Happy Happy Easter!

Easter was interesting this year...we had a sick Kaleb so we didn't make it to church and he wasn't his typical rowdy self all weekend either. Still, Saturday we colored our eggs...well mom and dad colored the eggs and the kids watched :) Let me restate that again, Kaleb watched and Tenley ate her toes....see below :)

Kaleb touched a couple of the eggs right after we dyed them, so they were still wet and he got some of the color on his hands. This is a boy who plays and eats dirt, so a little dye shouldn' hurt right? WRONG! it was the end of the world that his fingers turned blue :) He wouldn't even touch them when they dry! So hunting for eggs was pretty funny, he liked finding the eggs but refused to pick them up :)

Daddy also got Kaleb a new bubble gun for Easter. We seriously went through an entire bottle of bubbles so fast! It was pretty cute watching him squeal over them!! I sure do love watching those two play together! It was a fun day even with the sickie for a kid :)

Hanging Out

So I decided to take the kids for a walk today since our playgroup was cancelled....everything was too wet at the park! Anyways, I don't think I've mentioned this before, but there are a ton of hills around here! So everywhere we go, there is a lot of downhill and uphill walking. Soooo, as I'm huffing and puffing, and pushing the kids up one of the hills this woman comes jogging passes us with her dog. She gave a nice little smile, but I'm sure my returned smile looked something like a dying woman, who can barely make it up this hill :) Yah, I felt great about myself as she jogged on up, so needless to say I gotta take these kids out on walks more! Jared did make me feel slightly better by stating that I was pushing up a double stroller, thanks for trying honey :)

We stopped at the park, had some goodies, watched some golfers, and squealed at a few dogs...it was a good trip. On the way back home we saw this bad boy perched in a tree. I wish I had a better camera, because when he flew off I wanted a picture of his wings spread out, but my camera got a really crappy shot! You can't really tell by the picture but he was pretty big! the tree he was on is HUGE, so those branches are actually really big branches...they look kinda small in the picture.
It was a fun, quick little afternoon out of the house, which is pretty rare around here with all the ghetto wind! Here's to hoping for more cool, breezy days so we can enjoy this lovely weather!!!

Spring Time?

The first part of the video is SNOW and the rest is me bugging Kaleb about the snow :)

Tenley Jade

Since I did an update on the bubbas, I figured it was time for a little miss update as well...actually i haven't posted one on here since her birth so I am way behind, so this could get long! Our sweet little TJ just turned 5 months old, where has the time gone? My baby is growing so fast, I can't even keep up! When her brother was a baby, I was always looking forward to him growing and hitting new milestones...this time around I am in NO rush, and my heart breaks a little every time she does something new. She is certainly a fun little girl, and I just love this stage of babies! Ask me a few months ago and I might have tried to sell her to you :)

For the first 10-12 weeks of her life she was a difficult little diva! Seriously, everything that ever worked for Kaleb, DID NOT work for her! It was a little like learning to be a parent all over again, and the biggest thing I learned is that there is no golden rule to parenting, and my style has to adjust to each of my children's personalities. The hardest thing with her was the Colic, it's the worst feeling in the world to hear your baby cry for hours and absolutely everything you try doesn't help....it feels helpless. Many nights I would just hold her close and cry with her. There were a few nights where i would be driving around aimlessly at midnight with the radio cranked up and a screaming baby in the back seat. She would scream for hours and finally pass out, so I'd just let her sleep in the carseat. She also had some minor reflux issues, so I was getting zero sleep and zero dairy to help her reflux....sleep and dairy just happen to be 2 of my favorite things :) My sanity, along with Jareds was running very thin. Jared also worked long hours a lot at his new job, so adjusting to 2 kids alone was rough. I wished so badly that I could have someone just come and watch her even for a half hour, while I got some much needed rest, but living in a brand new state and knowing no one within a 6-8 drive left me feeling very lonely.

I would pray, she would cry, so I would pray harder and she would cry harder :) And on top of all that, I had a huge whopping pile of guilt on my heart, as I let Kaleb watch movie after movie while I tried to tend to his sister. Slowly, ever so slowly as the weeks passed she got a little better. I'd say about week 12 or so, she wasn't screaming her head off anymore for no reason. Loud does not describe her banshee scream, I am surprised the neighbors never called the cops...we do live in an apartment, so they had to hear her! I look back at those first difficult months now and I really am thankful for the experience. I learned a lot of love and patience that i never had to even think about before, and in those rare moments when she was quietly cuddling with me were pure bliss. I had this perfect baby girl, who I would do anything for and I've never felt so blessed!

I am happy to report that she is a happy, super energetic little squirt nowadays! Don't get me wrong, she still has some diva moments, but it's usually just when she is hungry or tired. She loves to smile and giggle, and NO ONE makes her laugh like her brother! I call her my little steamroller because she rolls all over the place! She drools likes no ones business, soaking through bibs and onesies like they're toilet paper! She loves to eat baby food, any baby food...and she makes yum yum noises the whole time she eats :) She is now sleeping about 6-7 hours after i put her down for bed, so I am no longer a zombie!! She is the sweetest most beautiful little string bean in the world!

We did run into one snag lately with her, she is now taking some formula...it's a super long story and this post is already long, but basically for reasons beyond my control, breastfeeding will be ending shortly. This was extremely heartbreaking for me and maybe it's because I had issues when I went back to work after having Kaleb that caused me to stop breastfeeding. I had this goal of getting to 1 year with Tenley, which is definitely not happening, so I was super depressed about it. I cried a lot, and bless my sweet husband, but as supportive as he is, I just felt like there was no way he could understand my pain and disappointment. At first I felt alone, I just wanted to go cry my eyes out to my mom or my sister and tell them all about it. So knowing I couldn't do that made me even more depressed, until finally I realized how stupid I was being. I got on my knees, poured my heart out to my heavenly father, and literally I instantly felt comforted and got the most clear message ever. I realized that putting expectations on myself like that weren't important, and that what is most important is just making sure my little girl was getting the nutrition she needed. It's funny, Tenley woke up from a nap right after this and she had this biggest grin on her face, I picked her up and she put her sweet little hand on my cheek and just smiled at me :) It was like she was telling me it's okay mom :)

She's been doing pretty good on the bottle and things are really good around here. I have 2 awesome kids and an amazing husband, who I love more than i could ever put into words! I feel so grateful and blessed for all they have given me!

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!