and 40% off coupons both worked and I left the store pretty happy. In a hurry to get to the grocery store, but happy.

Ch.2
By this time I knew I only had time to run in and grab a box of cake mix since it was going to need to bake for 30 mins. Forget the rest of my groceries...I'll worry about dinner later. Got cake mix. Got home at 1:50. Appointment in 40 mins with 10 mins of drive time. mmmm...not happening. Mixed ingredients together dropped cake batter off at friends house so she could bake it and told her I'd be back to pick her up by 3:15. Run to barely make it to eye appointment by 3:30.

Ch.3
A week ago my eyes were red and itchy, but it was not pink eye. I went in to see this doc and I was out the door 15 mins after I walked in. I found out there was some bacteria in there, got a prescription for eye drops and he told me to come back in a week. Because of the smoothness of that appointment and that my eyes are all better this week...well, that is the reason I scheduled this appointment only an hour before my activity.
Reality:
Wait in office for 10 mins with tired baby, but he's hangin in there. Wait in room for 10 more mins playing peek a boo and just listening to him whine about wanting to be out of the stroller. Doc comes in at 2:50. Asks how I'm doing. Wesley smiles at him and we talk about my happy baby. He shines lights in my eyes.
Doc says, "I'm just going to put these drops in your eyes. Tilt your head back." squirt. squirt. "Okay, so those drops I just put in are going to completely dilate your eyes in 15 minutes. You can wait in the waiting room if you'd like. Your eyes may be a little sensitive to light, but that's all."
Me: Okay, well, I have to be somewhere by 3:30.
Him: what time is it? oh. You should be out of here by 3:10.

I have never had an eye appointment in my life and I had no idea what was about to happen to me. My 20/20 vision went blurry and I couldn't even read the certificates on the wall. Wesley was squirmy. I couldn't use my phone to text or call anyone because I couldn't see! It was the most awful thing I have experienced. With a day already going how it was going...I'd have to say this was worse than labor. At least I knew what to expect with that! Finally I thought the time on my phone said something that resembled 3:10 so I walked back to wait in the room. He came in 5 mins later, shined more intense lights in my eyes, said, "hmm...interesting." Sent me to the room next door so they could take a picture of the back of my eye to check for tumors. I asked if I should take the baby and they told me to leave him. Wesley started screaming by this point because he was the only one left in the room. I thought they said to leave him because someone would stay with him! The guy took a picture of one eye. Then the other. Shows me the screen and says this is the back of your eye...like he was going to explain the picture to me. I just looked over at the room where the screaming was coming from and looked back at him. He told me I could go. I was so frustrated because I couldn't even see the picture he was showing me anyway!! I acted calm, but I was so hurt inside. I felt completely betrayed. At the front desk, they told me I could go home and sent me with some paper sunglasses. The doc walked by and reminded me to come back every 12 mos! :) Seriously, he had the nerve. I asked him if I was okay to drive like this and he said to just be careful, especially because of the baby. DUH! I asked him (which I thought he should have volunteered this info) how long it would take for my eyes to be normal. "3-4 hours." As soon as I walked outside I started balling. All the way to my car. It was 3:30 by now, and I was supposed to have stopped at my house, picked up my 9-year-old friend, and teach a class how to decorate cakes! There was going to be no way I could see the detail to do that. I needed to reset my GPS to get me home. There was NO way I was going to find a freeway with such horrible vision! What's the catch? I can't read my gps to reset it! Just a blur! Still balling, I pulled over, remembered we have a shortcut button that I can push to go home so I found it and went on my way. I wanted to call someone and vent but my bluetooth wasn't charged AND I couldn't read my phone to find any contacts or push any numbers. Seriously. The most horrible feeling in my life! I cried for the whole 15 minute drive home and yelled at my steering wheel. I think I even honked at a car who cut me off in the middle of an intersection. I was not myself.

Breathe.

Conclusion
The rest of the day went much better. Wesley napped in the car. The activity was half over when I got there and the other lady in charge was completely sympathetic to my day. Cake decorating went wonderfully and we made it home safely. Wesley giggled at me and I could finally see him clearly when we got home at 5. It was fun to feed him dinner and play tonight. I have no groceries, no fabric, and no dinner, but I can see clearly again. Hallelujah!

We'll have pizza tonight and see what tomorrow holds.

Salad and Smiles

Strawberries were on sale, but only for 8 hours! I rushed in and got 3 pounds, with no recipe in mind. We ate some plain and they were so sweet and delicious! Wesley even tried some with his dinner :) What DO you make with strawberries?? Strawberry pizza, cake topping, syrup...I found the most amazing recipe on Allrecipes.com! Grilled Chicken Salad with Seasonal Fruit! Heavenly!!! I toasted almonds and they came out perfect! I cooked the chicken so it was moist! (Usually it's dry) The strawberries were perfectly fresh and delicious, and even the dressing was yummy! We don't have any leftover because it was just that good! Definitely will be making this a lot this summer....maybe we'll try some other fresh fruit, too!

On to the "smiles" part. Wesley smiles. A lot.

At Target, I'll see his head cocked to the side to see around me (with a huge smile on his face) and I turn around to find a couple or woman behind me standing there smiling and making faces at Wesley. Just stopped what they were doing to play with my baby from a distance. This happens weekly.

On our walk tonight a lady asked me how old he was. As I'm telling her he's 7 mos, Wesley is sitting in his stroller giving her those sweet eyes and a little smile. She notices and says, "What a happy baby you have!" As she says it...he smiles bigger...open mouth smile this time so she can see his little bottom teeth. "Oh wow! He's so cute!" The two of them just went back and forth - making each other happier and happier.

Had a meeting on Wednesday and we had to wait for about 15 minutes. He smiled at a little girl, and old man, middle aged people...it's like they are all best friends now. He kicks his legs and get's so excited to see people!

OH and Wesley's first word shall go down in history as ... "hi." Not even close to mama or dada. A pleasant "hi" goes along with all of the stories above. He says it to everyone and everything...even trees sometimes. Usually when I open the door he says, "hi hi hi" to show me he's excited to go outside too.

A happy kid makes for a happy mom. If you ever have a tough day, take your baby to the store, any store...even if you don't need to buy anything...and let people admire your baby! It's the greatest advice I'll ever give! I've had my down days and my lonely days and this always works. You are welcome to come shopping with us anytime!

And now for some pictures... what you've been waiting for!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Cousin bath-time! Has nothing to do with this post, but you gotta love 'em!

Time Out

What is a time out?
A corner where you send children when they're in trouble and stop talking to them?
A potty break in the middle of playing Tag?

I believe it's an opportunity to take a step back from the current situation. An opportunity for coaching and listening. A time to reevaluate what you are going to do next. Focus on the goal at hand and recommit yourself to getting there.

I attended a woman's conference this weekend and I have been thinking about taking time outs the last couple days. They aren't bad! I actually look forward to them. I feel like Sundays are my time out from the rest of life and the day that I can reevaluate my next step in reaching my goals. Sometimes I forget my long-term goals. I've made a promise to try to be like the Savior. I'm not saying I'm the opposite, I'm just saying that I love setting new goals and making myself a better person.

I'll say this: I was having a difficult time taking Wesley to the conference with me since he wasn't the calm 4 month old he was when I signed up to go. He's my active, I won't sleep unless I'm in bed or in the car, laughing, squealing, sitting-up, bouncing baby boy! He's such a sweet kid and I love him to pieces, but neither one of us was getting what we needed: me-listen to speakers, him- sleep. He's usually only awake for maybe 2 hours at a time during the day. Friday night we left at 5pm and he couldn't fall asleep until we got back in the car at 9:30pm. Saturday morning he woke up at 7:45 and was still awake at 11:30 when I finally had Adam come get him. Imagine if he would have stayed with me until the conference was over at 4! No thanks! Like I said, Adam was so sweet and put aside his study time to take care of our little one! Thanks to Ashley, too, for feeding both of them and playing with Wes so Adam could study a little.

Adam and I had some great conversations during the 10 hours we spent in the car and shared some of our deepest thoughts and feelings about taking time outs and becoming who we want to become. A carrot seed can't become a pumpkin even if it wants to. The creator had a different plan in mind and it's up to us to be the best "us" we can be! We may think the pumpkin is cooler or more fun to be around, but there's a reason we were created as carrots and we need to find our potential and develop our talents. I loved this lesson so much!

Another thought I loved was all about being happy. The science shows the single most effective way to make yourself happier is to serve others. Random acts of kindness. Months ago I heard it as building the ARK (Acts of Random Kindness). We can also be grateful for what we have. Savor your food. Enjoy your time with loved ones. Find the joy in EVERY day!

These are just a few points I loved from the conference! I'm off to straighten up the house while my sweet baby naps! Oh how I love taking time outs!

(no, I didn't give Wesley a time out)

New Perspective

So, for those of you who know us, which you better if you are reading this, you know that we have worked very hard to get where we are. Our first 3.5 years of marriage were spent in Utah where I worked 40 hour weeks while going to school. Adam worked two jobs, volunteered, did breast cancer research, and went to school. Those jobs carried us through our undergrad at BYU. We made it out of BYU with two college degrees, two paid off cars, absolutely no debt, and a baby on the way. Now, Adam is in medical school! We have a son who's almost 6 months old! Life is amazing!

Is it life on the streets? Nope.

I thought you had to live on the streets and be really poor and have no direction in life in order to be on government programs such as WIC and Medi-Cal.

Yes, we saved our money and counted our pennies when we were at BYU, but our savings could not even cover the amount of one year of medical school tuition and simple living expenses....let alone the 4 years we will have.

So, Wesley gets free checkups, his delivery was pretty much covered, and WIC gives pregnant and nursing moms checks to help out with certain food such as milk, eggs, cheese, whole grains, and peanut butter.

Today was the first appointment that they gave me some checks for Wesley and I realized how truly blessed we are. I got 15 jars of meat, 20 of fruits and veggies, and an 8oz box of cereal! Throughout the month I will end up with a total of 60 (4 oz-stage 2) jars of f&v, 31 of meat, 24 oz of cereal, and 4 bananas. That's just for one month for Wesley! I have the same checks for the next 3 months. They are probably figuring he won't like some of the things I give him, so they plan for extra. (Or maybe some babies eat this much food! Wes has only had a total of 4 little jars of baby food and some rice cereal, so I don't know how much most people go through)

Am I ashamed to be on WIC? Nope. I feel like we are in the perfect position to receive help considering the fact that Adam is in school to be a doctor and cannot work. If I were to work outside the home, that money would go towards paying a babysitter, so I might as well stay home and enjoy watching my sweet baby grow and giggle!

I know we'll give back to the community in the future, and we will always be frugal with our money because that's just who we are. I am SO greatful that these programs exist for people like us. Without it, we'd be paying for this food with loan money that we have to pay back with 7% interest over four years...meaning on top of the value of the food we probably would have to pay an extra $10.

The Question: Does Wesley like baby food?

Tomorrow will mark 5 months that my little Wesley has been my playmate.

When we were home for the holidays, I heard that my niece (12 days older than Wesley) was already trying rice cereal. That got me curious to see what Wesley would do.
Evidence #1: I gave him some at the beginning of February when he was just over 4 months old. He didn't really love it, but he would swallow it. He didn't like having to sit in his bumbo seat, either, due to our lack of a high chair. I had tried it a few times a week and each time seemed a little better than before, but he arched his back to get out of that seat.

Evidence #2:Monday, 2-21-11, Wesley actually was opening his mouth for more bites. This made me really happy and proud of him! How did he learn that? He does stare at me every morning while I eat my breakfast, I guess. I've been using our 1/4 measuring cup as a bowl for him and I fill it about half full of thickened cereal. I even made him another serving that night. Still...squirmy toward the end. I got him in the tub and he was so happy in there! Soooo...
He ate the rest of his dinner in his bubble bath! What a happy camper!

Evidence #3: That brings me to tonight. We went grocery shopping and dropped off some dinner for my cousin at Chapman. By the time we got home, I knew it was time to nurse him again. After that, I thought...maybe he'll want some more cereal?! So I filled the measuring cup a little over 1/2 full like normal. He ate it all! Hmm...I wonder if...? Nah. Should I wait another month? Well, let's just see. I have 2 days to get through a jar if he doesn't like it tonight.
Yep. That's right. I gave him a little taste of baby food. Tender sweet carrots to be exact.
He was in love! I couldn't shovel it in his mouth fast enough and he ate the WHOLE jar!!

The answer: Yes.

Happy Birthday

Sunday, February 20th, was my 24th birthday! My niece, Lydia, was born that day in VA and she's such a doll! I was born 8 days before my sister Laurie's 8th birthday so this month is a pretty special one for the family.

This is the 5th year Adam made a special birthday breakfast for me! In the past, he woke up around 4:30 or 5am so we could eat before I left for work at 6am. This year we got to sleep in as a family. He made pancakes the size of my head, strawberry syrup from scratch, sausage, and scrambled eggs with cheese. YUM! He took care of Wesley when he was fussy during Sunday school, and he even made dinner and cake so we could have some friends come over last minute!

I gave Wesley a bath and he fell asleep and stayed asleep the entire time our friends were here! What a super fun birthday! My gifts from Adam this year consisted of the following DVDs: The Incredibles, Kung Fu Panda, Full House season 1, and Full House season 2! I watched the first 3 episodes last night and they made me laugh all over again! Adam had the day off yesterday so we indulged in some Red Robin burgers and Wesley was so good the whole time! It really says something about your baby when he's good at a restaurant.

Church was all about service...all 3 hours...so it's in my head now that I need to be serving people around me. I see so many opportunities, but my head always comes up with some excuse like, "You can't afford that cute baby outfit for your friend" "They probably already have enough meals coming in" "You can't do that service for that person, you have a baby that will get in the way!" So I guess Satan's pretty good at what he does because I haven't been serving people lately. Even when Adam asked for a back massage yesterday...what's my first response? "What happened to the one you were supposed to give ME last night?" lame. I know. I fell asleep to his playing of the guitar. He was singing the song he wrote when he proposed...on my birthday. How selfish can I be? He's so sweet.

SO today I have been super productive. It's only noon and I've already tackled so many things on my to-do list. Do you ever have days where you feel like you will disappoint your husband because he worked super hard all day and you just took care of the kids and couldn't even find time to make dinner? Adam knows that it's hard to take care of kids, so as long as we're happy he's fine. I've never disappointed him (he told me so last night).

Solution: To-do list the night before! I cannot wake up and make one because I've already wasted valuable time! Same thing with grocery lists...can't do it same day. Menu planning takes too long for me to find time between Wesley's naps. I'm definitely up for new recipes and menu ideas if you are willing to share. I figure that I'll be better at serving others when I have the right attitude and I can have the right attitude by taking care of my home and family first. By setting my priorities straight, I'll have a realistic idea of what I can and cannot handle.

So there. That's my new "one year older and wiser too" wisdom for today.

50 months!!

This photo is from a trip to Disneyland last week

Wesley is approaching the 5 month mark quickly, but today Adam and I celebrate 50 months of marriage! What have we done to celebrate? We saw each other for 20 minutes so far and then he left again. Leftovers are in store for dinner. I'll let you know if anything else happens.

I guess my post a couple weeks ago showed up that it was from Oct. 5 (the original day I began typing it). It's all about how I was feeling 11 days into motherhood. No pictures, but a pretty good story.

Updates from that post:
-I fit in all my pre-pregnancy pants...I unpacked them a week after that last post and could button up my jeans! I now weigh the same as I did at my 9-week-pregnant checkup, which is pretty much my pre-pregnancy weight! The nursing tops I was in love with are a little big on me now that I don't have much of a pudge left on my belly.
-a good day consists of showering, doing hair, and doing make up before noon. It used to be that just getting all of those things done was an accomplishment, but now I can throw in some grocery shopping, a trip to the park, or a doctor's visit. Lately I've been able to get ready during Wesley's first nap, so I've been ready as early as 9am, but it's usually about 10:30.
-He's still an incredible sleeper.
-still likes his bink, but I bought blue ones for him AND he's able to console himself by sucking on his fingers. This saves me from panicking when I forget to pack a bink.
-still smiles in his sleep, but smiles much more while awake!

I am in love with his little features. I look at his fingers and toes every day and I'm still in awe at this sweet little guy. He does fuss when he is tired, he has an open-mouthed cry when he's hungry, and he screams when he accidentally covers his face with a blanket. But now that he's a week shy of 5 months:
-He rolls onto his tummy
-He only plays on his tummy for a few minutes before he gets sad that he can't roll back
-He smiles when I come in the room
-He loves his daddy
-He will stop eating when Adam enters the room and stare and smile at him
-He grasps things with his hands-toys, paper...
-I've walked into his room after a nap to find him watching his mobile (I didn't turn it back on-he reached and pushed the button)
-He wears a size 3 diaper - might be a little big, but it catches everything :)
-His favorite trick is reaching up for our hands, holding on to them, and pulling himself from laying down to standing up by using his core and arm muscles and straightening his little legs
-He is SO strong
-When told that, he smiles so big
-His fingers are always in his mouth, drool is always on clothes, me, blankets...
-He's pretty smiley in the tub
-He scoots around on his back by pushing his heels into the carpet and going backwards
-He likes to look at books and sits still on my lap while I read him a story and sing him a song before bed
-He won't fall asleep in my arms anymore. At the end of the song, he fusses for me to put him in his crib where I cover him with his blanket and he snuggles and falls asleep. This is great at home, but church is a little more tricky.
-Not so much a fan of rice cereal, but I tried it and think it's so gross so I'm not concerned. He ate it, he just doesn't open his mouth looking for the next bite. We'll try again next month. What's your advice on highchairs? I want something I can wipe down, not machine wash. I'm considering a booster that straps to a chair. -He's an awesome travel buddy! He sleeps a lot in the car!
-He's been to Disneyland too many times to count already! His first ride was Pirates 12-6-10 when he was just over 2 months old, which was the day after his baby blessing.

Happy 50 months Adam Wesley and happy almost 5 months to my little Wesley Charles! I am in love with the two greatest guys that make me feel like the luckiest woman in the world!