family and marriage

MONDAY! I feel so refreshed, ready for whatever this week will bring. Tons of energy here. This weekend was a restful weekend. Lincoln has officially transitioned to sleeping throughout the night, an occassional hiccup here or there but this new mom feels great. This weekend we had the opportunity to hear from an Apostle from The The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Elder Russell M. Ballard.

Ryan and I left the church meetings with a stronger testimony of the importance of family and committment in marriage. He talked about how he and his wife, every night, take each other by the hand and say, "I'm grateful I had one more day with you." And this is how Ryan and I both feel about each other. We are grateful. We know our marriage is eternal and our committment to each other and the gospel will keep us strong and help us endure through everything. There is no way Satan can destroy our marriage when we stay committed. This doesn't mean our marriage will be perfect. But when we view our marriage and the covenants we made with each other seriously, the troubles we will face will be overcome through our committment to each other and to our family.

Family is so important, and when I see these two boys, I can't help but think how wonderful life is.

9/52, 10/52

Even though Linc is still small, he's growing so fast. Here are pictures of week 9 and 10 of Lincoln and a few more things I've picked up in the Parenthood Club. Highlight of week 9, he slept from 11p-6a. :)

Parenthood Club Knowledge:
1. Add concealer to your make-up routine.
I've never been into makeup. I know I should wear more, but I hate putting it on, and I hate having to wash it off at night. So you could pretty much attribute my few pieces of make-up to pure laziness. One item I haven't bought in probably over 10 years is concealer... that is, until last week. We had family photos and I needed to take drastic measures to cover the dark circles under my eyes. As much as I feel like a haggard mother, I'd rather not look like one.

2. Get used to the awkward-timing sharts. (is there ever really a good time though?)
Last Sunday at church, a sister was giving a beautiful spiritual lesson. She was filled with a few tears while sharing her testimony. There was a silence as she took a few moments to gather her emotions... and then it happened. As I held Linc over my shoulder, he ripped a loud one. I had a few sisters turn around and look back. I just avoided eye-contact, checked Lincoln's diaper so they were aware it was in fact him, grabbed the diaper bag and bolted for the door while biting my tongue from laughing. Will I ever not find a fart completely hilarious? I'm so immature.

 

--speaking of interruptions during spiritual settings--
Ryan and I teach Sunday school to the youth. One of the girls in our class loves to hold Lincoln and we're glad to have extra helping hands as we teach. She was holding him and feeding him a bottle during last weeks lesson on reverence (of all topics) when literally, mid-sentence, Ryan said "Look! Lincoln is holding the bottle by himself!" That's when I had to continue the interruption of the reverencelesson and say, "Time-out from the lesson! Everyone look how cute he is holding his own bottle!" Another first for him. We're so proud.

 

i can fish too

Ok. Maybe, more than likely, Ryan was the one who caught the fish. And maybe, more than likely once again, he let me real it in for him. But either way, I like to pretend I can fish while talking in an accent and wearing a mumu.

memorial

This weekend went by fast, as they always do. But maybe it was a little bit slower since Linc and I had daddy home an extra day. We had our family pictures taken Friday and Linc behaved wonderfully. It was a bit of a nightmare trying to plan family pictures around Linc's schedule. Obviously we didn't want him sleeping, and we especially didn't want him fussy or hungry. So the fact that we had a solid 30 minutes of him cooperating was a true blessing for this mother.

There's a place up the road from where we live I've been patiently waiting for Ryan to take me to. It's this gem on the outskirts of Phoenix. You have to know where it's at because you'd drive right by it without knowing. I decided this weekend would be the weekend. I got up with Lincoln and we walked there. That's when I texted Ryan and told him to come meet us. I figured this was a better approach to getting Ryan out of bed early because asking him at 7am if he wanted to go out to eat, I'm sure I would have heard him mumble something and pull the covers over his head.

The rest of the weekend Lincoln and Ryan had some major bonding time. Ryan's been super busy with either work or church meetings so the long weekend was nice to see them together. Linc loves sleeping on Ryan's chest so there was a lot of that going on. I'm pretty sure every nap this weekend was in his daddy's arms. And then there's the annoying mom who takes pictures of them while they're trying to sleep.

a day of firsts

Ok. I'm thrilled it's Friday. It was barely 8 this morning and already we had a first. I had Linc doing tummy-time while i was in the kitchen making breakfast. I look over the counter at him and see he's on his back and I'm like WHAAAAT ? That's not how I left you, kid.

 

I put my growling stomach on hold for a minute, flipped him back over onto his stomach and BAM! he rolled over again. Yes, this all happened before 8am. What else could the day possibly have in store for us?
 

Oh yes, our first family photos.... but with a baby this time.

 

Ryan and I did have our first family photos taken of the two of us while we lived in Hawaii by THIS dear friend of ours, Christal. She had just gotten her first DSLR and was apparently starting to "learn" how to use her camera and take beautiful photos, but clearly her pictures prove otherwise.

 

Raw talent that girl has.

 

And now after two years and a baby in the family, it's time for our first family photo with a baby on my hip. :) I imagine it will be something like this, but hopefully not as creepy looking.

(sorry Christal if I massacred your beautiful picture. The original copy is safely untouched.)

backyard fishin

One of our favorite things about living in Idaho was the short jaunt to a nearby river for Ryan to fly fish. I would tag along, snacks in one hand and my journal in the other. I'd sit in our camping chair or bring a blanket to sprawl out on in my swim suit and soak up the sun. That was our idea of a relaxing weekend. Who would have thought I would miss Idaho so much?

 

Last night we laughed about how we can still have that country experience here in the city with some minor differences.

1. Our short jaunt to a quiet and secluded river would be

 our canal in the backyard with people jogging by us.

 

2. We'd still get a beautiful view of the sunset but this time

over downtown instead of miles and miles of potato fields.

 

3. And some beautiful powerlines as backdrops for

my pictures instead of the Teton mountains.

 

We can see the good wherever we live. Ha. But one thing we have going for us that is a TON better than those days in Idaho... Ryan now has a little fishing partner.

turn that frown upside down

A miracle happened this weekend.

 

This weekend I got what every mother wants. A weekend full of sleep. I'm not talking a cat-nap here and there; I'm talking about full on sleep, 3 nights in a row. Lincoln has transitioned to only one middle-of-the-night feeding! This is HUGE NEWS PEOPLE--- like, ALERT THE PRESS news.

 

It could have been a weekend fluke, tonight we'll know for sure. But this mommy is being optimistic. I'm attributing Linc's success to his 2 month birthday today. That second month is full of milestones. Not only is he sleeping more at night, he's cooing full-on novels, grinning his gummy smile every chance he gets, and is officially... a thumb sucker (with an occassional pointer finger too).

Is there anything this boy can't do?!?

And onto a personal milestone...

 

my first FINISHED refurbished furniture.

 

Ryan is a pretty conservative guy when it comes to decorating our home. Let me rephrase, yes he is conservative in style, but his idea of a well-decorated home is one that's somewhat clean. When I ask him if he likes this-or-that for the home, he responds, "Whatever you like." Sigh---I love this man.

 

Truth is, if he really allowed me to have whatever I liked in the house he would start caring. A pink retro fridge, a floral 50's couch, a turquoise kitchen table.... yah, that wouldn't happen. So when it came to picking out colors for our TV credenza, I chose a conservative gray for Ryan, and a pop of color for me. And who says I don't know how to compromise. :)

much needed

Last Friday Ryan and I went out on a much needed date. Just the two of us. And it was the first official date since Lincoln and we were excited to have some alone time. A romantic dinner and a movie is probably typical for a lot of people, but not us. For the first date as parents I wanted to feel like we were still young and crazy...even though we're both ready for bed by 9. I think we had fun considering we were home before 11.

I saw this place called The Lodge on a food show. It was ranked #1 for a sandwich and after seeing that it was a burger and not far from where we lived, I knew I had to take Ryan. Two grilled cheese sandwiches and a burger inbetween. Gross right? Ryan loves these challenges. I won't even tell you how many calories and cholesterol were in this thing. I don't know whether to be proud or disgusted that my husband ate the whole thing like it was a bowl of cereal. I guess since I'm the wife and I'm the one who took him there, I should be proud.

And what's a better way for Ryan to burn of those calories? We went paintballing afterwards. It was a first for us and it was HILARIOUS. We walked in and you could tell we were not hardcore like the adult men and teenage boys that were sizing us up and down. I had this vision of me in the corner hiding the entire time.

 

First game was head shots only. I think I fired twice before getting creamed. Same for Ryan. Except his shot was a bulls-eye to his face mask. I think he fired twice too. But next round, we wreacked havoc and pretty much terrorized the other team best we could. I like to think one of my stray bullets hit someone....

 

date night success.

 

8/52 dang doctor's appointment

PC Knowledge:
Eating while breastfeeding can get messy. I'm always down for killing two birds with one stone-- figuratively, not literally. So when Linc eats, I eat. But I'll warn anyone who does this: It can get messy. Maybe I'm the one that needs to wear a bib. Lincoln doesn't mind though.... he's a little preoccupied anyway. It's just more cleaning for me to do and the less the better.

Son, your mama was about to unleash her crazy side too. I didn't enjoy seeing you get your shots as much as you. If only I could give you the lollipop for what you had to go through. Even though I ate one for you, it only made me feel a little bit better about the whole ordeal.

my first

I've learned two things from this picture.
1. my husband has trouble taking a focused picture, but really good at taking blurry ones.
2. i look ghostly white next to my olive-skinned baby.
Regardless, I'm one blessed mommy and my first mother's day was wonderful. My appreciation, respect, and gratitude has grown for my mother now that I've become a mother myself. It's true you will never understand the love a parent has for their child until the day your own baby is wrapped up in your arms and has stolen your heart.  Thank you mom for loving me and teaching me to love others, to love life, and to love myself. I love you.

oh and for a mother's day gift, Lincoln only got up once in the night and slept in until 7:30!!!! Thank you baby!!! I LOVED MY GIFT. :)