Andrew {5 months!}

Well I'm a bit more organized for today's post...I always forget the things I want to say/report that he's done/etc. but this month I kept a list on my phone and when I thought of something I'd grab my phone and type it in and now I have a long list for all of you! :)

SO today my wonderful boy is 5 months old! I can't believe it, as usual :) He seems so much older sometimes, which I don't like, and is, definitely, much bigger than Evelyn was at this age, which makes him seem older too. He's SO active right now and wants to just soak everything in around him. He's still pretty nosy and just wants to watch everybody and get involved in everything. He's grabbing EVERYTHING he can get his hands on right now....the second you put something in range he makes a grab for it. And then of course it all goes right in his mouth :) He's still pretty chewy/slobbery but no teeth. He's discovered his toes lately too and those go in his mouth too :)

Andrew is such a little character and I love how happy and sweet he is. I LOVE his sweet little smile and LOVE when he laughs and just LOVE everything about him. :) He is starting to get a bit of separation anxiety...he notices when I leave the room/walk away from him and gets upset about it. Every Wednesday I go to the youth activity for my new calling at church and 95% of the time when I get him he's crying his eyes out. He definitely likes his Momma at bed time! :) He's funny when he falls asleep though. I likes to fall asleep with his head in the crook of your neck and slobbers all over and also tends to laugh as he's falling asleep, which is hilarious. You'll think he's finally out and then out comes a little giggle. So cute!

He doesn't quite like his crib but I think we found a solution to that. He does like to sleep on our bed and the guest bed but not his crib so I took the quilted padding thing we put on our guest bed and folded it up and put it under his sheet and now he's starting to like it. I guess he doesn't quite like the harder mattress :) He wasn't sleeping very well for most of the month....still waking up 2-4 times a night. But now that we've worked out the mattress thing he's been sleeping longer initially, which is great! He still wakes up 2 times, usually 2-3ish and 5ish and lately has been wanting to wake up at 6:30 and stay awake, which isn't fun....cuz then he falls back asleep after 30 minutes or so and that's when I get up so he's robbing me of my last half hour....luckily he's such a sweetie to wake up to! :)

His favorite blankie is the one Grammy made for him. He all of a sudden a month or so ago decided he won't take a binky anymore...at allllll. Which is pretty frustrating sometimes! I'm glad he's not dependent on it but sometimes they are pretty handy :) He still fits in his infant car seat but is SO heavy that I switched it out for the big one now, which he seems to like better! I think he likes being up higher and being able to see outside more and can see Evelyn more too. He's starting to sit up better too but can't sit all by himself quite yet. He moves around too much to sit by himself :)

He's starting to move more though...he still hasn't rolled over from back to front but is SUPER close but he is starting to scoot back and around when he's lying on the floor. He also moves around in a circle when he's in his exersaucer and plays with all the toys on it.

He's starting to eat more baby food....mostly bananas so far cuz I always have those on hand and haven't bought much baby food yet but so far is pretty excited about it! When he's really hungry/really likes what I'm feeding him, he gets upset between bites and cries til he gets the next bite :) He's still mainly nursing though but the past few days, when he's done nursing and still awake, he's started to "bite" me...which, holy cow! that hurts! Hopefully he gets over that quick! :)

So yeah! There's my list! :) And here's some pics with some more about the boy! :)

I put this comparison up awhile ago...so cute!!! :) It's funny how similar they look but at the same time not...I think it's mainly the hair :)

Yummy feet!

Month 1-5! :)

Some more pics I snapped today...

He loves to do this....He's always trying to get up and does these little sit ups

tummy time!

He really wanted my camera while we were doing this :)

SO cute!

Blowing bubbles! That's another thing he's learned to do and does it ALL the time! :)

His hair was getting pretty crazy on the sides so I had my friend Gwyn trim them down...here's the before....

and after...although this wasn't a very good after pic....it looks so much better though! Next we are trimming the top! :)

First time in a high chair! 

Happy new year! :)

I LOVE these legs!!!!!!!!! nothing better than chubby baby legs!

Gwyn put a play wig on him :) He wasn't too happy :)

First time on a swing! He LOVED it! 

sweet little cheeks! :)

Now that he's not in his infant seat he has to sit in the cart so I made him a cart cover :)

before we "padded" his crib mattress...napping on the guest bed! :)

And there's the end! :) I'm gonna try and do a post soon that's not a monthly update on him and has more of Evelyn in it :) I have a few projects I've done and also a photo shoot idea to do of my boy, although it's more Valentine's-ish so I might do it later. :) anyway, love you all!

“Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it; and this path is virtue, uprightness, faithfulness, holiness, and keeping all the commandments of God.” {Joseph Smith}

I've noticed as the new year starts and as people make resolutions, goals, etc. that there are quite a few out there (mostly blogs I follow) that choose a word for the year and use it for their theme/goal/what have you. My dear sister Annie has done it on her blog the past few years as well, which is where I saw it first, and since she's such an inspiration to me I thought I would give it a try! :)

This past week has been a bit of a tough one for me, mostly because it started out with the New Year and us staying up past 1am and I just feel like I haven't had a chance to catch up on sleep/recoop! I was utterly exhausted the next day and then Andrew hasn't been sleeping well because he's been teething like crazy still. On a good night he wakes up 3 times...the worst was 6-7 times...ugh! So I've been super sluggish/cranky/irritated/tired/grumpy/and just all around blah. I've never been a happy tired person in the first place so as you can imagine this week was a long one for me. I definitely let it get to me and affect my day to day life.

So as I was going along the past couple days trying to think of "word" for the year I had a hard time pinning it down...I knew the feeling I wanted and still haven't hit the perfect word to sum it but came up with "positive". I chose this because it can go in so many different directions and they are all things I was trying to sum up.

I found this quote and made a little printable to put in my house to remind me everyday of my "word" goal :)

I want my life to be more positive. I want to be more positive in myself, in my talents, in my calling at church (I am in the Young Women's presidency and work with the YW every week for activities, classes, etc.). I want to be a good leader/role model/example to these girls and being an distant/unhappy/grump isn't going to help achieve that. :) I want to be a more positive/happy presence in my home because, as the saying goes, "If Momma ain't happy, nobody happy." :) Which is really such a true saying! I know that my attitude definitely affects my little family...if I'm having a bad day and am cranky/irritable/impatient, Evelyn gets crankier/talks back more/listens less...Andrew isn't as affected since he's a baby and Mark is gone most of the day but definitely can tell if I'm not having a good day when he gets home and that affects the short precious time we have together during the week days and I don't want that time to be spent being irritated/unhappy and ruin it.

I'm always so doubtful about myself and sometimes still feel like an unsure/uncertain/awkward teenager at times and really want to feel like a more confident adult...I'm a married woman (nearly 5 years now!) and the mother of two children! I shouldn't feel like an awkward teenager :) Although, I guess luckily, I don't come off like that, which I feel I do, but I had a friend today say that she didn't think I was the type of person to have someone push around/walk all over/or something to that affect ;) I don't feel confident in myself and by doing so I restrict myself when, if I let myself, I could be growing and learning and pushing myself and earning that confidence by doing so.

One thing pertaining to that is my photography...I feel SO slacking in my abilities here and am not pushing myself forward because I feel that way. I feel like I don't know anything and that everyone else is just so much more knowledgeable about photography and I feel inadequate/embarrassed/nervous talking to anyone that really does know their stuff. I've read up on basic-how-to's, read articles, gotten pamphlets from professionals I follow and things just don't click! There are just SO many different little things to learn and I feel like I just can't get them straight in my head...I know it takes time and someday it'll just come automatic but right now I've been a downer and so I stopped "studying" my material which of course is leading me nowhere! :)

This is also pushing me back on actually doing any sessions outside of people I know/have talked to. I feel since I feel so un-knowledgeable that I'll screw up and I would hate to have a client and disappoint them. I still get SUPER nervous when I do a session but luckily I do take pretty good pics and/or can fix them up good in Photoshop :) SO one of my goals with this is to take more time to study, be positive that I can learn it, and push myself to do more sessions and actually advertise outside of the few people I know. This is a huge area, there's gotta be somebody who'll take me up! :) Which that also sucks too because I've moved SO much...super hard to get out there/build up clients when you move all the time! But...be positive! I'll be here another year at least...plenty of time to get some work done, right?

I want to be more positive with my outlook on life, both present and future, because honestly looking ahead to the future with everything going on in the world, can be pretty disheartening and discouraging! I want to enjoy the here and now more, especially with my kids because, as everyone says, it'll be gone before you know it and they'll be grown. I love them SO much and want them to look back on their childhood as happy and have positive memories. I want to be there for them as they learn and grow and I often find myself working on things for them, for myself, for the house, for Mark, and not actually doing things WITH them. I get distracted by my list of things to do, which in the long run aren't as important as my kids and being with them.

I have some amazing people in my life that, to me, are such positive, amazing, wonderful people and such great examples to me. Some are far from me right now and some are close. I have a friend here who definitely has some challenges in her life but is always smiling and always so happy. She loves her kids and is an amazing mother and I'm grateful for her example to me to be positive.

Here are a couple quotes I found as I was thinking about all this...I put the links with the name for each quote if anyone is interested in reading the talks...they are very inspirational and amazing and well worth the read!

“Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.--President Thomas S. Monson--  

This is our one and only chance at mortal life—here and now. The longer we live, the greater is our realization that it is brief. Opportunities come, and then they are gone. I believe that among the greatest lessons we are to learn in this short sojourn upon the earth are lessons that help us distinguish between what is important and what is not. I plead with you not to let those most important things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and nonexistent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the journey—now. --President Thomas S. Monson-- 

Anyway....I've kinda lost track of where I was going/what else I was going to say...but I'll just say that I am going to work on my "positive" attitude and work towards a more positive life. I'm gonna go off to bed now and hopefully get a good nights rest! So there's a little more in-depth than I usually go but oh well....doesn't happen often so enjoy it ;)

{Christmas & New Years} 2012

My goal was to get this post done before the New Year but that didn't happen, obviously :) As I look back on my posts last year though, I noticed my #'s dropped quite a bit! 2010 I had 81 posts, 2011 big drop to 49 and 2012- 36....so one of my goals is to try to post more, which shouldn't be too hard with the cutie pie I currently have in my lap! Although typing with one hand is definitely slowing me down :) His teething is really getting ridiculous....cranky little guy! Anyway...back to the holidays...

Well throughout the month our elf Tinker Bell had a little fun throughout the house. Evelyn really loved finding her in the mornings and seeing what trouble she got up to. here's a few of our favorites!

makin' a snowman!

Building a tower

checkin' in on Evelyn at night

gone fishin'

Zip-lining through the house

Tink made a mess opening her present

Tink in her new skirt :)

Here's some pics of the kiddos I took with the tree...I was playing around with my camera and the tree/lights and got some cute shots but couldn't quite figure out the settings/what I was doing wrong...there are seriously so many settings you can adjust and I can't always keep them straight...they turned out good but the coloring was coming out so reddish. It wasn't til after I posted them to facebook I finally realized that I had my white balance set to sunlight...duh Tara! Someday I'll get the settings down so it comes automatic to me....in time! I also made Evelyn a holiday dress and wanted to take some pictures of her in it. The dress turned out pretty good, although it was a smidge big but that seems to be how I always do it...but better big than too small!

Hanging some ornaments :)

My gorgeous girl!

Love this kiddos sooo much!

Can you tell they get a little tired of me taking their pics all the time? :)

So cute!

so adorable :)

He really liked the lights and was really upset when I took them away later!

LOVE this one! Great in B&W

and in color :)

he was so interested in the presents! :)

LOVE this one!

 Next is Christmas break! Mark's parents came up on Saturday, we went out to dinner and then enjoyed a nice holiday together. Evelyn was loving having a new audience and demanded their attention pretty much the whole time :) They played lots of games, puzzles, she danced and sang for them and was utterly adorable :) Christmas Day they all went to a nearby town, Wilmington, where Dennis had lived for a couple years when he was little. They went a toured the Battleship North Carolina, went to a park, and had lunch. Andrew and I stayed home and baked/cooked for our Christmas Eve Dinner. I made a delicious lasagna (courtesy of Our Best Bites, I made it once before, it's so yummy!), my pumpkin cheesecake (it turned out so well for Thanksgiving so I really wanted it again..it turned out pretty good-no cracks or anything but it could have cooked a smidge longer), some delicious rolls (OBB once again, my favorite roll recipe), and enjoyed some quality time with my little boy! So Christmas Eve dinner was awesome and afterwards we watched Elf and set out cookies for Santa and went to bed!

cookie time!

All ready for Christmas morning!

Christmas Morning I woke up a little early, started my dough for fried bread (I used the "everyday cinnamon roll" recipe from OBB...it's a great recipe that doesn't take nearly as long to wait to rise/etc. and the fried bread turned out great!). Then the rest of the fam followed down with Evelyn last...totally gonna enjoy every year she doesn't wake up in the early am while I can! :) She was very excited and we had lots of fun opening presents. She was excited to see Tinker Bell and the new skirt she got and then very sweetly helped Andrew open his present from Santa before she opened her own. We let her go first and then we all opened ours. She got a lot of stuff but the big things were a Leappad 2 from Santa, with some games from us and the fam to go with it, a new dance skirt from Santa (that's what she asked for), some new games, lots of puzzles (this girl has SO many puzzles now! Luckily she loves them and plays with them everyday, she's definitely her Momma's daughter! She even got me started on one for me...I haven't done one in years). Then Santa also brought us a keyboard! I want Evelyn to start getting interested in playing cuz I really want her to play :)

waiting for Evelyn on Christmas morning!

She was excited about Tinker Bell's skirt 

Helping Andrew with is present

Evelyn's turn!

She really loves this! I had found this tulle twirly skirt but it was super long so I cut it shorter and added it to some leggings and wa-la! fun dance skirt :)

and it's a....

Leappad!

I switched off of manual here cuz I was frustrated with how red the pics above were turning out :)

silly faces

watching Evelyn still :)

stocking time...

And the keyboard!

She was pretty excited 

Presents for Andrew!

SO intently watching!

And right into the mouth! :) I have a feeling he's going to be WAY more into things than Evelyn was...we got so lucky with her!

 Mark is getting musical this year too and got a guitar for Christmas! He's always wanted to learn and I decided to get him one :) Unfortunately the one I got was 3/4 size, which I didn't realize, so we took it back and got him a full sized one. Hopefully he actually learns! :) I also got him a tool chest but we got it on Black Friday so he got it then. Mark got me a pizza stone, some attachments for my KitchenAid, a movie, and then we got some fun stuff from the fam- gift cards, music books, a cool quilt that Mark's grandma quilted...and that's all I can think of right now :) It was a great Christmas though! Oh, Andrew got some toys and books :) can't forget my boy! He was pretty cute though...he LOVED watching Evelyn opening presents and got so excited about his toys! I love how playful and excited he gets about everything and how much he loves toys! Evelyn was pretty funny opening her gifts too....just like last year she had to get every piece of wrapping paper off and then she'd look at the gift. :)

Mark opening his guitar!

The rest of Christmas day was spent eating and hanging out around the house playing with our gifts :) Like I said before, we had fried bread as my family always does, and I used the extra dough to make some cinnamon rolls in my waffle maker....SO good. If you've never tried it, you should. Christmas dinner we had ham, cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole (I used the OBB one as well from their new cookbook...soooo delicious! Uses fresh green beans and you make your own sauce instead of cream of mushroom...delicious!)


The day after Christmas was a fun one...started the morning out with some tornado warnings (luckily it was more on the coast/coast and not by us). We heard about it as we were headed out the door to go on a movie date so I was a little worried about leaving the kiddos at home but it was alright and Mark and I saw "The Hobbit" which was really good! That night we made some homemade pizza...I used my new pizza stone which was pretty good although I bought a pizza peel after cuz it was pretty hard without it! I also made on in my cast iron, which I've been doing for awhile now and it is SO yummy! Gives it such a nice crust :)

Thursday was pretty laid back, Mark's parents left and Mark had to go to work so we stayed home and finished packing up Christmas stuff/getting the house back in order. Friday Mark had a half day and then we enjoyed a nice weekend together. I got a few projects done because my front entry was a bit bare without the Christmas decor so I used my new Silhouette and came up with this!

I know it rarely snows here but it's the only "January" thing I could think of.  The candles are hard to see but they are glass jars rolled in epsom salt which makes it pretty/snow-y/glittery :)

I found this sled at Michael's on super clearance and added the glitter snowflakes to it

and then did the letters here with the glitter Silhouette kit as well! little hard to see the glitter though :)

I also re-did part of the decor above my cabinets/fridge...I already had the flowers up here so I just replaced the manger canvas I did before with this one...this is the scripture for the youth theme for church this year so I thought I'd use it. The all-caps letters here are done with the glitter but you can't really see it. It's also pretty messily done and didn't turn out quite as nice as I wanted but luckily it's up high and isn't horribly noticeable :)

I love the snowflakes on the bottle though! :) These are mini-glass bottles  from  some ginger ale I got awhile ago and I saved them cuz I thought they were cute :) 

I also made this snowflake bottle to go on my counter, looks so pretty lit up! 

For New Years Eve we had 3 other couples over from Mark's work, our awesome friends the Korpi's, Morgan and her fiance, Erwin, who just got back from 4 months of training, and the Bev and Mike Yeary. It was super fun and I'm really happy that we have such awesome people to work/hang out with. They really are great and I look forward to hanging out more with them! Anyway, we had lots of yummy food to snack on throughout the night and played games til 1am, which was awesome! I was exhausted the next day but it was so worth it :) Great way to bring in the New Year though! Usually we don't do anything but I'm glad we did this year!

SO Yeah! There's our holidays/start of our new year! 2012 was an ammmaazing year for us and 2013 is looking to be an awesome one too! We have a lot of fun things planned this year, lots of great friends so share it with, family to visit, kiddos to keep us busy, church callings to keep us busy, and I'm hoping to explore the area a little more! I really, really, really want to go up to DC and visit Crystal and go to the Cherry Blossom Festival this spring and I really really want to go see the scenic byway/fall awesomeness in western NC, and then in the summer Evelyn is going to be the flower girl in Morgan and Erwin's wedding! The wedding is in Orlando so we're planning a fun family trip after the wedding with a trip to Disney! (thank goodness for awesome military discounts and getting to use the in-laws time share! Thanks so much!) Anyway...I'm excited for this year and all that goes with it! So Happy New Year everyone! We love and miss you all! Here's some misc. pics that I didn't add above :)

Evelyn giving Mark a check up :)

showing off her new dress....looks so enthused doesn't she?

just hanging out :)

Evelyn went over to her friends one day and they decorated gingerbread houses

My little angel boy!

This is supposed to be rotated left on turn but I couldn't get it to do it in blogger...anyway, Evelyn drew this train and I thought it was pretty darn good!  I love that she's drawing actual things more. :)

he's just so cute!

But soooo slobbery! He's teething SO much!

I LOVE this smile!

Making some shrinky dinks! 

She thought they were pretty cool 

Hanging out in his new high chair! He likes to be up high and watch everybody and play with is toys

I love when she falls asleep in the car! She's so cute

And my silly boy! He's been learning to blow bubbles and make funny faces :)