My Wittle Family

I love 'em so much!

I never knew I had the capacity to love as much as I do.  Even when there's spit-up in my hair, I'm trying really hard not to yell and sort of failing, and listening to both boys cry simultaneously (though rare.. it happens!) I'm grateful for the calm moments I have just wondering how I could ever love so much.

I always thought I would love one child more after the second was born.  I couldn't fathom loving anything as much or more than what I already felt towards Jordan.  And yet.. here I am, confessing there is indeed enough love abounding to go around!

I love my boys.  Who knew.

Discovering a New Hobby

I never took that hobby of photography that I claimed I was going to start last year whilst in Spokane very seriously.  Blame it on the fact that we lived in a tiny apartment on the third floor, on my first time in snow, on the fact that I was in a small town that sometimes felt clausterphobic, or the sad truth... I got lazy (and pregnant).

But now.. in our new fantastic home with TONS of natural light... I have begun to experiment. Today, Jordan got in trouble and wasn't allowed to have Family Home Evening with his cousins. Instead, we ventured off to the nearby park and had a quick lesson and some fun on the playground.  While Andy and Jordan played, I lay on a mat and took photos of Bubba and the scenery.  The scenery photos are boring, just a bunch of trees with sunlight poking from behind and me trying to figure out if I got more or less light, more or less focused with each button on my manual setting.  It was fun though!

In my own humble opinion, not bad for a beginner.  HAHAHAHA.  But seriously, so much fun.  That's all I want to do with photography.  Capture photos of my kids... significant family events... etc.  I know a lot of moms end up doing photography on the side to earn cash (so awesome right? and kind of a Mormon thing but really just a mom thing), but that seems like a huge weekend commitment and BlueSky is amazing and my skillset is really more with spreadsheets, operations, and people anyway, but as a hobby?  SO MUCH FUN!  

And, I have a well defined plan that lays out the journey I hope to take with photography.  I will play with the manual settings wherever I go, until I know pretty immediately exactly what aperture, shutter speed and ISO I need for the existing light I have around me.  Then, I will venture into learning how to edit photos.  Meanwhile, I will experiment with my own creativity and shots that I envision in my head or, let's be real, what I've seen and like and want to mimic (isn't imitation the best form of flattery?!).  Next, I will check out some photography books from the library and begin to read more about the mechanics of photography.  Lastly, I will make a goal of purchasing an additional expensive lens that may help me obtain the creative shots I will want at that point.  Let's see how far I get! Oh and somewhere in the middle, I want to ask for a remote control so I can take photos with myself in them!  HEHEHE.  The automatic timer combined with our tri-pod is good for now.  

Sizing...

My 28 month old son wears 18-24 months clothes that fit on the waist or are too loose but too short in the length.  Meanwhile, my almost 5 month son fits 12-18 month clothing quite comfortably (not tight, not super loose...).

Isn't that odd?  It makes shopping for them so difficult.  I can't really look at the sizing labels.. I just sort of know what will fit 'em.  But if Jordan keeps loosing weight and Bubba keeps gaining weight.. soon they will be able to wear the same clothes.  HA!

 

Bubba's Light Eyes

Bubba was born with lighter eyes than Jordan.  They looked light grey for a bit, now they're more of an amber.  It's been difficult to get a photo of it.  Well, that is until now!  Thank goodness for fancy cameras.  I've been playing with the manual mode lately, learning what I can so I can take good photos of my kids.

Breakfast is always fun with Jordan.  He wakes up immediately and comes into our room asking for "mommy's phone" or "eat?"  If I tell him no Disney Junior (the app that plays shows) via my phone, he says "just games Mommy, no Disney Junior" because that's what we ask him to do on Sunday morning.  He's learning so much and talking so much.  He remembers things we tell him the names of after just once and surprises both of us with new words that he's only heard a few times often.  Today, he wanted my necklace so Andy told him it was for girls (while I chimmed in not boys!) and later he pointed to it, telling me, "Mommy's necklace for girls, not boys."  What a smartie pants.  He also told me my necklace was "broke, I'll fix it Mommy" even though it wasn't.  he loves saying things are broken and then that he'll fix it.

 Bubba loves his brother.  He loves being awake and in the mix of things.  He's trying so hard to roll over but he can't quite yet.  He is grabbing things more and more and has a secure grip on whatever is nearby.

What can I say.. he loves his cape!  That hair.. it just sort of rises in the middle on its own.  

 Bubba just recently met an important milestone.  He has begun sleeping for six and more hours straight through the night.  It may have helped that we put him in the crib instead of the pack n play and that we bundled him up (his arms were kinda cold a few days even though we wrapped him up in the swaddle).  Hooray!  Not that getting up was really that big of a deal since he was such a great eater.  He would just take about 10-15 minutes and be done.. but the sleep is also nice.

 The brothers.

 Aye aye Mom!

See the light eyes?  Wonder if they'll stick around....!

Family Budgeting... Do It!

After almost a year of using my new and improved excel template for budgeting, I can confidently say I love it and have worked out all the kinks!

It now takes me a maximum of ten minutes to download my transactions from Mint.com and copy it over to my budget, categorize everything... and wam, bam, thank you ma'am.....  I can tell you exactly how much we're over or under and then pinpoint where we went over.

Because I love it and so excited about how much it has helped me analyze where we can save or spend more, I decided to make the Excel Template available for everyone to use!

Warning: it is a little more advanced of a workbook than most budgets, it may take some time to learn and understand.. but I guarantee you ... the time put forth to understand it and become comfortable with it is an investment that will benefit your family!

If you do end up using it, please leave a comment to let me know how it went.  Much appreciated!

Intense Budget Template

Disclaimer: To be real, we really don't look at it compared to our budget... we really just look at the bottom line and see if we've come out under or over for the month and then overall for the year.  But it is always nice to have an idea of where you'd like to be when the year begins and see how far you've fallen away from that at the end of the year. Ha!

Freshly Vacuumed...

We just spent a lot of money on a nice vacuum that was slightly on sale at Costco.  Oddly enough, I have used it everyday since we've gotten it!  Now if there's one household chore I don't mind and actually look forward to... it's vacuuming.  Vacuuming doesn't suck the moisture out of your hands.  Vacuuming doesn't require gloves.  Vacuuming is almost a bit of a work out.  

When I was a kid, I absolutely loved vacuuming.  It was the only chore I'd willingly do without being asked because I loved the fresh footprints you could see in the perfect lines of just vacuumed carpet.  The praise of how filial and what a wonderful daughter I was following didn't hurt either but the act itself was indeed enjoyable.

As an added bonus, our vacuum is also my favorite color.. purple!  It's like they knew.
Thank you for joining our family Ms. Dyson.  You da bomb.

 

I Live for the Weekends

As a stay at home mom going out all the time mom who works part-time a lot more than part-time feels, I live for the weekends.  Sure!... the weekdays are fun.  Sure!... we get to go out quite often.  Sure I have all the time in the world to do whatever my heart desires (NOT!).  The reality of the matter is... getting two kids out the door is tough.  Bubba, at 16 almost 17 pounds in a carseat is not light or kind to my arm that bruises easily.  Jordan, at 2 with a mind of his own, can articulate that he'd like to go to the park mom, he'd like to go outside mom, he'd like to go to Grandma's or Jan's and that he'd like to watch a show now.  It isn't the easiest to tell him that Mom has to work, that he has to nap, or that it's raining so we can't go outside.  He hasn't learned "why" yet but I imagine that will be loads of fun.

This weekend.. we had Thai food and got ice cream after at Arctic Circle with the grandparents, ventured out for bagels and waffles for breakfast, went to Costco, Home Depot, and Best Buy together as a family, watched BYU beat Texas at Jan's (while Andy went with his dad, brother-in-law and his pops to the game in Provo) with extended family, and celebrated HG's baby blessing (which I missed cuz of the Sunday School class I teach and forgot would run until noon since we just recently switched from having Sacrament last to Sacrament first).  What a weekend!

I just adore the weekends.  Though the weekdays sometimes mimic the weekends because we do get to see our family all the time and eat out or at Grandma's more often than not, we just don't get as much of Daddy as we do on the weekends.

The other day, I was in the bathroom and I heard Jordan climb onto our bed where Bubba was laying.  He said, "Bubba... I love you." And then he just sort of lay there with him.  I've found that if I'm not in bed when Jordan comes into our room, this is a normal thing for him.  It's absolutely adorable.  I managed to get a photo of it the next day.  

Saturday morning breakfast!  We got Einstein's Bagels and Jordan had the fancy waffles from the cart outside of Dan's (there's always a long line and they are delicious!)  Andy thinks they coated it with some type of sugar mixture that makes it better than at home waffles.

Bubba is a happy baby, as most fat babies are.  This is my favorite onesie because it is a t-shirt over a onesie so it is not tucked into any pants I put over it.  And it has fake little suspenders on it.  

 We watched the game at Jan's house and thought we saw OGO on television.  It wasn't him.  But I snapped a photo of it.  hahaha.

 Bubba sleeping with Daddy.  So cute!

 Jordan and Bubba at HG's baby blessing.  I didn't get any photos of the kids.  Doh!