The Mauger's

He’s a Genius

2012-01-22T19:29:00.001-07:00

Me (Stephanie): “James, what are you doing?”

James: “I’m doing my homework. I’m doing my crossword.”

I guess our little boy is ready to do the daily crossword puzzle with us from now on :)

James Reading to Brooklyn

2012-01-20T11:11:00.001-07:00

While I was cooking dinner, Matt captured a couple of cute pictures:

James loves to have us read to him, and we have been trying to teach him how to look at the pictures by himself and tell us what is happening. So far he is good at looking at books by himself, but he won’t tell us what is happening or make up a storyline. On this particular night Brooklyn was practicing tummy time and Matt told James to read to her- she loved it! He really loves his little sister!

The Inevitable Crash

2012-01-20T11:04:00.001-07:00

Every school day Matt bikes 5 miles to school no matter what the weather- sunny, rainy, windy… and now snowy. He definitely sacrifices a lot for our family and we really appreciate it! Everyone in our ward that also bikes (mostly recreationally) has told Matt to expect to crash or fall multiple times- we have been lucky that Matt hasn’t fallen… until this past week. Yes- Matt experienced his first fall and luckily it wasn’t bad and it didn’t involve another bike or car.

There was snow on the ground and it was really slick (Matt said that there were no other bike tracks in the snow which is crazy because typically there are DOZENS of bikes out). Matt had biked about 3 miles and was about to turn from one main road to another main road, and he lost traction and fell. Luckily there were no cars in the lane he was in waiting for him to get back up and go (there were other cars driving around him though). We are definitely blessed that he didn’t get too hurt and that his bike is ok.

He is VERY disappointed about what happened to his favorite waterproof jacket though:

Yup that’s right- its torn at the elbow :( Here is a picture of his battle wound:

Children’s Museum

2012-01-20T10:46:00.001-07:00

We LOVE the Children’s Museum here in Portland! We have a year long pass so we have gone quite a bit, but it never gets old for James! There are a bunch of different ‘stations’ to visit, but James’ favorite stations are easily the Digging Pit and the Grocery Store. We could spend hours at a time there, so usually when we go we only visit one or two stations. Here are some pictures from his two favorite stations!

She loves her daddy!

2012-01-19T19:47:00.001-07:00

Brooklyn typically does great with her naps- she has a routine and it’s easy to put her down- but over the weekend she had a hard time staying asleep for one of her naps… that is until daddy held her while watching football:

A Day at the Park

2012-01-19T17:23:00.001-07:00

Last week I decided to take James to the park even though it was pretty cold outside. He loves the outdoors, so I bundled Brooklyn up, and while she slept in her car seat, James and I had some fun!

When its not raining, Portland is so gorgeous!

I love James’ facial expression in this picture! One of his favorite phrases lately has been, “Hard Work”- he says that ALL the time (if he throws a diaper away, cleans up his toys, etc.), and that is exactly what he said after he climbed those steps:

Our cute little guy! (Whenever I call him ‘cute’, he corrects me and says, “No mom, not cute. Handsome!”)

He loves to try to make me laugh- he randomly does funny faces like the one below to make me laugh (and then he usually repeats that same face a dozen more times to keep getting a reaction)

I like how the color of the tunnel looks alongside the color of James’ sweater:

On the swing (it took so many shots to figure out how to get a good action picture while still getting the aperture correct!)

Some of my Greatest Blessings

2012-01-09T20:26:00.001-07:00

This picture below is fuzzy, but I still love her face- she is ALWAYS so happy like this!

This is one of my favorite pictures of the bunch (below):

Alaska Christmas Vacation:Quelf

2012-01-05T21:58:00.001-07:00

I love games because I love competition. Quelf is a game that isn’t about competition at all, but I love it still the same. And here is why:

Matt wouldn’t let his dad sit on his lap:

If you haven’t played it and are looking for a fun party game, go buy it!

Alaska Christmas Vacation: James

2012-01-05T21:44:00.001-07:00

James was the center of attention throughout our Christmas vacation this year- either he was making everyone laugh, playing hide and go seek with you, throwing a fit, being a little too rough, or asking you to play a game with him. He is the nicest brother (he loves to say, “It’s ok Brooklyn” when she is crying) but yet he is 100% boy (while we were in Alaska he got kicked out of nursery for the first time for being too mean/rough)… Either way we loves him to pieces!

Playing games with Matt:

Telling Grandpa Mauger, “Stop it!”

Painting a bowl with Grandma Mauger and Aunt Amber

Modeling:

Reading with his daddy :)

Alaska Christmas Vacation: Brooklyn

2012-01-05T21:05:00.001-07:00

Everyone loved holding Brooklyn and playing with her. Here are some shots of the family with our ‘Brookie bear’:

I love the next two shots and here is the background: When Stu was holding Brooklyn, she kept gravitating towards his arm- for some reason she loved resting her head on his arm. Kristin was taking some pictures of them together and the next two shots were taken immediately one right after the other. The second shot sure was a lucky, memorable shot!

Yup Brooklyn spit up right between Stu’s body and his arm! The next picture is his reaction:

PRICELESS!

Alaska Christmas Vacation: Gingerbread House and Sugar Cookies

2012-01-05T20:34:00.001-07:00

All ten of us (our little family and Matt’s side of the family) worked together on a gingerbread house. It was hard to keep James from eating all of the candy, but overall I think he loved helping in this tradition!

On a different day James helped decorate sugar cookies- he loves cooking and helping out in the kitchen, so he loved this! Here he is with Aunt Amber and Aunt Ashley:

Alaska Christmas Vacation: Christmas Morning

2012-01-05T20:26:00.001-07:00

Santa Came! This year has been fun- this is the first year that we really focused on teaching James the story of Christ as well as Santa, but I don’t know if he really understands that they are two separate stories… Next year I am going to have to ask parents how they helped their kids differentiate those two stories….

Here is James looking at the gifts that Santa brought:

Here is Matt trying on his new bike jersey (he loves it!):

Sadly this is one of the few pictures we have of Brooklyn in her Christmas dress because right after this picture she E.X.P.L.O.D.E.D!!

Here I was showing James how to put the film in:

We had a wonderful Christmas and are SOOOO extremely grateful for the gifts that were given to our family! We love you all!

Alaska Christmas Vacation: Brooklyn’s Blessing

2012-01-04T13:42:00.001-07:00

While we were up in Alaska, Brooklyn was blessed! It was so nice to have Stu and dad(Mauger) in the circle! Church was at 9 am and we were rushing to get out the door so we didn’t take tons of pictures, but here are some:

Alaska Christmas Vacation: Christmas Eve

2012-01-03T22:23:00.001-07:00

Besides Christmas Eve sledding, the Mauger’s have a few other traditions on Christmas Eve. One of the highlights of that night was the Christmas Eve party. A few friends of the Mauger’s come over for dinner, a talent show, reenactment of Christ’s birth, playing chimes and socializing. I mostly took video that night, so I don’t have many pictures, but here are a few that I was able to snap:

Our beautiful little girl:

The nativity- Brooklyn was baby Jesus and James was a wise man:

I was such a proud mama at this moment (so corny but true!) :

Ashley did a Tahitian dance for her talent- ow ow!

One of the elders writes and plays his own music- the one song that he did as his talent brought me to tears! It was a song to Jesus from Joseph’s perspective. I don’t remember many of the lines, but one of the biggest themes from song that has stuck with me is Joseph telling baby Jesus to rest tonight because that would be his only night to rest for the rest of his life.

Chime time! James loved playing the chimes even though he didn’t play them correctly

After the party was over, the tradition of opening one gift (everyone opens a set of pj’s). We then take pictures together. Here are pictures of the family right after the party and then in our pj’s:

Alaska Christmas Vacation: Christmas Eve Sledding

2012-01-03T20:41:00.002-07:00

The Mauger Family has a tradition of going sledding on Christmas Eve. (I know that my last post was about sledding as well, but I had lots of pictures so I thought I would give it a post of its own). We decided to go at 11 am and had a blast. Brooklyn slept the entire time in the car, so Kristin, mom and I took turns watching her. James typically LOVES sledding, but he hated it this time. He did enjoy eating the snow though :) and making snow angels. When we got to the hill, Matt was the first one up and of course he had to go down the steepest part of it! I was nervous to go because I had only being sledding once before and it was a bad experience (we sledded on snow which was very icy and I got really cut up). Luckily this snow was really light and fluffy and about 2 feet deep. I went down with Matt and it was really fun! Here are some pictures:

James Loved eating the snow!

Matt and I going down together:

Matt going down by himself:

He is a stud even in his snow gear!

James making his snow angel:

I can’t remember why James was crying in this picture (either because he wanted hot chocolate or because he didn’t want to leave) but either way I thought the picture was memorable!

Alaska Christmas Vacation: Sledding

2012-01-02T23:08:00.001-07:00

This year we were able to spend Christmas with the Mauger side of our family and we loved it! Usually when people go on vacation or go to stay with relatives, they enjoy the visit but towards the end they are ready to go home. I was in Alaska (with the kids) for a total of three weeks, and not once did I feel that way! I loved spending so much time with our extended family! We did so many fun things while we were there, one of which being sledding. There was SOOOO much snow! The temperature varied from –8 to 20 degrees, but that didn’t stop us! We bundled up and had fun! Here are some pictures!

James LOVED eating the snow!! Every time we stepped outside he would immediately bend down and try to grab a handful of snow to eat.

I wish I would have gotten this sledding trip on tape because every time he went down he just laughed the entire time! His giggle was so endearing and he kept wanting to go down again and again!

Kristin helped James build a little snowman… and of course once the snowman was complete he went in for a bite!

As he went in for the bite he ended up taking a big sniff of snow right into his nose. That completely scared him… thus this picture below

To Workout or to not… that is the question

2011-11-11T17:17:00.001-07:00

My entire last trimester that I was pregnant, I continuously committed to myself that once I had Brooklyn that I would start working out again.

…

And now the time has come and it is so hard to find the desire! I want to be one of those girls that loves to run, those girls that look so cute running with their jogger strollers, those girls that complete marathons (or even 10k for that matter!) while still being a mom… but the desire to get up and do it just isn’t there. Overall I am happy with how I look, but I would like to tone up and get stronger.

Today I worked out for the first time thanks to a Wii fitness program, and usually after a workout I feel glad that I worked out and more committed to continue, but not this time. Instead I just felt, “Are you sure you want to do this tomorrow Stephanie?”

So here is the point of this post: I NEED ADVICE! How does one overcome the stumbling blocks that come when starting a workout regime?

BEWARE: Bugs in the Juice!!

2011-11-11T17:06:00.001-07:00

I typically only give James milk, water or chocolate milk to drink, but the other day I was drinking some orange juice and James asked for some so I gave him some. After he took a sip, he turned to me with a perplexed look and said, "Bugs juice". I didn't know what he meant so I just said, "What James?". He then stated, "Bugs in juice". I repeated what he said to make sure I was understanding correctly, and after he replied "Yes", I had to take a moment to think about what he was saying.... and then I got it!

"Oh no James, it is just pulp" and then I had to explain what pulp is.... oh the funny things kids say :) (I love lots of pulp in my O.J.)

Sunday Snapshot

2011-11-06T22:20:00.001-07:00

I love my little family!

Happy Halloween!!

2011-11-06T22:16:00.001-07:00

Halloween was so much fun this year because I was able to experience it with a wonderful two year old- it is so fascinating to see holidays come alive for James… it definitely gives a new perspective on everything! This year we were able to go to our ward’s Trunk or Treat ward party the Saturday before and James loved it! On Halloween night we decided to stay inside since he had gotten so much candy from the weekend and instead we made it a family night with pumpkin carving! Here are some pictures capturing the festivities!

James was “NAAACHHHHOOOOO”- Nacho Libre for Halloween this year. He loved telling people who he was and most people were able to immediately identify who he was (even though one man insisted that he was superman).

Brooklyn was a ballerina

As you can tell with James’ face below, he did not like the texture of the pumpkin goop and pumpkin seeds- I totally thought he would love it but it was the opposite- he wanted Matt to clean it out (he did like using the spoon to get it out though)

Below- James’ classic “Say cheese” smile:

Cutting the pumpkin face out:

A HUGE thank you

2011-11-05T14:15:00.001-06:00

Before Brooklyn was born, I was COMPLETELY stressed about the first few weeks of her being here- how would I be able to be a competent mom for 2 children?! Would I be too tired to play with James? What would I do if James and Brooklyn woke up at the same time? How was I supposed to give both of them my undivided attention and if I couldn’t would one of them feel unloved?

I had a lot of worries about adjusting the first few weeks because when James was born it took me a while to get into the groove of things. I am so immensely grateful for both Matt’s parents and my parents who took the time (and money) out of their lives and came to help me for the first few weeks- it was so reassuring to have all of the help- giving James love and attention, helping me out with Brooklyn, cooking and cleaning, and just lending a friendly ear. I can’t explain how HUGE of a gift that was to me- during those couple weeks I was able to build up the confidence about being a mom of two- I really do think if I didn’t have them it would have been very overwhelming for me and I would have had a lot of tears shed.

So what I am trying to say is THANK YOU!

(I didn’t have any pictures of my dad while he was here, but here are the other grandparents)

Our happy little family!

2011-11-05T14:03:00.001-06:00

So I wanted to show some pictures of our family… but I wanted to give a warning even though most viewers could care less- these pictures were taken within the first week of Brooklyn being born so I still have a pretty large tummy. I don’t look nearly that large, but I still have about 5 (6 to be exact) before I get down to my pre-pregnancy weight. I am sure you (whoever is reading this) doesn’t care, but I do :)

James Meets Brooklyn

2011-11-05T13:57:00.001-06:00

Because Brooklyn was born so late Saturday night, James met Brooklyn after sacrament, so around 10:30 am on Sunday. He came to the hospital along with Matt, Grandma Mauger, Grandpa Mauger and Aunt Amber. He was very interested in looking at her, but didn’t say much. He knew that the baby was his sister and that her name was Brooklyn, but other than that he didn’t say too much. When we asked him if he wanted to hold her, he immediately said yes and climbed in bed with me to hold her. He held her for a few minutes- he was so soft and delicate with her!

We previously decided to have Brooklyn “give” James a present just so James could warm up to Brooklyn quickly- as soon as we gave him the present he was off the bed completely distracted with his new toy.

Since Brooklyn has been here, James has been EXTREMELY lovable towards Brooklyn- he gives her a kiss at least once every 30 minutes and says, “Bookin (Brooklyn) so cute”. In the past month, he has only hit her twice…. which is amazing because he is an aggressive little boy (something we work tirelessly on). Whenever Brooklyn is crying he always says (in a higher pitched voice), “Its ok Brooklyn”. He is a very good little boy who loves his little sister!

Here is James holding Brooklyn for the first time:

The first week home:

This picture below makes James look HUGE compared to Brooklyn… he is growing up so FAST!!!

Brooklyn’s Birth Story

2011-11-04T23:11:00.001-06:00

Since I am horrible with remembering things, I figured that it would be best to record as much as I remember about Brooklyn’s birth. There may be some rambling involved, so just be warned :)

Brooklyn’s due date was October 8th and we decided in advance to have me be induced on that date if she didn’t come before then. We thought that would be the best decision because we wanted Matt to be available as much as possible, so if Brooklyn could be born on a Saturday, then Matt could be with James while I was in the hospital. The entire month before she was born I was having about a dozen contractions a day, but nothing too serious (they would stop as soon as I rested my body).

October 8th came and we called the hospital at 6 am and they told us to come in at 8 am. We immediately got a room but weren’t seen until 10 am by the doctors. At 10 am I was only dilated to a 2 (what I had been for the past 2 weeks) and not effaced at all. The doctors decided that if I hadn’t progressed in the next two hours they would put a pill in me that would speed things along. I wasn’t familiar with that pill because with James they immediately gave me pitocin- these doctors said they prefer going with the pill route first because it is safer. I agreed and with no progression from 10 am – noon, at noon they gave it to me and I immediately started feeling regular contractions. One side note is that with this pill, I wouldn’t be allowed to start pushing for four hours. From noon until 2 I walked around the hospital with Matt (walking REALLY helped bring the contractions on). At 2 I ate lunch and then rested. At 4 pm they checked me and I progressed enough to receive the pitocin (if I wouldn’t have progressed they would have given me the pill again and I would have had to wait another 4 hours). I started the pitocin (the labor inducing medicine) and about an hour later I needed an epidural….

SIDE NOTE: I HATE needles and the epidural was the WORST part of the entire day!! With James, the anesthesiologist had me lay down and he gave me the epidural- I didn’t like it, but it was over before I knew it. With Brooklyn’s anesthesiologist, it was COMPLETELY opposite! She had me sit up and wanted me to hunch over, but it felt impossible because every 30 seconds I would have a contraction that would tighten the muscles and I couldn’t move like they wanted me to. Before she started she mentioned that she shouldn’t have any problems sticking me because I wasn’t overweight (she said it is harder to get the needle in the right place if the person is overweight). She put the needle in my back and I could just feel the needle moving around. She kept telling me to hunch over, even though I was hunching as much as I possibly could. She was back there for literally more than 10 minutes, trying to get me stuck in the right spot. By this point I was crying in pain. She said she had to pull the needle out and stick me again because she couldn’t find what she was looking for. She moved up my back and restuck me- same story with same ending. I am crying, snot is coming out of my nose and the nurse is trying to keep me composed. The anesthesiologist explained that she had never run into this problem- rather than having too much fat, I had too much bone and she kept hitting my bone instead of the spinal cord area. She had to call her supervisor to come and he then was able to stick me. After 3 sticks, 30 minutes and many tears I finally had the epidural.

Once the epidural was in (about 5:30) I basically just rested until about 10 pm. The doctors came in at that point and explained the options. We decided to have the Dr. pop my water and hopefully that would help my body progress. The Dr. washed his hands and literally right before he was about to break it, it broke on its own! Within 2 minutes of my water breaking, the contractions got DRAMATICALLY worse and I felt the need to push (it felt like I had a baby size poop that was pushing on my booty hole wanting to go out- LOTS of pain but the pain was relieved as I pushed). I told the nurse this and said that I am think she is coming now, and the nurse was pretty passive. I insisted that the baby was coming and she then agreed to get the doctor. When the doctor came in he looked at me and said, “Oh there’s her hair”. Within 20 minutes from my water breaking, Brooklyn was born!

The two main differences between Brooklyn’s and James’ birth are the epidural and the actual pushing. With James, the doctor had to tell me when to push because I was so numb and I never felt James coming out. With Brooklyn, like I mentioned, I felt the urge to poop and the need to push to relieve the pain. I also felt (sorry if this is TMI) like my skin was ripping and that pain helped me push harder because I just wanted to get the pain over with. With James I really didn’t know how to push and it took me a LONG time to figure out how to push (the only way I can explain it is: with James I continually tried to push with my abs and front muscles and the correct way is to push like you are trying to poop- with your booty muscles). With Brooklyn I knew how to push so I was able to get her out really quickly.

Enough with details; here are some pictures (she was born at 10:30 pm on October 8th)

The nurses cleaned her off and gave her to me before weighing her (James was weighed first and then given to me):

I will blog more about James’ first time seeing her tomorrow :)

Our cute kids

2011-10-19T22:06:00.001-06:00

On October 8th Brooklyn Mae Mauger was born- I don’t have much time to blog, but I thought I would show just a couple of pictures of my kiddos from today!

Trip to the Beach!

2011-09-24T23:25:00.001-06:00

Today we went to the Oregon coast (Cannon beach to be exact) and had such a fun time! We carpooled with some of our friends, Greg, Kirsten and Paxton, and while at the beach met up with several other dental school families. James LOVED playing in the sand (and trying to eat it) and really wanted to play in the water even though it EXTREMELY windy and the water was freezing! Overall I am so glad we went and were able to spend time together as a family and with our friends. I took lots of pictures but here are some that I liked:

When we first got to the beach, James saw a seagull and started chasing it… little did we know that he would continue chasing it practically to the water!

Matt had to chase after him to make sure that he didn’t go in the water!

Matt let James down and as any toddler, he made another run for it!

Matt learned his lesson and decided to hold him :)

Here is a picture of James’ friend Paxton!

James using his shovel (which we got at Michaels on sale for $0.50!- sweet!)

In the photo above AND in the photos below, please notice his tongue! Our silly little guy likes to stick his tongue out when he puts his mind to something!

James turned the pile of sand (which was in the process of becoming a castle) into a slide… leave it up to James!

The picture below is James’ smile that he does when we tell him to “smile”- I wonder when he will grow out of this phase and give us a cuter smile :)

Paxton and Greg climbing the sand pile:

Here are a few pictures of the other dental school families:

Oh I love these days!

2011-09-12T18:00:00.001-06:00

I love when I feel productive! Today I:

- finger painted with James thank you cards

- cleaned downstairs

- played a few board games with James

- took a nap

- made meatloaf for dinner

- made banana bread with James

- played bowling with James and Matt (water bottles as pins and ones of James’ balls)

- cleaned the kitchen

and of course- adored different things I want to make/do on Pinterest :)

and its only 5 pm :)

Random Thoughts

2011-09-08T16:30:00.001-06:00

I am just posting some of my thoughts... without pictures- the pictures and some more detail for certain events (James' 2nd bday, moving to our new home, sightseeing in Oregon, etc.) will come later- right now I just want to jot down a few thoughts:

1. Moving to Oregon- I can't believe it, but we have been in Oregon for about a month! Physically, I was 31/32 weeks pregnant and it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Emotionally I thought it was going to be a lot harder than it has actually been- I thought it would be hard to be here all by ourselves with NO family close, but thankfully it has been fine. There are times when I definitely get sad though- sometimes it feels like time freezes and I am just staring at James look into my eyes or play with his toys, and I feel this overwhelming love for him and then I immediately wish that his grandparents (both sides) could be there right at that moment to experience that moment with us... that gets me sad.

2. Dental School- Right now Matt is going almost done with his 4th week of dental school. He is in a 6 week term right now and then Fall term will start (which is longer). I prepared myself for Matt being gone from 7 am - 8 pm and then studying after James goes to bed, but it unexpectedly has not been that bad. He typically wakes up at 6:30 am and is out the door by 7 am, and then most days he comes home about 6:30. From 6:30 - 8:30 he eats, plays with James and then we put James to bed. From 8:30 - 9:00 he usually has his down time and we spend time just talking and then from 9:00 - 10:00 he studies. I really love this routine because he spends a lot more time with us than I thought he would be able to. He has taken 2 tests already and has done AMAZING! I am so grateful for his wonderful memory- he has always been blessed to be able to remember things easily and usually by the first time, so that is definitely coming in handy. He does warn me that Fall term is known to be harder, so I am preparing myself for less time with him.

3. James growing up- James is growing up so fast in so many ways. He had his 2nd birthday and was looking forward to it weeks in advance. All he said he wanted was "cake" and "a bike". He was spoiled by his grandparents and his two favorite toys are DEFINITELY his bike and his Cars Race track. He started getting on his bike and saying "James bike school (pause) miss you"- which translates into " I am going to ride my bike to school. I will miss you mom". Matt rides his bike to school everyday so I think our little James wants to be just like daddy. As you can tell from that story, his speech is constantly improving and he strings along a lot of words (typically anywhere from 3 - 6 words), but all of his sentences still don't make complete sense grammatically. He did pretty well with the transition of Matt going to school- the first week was REALLY hard on him- he would say "James miss dad" about 5 times a day. Since then he has adjusted and now only says that when he is in trouble or when we walk out of our home to meet him when Matt rides his bike home. James recently is going through a weird sleep phase- we aren't sure if he is scared of the dark or just not wanting to go to sleep, but for the past 3 days we have reverted back to the "cry for mom until I go to sleep" phase- today he did well and only cried for 30 seconds, but it is so random and weird that he has done this- he has been the easiest boy to put down for a nap for 10 months+, but yesterday it took him an hour and a half to go to sleep for his daytime nap... weird.

4. Meeting people in the ward- I really truly love our ward. So many people have gone out of their way to do nice acts of service for us (give us a fan so we can survive in this 95 degree weather without AC, give us two twin mattresses) and there are a lot of people who are in our same boat- dental school students with kids and without. Matt has really made some good friends who sometimes (when its not too hot) come to our house to watch football with him. There aren't many boys James' exact age, but there are LOTS that are a little older (like 3 yrs old) or a little younger (like 18-20 months), so I am looking forward to really getting to know the moms as time progresses. We have been able to have people over for dinner and have already made some really good friendships, so I hope that everything continues to go this way.

5. Living on a strict budget- ..... IS HARD!!! With moving into a new home, a baby girl on the way, and holidays around the corner, there are so many things that I want to make/buy for the house/family, but the material and all of the supplies cost money! I love the satisfaction that I get from knowing that I am being prudent with our money and staying within budget, but it is so hard to pass up on adorable decoration ideas/clothing projects/ baby nursery accessories. I figure that its ok though- I have a list of everything I want to make and as we have the money for it, I will slowly check each thing off of my list... it just may take years to complete!

6. Pregnancy- Both pregnancies (James and this baby) have basically been the same up until the 3rd trimester. With James, I wasn't hormonal at all. With this baby, I wasn't hormonal... until the third trimester. Every time I am in sacrament, I cry. I cry at the littlest things and its weird because typically in my life I have been able to hold back tears, but with these hormones, I know when I am about to cry and I CANT DO A THING TO STOP THEM!! And I know that it is the hormones because in my mind I am rationally thinking, "this is so silly Stephanie- don't cry" but I can't help it! Another difference is the sleep deprivation- I can't sleep because if I lay on my right side for more than 5 minutes a nerve in my hip feels like it is getting pinched and if I lay on my left side for more than an hour my muscles feel REALLY pulled. So I typically wake up a ton throughout the night and have to stand up until my nerve in my hip stops hurting and my muscles stop aching... then I lay down and do it all again. Another difference is with this pregnancy I am getting contractions galore- I am 35 and 1/2 weeks pregnant and no matter how much water I drink, walking or resting I do, I usually get about 12 contractions (painless thankfully) a day, whereas with James I only started getting contractions AFTER my due date has passed. The last difference I really notice is leg cramping and nerve pinching- I ALWAYS have a cramp in my right calf and haven't found anything to get rid of it, and I randomly get a pinched nerve sensation (usually around my hips and inner thigh) that completely debilitates me for a few seconds. I guess I had it really nice with James- with this pregnancy I am ready to be done with being pregnant but not completely ready to be a mom of 2.

7. Homemaker- I LOVE LOVE LOVE making my home feel nice- I love sewing things for my home, cleaning it (besides doing dishes because our dishwasher has been broken for 2+ weeks), making decorations for it- being a homemaker brings me a satisfaction that I searched and searched for while going to school but wasn't able to find. I love walking into our home feeling good to say, "this is my home". I love it!

Entertainment Center Part 2

2011-07-30T17:09:00.001-06:00

SOOOOOOOO…………

Today Matt finished all of the construction AND the sanding!!!!!

Here is what it looks like so far!

Now the only thing left to do is prime and paint! Wahoo!

Entertainment Center Part 1

2011-07-29T18:49:00.001-06:00

So I had previously decided to wait until we were completely done with building our entertainment center before I blogged about it, but I can’t resist showing you (especially our parents) what we have done thus far.

Monday July 25th-

We went to Home Depot and bought all of the wood… we have probably been back to Home Depot/Lowes 6 or 7 times to return things and buy more supplies.

I (Stephanie) spent a few hours marking all of the wood to prepare it to be cut. I don’t know the exact number, but I would guess that there were a total of 100 pieces of wood that needed to be measured out. I had no idea that it would be so time consuming, but making sure the corners were square and then double checking the measurement sure did take a LONG time!

Tuesday July 26th-

We don’t own a circular saw so we rented one from Home Depot. We only had four hours to do it, so Matt had to work fast. It was a good thing that we measured everything out the previous day because we returned the circular saw with only 20 minutes left!

Wednesday July 27th -

Matt woke up early to start the assembly, but we immediately realized that the first few pieces we cut needed to be cut 1/4 inch smaller. (Matt insists that the directions are wrong- they do give us two conflicting measurements). We debated on renting the saw again, but we didn’t want to pay for it again (in order to stay on budget), so we just decided to put the project on hold until we could ask everyone we knew if they had a saw we could borrow. That night I went to mutual and asked my bishop (who also happens to be our home teacher) if he had a saw and he did!

Thursday July 28th-

We picked up the saw from Bishop’s house and Matt got to work! I thought I was going to be doing everything for this project (since it was my idea and I was the leading force behind it) but Matt REALLY enjoys doing it so he has been in complete control of the project since this point. He put together the middle bottom portion of the entertainment center minus the doors. (The entertainment center has 6 parts- 3 on top and 3 on bottom- Matt start with the middle bottom portion because that is the portion that the TV will be sitting on and that is the most complex part). He had difficulty fitting the door in so he decided to stop and finish the doors the next day.

Friday July 29th-

Matt finished the doors in the middle bottom portion and also put together the left and right bottom portions. Matt and James then sanded the bottom middle portion and called it a day.

We are hoping to finish the construction of it tomorrow (the 3 portions that still need to be done are the easiest portions). After the construction we need to sand, prime, paint and MAYBE distress the furniture. We still have a ways to go, but the progress is on track and looking great! I am so happy with how it is turning out and here are a few pictures of what we have so far!

This is the middle bottom portion (the part that the TV sits on):

I haven’t taken a “finished” picture of the left bottom and right bottom portion, but here are some pictures of them during the construction stage:

Here are some pictures of Matt and James sanding the middle bottom portion (James is using it while it was on and did a GREAT job!) :

We still have a lot to do (even on these pieces) but I am so thrilled about how it is turning out!!

Portland Preview

2011-07-19T20:56:00.001-06:00

Our weather has been SO random this past week- even the meteorologists think so! It will be really hot with clear skies and then 30 minutes later it will be rainy and really cloudy. Today was no different, but I was able to catch James on film. He loves playing in the rain, which is a good thing since that is what Portland is all about (or so I hear). We will eventually have to find James a raincoat, but for now, he just uses his outer shell of his winter jacket. Oh I love our little boy!

Notice in the picture below how SOAKED his pants are… they are typically a light khaki color :)

It is hard to tell in the picture, the the rain was pouring off of the roof in this spot specifically. He loved putting his hands and head in the stream of water:

What we’ve been doing….

2011-07-19T20:27:00.001-06:00

As most know, we will be moving to Portland at the beginning of August for dental school. With no furniture, we have been busy finding furniture and getting ready to move/prepare for a baby girl. We have found some great deals on furniture and with a little TLC from us (mostly Matt), we love what we have! Here is a little of what we have been working on:

A side table:

I really wanted a side table to have in our living room. I came across this little gem (see below):

But the color theme of our future living room will be gray (the walls), white (the furniture) and yellow (pops of color throughout). This definitely didn’t go with our color scheme…. so after priming, several coats of painting, and a few coats of polycrylic, here is our new side table:

Our Kitchen Table:

When we picked up James’ big boy bed, the same person offered to give us their dinner table along with chairs for $20 total. We thought it was a steal, and since we didn’t have either, we accepted. The table was black, and even though we liked the thought of a black table, this table was in ROUGH condition- lots of chipped paint, dinged up wood and not too sturdy. I forgot to get a before shot, but this is the first picture that I have of it:

It took Matt a while to sand down all of the coats of paint that had been applied, but after he sanded, primed, painted, sealed, and fixed any rickety parts, it is now wonderful!! Here is the after:

Did I mention that this table converts into a larger table? Well it does :)

While Matt’s been outside working on our furniture (I have helped with coats of paint here and there, but Matt really enjoys working on the furniture), I have been inside with the sewing machine and James. Between caring for James, I have been able to finish these little projects:

Decorative Pillows:

I made some slipcovers for 4 pillows that will match our future color scheme (remember gray, white and yellow). Well here they are:

Car seat cover:

One thing that I really wanted when James was a baby was a car seat cover, so I figured I would just make one. Car seat covers keep the baby protected from the elements- wind, rain, etc., the sun from directly hitting them while in the car, and to keep out the light and some noise while the baby is sleeping(why I wanted one). Most car seat covers that I have seen don’t have a peek-a-boo pouch that the mom can look in without opening the entire thing, and this is something I most definitely wanted. So, here is the final product:

We still have lots to do: refinish the dining room chairs, make an entertainment center (HUGE project), make a nursing cover, and refinish our two dressers. We still have lots to do, but are confident and excited that we can get them done!

Polynesian Cultural Center

2011-06-21T12:54:00.001-06:00

We were very grateful for the opportunity to go the the PPC- for those that don’t know it is a tourist place that the church owns where you learn more about different Polynesian cultures. It has the layout and size of a theme park, but it feels more intimate and unique. Matt and I were able to go to a luau and that was amazing! Here are some pictures of what you can see if you go!

Sand, sand, and more sand!

2011-06-21T12:43:00.001-06:00

James loved Hawaii, but his favorite thing was the beach, more specifically- the SAND! He loved digging, eating, and pouring sand on people! Here are pictures of him doing what he loved most!

This is James’ first experience with sand the first day that we got there. He was a little hesitant about how it felt, but it was hard to get him out soon after! :

Throughout the week:

Our Little Hawaiian Model

2011-06-21T12:36:00.001-06:00

I love looking at pictures of James, and like all parents, I think he is so adorable! Here are some pictures (taken in Hawaii) of James being goofy, cute, or adorable:

(He is showing us his blue popcorn) :

James loves to play hide and seek:

More Hawaiian Adventures

2011-06-21T12:29:00.001-06:00

We did so much in Hawaii- this vacation was the perfect mixture of relaxation and sightseeing. One of the places (a couple of times) was the North Shore. That is the beach that is renown for the awesome waves. We went there once to go surfing/play on the beach and another time to check out these turtles. They were HUGE!!! :

We also went to the Dole Factory where we were able to see pineapple plants and fish:

North Shore fun:

Snorkeling and playing at the beach near our condo (from left to right: Grandma Mauger, Ashley, Kristin, Amber, Matt):

Pearl Harbor:

Say Cheese!

2011-06-21T12:08:00.001-06:00

Like most people do when they visit new places, we took a lot of pictures posing in front of things. Here are (A LOT of) pictures of us ‘saying cheese’:

When we first got to our condo we went for a walk and here is a picture of part of our view:

After church on Sunday we went to the Pali Lookout which has gorgeous views- it was VERY windy, but pretty!

Our little family at the Pali lookout again (you can always count on Matt to make a funny face) :

Grandpa Mauger and James (we are at the Dole factory in this picture) :

Another picture at the Dole Factory- they had a lot of crops everywhere:

Ashley and James smiling while playing on the beach:

We took a hike and this is towards the beginning of it (Grandma Mauger, James and Matt) :

Another picture while on the hike:

Aunt Amber, Aunt Ashley, Grandma Mauger, Aunt Kristin and James posing in front of the waterfall at the Polynesian Cultural Center:

Two family pictures while at the PCC (Polynesian Cultural Center) :

Another family picture while at the North Shore Beach:

A family picture in front of our condo:

James and Matt being goofy while on the beach:

Family picture in front of the Hawaiian temple:

Extended family picture in front of the temple:

Views of Hawaii

2011-06-21T11:41:00.001-06:00

It’s been about a month since we went to Hawaii, but I still wanted to post pictures. One reason I haven’t posted anything about Hawaii is because collectively we all took TONS of pictures and it has taken a while to sort through them. We went with Matt’s family (mom, dad, stu, ash, kristin, and amber). We have lots of pictures of everyone, but here are just a few (mostly of just Matt, James and I).

In the first post I wanted to show you what Hawaii looks like- there were so many gorgeous views, and here is a snapshot of what we saw :)

Graduation!

2011-05-13T12:10:00.001-06:00

I have a lot of reasons for why it took so long for me to graduate (I won’t mention all of them here now) but I now insist that the main reason why it took me so long to graduate is because I wanted to walk alongside my wonderful stud across the stage towards our diplomas. We were lucky to have Matt’s family here for graduation! I really am sad that I didn’t take very many pictures of while they were here- I can’t think of anything (HONESTLY) that makes me more happy than when we are with family enjoying ourselves. I stole these pictures from Matt’s parents I phones, but at least we have something!

I am a little bummed that James’ face is so white, but I still think this is a good family picture :)

Here we are with Matt’s dad, mom and little sister Amber:

I love this little guy SO much!

18 Weeks Prego!!

2011-05-07T22:25:00.001-06:00

Today I have been pregnant for exactly 18 weeks! I would say I really started showing about two weeks ago, but even now, depending on what I wear sometimes it just looks like I have gained weight in my tummy region. Starting last week, I can no longer put a lot of pressure on my tummy- James isn’t able to sit directly on me anymore when we read books because it hurts too much. It sounds weird, but I love these little signs that show that the baby and my uterus are growing and developing! In the past week I have also noticed that my bladder sometimes feels the pressure of the baby and I have to go to the bathroom more frequently. (Sorry if this is too much information, I just want to remember these little details for my next pregnancy). James still loves the baby! He loves giving the baby kisses and can point to the baby and say “gur” for girl.

At night we have a tradition of reading the Book of Mormon together and then kneeling on the floor for night time prayers. Lately James has been wanting to stay on the couch for prayers, but we think it is important to kneel as a family so I have started asking him, “Who do you want to sit with for prayers- mommy, daddy or baby?” He immediately jumps off of the couch and says “baby”, kneels next to the baby, folds his arms and puts his head either on my lap of tummy. I hope he stays this excited about a baby sister!

Here is the first and only (for now) picture that I have taken while I have been pregnant (I will be better about taking more pictures- that is one thing that I regretted with my first pregnancy and I want to be better!):

Just FYI: Before getting this shot Matt had taken about 5 or so other pictures but I didn’t like my smile in them. Right before snapping this picture, he said, “Just smile like you did last night” My response: “What are you talking about? Nothing happened!” (Thus the smirk on my face and my hand gesture) For anyone who knows his dad, he is definitely becoming more and more like him everyday! :)

Boy or Girl?!

2011-05-07T22:06:00.001-06:00

I am sure that everyone who is reading this already knows, but on April 26th we found out what the sex is of our 2nd baby! Drum roll please!…….

It’s a girl!!!!

As mentioned in a previous post, the OB-GYN that we are seeing for this baby is different than the one that we saw for James, and he does things differently. He gave us a complimentary ultrasound at 8.5 weeks and he said that he typically finds out the sex of the baby at week 16 instead of week 20 like most doctors. So, on April 26th we went in to see if we were having a baby boy or a baby girl. I have thought from the beginning of my pregnancy that we were going to have a little girl because the pregnancy symptoms were so different (even though in hindsight I know that EVERY pregnancy will most like have different symptoms). I had mixed emotions about what sex I wanted- I wanted another boy so James could have a little boy who is close in age and his best friend, but I wanted a girl because I was nervous that I would never have a girl and I want at least one.

When we went into the room and we could see the baby on the screen, James immediately said “baby!” Throughout the entire event James was very attentive and excited. He kept saying baby every time he saw a different position of the baby. He was a little scared when they let us hear the heartbeat, and he looked up to Matt with fear in his eyes. Matt explained what the noise was and James immediately calmed down, even though I am not sure he understood exactly what a heart is.

Here is the face of the baby along with her torso:

Here is her hand and arm:

Here is her profile and her hand next to her mouth and nose:

A little bit better picture of her profile (your can see her nose pretty well):

The very left shows her spine and then in the middle are her two legs (the white lines in her legs are her bones):

Here is her crotch. For those that know anatomy terms, the white lines (they are VERY small) that are right in between her legs are her labia- that is what they look for when determining if it is a girl. If they see the labia then they know for sure it is a girl:

Here is her foot:

Easter!

2011-05-07T21:46:00.001-06:00

This Easter was a laid back holiday. I was VERY lucky because that Sunday I had the privilege of teaching the young women in my ward about the atonement, so I had taken time to really ponder the meaning of the holiday. We did have fun celebrating Easter with the typical Easter egg hunts and nice Easter dinners though :)

In the morning we had a little Easter egg hunt for James just in our living room. It wasn’t anything special, but he LOVED it! He found all of the Easter eggs that were hidden and then started hiding them again himself so he could play the ‘game’ again! SO CUTE!

Here is James finding his eggs:

Here is James hiding the candy AFTER he has already collected everything :) :

James LOVED opening up the eggs and finding out what was inside of them:

After church we went up to Lehi and had an Easter dinner with some family friends, the Burkers. James absolutely LOVES Bro. Burker and had fun playing with all of Bro. Burker’s grandkids.

Here is a picture of James with Matt in one of their Easter shirts (James had gotten his original shirt and vest dirty):

The Burkers also had a scavenger hunt, but theirs was a lot more traditional since it was outside. James had a fun time finding his “boo” (blue) eggs.

Here are all of the grandkids and James just waiting to go outside and find their eggs! :

Daddy and James:

My handsome boys:

Baby #2!!!

2011-05-07T21:25:00.001-06:00

Rewind time:

In December Matt and I started discussing when we would like to have our next baby. We wanted to have a baby, but we weren't sure when would be best because we didn't know what the future held for us. At that time (in December) we were planning on going to dental school starting August 2011, but at that point we hadn't been accepted anywhere and didn't know if/where we were going to live for the next year. If Matt didn't get into dental school, we would have a lot more issues to manage, and with all of these questions, we didn't know when to try to have a baby. At the beginning of January we decided that we should just move forward in faith and not let the doubts hold us back from continuing to create our family. Around February 10th we found out that we were pregnant and we were so excited! We had previously gotten James a shirt that said, "I am the big brother". I wanted to tell our family by taking a picture of James wearing that shirt and then mailing the picture to them... but Matt couldn't wait! That day we skyped with both sides of our family and had James wear that shirt while talking to them on the computer. When both families found out they were all very excited for us. Since telling our family I, for the most part, did a horrible job of letting people know that I was pregnant. Typically people wait until they are 13 weeks pregnant before letting people know, and I let most people know when I was 16 weeks. It wasn't that I was not excited- I was thrilled and still am, but part of me just thought, "do people really care?" I know that my friends do, but those thoughts were still there.

Anyways, so blog world- we are pregnant! When I was almost 9 weeks pregnant (8 weeks and 5 days to be exact), we went in for my first prenatal appointment with a new OB-GYN. I had no idea that we were going to be able to see the baby in an ultrasound that appointment (with James we had to wait until week 20), but since this doctor had the equipment in office, we did a complimentary ultrasound! It was so fun to see the baby- at that point in the pregnancy I thought that the baby would be too small to see, but we could clearly make out the baby and even see a small part on the baby's body beating... the heart! The baby looks like a bean, but I thought it was so neat since I wasn't expecting it!

Hello Blogging World!

2011-05-07T21:24:00.001-06:00

I have been a horrible blogger lately.... and I think about it frequently. I think about it because this is the only form of a journal that I keep and everyday I think, "These memories that I am making now aren't too special, but I want to be able to look back at them someday with my kids". So, this is my attempt to get into blogging again. If this blog starts to seem too detailed or too boring, feel free to stop reading- I am doing this more for me than anything else (and to keep the grandparents updated).

You know your a mom when...

2011-04-09T22:50:00.003-06:00

So for part of date night tonight (once James was asleep), Matt and I watched a movie. I love movie nights with Matt because 4 times out of 5 he lets me choose a chick flick.... and I am a HUGE chick flick gal (in college my roomies teased me for watching Flicka 3 times in a row when it first came out because I loved it so much). I love predictable, feel good movies all about love. So tonight, when I picked, "Life as We Know It", I was looking forward to that 'feel good' feeling. If I would have seen this movie two years ago I would have loved it- it wasn't too predictable, it had a lovable main girl, and two great guys. For those that don't know the movie is basically about two 'godparents' that become guardians of a one year old little girl after her parents die in a car accident. The movie focuses on the two adults and their relationship with one another, mixing in outside relationships along the way. They have to figure out what they expect from each other and basically the movie is all about them. Like I said, if I saw this movie two years ago, I would have loved it, but not tonight. I was happy with the ending, but I was bawling throughout the movie. ...I even thought to myself, "I am worse than my mom!" (-when it comes to being emotional for movies- she would cry at hallmark movies and we would tease her) The tears started following once the parents died and continued throughout the movie. It is mind boggling how much love you can have for your little child and how devastating the thought is of not being their for them as they grow up. Later in the movie I continued crying; not for the main character who was struggling on which guy she loved, but for this little girl who didn't have a strong father figure in her life to be a steady and constant figure in her life. Like I said, this movie had a good ending, but I gained a whole new appreciation for something that I am sure the movie makers didn't intend. I am so grateful for this little boy in my life and am honestly amazed at how I find myself on a daily basis saying, "Wow I love him SO much!". I am also so grateful for a husband who is my rock of strength and love, and I am even more grateful for the outstanding father he is to James. He drops everything to lay on his tummy with James and color, or goes outside anytime James wants to kick the soccer ball around, and James always knows he can go straight to dad when it wants to wrestle and be tickled. I am so grateful for these blessings in my life. Lately life has been handing our family some hard things to go through and its easy to forget about these humbling moments within my home. I have so much to be grateful for and wouldn't change our situation even ad mist these trials!

Play time with Kristin and Ashley

2011-03-12T19:44:00.001-07:00

Aunt Kristin was in town visiting this past week, and today we went to the park and played! James loved it and it was great weather to be outside! He mostly enjoyed wandering around on his own the most, but he learned how to play 'airplanes', how to put the wood chips on the slide (a bad habit but he liked it), and Matt tried to teach him how to roll down a hill (it was an unsuccessful attempt, but at least Matt got a little dirty). Here are some pictures :)

Ut Oh - "No"

2011-02-27T21:23:00.003-07:00

James is about to turn 18 months this week and he is growing so fast! Hopefully later this week after this doctors appointment I will talk about his 18 month stats and new habits, but I wanted to talk about one now- the "No" word!

James likes to babble (not as much as girls his age, but he does talk) but usually only Matt and I understand him. Case in point:

"Bu" ("u" sounds like umbrella) = book
"Be" ("e" sounds like elephant) = Bear
"Ba" ("a" sounds like animal) = Blanket
"Ma" ("a" sounds like awesome) = Mom
"Mu" ("u" sounds like utter) = milk
"ball" = ball
"ca" ("a" sounds like awesome) = car
"foo" = food
"wa" = water
"puh" = please
"e" ("e" sounds like elephant) = yes
"chee" = cheese
"gudge" = George (for Curious George)

and before this week:
"uh" = no

BUT as of Saturday:
"no" = no

I know this is silly, but he says "no" SO clearly and it is so fun to see this little milestone. He hasn't started the phase of "no" for everything, but if he doesn't want a certain food when we offer it to him, he casually now says, "no".

Oh the simple things that make a mom smile!

Sledding with friends!

2011-02-26T20:30:00.001-07:00

Today we went sledding with James’ friends, Creed and Claire. It was so fun! We were out there for a little over an hour, and James could have stayed a whole lot longer. It was fun to get together with my old roommates and their hubbies and kids. Here are some pictures of the fun!

Matt and James got going pretty fast down the hill and James loved every second of it! It was so cute to hear his laugh while coming down the hill!

Here are Claire and Creed ( I think Claire is 6 months older than James and Creed is 4 months older)

Matt borrowed Claire’s little sled and was taking James up the hill, but he wasn’t able to find traction and fell down

Creed and Kade losing control while going down the hill

Our cute little people :)

After being pulled for a little while, they all went from sitting up to laying down… poor Creed- he is squished!

We love our friends!

Summit Utah

2011-02-26T20:06:00.001-07:00

For President’s Day weekend, we took a trip down to Summit to visit ‘Grandma-great and Grandpa-great’.

James wanted to play peek-a-boo a lot on the 3 hour ride down

We started listening to my music and when Destiny’s Child came on, James put his fingers in his ears…. he was protesting! I don’t know who taught him that, but he sure did make us laugh!

James enjoyed playing with his grandma-great and grandpa-great!

And of course all of the cousins played Phase 10

One night everyone played “Just Dance” (except for the photographer :) ) It was so fun to watch everyone! I have TONS of pictures from that night, but here are just a few that I liked :)

Family Fun!

2011-02-26T19:28:00.001-07:00

Matt is graduated and currently unemployed (we are hoping that changes sooner rather than later), and I am only taking one class, so we have had a lot of time to spend together. It has been wonderful having Matt around more, and James especially loves it. Now in the morning when James wakes up, rather than saying, “Ma, ma, ma” he now says, “Da, da, da” (something I don’t mind a bit). He also LOVES playing soccer with his dad, and wrestling around on the ground with his dad.

We decided to buy a “Pass of All Passes” for this year. With the pass we have unlimited access to:

- Seven Peaks water park for the entire year

- Unlimited admission to two different fun parks that have bumper cars, mini golf, batting cages, slick track, laser tag, kiddie area for James, Pirate ship, train and airplane for James

- unlimited Owlz games (minor league baseball team)

- unlimited Utah Flash games (professional basketball team)

I personally am so excited for the Seven Peaks- James and I are going to live there this summer. I haven’t had a good tan in years…. silly, but I really want a tan!

We went to one of the fun parks and here are some pictures from it:

Here are some other random pictures of the family hanging out:

James and Claire

2011-02-26T18:51:00.001-07:00

I know there have been pictures in past posts with Claire, James’ friend, but here are a few more. James loves to play with Claire, and we typically have Claire over about twice a week. We love her so much! She is a good example for James, and James loves chasing after her. Her are just a couple pictures of some of the fun things they LOVE doing together:

One of our laundry baskets is this mesh bag, and literally EVERY time I do the laundry, James dumps the laundry out of this basket, puts the basket over his head and runs around the house with this basket over his body… he LOVES this and ALWAYS laughs when he gets to wear it. Recently, Claire has also wanted to play with the basket, and here she is sitting on the couch with it. Random, but funny

Its hard to tell in this picture, but Claire and James are popping bubbles- they love to play bubbles, and Claire is really good at popping them. James likes to point at them and watch them fall.

James loves his Claire!

Reading Time

2011-02-26T18:23:00.001-07:00

James still loves reading- we have books in practically every room and he always says, “Boo, boo” for books. Here are some pictures of James and his books.

Here we are reading books in James’ bedroom with Claire.

I don’t know why James liked the book “Pingo” so much, but he always picked that one for us to read.

On a different day, Claire and James sat together on their own and read a book. I was making my bed in a different room, and they were quiet so I knew they were up to something. When I found them on the couch like this, my heart melted!

James’ shiny whites :)

2011-01-26T22:57:00.001-07:00

Super Heroes

2011-01-26T22:56:00.001-07:00

Because Matt graduated in December, he has had a lot of time to play with James. I am amazed at how fun Matt makes everything for James. James loves his blanket and dad taught him a new use for it… superman of course! I really love my two super heroes!

Snow Day

2011-01-26T22:53:00.001-07:00

James really truly loves his daddy, especially when he plays with him. This past week it snowed here in Provo, so Matt wanted to take James out to play in the snow…. but James definitely didn’t want to go. He was fussing and crying when we were putting his snow boots on, and I started wondering if it was worth it. From the pictures below though, you can see that it was. James loved it (as usual) and (as usual) he cried when he had to come inside for his nap. Oh our little boy :)

Youth Temple Trip

2011-01-26T22:48:00.001-07:00

I absolutely love my calling- I really really do! I love the girls I serve and I love the gals I work with! Every year we make goals as a group, and this year one of the goals is to go to six different temples and do baptisms. We started out with the Provo temple. Here are just a couple pictures!

Freezer Meals!

2011-01-26T17:17:00.000-07:00

For one of our mutual activities, we decided to make freezer meals for the compassionate service committee in our ward who would then give them to families in need. Overall it was a huge success and we had fun while doing it. We ended up making 14 meals! Here are some pictures of everyone in action :)

Here are two of the ladies I work with, Jade and Sage. I can’t tell you how amazing they are! They are such great leaders, friends and role models! I am honestly so lucky to know them!!

Mckell is one of our girls who is so much fun to be around!

Sis. Gines (Stake YW Pres. and bishops wife), Yon Soo, and Mckell!

Some of the other leaders working at a station (the blonde gal is Lindsay, another counselor that I work with that I just ADORE… seriously I am so lucky to get to work with them!)

The entire group with all of our meals!

Three Christmas Days

2011-01-11T12:52:00.001-07:00

We had an unusual Christmas vacation. This year we celebrated Christmas three different times. We first had Christmas at our house here in Provo. We were able to have a Christmas dinner and then open up Christmas presents with Uncle Stu and Aunt Ashley. James was able to open up his presents from the Mauger side of the family and from us.

Its so fun to see James open up his presents at this age- he really enjoys taking the wrapping paper off and finding out what is inside. This was his favorite toy from Grandma and Grandpa Mauger.

Daddy got James these big legos (or duplos) and I think Daddy likes them more than James at this point

After opening each present, James kept going back to his farm. He loves this toy and still plays with it all the time! Christmas with Stu and Ashley was very fun and we REALLY loved all of the presents that we received (I definitely got the best present! :) )

When we got to Texas, my dad had just been admitted to the hospital and stayed in the hospital for the entire break. (More about that in a later post) Because of this, we had to adapt our Christmas a lot. My dad was in ICU on Christmas day so we couldn’t bring any presents to the hospital that day (no kids are allowed in ICU and only 2 visitors at a time). On Christmas day we opened our stockings and had a Christmas meal with my brother Bill and his in laws. It was a delicious meal and it was nice for James to spend time with his cousins, even though it was hard to be away from my dad and mom for most of that day.

A week after Christmas was when we actually opened our presents with my dad at the hospital. He was moved to a different part of the hospital so we brought the gifts to his room and opened them up.

Here is James’ Aunt Andrea and his two cousins whom he LOVES a lot!

To be funny, I got Bill some dollar sunglasses that were the shade of blue. For any of you that may know my brother, you know that he is hilarious, so I knew that he comments towards this gift would be memorable. He cracked all of us up as he made his sly remarks about these sunglasses.

Overall, even though this Christmas wasn’t typical and what we had planned, we enjoyed being around family!

Provo December Fun!

2011-01-11T10:29:00.001-07:00

James loves playing hide and seek, and he especially loves hiding in a pile full of pillows.

We haven’t had a lot of snow this winter and we were a little nervous that all of James’ snow gear would never get used! About a week into December though, we were finally able to use his snow pants and boots because a storm came barrelin’ down the mountain!

He usually likes touching the snow, but when we sat him in it, he wasn’t quite sure what to do

He soon learned that it tastes cold!

James loves the snow! Next on our list is to teach him snowboarding! …. j/k :)

Happy Birthday Ashley

2011-01-11T10:10:00.001-07:00

On December 12th we had the privilege of celebrating Ashley’s, Matt’s sister, birthday at our house! Ashley is definitely the aunt that James gets to see the most- last semester she helped us out a ton and watched James once a week while I was in class and Matt was working. We love Ashley a TON and hope she had a GrEaT birthday!!

Daddy and James Time

2011-01-11T09:50:00.001-07:00

James loves building forts with Matt (and Matt LOVES it too- he is a little kid at heart :) ). Here are some pictures of my two cuties :)

Thanksgiving 2010

2011-01-10T21:31:00.001-07:00

I absolutely love holidays! We always have an opportunity to be with family and I just love the feelings I get when I am around the people I love! This year we stayed close to Provo and celebrated Thanksgiving with some of Matt's side of the family. We were sad that we couldn't spend Thanksgiving with my family or Matt's family in Alaska, but we did have fun with Stu, Ashley, Great grandma and grandpa Evans, and some of our other aunts, uncles and cousins. Here are just a couple pictures of Thanksgiving day:

James loved playing with great Uncle Curtis

Look at those handsome brothers!

Grandma-great Evans insisted that she help cook the Thanksgiving meal

Stu and Grandpa-great relaxing on the couch while the food is cooking.

I guess Dallin and Ashley got a little jealous of all of the attention that Stu was getting from Grandpa-great!

One of the tables during the actual meal :)

He is We

2011-01-10T20:50:00.003-07:00

About a week and a half before Thanksgiving, we were able to have my little brother Adam come visit. He just came up for 8 or so days, and it was nice to have him in our home. James LOVED playing with him and it was nice to spend quality time with him. Adam has an AMAZING talent of being able to play the guitar REALLY well (like so well that he could do it as a profession). He is a lover of music and is always finding good bands to listen to. He likes 'folk' type music and introduced me to a band He is We. If you haven't heard of them you should check them out- I especially love the song "Happily Ever After".

I love you Adam! Come visit anytime!

Change in Scenery

2011-01-10T19:30:00.004-07:00

In November (before Thanksgiving), I wanted to change our living room a little bit. With a lot of persuasion on my part, Matt finally agreed to let me buy some frames and make a wall collage. I love the results!

At the same time I also had the Christmas itch. In previous years I always thought that people who put up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving were silly, but in my mind I rationalized it saying, "We won't have enough time to enjoy our decorations because of our Texas Christmas trip, so we NEED to put the Christmas tree up NOW so we can enjoy it". So, for the first time ever, we decorated our home Christmas style a few weeks before Thanksgiving.... and I loved it!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-28T11:38:00.003-07:00

Well, I have been horrible with updating the blog. The past month and a half have been crazy with studying for classes, taking finals, going to Texas (we are still in Texas) and taking care of lots of misc. things. I have a lot to catch up on, and I will (mostly for my sake- I kept this blogger as a mini-journal). For now though here is a highlight of what has happened.

Making homemade Christmas gifts. Studying like crazy for finals. Young Womens in Excellence. Matt graduating! A mini Christmas in Utah. Matt being accepted to dental school in Utah. Flying to Texas to visit family. My dad in the hospital (mostly in ICU) the ENTIRE time we are here. A very different Christmas (due to my dad being sick). James playing LOTS with his cousins. Matt looking for a job. Celebrating our wedding anniversary (which is today- yippee!)

Overall these past few months have been a rollercoaster ride with exciting things as well as devestating things. We have made it out alive and are happy at where we are as a family.

Next semester I will be taking my one L.A.S.T. class so I will definitely have more time to spend teaching James and hopefully blog about what he learns and the activities we do!

Tata for now :)

Can you guess what we Had for Dinner?

2010-11-13T19:40:00.001-07:00

(and yes the IS a huge bruise on his head… he is 100% BOY) :)

Our Little Rabbit

2010-11-12T19:38:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had BLT’s for dinner (one of my favorite meals). When both Matt and I are in the kitchen at the same time, we usually let James sit on the counter and ‘help’ us make dinner. Tonight we discovered that we have a little rabbit in our family :)

James LOVED lettuce- especially the crunchy part

He also liked tomatoes, but he went back to eating the lettuce

(side note: Just FYI in case you were curious, James has a band-aid on his finger and then we put Duck tape on top to make sure it stays since he sometimes wants to take them off)

Thanksgiving Craft

2010-11-10T17:49:00.001-07:00

So I DEFINITELY have the holiday 'itch'.

For the first time in my life I am listening to Christmas music BEFORE Thanksgiving..... and I LOVE it!

It seriously puts me in a more cheerful mood!

Don't get me wrong, I still love Thanksgiving- in fact, James and I did a craft today to send to our loved ones :)

We made lots more turkeys than are shown above, and I wanted to take pictures during the process, but a little boy with a messy hand does not mix with a camera.... so this will have to suffice. James loved doing this craft though. At first he was unsure of the squishy feeling, but as soon as he realized he was "stamping" his hand on paper, he LOVED it.

I also wanted to make the fingers different colors, but that was too hard with a 14 month old... maybe next year :)

Early Happy Thanksgiving!!

James’ Hideout Spots

2010-11-09T16:04:00.001-07:00

In our house, particularly our living room, James has his own spots that he likes to be. Randomly he will go to those spots, sit down and do nothing. I think its really cute and don’t mind him having his “me” time.

I gave James a stick of cheese and he immediately went to ‘his spot’ and sat down.

“Hey mom! You caught me!”

“You can’t get me!!”

James’ other spot in the livingroom

100% Boy

2010-11-09T15:43:00.001-07:00

James loves to mash up his food in his fingers whenever possible

James loves to take his bat everywhere and he tries to hit everything that he can (he is still learning what things are okay to hit and what isn’t okay to hit)

He loves to stand on things

James loves to bang on things and make noise- here he is with the Jack O Lantern lid banging it on the countertop

I love my calling :)

2010-11-09T15:23:00.001-07:00

We may be small in number, but they always make me smile :)

The 18th Anniversary of a 7th Birthday

2010-11-07T22:06:00.000-07:00

This past week we went to a birthday party for one of Matt's friends entitled, "Gabe's 18th Anniversary of his 7th Birthday"- I thought it was a cute way to say 25th birthday :) To celebrate the occasion, he had a logically themed "Dinosaur Party". This was perfect because James had a dinosaur costume that he wasn't able to wear for Halloween (that story will be explained in a later post). Here are just a few pictures :)

Here is James still at the house after he got dressed into his costume

All ready to go to his first college-costume-birthday party :)

James with the birthday boy Gabe... Gabe is acting like a dinosaur :)

Mallory, Bradley, Matt and James

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GABE!

Another Tender Mercy

2010-11-07T21:33:00.000-07:00

For those that don't know, Matt loves soccer. He has played on 5 or 6 intramural soccer teams throughout his time at BYU. BYU intramurals allow all teams to enter the playoff season and each team is eliminated in a single elimination competition until a champion is reached... so basically the entire regular season doesn't really mean anything since everyone can go to playoffs.

Every year Matt's team has had an AWESOME regular season, but they have NEVER been able to win a single playoff game.

:(

With Matt graduating this December, this was his last chance to clinch a playoff victory, and we were very excited to go (Even though the game started at James' regular bedtime).... we even said a prayer in the car for good luck :)

Within the first minute and a half of the game started I immediately knew this was going to be a rough night for Matt's team. Multiple players didn't show up leaving them shorthanded and the other team was REALLY good. Their foot skills were impeccable and they worked so well together. Matt was playing defense and within the first minute the guy that Matt was 'guarding' displayed some savvy footwork and scored a goal.

My heart sank.

I thought that the game was over and I was so sad for Matt because I knew how much this game meant to him. So what do I do? Well, I do what has worked for me in the past.... say a little prayer. It went a little something like this (quite literally): Heavenly Father, I am so grateful that Matt has an opportunity to play in this game because I know how much it means to him. I know that I shouldn't wish for the other team to lose, but Matt really wants to win this game. He hasn't been able to win a playoff game and he really wants to win one. I know I have asked for a lot of tender mercies, but if it is ok, please grant this particular tender mercy to Matt and I and allow his team to win the game.

I know it is a silly request, but at that moment, I deeply desired that Matt's team win the game because I knew HOW BADLY he wanted a victory. As soon as I said Amen (LITERALLY), the game completely changed. I don't know how exactly, but Matt's team just started clicking and by the end of the night it was 5-1 with Matt's team winning. In the car ride home, Matt said something like, Man I totally thought that we were going to lose tonight. Did you see how strong the other team was for the first couple minutes of the game?

I was then able to share with him this tender mercy and he too agrees that this game was definitely a gift from Heavenly Father.

I am so grateful for faith, prayer and tender mercies from my Heavenly Father.

A Fall Stroll

2010-11-07T20:55:00.000-07:00

Cute little bums :)

James had a fascination with throwing rocks in the water... I think it reminded him of splashing around in the bathtub (something he LOVES to do)

My handsome boys :)

Throwing rocks in the water again

He also LOVES making noises- combine that with rocks and you get a little boy who is in heaven!

Playing in the leaves right in front of our complex

1 Samuel 1:27

2010-10-14T19:24:00.000-06:00

"For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him" (1 Sam. 1:27)

You may (or may not) know, but when we found out that I was pregnant, I was excited and surprised. From that moment forward, every night during my night time prayers I would say, "I am so grateful to be pregnant, and if it be thy will, please grant me a tender mercy and let my child's eyes be blue" (or something to that effect). I know you are not suppose to have repititous prayers, but I sincerely wanted this seemly insignificant wish. I have deep brown eyes and Matt has hazel eyes, so the odds were not favorable, but I knew that Heavenly Father is a God of miracles.

And because of tender mercies I have this to look at everyday.

Everytime I look at his blue eyes I am reminded that God really does hear and answer our prayers... however insignificant they may seem to other people or the world.

Play Time with Friends!

2010-10-04T09:31:00.001-06:00

I am so grateful for all of my old college friends, especially my past roommates. This past weekend we were all able to get together and reunite (except for Alex and Brandi). It was so nice to see everyone! I haven't seen Kortney and her husband Jason in over a year, and we got to meet Lisa's fiance! (he lives out of state currently). Here are lots of pictures from the night! (Megan and Fallon- let me know if you want me to email these to you).

James loves playing with Claire! He was grumpy and crying before leaving the house, and when we asked him, "Do you want to see Claire?", he immediately stopped crying, started smiling, and nodding his head yes, yes, yes! Here he is giving her a massage :)

James loves water, and when Matt and I weren't paying attention, James headed over to the puddle. I noticed him near the water and yelled for him to stop, but it was too late. The puddle went all the way to his knees! Even though he was wet for the rest of the night, I think he thought it was well worth it!

James and Creed

Lisa holding Claire

James was going down the slide EVERY way except the right way- on his tummy, standing up, backwards... oh our silly boy!

I absolutely love this picture!

I love James smile in this picture!

The three amigos playing on the bridge

The boys going down the slide!

All three of the kids together again!

Claire loved hanging from the bars

Creed liked being held up high by his mom :)

What a cute couple! Lisa and Steven are engaged! Yay!

So all of the husbands played the game below (called Ladderball). Later we played it as couples. It was a fierce competition, but Megan and Kade came out on top!

Meanwhile James was playing in the dirt- he LOVES dirt!

Brice (Fallon's husband) and Kade (Megan's husband) playing Ladderball

The kiddos sitting on the rock while their parents play Ladderball

James coming to show us what he found- an acorn!

Kortney and Jason watched the kids while Megan and Fallon played- she is going to be such a good mom someday!

Claire wanted to play with the balls too!

The World's Favorite Past Time

2010-10-01T10:08:00.000-06:00

So I have been trying to learn more about my camera in order to take better action shots, and I would consider it a work in progress. Here are pictures of Matt playing soccer this past week (his little brother Stu is the blonde guy that are in some of the pictures). The lighting wasn't the greatest during this time of day, so some of the pictures are a little washed out.

Look at all of the sweat in Matt's hair! Gross!

A New Stage of Life

2010-09-29T16:16:00.000-06:00

James has entered a new stage of life- the communication phase- I like to call it. It has its ups and downs, and I am still learning how to best parent it. James now understands practically everything that we say or ask, but he hasn't learned how to communicate with words yet. With some things he doesn't need words because we understand him-

For example:

- If he wants to be held he will come up to me and just look at me or rest his head on me. I then ask him if he would like to be held. He nods yes. I tell him, "Say yes" and he just nods more vigorously.

- If he wants to go outside he brings me his shoes. If I don't respond or say "not now" he will bring me my shoes. He does say "Shhh" if I tell him to "Say shoes", but doesn't say it without a prompt.

- If he wants a drink he will sign "milk"- sometimes he means water, other times milk, and other times he gets his 'milk' sign confused with another sign and I dont know what he wants.

- If he wants to play with me he will bring me a toy (or book)

These examples definitely make it a lot easier to understand and communicate with James. It is nice knowing that if he is hungry he will tell me (even though he may be picky about what he eats), or if I get too wrapped up in cooking he will let me know...

BUT what has been hard is the fact that he can't talk. He understands everything and wants to communicate how he feels, but most of the time he can't say what he wants or feels... which leads to a frustrated little boy. When he is frustrated he usually whines, sometimes bawls, sometimes bites. Most of the time if we dont understand him or don't give him what he wants, he goes to the couch, puts his head in the cushion and sobs.

Some say ignore the behavior.
Some say timeout is the way to go.
Some say hold him until he calms down.
And sometimes you just want to give in so he stops crying.

Oh the joys of parenting.

I have so much more appreciation for parents... I wish parenting came with an exact instruction guide for each child.

They say that girls are easier because they learn to talk faster.... hopefully I have a least one girl! (Even though I think I prefer boys)

Wish me luck :)

Round 1- Success

2010-09-24T09:11:00.000-06:00

The past week and a half I have had this due:

- 3 Essays
- 1 Quiz
- 3 Tests

And now it is complete and I can breath!

3 Essays- went well... I feel confident in what I wrote
1 Quiz- 100%
3 Tests- 86%, 90%, 93%

I thought I aced all of the tests as I was taking them but apparently not :( I am still happy with the grades though :)

.... And this doesn't include all of the assignments and tests Matt has taken this past week and a half... needless to say it has been a BUSY week, but it is amazing how easily things work out when you put the Lord, family and service (our callings) first!

WE ARE BLESSED!

Matt's Soccer Game

2010-09-23T15:42:00.000-06:00

Matt is playing intramural soccer again, and so James and I get to support him at his games. This was one of Matt's first games. I wanted to take more pictures of Matt and his brother Stuart, but James kept wanting to get the soccer ball on the field (even though he had his own), so needless to say I only was able to get a few shots.

James and Matt playing soccer before the game. James LOVES kicking the ball!

He loved throwing the ball, running to it and kicking it back to the starting place.

Matt playing soccer- he had some awesome moves, I wish I would have gotten them on camera!

I am not sure why this picture looks a little wider, but it is really cute when it is normal :)

For our Family :)

2010-09-23T15:28:00.001-06:00

Here are some pictures of James for our family that is away :) Enjoy :)

James loves sitting in the rocking chair by himself and he loves any gear that deals with sports. Anytime he sees a bat, soccer ball, football or small basketball he immediately gravitates towards it, no matter what else is available.

Another thing that James LOVES is baths. Whenever we mention the word he heads directly to the bathroom. After his bath he like to run around the house with his hooded towel and act like a snake (grandpa Shipley would be proud). He "Sssssss's" and attacks us (especially Matt).

James is playing with one of Matt's belts- he is in this phase (and has been for the past few months) where he likes things that he can do and undo, then do and undo. For example, he likes to buckle the belt and unbuckle it OVER and OVER again. He also likes to put things into containers and take them out again (toys, crayons in the box, etc.)

He likes to look in the mirror and recently he tries to take the mirror off of the wall and look behind it to see what/who is there.

James loves to be in the bathroom with us- he LOVES to brush his teeth (but doesn't like for us to brush his teeth... which makes it hard since he doesn't do a good job on his own), he likes to watch us brush our hair and then brush his, he ALWAYS wants to flush the toilet and pull the toilet paper, and he likes to watch Matt shave.

So basically we have the cutest little boy ever!

Do you know what is behind YOUR dryer?

2010-09-23T15:05:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago we went down to southern Utah for a family reunion (see last post for more details) and I accidently left a load of wash in the washer... yuck! Typically I would have gotten the clothes out, and then rewashed them, but I was in a rush so I just stuck soap in and started it up.... bad idea. I guess the clothes were stuck to the washer so well that when the water from the washer needed to drain, it couldn't.

As most people know when the washer goes through one cycle, it fills and empties the water multiple times....

So.....

we ended up with a wet floor and a paniced Stephanie.

Luckily I had caught the flood pretty early, so there wasn't that much water on the ground.

And luckily the washer doesn't have carpet under it (linoleum instead).

Well, to make a long story short, everything was fine and it was an easy fix. We decided to move the washer and dryer and clean the floor just to make sure that mold wouldn't grow.

In the process this is what we found:

Do you know what that is???? Here is a closer look:

IT'S A BIRD!!! When we removed the silver duct, this is what we found in the entrance to the back of our dryer! If you look closely in this picture, you can see the beak and everything!

I have no clue how long it has been in there... this is the first time that we have cleaned behind the dryer in two years.

And no it didn't stink! Here is another picture when we put it in the trash next to Matt's hand (so you can get a comparison for size purposes)

So- I will ask the question again-

DO YOU KNOW WHAT IS BEHIND YOUR DRYER????

Mauger Family Reunion

2010-09-07T19:30:00.000-06:00

This past weekend we went to Summit, Utah for a family reunion- the family is Matt mom's side. I have over a hundred pictures from this past weekend, so here are a few of my favorite :)
NOTE: Andrea- In one picture James is wearing the suit that your mom bought him- he looksa adorable and we love it! Thank you!

2nd Note: There are too many pictures to comment, so if you have any questions, just ask!

12 Months!

2010-09-06T21:46:00.000-06:00

Well, as most people know, James is 1 year old! He is such a joy to be around, even if the whining phase has started. He is such a funny character and has such a lovable personality.

Everyone that meets him always asks, "Is he always this happy?" or "Does he always smile and laugh this much?". He still loves to cuddle with you when he wakes up and when he is tired or sad. He loves walking, and he has the bruises to show it! He NEVER crawls anymore, and he learned early to stand up on his own without leaning onto things.

James has learned to throw his food when he is all done eating. He will do the sign language for "all done" and then will continue by throwing his food off of his tray- that silly guy! In Texas he would feed the dog Einstein.

His FAVORITE thing to do is put things away- he loves picking up objects, whether they be his toys, shoes, leaves, ANYTHING and putting into to something- the trash, a random box, under the couch, in my purse, in his toy box, etc.

He is such a BIG helper when it comes to cleaning toys away, but thanks to him I have lost my iPod several times just to find it tucked away in a secret corner.

He loves eating by himself. He has started using a spoon and usually will eat about 5-7 spoonfuls and then plays with the rest of it (usually it is either yogurt or applesauce). He doesn't like plain chicken, but likes chicken nuggets. He doesn't like sweets (like cake, donuts, cookies, etc.) as much as he likes green beans.

He has digressed a little bit when it comes to talking- he used to say Mama, Dada, Ba (ball), baba (bottle) and a few other words but now it is mostly "Ugh" while pointing to an object, with an occasional "mama" when he is crying. He does use a little bit of sign language which helps out a lot- he knows milk, drink, eat, more, all done and shakes his head yes or no to almost any question we ask him. It is the cutest thing to see him shake his head yes because his entire body shakes.

At the doctors appointment he weighed in at 23 lbs. 10 oz. He head circum. was off of the charts (about the 120%), but the Mauger side has always had big heads, so that isn't a surprise. Overall though he is in the 67% for boys his age, which we are happy about.

He sleeps from about 9 pm - 7 am, and then takes two naps, one from 10-12, and then other one usually from 3-4.

He LOVES LOVES LOVES going outside. Whenever I ask him if he would like to go outside, he shakes his head Yes and gets a HUGE smile on his face. I then tell him to bring me his shoes, and one at a time, he gets his shoes from the basket and lets me put them on him.

He loves to explore everything, so we always have to keep the bathroom and bedroom doors closed. We had to put a lock on our oven, our cabinet under the sink, our pantry, and our entertainment center. He is allowed to explore the other kitchen cabinets that have his bowls in them, pots and pans, tupperware, etc.

He is such a good listener- if we ask him to go get something or to go find someone, he listens.

Emotional.

2010-09-02T10:42:00.000-06:00

Right now James is sleeping and I should be:

1. Doing the dishes
2. Cleaning the living room
3. Making the bed
4. Reading my class textbooks
5. Working on YW stuff

BUT instead I have been looking at pictures of James for the past hour. I can't believe that he has been in my life for a year, and like many can predict, I have so many mixed feelings. I am so proud of all of his accomplishments and how independent he is becoming but I am so sad that it is going by so fast. I can't describe how much I love his personality and how his face lights up whenever he sees me, but it is also so difficult to handle his newly acquired tantrums. He is getting so big and I feel so overwhelmed with what I have to be for him:

A teacher- someone who teaches him his letters, numbers, colors, body parts, how to be reverent, how to pray, how to read for more than 5 minutes, how to use a spoon correctly, etc.

A 'discipliner' (even though I don't think that a word)- someone who completely ignores his tantrums and praises him when he is not throwing a tantrum. Someone that tells him what is dangerous even though he cries because he wants to play with it, someone who will spend 20 minutes cleaning toys up with him when it would only take her 20 seconds.

A Nurse- someone that holds him when he falls down while walking, someone that knows how to handle his teething symptoms, someone who helps him brush his teeth even though he wants to do it himself.

A cuddle partner- someone who will hold him when he is tired or just waking up, someone who will hold him when he meets new people, especially men, someone, only by the name of MOM, who he wants to hold him even when there are half a dozen other people who could hold him.

A cook- someone who will come up with an assortment of healthy food options to give to him on a tight budget, someone who is willing to have their meal rejected by him because he wants a different meal (even though he usually loves that meal)

A good wife- someone who he sees loves his daddy and is doing nice things for him, someone that doesn't get frustrated or raise their voice at daddy but instead gives daddy hugs and kisses.

An adventurer- someone who will take him out into the world to see and experience everything good that the world has to offer, someone who will have fun with him at the park, someone who will teach him what the fruits are called in the stores and what the animals are at the zoo

I love being a mom, but I definitely feel overwhelmed at times with everything that I want to be for my little guy. To add to that, I also want to be an A+ student, an excellent YW President, a good friend who actually talks and hangs out with her girlfriends, and most important, a good wife.

Lately I have found myself especially lacking in the latter category. I guess with all of the pressure I am feeling, the person that I take it out on is Matt. We do have a great relationship, and we try never to go to sleep upset at each other, but I have noticed myself expecting too much out of him and I always seem to want him to do things on my schedule. I am sorry. From this point on I am going to try to be better to him and I think by doing so (hopefully), everything else will fall into place and I will feel less stressed.

I still need to blog about James' birthday party and his 12 month stats and accomplishments, but for now I will do the list of chores at the top of this blog :)

Thanks for letting me vent :)

Missions Baseball Game

2010-08-19T22:27:00.000-06:00

So tonight my entire family and I went to the Missions baseball game- it was really fun and there was a breeze so it wasn't too bad.... and what was best was that it was DOLLAR NIGHT- $1 popcorn, $1 soda, and even better... $1 Beer! (TOTALLY just joking about the beer... we definitely don't drink :) ) Here are some pictures:

Uncle David with James before going into the stadium

Here is the family- Bill, Andrea, Micaela and Brooklynn were in the row behind us and I didn't take any good pictures of them, but just imagine them there :)

The Missions, the team we were rooting for, is in black. As you can see, he is SAFE!

James clapping because they made a good play. Everytime James heard anyone clap, he would start clapping.

Micaela is such a good cousin- she shared her pickle with James, tried to comfort him when he was grumpy, walked around with him when he needed a break from sitting, and played peek-a-boo with him!

A picture of our view as the sun was setting

Towards the end of the game family photo- we were able to get James a little bat just like Matt had a little bat when he was little (his was a 'Tigers' team bat though...not as cool as a 'Missions' team bat!)

Field Trip!

2010-08-19T22:02:00.001-06:00

This past week decided to go to the San Antonio Children's Museum with my brother David, my sister-in-law Andrea, and James' two cousins Brooklynn and Micaela. There was so much to do there, and all of the little kids loved it! Here are some pictures:

This water contraption pushed toy boats from one end to another. I was really surprised that James didn't try to play in the water because his hands are typically a magnet to water.

They had little furniture that was the perfect size for James and Micaela, and Micaela loved sitting next to her little cousin.

Matt and James playing with the wind organ.

Ms. Meteorologist Micaela

James LOVES mimicking use when it comes to talking on the phone- he will turn anything- remote controls, ipod, playing cards, anything- into a phone by putting it up to his ears like so.

James and Micaela playing with blocks

Standing next to Mr. David Robinson

Going down the slide with mommy

This was a neat tube- it had bubbles going constantly and whichever color button you pushed would turn the water that color. James loved it

Playing in the little kids zone

James loves feeling different textures- at that moment he was touching marbles

The first time James was able to play in sand- he loved it! (boy I am saying that a lot!)

This ball area was his favorite area- the metal pipe had air blowing and if you put a ball directly above it, it would balance the ball in the air by itself- James thought that it was fascinating!

We had such a fun day exploring our world with Micaela, Andrea, Brooklynn and David!

Edited Pictures

2010-08-17T16:55:00.000-06:00

So I have some editing software that came with my camera- I am still learning how to use it, and it doesn't compare to what photoshop cando, but I really enjoy messing with it. Here are some pictures that have been edited.

Here is Micaela, James' cousin. We went over to Micaela's pool the other day and these pictures are mostly from that trip.

Matt and James- I wish James' eyes were open, but it is a cute smile

Micaela- I wish I had that tan!

Matt and James again

Micaela and James swimming together

Uncle David and James pushing Uncle Adam under the water

Cousin Brooklynn chillin in her car seat after swimming

In black and white

Micaela

James after the pool

So this is the dog Einstein- he is a cute, VERY active Jack Russell. He has a long tail and likes to chase it. He can go around and around chasing it- this picture was taking while doing so :)

Texas Vacation Part Three- NATURAL BRIDGE CAVERNS!

2010-08-14T20:04:00.000-06:00

So today we decided to go to the largest underground area in Texas- Natural Bridge Caverns! I haven't gone since I was in elementary school, and Matt and James had never been, so we thought we would check it out! Some of the pictures could have been better, but since I am still learning how to use my camera, it is a work in progress!

James with Grandpa headed to the caves!

So this is the "Natural Bridge" part of "Natural Bridge Caverns"...and of course we couldn't walked across it.

Uncle David, Uncle Adam, and Matt headed to the caves

Grandma and Grandpa Shipley with James headed to the caves

This is what the caves looked like. It was about 70 degrees with 99.99 percent humidity, so it felt much warmer. By the end of the tour James' hair was drenched!

The family minus me taking a photo

Some of the cool structures from the cave. While taking the tour I learned that the cave is still growing and throughout the walk little water droplets fell on us from these structures- crazy!

Here was a little pond from all of the water that collected!

Here is one of the bad lighting photos but I still like it

James and Dad!

Uncle Adam posing

Towards the end we had to go through a small tunnel that almost knocked out James a few times!

Outside of the cave taking a breather

The caves left James so tired that he zonked out immediately in the car.

Like father like son :)

Texas Vacation Part Two- Pool!

2010-08-14T19:44:00.000-06:00

It is SUPER hot in Texas (the first full day we were here is hit 100 degrees!) So, what better than going to the pool when it is hot! James has only been to the pool once, but it was an indoor pool. Here are pictures from the neighborhood, outdoor pool that we went to- enjoy!

Matt is wearing James hat and I have a goofy face... it was really sunny!

James learned how to kick within minutes of being in the pool and absolutely loved it!

Grandpa Shipley with James!

Me and James- this was the first day EVER where James didn't mind wearing a hat... maybe it is because he really needed it that day and finally understood a hats' use!

Grandpa and James again

Playing in his floatie

Adam and David

James trying to kick his way over to Uncle David

Uncle Adam and James- James REALLY likes water

Daddy and James- so happy!