Thing 3 is 6 months old!

Happy 1/2 Birthday to our perfect little man!!!

You bring so much joy everywhere we go
 and to everyone you meet!

Height/Weight: His 6 month appointment isn't until next week, so I will update this then!

Routine: James has a pretty good routine! It is nice for planning things, because I know about when he will be hungry or sleeping. However he is getting pickier when we get way off schedule now! He is still spending the mornings with Mandi while I take Jenna to school then he goes to see one of his grandmas while I go to the gym. Now that he is eating he is getting bathes everyday :)

Sleeping: James goes to bed after big sister reads and prays with him at 8:30 each night. Then we wake up on weekdays at 7pm and weekends however long he will let me sleep till ;) He naps around 10pm and 5pm for an hour or 2.

Eating/Feeding: James has milk about every 3 hours still and he is eating solids once a day. So far he had 4 days on bananas and has moved on to sweet potatoes. Next Jenna picked apples then peas :)

Sizes: James is wearing 6/9 month in most clothing, is still in size 3 diapers, and will wear just about any hat ;)

Milestones: My miser man is learning so fast!

He had learned to crawl!

He can sit up on his own

He made friends :)

He went down his 1st slide

and on his 1st outdoor swing

He loves water! He is not picky how he gets to it lol! He loves to bathe in the bathtub and sink, and likes to take showers :)

He is teething... and chewing on everything!! I bought him a a teething "toy" that you can put ice or food into it. He will give me like 30 mins to get stuff done when I put frozen bananas in it :)

And he will even argue with me lol ;)

This last 6 months have been so much more than I had dreamed of when we were trying to concive! I am so excited that in less than 30 days my baby daddy will be here to enjoy our sons smile with me!

Until then we will just send him daily selfies ;)

Baby's 1st Food!

Bananas!

 Mike and I actually put a lot of thought and discussion into how we wanted to start food for James. 

• We decided we didn't want to start until 6 months (which I really can't believe he will be this week), because starting food too soon can cause food allergies and digestive problems. 
• We also decided we wanted to do foods that he can eat with nothing done to them (such as bananas, avocado, and other soft foods), so that he is getting pure healthy food! 
• We skipped the baby cereal stage, mostly because at this point James is on a strict gluten free diet while he is nursing, and we don't see a need for him to have the starch in his diet. 
• We want him to have the same food for 4 days at a time to check for allergies before introducing something new.

 We settled on banana honestly because James is in love with Curious George, and I thought it would be cute lol. Also because they are colorless and yummy, so a good way to introduce the newness to baby and his digestive system!

Anyways... yesterday was the big day!

 Mike had the extra day off (seeing it was Presidents Day for him),

 so he was able to Skype the whole thing! James loves talking to daddy :)

 Also, because it was grandma Sue and Auntie Mandi's day off 

so they could be apart of the exciting 1/2 Birthday party :)

 His 1st bite he wasn't sure...

But then he wanted me to go faster!!

Everyone, especially big sister, couldn't help but laugh every bite he took!

And even Grandma got to feed him! 

She was way more fun than me lol 

When he was all done he told daddy about it :)

Got some cuddles with mommy!

Showed daddy and grandma how good his crawling is getting!

 Then he played with Grandma on the floor :)

He kept his spoon the rest of the night, and was it a great mood :)

Needless to say it was a wonderful way to spend our Sunday! 

We got to talk to daddy until we fell asleep which was so great that he could be apart of it!

 And so far James hasn't had any bad reaction to food, so he will get bannas again for the next 3 days then will get to try something new :)

Happily Ever After... on social media

This morning while cuddling my baby, and sipping my coffee I quietly scrolled through my Facebook app. Coming across once again a post about hatred for people who post excessive pictures of their kids, their good pregnancies, and their happy marriages. Because I'm a grown-up, and have the ability to scroll past the things I don't want to read I generally don't respond to these judgmental rants. However this being the third similar in a row I decided that I would like to respond with a different point of view. 

First I guess I should explain what I see social media as... It's a way that I can read the thoughts and feelings of people that I've met throughout my life that I probably wouldn't talk to on a daily basis. If I'm following you or friends with you on social media I care to some degree about what you have to say. Most of my friends are parents, and post many pictures of their kids which I love. I also have friends who are not parents and they post pictures of their animal which I like less, but I like you so post all your crazy cat pics. I do not personally own a small business, but I have multiple friends who do. Do I want everything they're selling? Probably not, but I care about them. So post away all of the things that you want me to buy, and I will scroll pass them when I'm not interested. Then there are the sports, religious, and political posters who all bring great points of view. Some which I agree with some which I don't, but that just keeps things interesting!

People post what's important to them at the time, and if you don't like what is important to the people that you're following don't complain just stop following them... it's kind of an easy fix.

When other girls were dreaming about being Rock-stars, ballerinas, and, astronauts I was dreaming about being a wife and a mommy. It's all I ever wanted to be, so now that I am a wife and a mommy I'm kind of love getting live my dream come true. 

Is every day sunshine and rainbows? Absolutely not, but there are people who don't have amazing husband who are supporting their family, and there are people who can't have babies let alone 3 perfectly healthy ones.  

Why would I complain about the things that I do have to all of social media 

when I can talk about the things that I love instead?

Yes I could post that I haven't slept through the night in the last week, because my baby son has been sick while my husband is out of the country, my eight-year-old is going through a "16-year-old attitude" stage,  and I haven't seen my stepson in two weeks... or I can talk about the fact that my family has been there every second of the way, I have multiple girlfriends who I can call on at any time of day,  I have a roof over my head, and I am very happy 90% of most days!

Both my husband and I came from a very unhealthy relationships, so we really don't argue about small stuff. When we do have complications in our relationship I have people I go to that want to see my marriage succeed who talk me through it! 

It's not going to happen where I badmouth my spouse. Not because I'm trying to fake some sort of happiness, but I would rather lift him up when he does good things to take care of me.

 I know what being in a bad relationship feels like, and I am not in one. 

I personally think that children are adorable and I love my friend's posts of kids, and I love the post pictures of my kids! It's the only way that some of my family members see my kids. If you don't like pictures of kids I would suggest maybe not following me...

Do my kids drive me absolutely crazy? Every Single Day! But Kade has taught me more about the way that I can love than any other human alive. Jenna changed me in such a deep way that I am closer to God and closer to the person I'm supposed to be, because I am her mom. And I prayed for James for years! Excuse me if when they throw temper tantrum I don't feel like complaining is the priority of my social media pages. 

I guess what I'm saying is I'm happily ever after living on social media, and you probably won't ever see me complain about things I think are trivial. Even on a bad day I like to look at the good, sometimes ask for prayer, and post about the best things in my life to remind me of the good and hopefully make someone else smile in the process. I will continue to post pictures of date nights, flowers, and my loving husband. As well as selfies with my great kids and the fun in life, because that's who I am! 

So please continue to post about the things that are important to you, 

I will post about things that are important to me,

 and we can all stop complaining when we don't like what's our news feed! 

I will now get off my soapbox to go live this life 

I don't have to pretend to love! 

Our New Home Part 2: January

Here is Part 1 if you missed it ;)

I am honestly amazed with how much can happen in 1 month! 

We got an email from the builder on 1/5 saying our plans had been approved, and they would break ground soon, and then things just started happening!

We live close by, so I take Jenna once a day to see the house

 so she can make a book when it is all done.

 Here are some of the pictures!

This was our "house" on January 5th 

And this is what our house looks like today 

January 31st :)

Our new home part 1: The story in a Nutshell :)

Well this is extremely delayed!

The story in a Nutshell :)

Our journey to a new house a long one coming. Mike and I decided a few years ago we wanted to move closer to family and Kade, but wanted to be debt free when we made the move. 

This October we had our AMAZING realtor Rex Tedeski start looking at homes with us. We couldn't find anything we were interested in, but were in no hurry. In November when we found out that Mike was going to deploy we decided we would put our house on the market asking way more than we wanted for it, so we could lower it when he got back... 

IT SOLD 4 DAYS LATER in a snow storm no less!!! 

We now needed to move out by the end of December, so we started looking a little more determined. We had a list of things that were really important to us though, and nothing quite met up to our demands. We decided one day to just look into building, and by the end of the next day were signing papers to buy a lot :)

All of the cards sort of fell into place for the sale and build, but we needed somewhere to live. That's when our sister Mandi played hero and let us stay in her spare rooms. I may just stay here when the house is finished ;)

Our amazing family really stepped up to help us move the weekend before Mike left! There really isn't words for how blessed we are with support!

The Nutshell had lots of steps though ;)

Just to sign with the builder:

• We had to pick out a lot. We found the perfect one in the school zone we wanted, in a cul-de-sac, that has a small island so Jenna is safer while playing basketball, and a big yard.  

• We had to pick the home design we wanted... then change it to meet our long list of wants. Like an extra room, a loft, an extended garage (2 car is too small and 3 car allows for too much stuff), and the downstairs bath location to name a few. 

• The fun part was going to pick out all the finishing touches like flooring, counters, and doors. 
• We decided to put away money for allot of thing like paint, lighting, molding, and kitchen/bath upgrade  so that we can build equity imminently instead of having the builder do the work. 
• There were things we wanted that can't be added later (as easy) like the best carpet pad, insulated bedrooms. and bigger windows. 

Then once the new house was waiting for approval by the city we had to:

• Tell big brother and big sister (James was along for the whole ride)

• Move our of our 1st home...so much harder than I thought! Mike and I picked this house out when we had been dating for a month! It was the 1st home for both of our older kids, it was where we brought our baby home to. Even just writing about it now makes me tear up and miss my husband more! 

• And now we wait...

   

Thing 3 is Five Months Old!

Our perfect monster is 5 Months old this week!!!! 

 Jimmy Jam loves his piggy toes, sticking out his tongue,

 and blowing bubbles :)

Height/Weight: James is now weighing in at 15.9lbs (14th percentile), 
is 26 3/4 inches long (75th percentile), 
and has a 43 inch head (38th percentile)

Routine: James is getting a new routine, but is doing great! He spends every morning with Auntie Mandi, so he doesn't have to get in the car while I take sister to school. The Wednesdays with Grandma while I work at Jenna's school. Other than that we don't have much set in stone yet other than I put him to sleep with sister at 8:30 every night :)
He prefers sleeping with his monkey, pacifier,  and one of my scarfs 

Sleeping:If anyone ever says babies don't know what is going on around them to me again I will laugh.. or punch them depending on my mood! James had a great nightly routine then one weekend we thought that moving and his daddy deploying all at once wouldn't effect him... we were wrong! We made sure that we did everything to make the transition easy for Jenna, but now looking back I could have done things differently for Jamie :( 
Every night for about a week after Mike left James looked for dad to put him to bed, and would fight sleep :( it wasn't until that next weekend when Mike was able to Facetime him to sleep a few nights in a row that I realized little man missed daddy too! So I recorded Mike talking to him before bed, and that is how baby goes to sleep at night! 

3 weeks in we are settling into our new home. and little man is back to sleeping 2 naps during the day and through the night (with an occasional 4am snack time) :)

Eating/Feeding: Other than his current stuffy nose making it hard to latch James is a great eater! He eats about every 3 hours. He isn't picky between nursing or his bottle (pumped of course) 
He eats about 5-6 oz when its a bottle and nurses for about 10-15 mins, so he is getting much more efficient lol :)

Sizes:  Baby boy can wear 6 month shirts, but Pj's and pants are 9 months. He is now in size 3 diapers, and seeing his hats are made by Auntie Sara they have custom measurements ;)

Milestones: 

The week before daddy deployed Jamie decided to surprise him with learning to say Dada :)

It is still his favorite sound, but he has added Yaya, Nono, and Googoo :)

He's definitely teething and drools a ton... to help he has learned to suck on his own drool :/

He has made friends with lots of fur babies in the last month!

He can roll all the way over now, and can get into crawl ready position, 

but just rocks back and forth lol

Sara and I did watch him move backwards trying to get to my phone in front of him, so he is going to be way to mobile way to soon :)

For his birthday our big boy got to take a bath with big sister!

It took him a few seconds of feeling and tasting the water to decide, but he loved it! 

The last picture is of him peeing though, so sister says he can take his own bathes from now on lol

Daddy even got to facetime for his bath :)

He is a sweet baby who brings smiles everywhere we go,

 and will let anyone who will talk to him hold him :)

 He is going to be such a people person I'm sure of it!

He does reach for people when he wants them which melts mama's heart 

especially when he is reaching for me! 

So far he only does it to Jenna and me, but his newest adorable act is pulling our faces in for kisses :)

He really has lived up to the nickname Sunshine!!