Kaleb Joshua

My little big man will be 2 years old in June! since I haven't updated my blog in so long I figured I would write a bit about what this handsome ball of energy has been up to lately :) Kaleb was an amazingly perfect easy baby, so I think it was only natural for him to turn into a very rambunctious crazy wild toddler who keeps his mother permanently on her toes! He is constantly testing my patience and my limitations for him, but he brings so much fun and life into our lives I can't imagine it without him :) Everyday he does some to make me laugh so hard by sides hurt! His big milestones lately have been Nursery, which he did great in for the first couple weeks and then he decided it is the worst place in the world! Thank goodness for amazing nursery leaders who don't mind if he screams for 2 hours :) He is getting better each week, thankfully!

We've also had a rough few weeks with sleeping, again he did perfectly well at first, but I guess it just clicked that he can get out of bed and hag out with mom and dad all night. We had a lot of sleep deprived night fighting with him to go to sleep until Jared had the idea of putting Tenley back in our room(our closet actually, lol), so we could let him scream for a while in his own room. Miracles do happen people, because he has made HUGE strides this week! We went from 2 hours to 15 minutes to get him to sleep!

Kaleb is also starting to interact with his sister so much more! Granted that may mean chucking toys at her head, but hey? He seriously didn't know she existed for a few months, which is amazing considering how loud and often she screamed! He loves to give her toys to play with and he loves taking those toys away to make her mad, but seriously the best moments are when I find him sneaking a kiss on her head or hugging her when she sits in her bumbo. He also cries with her when she gets hurt, even if it was him who hurt her, he really is turning out to be a great big brother!

Kaleb is an amazing little man, and we absolutely love what he has brought to our family. He is growing up more and more everyday, and as much as it breaks my heart to see him be more independent, I am so proud and blessed to be his mother and get to watch him grow.

some Kaleb tidbits:

~he is still a daddy's boy through and through!

~he would watch disney movies all day if i let him

~he loves bubbles

~his jibberish is the cutest nonsense in the world!

~he never walks, only runs

~he turns everything into a gun,even balls and stuffed animals....i blame this on his father

~his blankie is his 2nd best friend, daddy is 1st

~he refuses most foods, but will eat dirt

~he loves anything with wheels, and he points to every car that passes when we go on walks

~he loves to play with legos and makes some pretty amazing designs!

~don't mess with his baby bear, or else!

~he loves to dance and has the best moves

~he loves brushing his teeth so much that he randomly takes me in the bathroom throughout the day so we can brush them again :)

~he hates sitting in the carts at the store!

~he knows how to use the dvd a little too well, i'll catch him rewinding his movies to make tv time last longer, ha!

~he is such a dare devil I am surprised we haven't had an ER trips yet...i blame this on his father

~he loves being outside

~he still calls me daddy on most days

~he has the cutest laugh in the world

~he gives the best kisses and hugs...i blame this on his father :)

Living in New Mexico

since everyone asks me how we're doing here and how we like New Mexico, I thought I'd share what it's been like here the last few months.

Rio Rancho is a suburb of Albuquerque, think of peoria or glendale, and thats pretty much what it's like. I'm not sure what the altitude is but it reminds me of high desert in Az, so the weather is significantly cooler here. We had quite a few snow days this winter actually, it was very neat! I didn't go out in it much just because we didn't really have the proper gear for the kids, and Tenley was still very small when we first moved here. The spring is pretty with all the trees starting to blossom but it is sooooooo windy!! The wind is evil and i hate it!

Our ward is pretty good, very diverse compared to where we came from, but i've met some great people so far. Jared works very long hours and it can be pretty stressful since they are really pushing to meet their completion date, but i think he is learning a lot and gaining good experience with this project. The jobsite is really close to our apartment too, so that has been wonderful!

Our apartment....well it's a pretty good size, but going from our house to this 2 bedroom place has been a HUGE adjustment! A[artment living sucks, and I am looking foward to leaving it behind! It works for our little family for now, but man does it suck going anywhere with the kids by myself, especially the grocery store! Actually everything with 2 small kids is a lot harder by myself, but i am learning tricks to help manage easier.

The first month or so here was very difficult for me. I think having a newborn and all the emotions of just giving birth made it worse, but it's very hard moving to a new place and not knowing one single person. I make it a goal to get out of the apartment with the kids as often as possible, but it is not easy. There's a great group of women in the ward that started a playgroup on Wednesdays, so wonderful!! Kaleb can get out some energy and I can get in some adult conversations :)

Jared and I have yet to go on a date or make it to the temple here, man was it nice having family around to babysit my kids! Kaleb does not do well with people he doesn't know and Tenley is tough to predict, so getting a Young Woman to watch them is pretty much out of the question. It's one thing to leave Grandma Tieman and Grandma Marble with crazy kids, but I'm not mean enough to do that to someone i don't know very well ;) Tenley is getting much better and starting to take a bottle, so I do see a date in our very near future :)

I try to be positive about living here, because there is really no point in being negative, but I feel like as soon as we are totally adjusted, we'll probably be moving :) It really is a nice little town and we've found some great things here....um, like Pizza 9, the best pizza ever!! As much as we miss our families and friends in Arizona, I think being here on our own has been a great experience for our little family and I'm thankful for all that I've learned in the past 5 months.

Tingley Beach

Saturday, the 24th we decided to take the kids on a picnic to Tingley Beach. It's a park by the zoo with a few fishing ponds and one pond just for the geese and ducks. Spring in Albuquerque is windy, extremely windy!! Like 30-50 mph winds kinda windy, it's ridiculous and i hate it! Tenley can't breathe in it and Kaleb refuses to walk because it blows him around so bad. So when it was just slightly breezy we decided to take advantage and go outside for once!

Kaleb loved walking around and feeding the ducks and geese with his dad. One of the geese stole a cracker right from his hands and i think it freaked him out a bit so Jared carried him for awhile. Tenley and I pretty much just hung out in the shade the whole time and watched the boys. It was a fun little afternoon and hopefully we'll be able to get outside a lot more now that the trees are all starting to blossom, it's very pretty and very unlike the springs in AZ. It would almost be perfect if not for the crazy winds!