The ABCs (Ashley, Brian, Briley, Crew)

I'm a BIG girl now

2011-06-02T16:37:00.000-07:00

So my little baby Briles is sitting up now. Not quite independently, she has to be sat up and balanced before she can stay up without assistance, but still. Crew was sitting up like that around 7 months and Briley is not even 6. Maybe she will be walking before 16 months (Crew was a late walker but you wouldn't guess now the way he rips around the house). She can stand up holding onto things for awhile before getting to tired. She is just the sweetest little angel. I love how content and happy she is. She is kinda a tough crowd when it comes to getting genuine loud laughs from her but she squeals and smiles a ton! I love having two kids and its so fun to have one of each. I rarely leave the house without a huge flower on her head. The other day at a restaurant I heard a lady remark to her friend (that flower is almost as big as that little girl's head) and I could tell by her tone she thought it was riddiculous. I wanted to reply "well at least you can tell she is a GIRL", but I bit my tounge. I know she rocks her flowers and earrings and I love that she is very seldom called a boy.

So I am horrible about keeping this thing up, and I appologize for the few people who actually read or check my blog. I was on a roll in January but that was it. Life is great here in Arizona and we are really excited it is summer. Crew turned 2 in May. To celebrate we went up to Phoenix for the weekend. We did some shopping and stayed at a nice hotel downtown. They had a cool pool on top of the roof and so we bought some floaties, really excited to take the kids swimming. It did NOT go over well. A month or so back I had taken Crew to our indoor pool The Cove and while trying to coax him under this little waterfall they have, he slipped under and a stranger pulled him right back up. My friend was right by him too but this lady helped him up first. I think it was more the fact that I was not there to do it myself then the actual being underwater part, but he is now officially terrified of water. We tried to break him of his fear on our trip and Brian attempted for over an hour to get him in. I am sure people were ready to call CPS on us. He was screaming so hard when we held him in the pool that we finally gave up. Briley must have caught on to his fear and screamed her head off in the pool also, so eventually we gave up and went back to the room. We will keep trying until he loves the water again! We went to the zoo while we were up there too, but it was big and hot and was not my favorite zoo trip of all time. My favorite part of the whole trip was walking around downtown in the evening. We had a nice dinner then found this outdoor mall/park area that had a ton of waterfalls and little pools. Crew ran around like crazy and had a great time! It had such a tropical feel I almost forgot we were in one of the driest states in the US.

So the kids are doing wonderful and growing every day. I have decided to bite the bullet and get my Master's degree. I was wanting to wait until Brian finished his Bachelors before I went back, but I have decided that even though we will be taking out more student loans and essentially increasing our debt, it will be more than worth it. When I finish I will be a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (a BCBA) and will be providing services for families with special needs children. It is what I am doing now as a tutor, but I will be the one going in, meeting the children, assessing them and creating a personalized plan for either myself or a tutor to implement. It is what my friend and supervisor Jessica is now. It will be a long hard road, but will so be worth it! I applied at ASU for an online program. Its a Masters in Education- curriculum and instruction with a behavior analyst focus. Kinda cool because it not only gives me my Masters (which I need to be a behavior analyst) but also has all of the classes that I need for my BCBA certification. It is a completely online program that gives you one class at a time every 2 months and it will take me about 15-18 months to finish. Meanwhile, I will continue working more than I am working now so I can complete my 1500 hours needed for my license. I am so excited I hope I get accepted into the program, I will hear back in the next few weeks. It will start July 4th and I cant wait to get started. All in all I should be done with everything in 2 years or a little less. It is a very substantial raise in pay so even if I work part time like I have been doing it will be worth it. Plus it is such a flexible job and I can do so many of the hours at home from my computer. Totally doable as a mommy.

Most of my friends right now are pregnant, which is super exciting but is making me feel a little baby hungry. I have been craving to have a 3rd baby right until I decided to start this endeavor. Before I kept thinking I should just knock all 4 out fast, kinda space them all 18 months apart or a little more. But now I am going to just enjoy my two beautiful children, finish my schooling to reach my ultimate career goal, and enjoy the much needed break to my body. I havent been not pregnant or nursing since 2008. So we will probably wait 2 or 3 years then have another set close together. I can tell already Crew and Briley are gonna be the best of friends. He loves her so much and always gives her a lot of attention. She, in turn, puts up with his attention and he is the only one who truly makes her laugh. So cute!

We have explored a lot of different career locations for Brian, but have now decided to stay here in AZ where I can complete all my hours and supervision with my current job. Sometime in our life we may end up in WA or UT but now it is much easier and less stressful to stay here for the next few years.

I hope everyone is having a great summer so far. We are going to Utah to see family and friends and I couldn't be more excited! Especially cause my very bestest Nicole will be there the entire time. I get to show off my sweet baby girl and spend time with the people I love! What could be better?

Time flies but sometimes not fast enough

2011-01-12T17:26:00.000-08:00

My title is very true to how I feel today. We had Briley's one month appointment, I can't believe its already been a month since I had her! She is a very healthy 9 lbs now and 21 1/2 in long. She started out 5 lbs 15 oz so she is definitely getting enough to eat:). I am loving my life as a mom to two but its starting to get more challenging at times. Take, for instance, this morning. I was going to go grocery shopping with a girlfriend and was incredibly proud of myself for getting both my kids fed and ready before she had even left her house to head over. Before I could get dressed Briley spit up a little so I started to wipe her off, telling her "You are not getting a new outfit, Missy, I will just dab off the small amount of throw up". Suddenly, as if to argue with me, she threw up ALL over me, the carpet and her adorable outfit. So I got to change her, then leave her alone and lock Crew in the bathroom with me so I could shower real quick to get it all off me. Crew was screaming the whole time cause he wanted out and Briley was crying when I got out of the bathroom. Then Crew hit her with a book in the head so I had to both discipline him and comfort her. I wanted to pull out my hair by the time Jessica got to my house. The rest of the day went pretty smoothly until right before leaving for her drs appt, when she vomited all over my sheets and her outfit again. Crew never ever spit up as a baby, not once. Its quite an adjustment. Hopefully this phase doesn't last long. The Dr is not concerned about it.

So I am looking forward to her sleeping through the night and throwing up less. It is hard to live such a busy life off of such interrupted sleep. I know countless moms do it every day and my hat's off to them! I am trying to get her on more of a routine in hopes that she sleeps through the night by 7 weeks like Crew did. I know its rare but I am hoping for a miracle! :) The longest she goes at night is 4 hours. Its usually a 4, 3, 2 hour pattern, with me up 3 times a night. I know it will pass soon and I will hardly remember what it was like getting up so much at night. I adore my two sweet children though and I can't wait til they can play with each other and I don't have to worry so much about Crew's over enthusiasm with "baby!". I am watching the Tucson Memorial right now for the victims of Saturday's shooting. It was such an awful tragedy and I am just so thankful for my life, my freedom and my family.

Gratitude

2011-01-08T11:38:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to take a sec to post this pict of our whole family and announce that I am so incredibly thankful for my beautiful family. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a mom to two beautiful and sweet babies! When I am up multiple times in the middle of the night feeding Briley or telling Crew no for the hundreth time in a day I sometimes lose my persepective. Then I remember that people are suffering great amounts of grief and loss and I am so incredibly blessed and lucky! So on that note I am so thankful to our Heavenly Father for my wonderful husband and my amazing kids. I am also thankful for all of our extended family. I have wonderful inlaws, great parents, an amazing sister and sister-in-laws and fabulous friends who are close enough to me to be considered my sisters. Just thought I would put all that out there to start off the new year!

I am loving having two kids and am starting to adust more and more. Yesterday I was brave enough to take them both to McDonalds and then the park. Briley slept the whole time and I had a blast with my little Crewser. He is such a daddy's boy and I feel like a lot of my time is spent tending to Briley's needs right now, so it was really nice to be able to play and bond more with my sweet man! Brian is off the next two days and we are gonna go out tonight to celebrate my birthday, which is Monday. Can't believe I will be 26, how the time has flown! I am sure this year will be amazing I am so looking forward to all that is in store for us!

Briley's Photoshoot

2011-01-08T10:20:00.001-08:00

My photographer friend Ashley Elicio (ashleyelicio.com) took these for me when Briley was just 4 days old. She did a great job and I can't believe how much she has changed from then already! I will have to post some new ones soon she will be 4 weeks tomorrow! How the time flies! Hope everyone is having a wonderful New Year so far!

Merry (late) Christmas!

2010-12-30T14:08:00.000-08:00

Here is Crew giving his sister a sweet kiss on Christmas morning!

We had a great Christmas morning with just our little family. I am thoroughly enjoying my two babies and have loved Brian being home, although he is already back to work. Crew has been sick with a double ear infection the whole week of and before Christmas, so he was sleeping in til about 8 or 9. Brian, unfortunately, woke up around 6:30 am and had the rest of the family up by 7. Poor Crew was a little tired and had to go down for an early nap. We did our stockings and ate our orange butter coffee cake (so yummy!) and then did presents. Crew loved all his new stuff although I think at first he was slightly overwhelmed. We did go a tad overboard but next year with two kiddos to buy for we figured we would spoil him while we can. Dave and Shelly got here late Christmas night and are here til Monday. We are having so much fun with them and will be sad to see them go! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Pictures

2010-12-18T16:04:00.000-08:00

Sorry I could not figure out how to flip the picture of Briley and me in the hospital so it was right side up, and then I couldn't figure out how to just delete it off. I hope it doesnt bother everyone as much as it bothers me. But I will add more pictures here of just snap shots around the home I have taken. We got newborn pictures taken yesterday and I cannot wait to add those, but it will be awhile before we get them back.

Welcome to the World Miss Briley

2010-12-18T14:43:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't know, I had Briley almost a week ago today on 12/12. I was just about three weeks early and she was an ity bity 5 lbs 15 oz. She had been trying to come for awhile, when I was 35 weeks I started having pre-term labor and they kept me overnight in the hospital trying different medications to stop the contractions. We were finally able to stop them and they sent me home on moderate bed rest. I stopped working and was good for about a week before I got sick of laying around and started being active again (jogging aside but lets be honest I never jog anyway:)). When I got to 37 weeks I started getting anxious and bored cause I felt like I was just waiting around... we had gotten Christmas shopping done early and everything was in place. I started to worry she might even be late. Went for a family drive up Carr Canyon and hiked around a bit up there last Saturday. I'll admit, I was trying to jump start labor but nothing happened so I went about my day and finally decided she could come whenever she wanted, I wouldn't be impatient anymore. That night around 8 or so I started having contractions but nothing painful. Around 8:30 they were very consistent and even though they weren't too painful yet decided to go to the hospital since my dr said this one could go fast. We dropped off Crew with my friend Jess and by the time we got admitted they were super painful and only a minute or two apart. I was only 3 cm and even though I told them I would probably go fast they made me walk around for a half hour to progress before they would check me again and put me in my own room. It was the longest half hour of my life, it was so painful and I just wanted my epidural. I was 5 cm next time they checked me and by the time they got me my epidural I was already at 8 and kinda panicking that I wouldn't get it in time. Less than a half hour after I got my epidural (by this time the contractions were less painful but still hurt) it was time to push. She came out in 4 contractions (about 15 min or less) and even though I could feel most of it and it hurt pretty bad, I was just so glad for it to be over! It was more painful and intense than Crew's 12 hour birth but I was grateful it only took 4 hours and I didn't need any stitches this time either.

We got home Monday morning and Brian stayed home all week. We have been enjoying our little family so much! We have gotten awesome meals all week from our ward family and this week we are getting more from the mom's club I am in. I have been just feeling so grateful to all our friends here for their support and love. I am feeling great this time around and am amazed at how much energy I have. Briley is an angel baby, she sleeps a lot and is eating well (although I wish I could get her to eat for longer periods of time- dr said not to worry) and has longer and longer periods of alert time where she just looks around in wonder. I am up 2-3 times a night to feed her but she goes right back down after. I feel so blessed to have two wonderful children. Crew is adjusting well to sharing his parents, and seems to like the baby more and more. The real test will be when Brian goes back to work on Monday.

I love having a girl! The bows, flowers and frills are just too much fun. I can already see how everyone says girls are more expensive. But she is totally worth it! I am loving this Christmas season more and more now that I get to share it with both my children, plus I love not being pregnant although lets be honest, I don't totally look "not pregnant" yet;). All in good time! I am planning on taking another two or three months off then going back to work very part time. I am going to keep two of my kids from before and work either one or two days a week probably for an hour and a half each kid. I love the flexibility of my job, and the rewarding sense of accomplishment when I help them progress in life. Its the same feeling I have every day being a mom. So great! Haven't felt any baby blues yet, am hoping they won't sneak in down the road.

A horrible thing happened this week. An agent from Brian's station was shot and killed while on duty. Brian didn't know him well but its a tragedy and makes you realize the frailty of life and appreciate what you have. I can only pray for Brian's and everyone's safety every day and know that there is a reason for all things. I am just so thankful Brian and I are sealed together in the temple and get to be an eternal family no matter what.

I will end this post with a funny story. I have started pumping a little every day to have a storage of milk in the freezer. Yesterday Crew took out one of the little storage bottles from my bag where I keep everything and held it up to his bare chest and looked at me with a proud little smile. It totally cracked me up, kids pay a lot more attention to us then we give them credit for! I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!

Happy August

2010-08-05T15:52:00.000-07:00

So I am horrible with keeping up this blog. It has been a long time and so much has happened. I can't believe it is August already! We have had such a fun and busy summer, things are now slowing down and wrapping up so I figured it was time for an update. We are expecting baby # 2 the end of December, although I am hoping to have her on or around the 20th because I would love to have her home by Christmas. That is right, HER, its a girl oh yeah baby we are so excited to have a sweet little girl in our house. I love my boy more than anything but I was really hoping for a girl so I could have one of each that way later if I have all boys or all girls I won't have to worry about not getting one or the other. Plus now Crew won't feel so competitive, especially as they get a little older. I am just so thrilled. We had the ultrasound a few days ago. Thinking we are gonna name her Briley Nicole. We really like Briley and kinda came across it with our first baby because we were trying to find different Brian/Ashley combinations. And I just love my best friend and sister who both have the name Nicole (well Christy's middle name is Nicole), plus its a beautiful name!

We had a slew of vacations early this spring/summer. It started off with my awesome sister Christy flying out from Nashville (6 months pregnant at the time) and we drove to San Diego for a two night three day trip there. It was our first time going there and we had so much fun! Crew loved the beach and really enjoyed watching the waves with Daddy. I loved how beautiful and well kept all the houses and yards were. We all loved shopping at the fabulous outlets they have there, especially Coach (well I loved that one especially:)). We ate at some great restaraunts and Christy took some fabulous new family pictures for us. (see above) Thanks Christy you are amazing. It was a short but wonderful trip and I can't wait to go again, its only a 7 hr drive from where we live. I am hoping to go back one more time before the baby comes.

Right before she left, to kick off Crew's birthday celebration we did a cake smash and got some awesome pictures. That boy loves cake something fierce! Before we left for Utah we had a party for him here at our house with our Arizona friends and were touched by the number of people that showed up. So grateful to have such good friends and so happy Crew has lots of kids around his age to play with!

For our next trip we drove back to Utah and got to spend time with Brian's family. His brother Jason and wife Celeste came back too from Maine with their two girls plus their new sweet baby girl. His other brother Jon and wife Sarah live there too so we got to see the whole family it was so wonderful to spend time with everyone. Crew has his actual birthday while we were there and we had another party for him. Yes, he had two parties plus a cake smash at the age of one. Hope he doesn't get used to that! :) We really wish we lived closer to family although we love our home and friends here as well. Crew loved playing with his cousins and spending time with Grandma and Papa! I was just getting started with my pregnancy nausea though during that trip which made it a little more difficult, but we had a great time none-the-less. Can't wait to hopefully see everyone again next summer!

My last trip I did solo with Crew, as Brian was about out of leave. I flew to Washington to spend time with my mom and best friend Nicole. It was a tad stressful flying with Crew by myself, especially since all he wanted to do was crawl around the plane and airport and had a very hard time sitting still. But we made it safe and sound. Nicole and I went to the Carrie Underwood concert while I was there. We went and saw her years ago at the Idol concertand had such a great time it was wonderful to be able to go again and see how much she has even improved from that. She is such an amazing singer and performer. I loved sharing that with my best friend and I miss her very much. Her husband got into medical school in Phillidelphia and they are moving there very shortly. I am planning on going there with the whole family in May, to see them and get to explore New York and Washington DC, both only an hour away!!! Make room for us Nicole :)! So proud of how hard they have worked to get to this point and excited for their new fresh start in the East. Its so exciting to be in a new city with no other friends or family to rely on. Good luck guys!

Brian's work is going great. He has been doing some work with the Intell guys at his station and is really enjoying it. He went to days recently and I must say that after 9 months of swings its nice to have him home for dinner and on a regular schedule again. He hopes one day to move to a criminal investigator position and has been exploring several agencies.

Wow so I feel like I am writing a Christmas letter, which is funny cause its August and I have never even done a Christmas letter before. Just trying to update, sorry if I am rambling. Crew is getting so big, he will be 15 months on Monday. He is not walking yet but pulls himself up and walks around anything he can get his fingers on. He has let go a few times and taken a few independent steps but then falls over and won't try again for awhile. I figure when he is ready he will just take off. He spends lots of time with other kids his age who walk and they provide good examples for him:). I am working with two kids right now, still with Positive ABA. I work three days a week totalling 12 hours, so my work schedule is definitely not overwhelming. Its nice to get out of the house. Brian watches Crew one day, then my neighbor watches him another and on the last day of every week I usually alternate between a few friends. He gets a good variety of experiences with different people and children, and I get a chance to make a bit of extra money while keeping current on my teaching skills. Its a job I really enjoy and I hope to keep it once I have the new baby.

We have had a very nice monsoon season this year, so I haven't had to water much lately which has been great, but the weeds are out of control. I sprayed finally a few days ago and it took me hours. Yard work is not my favorite when its hot and I am pregnant. Brian definitely helps when he can but he works such long days its hard to find the time.

Well I think this post is long enough, if you made it through the whole thing congratulations, sorry for rambling on. Most people post at least once a month, so I figure I post every 8 months and I will just make it longer posts! :) I will try to do it more often now that I am caught up to date. Pregnancy is treating me well, I was a lot sicker with this baby and if that is any indication to my boy vs girl pregnancies (I was hardly nauseas at all with Crew), then I don't mind if the rest of my kids are boys. I am finally feeling better though, but still feel very emotional most of the time. I get angry and frustrated fast and it has been hard on me (plus I am sure on Brian and Crew- although Brian understands and Crew won't remember:)). Oh well a baby girl at the end of it will be so amazing I won't even remember how miserable I have been! I always look at girl clothes and get excited, now I can start buying them! YAY!!!

Hope all is well with everyone! I dont remember how to stagger the pictures throughout the post so please excuse the mixture at the top.

Happy 2010!

2010-01-11T08:28:00.000-08:00

Lots of holidays have passed since I updated our blog... I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year. We sure did. In November we went out to Kansas City as a family to see my grandparents that I have not seen in a few years. It was great to see them again and reconnect. They just loved meeting Brian and Crew (naturally). Crew did very well on the flights, he only cried a few times until I could get him nursing and then he was fine. We went to the Nelson Art Gallery and just lounged around the house catching up. Crew kept us all entertained! :) Then Brian flew home to go back to work and I flew out with Crew to Nashville to see my sister. We had a great time there, she took some amazing (of course!) picts of Crew and me and we had fun playing with Jackson and Cole. Those boys are growing up so fast. She is pregnant again now and is due end of July! So happy for her beautiful family, babies are such a blessing! Of course, as I write this Crew is screaming in his crib, refusing his nap! haha... Two days after we got home, Brians parents came out for a week to visit. It was so nice to have them here, not only are they extremely helpful but are just so much fun, I love being around them! Crew had a blast playing with Grandma and "Papa" and got spoiled with some good toys and cute clothes! They were here for Thanksgiving, my second grown up Thanksgiving, and helped a lot with the food preparation. My friend Jessica just had her baby a few days before Thanksgiving, and like a trooper came with her hubby and new baby to celebrate with us. We all had a fabulous time.

December was a little more low key. I am working, but only have one kid still, so I was home a lot with little Crew. Bri was off the two days before Christmas, and we played games, watched movies and baked up a storm, including his favorite Orange Butter Coffee Cake, a Mathie tradition! The rolls are a little time consuming but are so wonderful it makes it all worth it! We loved watching Crew open up his presents and play with the wrapping paper. He got his first tooth while we were out in Nashville and got his second on Christmas Day. So after the presents he was pretty much cranky for the rest of the day.

New Years we left Crew with my neighbor who watches him sometimes when I work, and we went to two different friend's houses for a little bit. Then we had to go home because Crew had woken up and needed us, but that was fine because we spend the rest of the night curled on the couch watching a movie, which was really what I wanted to do anyway! :) I am such a homebody!

I am excited for 2010, I know it is going to be a very good year with lots of new challenges to face... bring it on! Crew is learning so fast. He is a great sitter now and he is close to crawling. He gets frustrated sometimes when he wants to get somewhere straight ahead, because he is good at pivoting and rolling to where he wants to go but he gets stuck sometimes if its too straight forward. Just pick up those chubby knees Crew, you can do it! He is getting more vocal with his baby babble, he can say "Da Da" and other non-sensical things. He is just too cute for words. Yesterday was my birthday and I want to thank all of you for the birthday wishes. Brian and I are celebrating it on Wednesday cause that's his day off. I have a new calling in church teaching the CTR 4's. I will miss nursery but I love teaching in this more structured but still non-intimidating way. :)

I have a few trips planned in May and I am very excited. Brian's brother's family is coming from Maine to Utah beginning of May with their new baby (yay!) and their other 2 adorable girls, so we are gonna drive up there and see the whole Mathie family. Then end of May I am flying with Crew to Washington to see my mom, dad and best friend Nicole. While I am there we are going to go see Carrie Underwood. Pretty much super excited for all those things! It will be a sweet month! Well sorry this is so long I need to be better about posting more often to avoid these super long posts that will more than likely not get read anyway! Hope you all have a terrific New Year! Sorry we didn't get Christmas cards out but maybe next year! :) I will leave you with a pict of Crew in his cute little church outfit, he's such a little man now!

Happy Halloween!!!

2009-10-29T18:07:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I have updated our blog... I was on a roll for awhile and then I felt like I was updating too much so I got burned out. Things are going great for us down south. The weather has stayed warm until a few days ago when it dropped into the 30's at night and the 40's and 50's during the day. I know what most of you are thinking... "thats still really warm for October", but hello, when you are uesd to the 70's and 80's and it just drastically drops, it feels pretty cold! I had to put the space heater in Crew's room so he doesnt wake up with icy fingers. It should warm up again soon.

I got a job working as a tutor for children with autism for a company called Positive ABA. It is something I can do that uses my teaching degree while increasing my knowledge of both autism and positive behavior management. It will be very part time (probably between 10 and 15 hours a week) and it is super flexible. Basically I will make my own schedule and I work one on one with a kiddo or two in their home. If I need to skip a day the hours can be made up any time that month. I have been working on getting Crew to take a bottle and also get him on a napping schedule (he went a few weeks with only take short tiny naps and it was tough). He is doing great now and I feel confident that this job will be good for our family. Bri is going to watch him on his days off and my neighbor will watch him when we need her to. It will just be nice to have a few "ME" hours each week where I put my education to use. Plus it will be a great way to earn some extra $ for our home renovations (or maybe a vacation fund!;)) I am not sure when I will start, we are waiting on some finalizations for the new families I will be working with.

We are taking our first trip on a plane in November, when we go out to Kansas to see my grandparents, Brian is coming too. Then I fly to Nashville for a few extra days with just Crew to see my sister. I am way excited for both parts of the trip, it will be so fun to spend time with family. Then for Thanksgiving my awesome inlaws are flying out to be with us and I cannot wait for that either, they are so great! Crew has changed so much since they saw him in June I wonder if they will recognize him! ;)

I was bored tonight so I took some picts of Crew in his Halloween costume. He is pretty much the cutest lion I have ever seen! Brian has to work Sat for Halloween but we are going to an 80's Halloween party and I bought some sweet digs and I guess he will just be an 80's lion since I have had the costume for awhile. We are taking the kids trick or treating first, and don't judge me but I bought a bucket to collect candy for me! He will be 6 months in November and is getting so big. Last I weighed him he is 18 lbs and wearing 6-9 month clothes already! Wow! I have started him on solid foods a little and he likes it alright. I dont blame him for pulling faces when I stick the green beans in his mouth, I have tasted the stuff and its pretty terrible! He will like the other kinds more I am sure. Not quite sure why I started with the green beans, seems pretty cruel now that I think about it.

Things are just great and I am sure I will write more soon!

Renovations

2009-09-01T13:41:00.000-07:00

So the other day I decided my ceiling fan (pictured above) was disgusting and outdated, so instead of buying a new one the frugal girl I am just bought new light shades and removed the wicker from the blades and spray painted it black. VOILA (ok I have no clue how to spell that)! It looks much better in our room and it only cost $20. We were so inspired we bought all new wood blinds to replace the white and blue cheap metal ones that were all dirty and gross... another improvement that is making our house look better. Next we are planning on doing concrete counter-tops. I am also going to be painting some furniture black to better match our dark brown couches and bedding (they are light wood right now). We decided a little at a time doesnt break the bank and it will make our house nicer and easier to sell. Also, we bought new lights for the bathrooms and some kind of mirror framing kit to make it look like a real mirror and not just the glass part. I will let you know how that looks.

Crew is doing great, he is getting bigger every day its amazing. He laughs and smiles all the time, which warms my heart. Brian didn't get this 1 year detail he had applied for and we are a tiny bit disappointed, but the last spot was between him and another guy who had 10 years at the job and had lots of experience, so it says a lot about Bri that they were comparable. Keep up the good work baby!

They all rolled over and one fell out

2009-08-27T17:41:00.001-07:00

Ok so Crew hasn't fallen off the bed or anything yet, but I thought this action sequence was pretty cute. His newest thing is rolling over, he has only done it a few times. He likes the element of surprise when it happens, and its almost as if he forgets he can do it after and its all new again the next time. I took him swimming for the first time today at an indoor pool and he loved it. What a natural! ;) I also went to a Heritage Maker's party hosted by a friend of mine. It is a great way to make story books and scrap book pages to tell your legacy and store memories. I think I will make a book for the Crewser. I left him with Brian for some father/son bonding. Brian did great and they had a good time, but when I got home he was smiley and giggly and I will be honest, it makes a mom feel good.

Independent Woman

2009-08-26T15:42:00.000-07:00

Well lately I have been trying to be more independent, especially since Brian works 50 hours a week and I am home all day with Crew. Let's be honest, I simply have more time to get things done. There have been a few things I have been waiting for him to do, and finally I decided to do them myself. This is not to knock Brian because he works very hard and to be honest when he gets home I want him to spend time with me, not doing chores. So first off a few weeks ago I decided to recaulk the shower and I did an awesome job, I even reinstalled the soap dispenser that fell off the wall (I used grout and everything!). This may not seem like a big deal to some, but I am proud cause I have never done anything like that and I did it without help or supervision (Crew did watch but he made no suggestions). Then I have had no stroller for the last few days because I had a flat and I have been bugged cause I miss running in the mornings. So we bought a tire fix kit and I repaired it all by myself yesterday (granted, Brian had to tell me to take the tube out... who knew there was a tube in the tire?). So here I am, feeling all empowered, and today I felt like cleaning out the pool and putting in the chemicals. Usually Brian changes the filter, but I figured it out and I was still feeling like doing more. I looked in the shed and I saw the ant killer we have had forever and never used (we have a ton of red fire ants). They have never bothered us so we have been lazy and not used it. I sprinkled it all over the hive or hill or hole is probably the most likely term since thats all it is. To make a short story long, I got bit by a fire ant and it HURT SO BAD!!! I have never been bit by one and only stung a few times by a bee and that was years ago, but I swear this hurts worse.

So basically I am mad cause my toe feels like its gonna fall off and I have learned a lesson that anything Brian can do I can do better, but if it involves bugs or animals or dangerous chemicals I will still let him take care of it.

Crew was laughing this morning, I wish we had a video camera to record it. Our regular camera takes short clips but I have no idea how to get the videos onto the computer. He is basically a doll. I spend about 97 percent of my time in awe at how adorable and wonderful he is and about 3 percent staring at him in horror wishing he would stop crying. I figure its a pretty fair trade! ;) Hope all is well, more later.

Why have I been putting this off?

2009-08-25T14:38:00.000-07:00

Ok family and friends... (Nicole and Celeste ;))... you got your wish, I am an official blogger now! I am very suprised how easy this was to set up, I had Nicole on standby but I didn't even really need help. Must be those 5 years of college! I thought this would be a good way to share my thoughts and keep people updated on our little family. Crew is doing great, been sleeping through the night since he was 7 weeks and is growing to be quite the little butterball. He is over 15 lbs and will be 4 months in a few weeks. How the time flies! I will write more later but I hope you enjoy! We love and miss everyone who is far away and we wish we were closer.