Running in Circles

We are blessed with wonderful examples of loving and thoughtful fathers. I am so grateful for a loving father who has been a wonderful example of service and love towards others. He has supported me through years of soccer games and practices, school events, piano lessons, tears over boyfriends and friends, and now my own little family. I am so grateful for my father in law, Doug too! He is a wonderful example of quiet and humble service. He is always happy to help or offer advice and I really enjoy learning more from him and his testimony. 

Today, I am most grateful though for Brice. 

He has blessed me with two wonderful children who I feel privileged to be mothering. Brice works hard without any complaint each week to provide for our family. He loves to get his hands dirty and feels most accomplished when he's made something himself. He is a logical thinker who has to stretch to deal with my feelings, but he puts forth an effort and I am grateful. Brice is quick to change diapers, play duplos, read books, take Hazel outside for a wander, and say I love you. 

Babe, one day our kids will thank them yourself, but for now I'll say it! 

Happy Father's Day. We love you so much!!

- My friend, Ali, has lent us her car again while they're out of town for two weeks. We've been able to go to the splash pad, the Perot Museum, the mall, the playplace at the Galleria, storytimes, the library, etc... It is SO nice to get out everyday!

- I'm sure its from getting out more often but I just feel happier!

- Brice got his first promotion and raise at his yearly review! I'm proud of him and so glad he likes going to work everyday.

- Summer is here which means HUMIDITY!! I love the heat but humidity, man I'm just not a fan!

- We got a preschool workbook for Hazel to work on and she loves it. We're just doing two or three pages a day but its great. We've been practicing letter writing, shape recognition, and matching like its our job. She definitely responds well to positive praise and I love seeing her little brain working.

- My workouts have been going great and I'm seeing improvement. My clothes all fit and I feel well rested, nourished, and happy to be pushing myself again. Each time I do a burpee and feel my abs contract hard I can't help but smile- I love a good workout and missed feeling abs when I was pregnant.  

- My friend, Chrissy just had her baby and I got to visit and hold her when she was just a few hours old. She is so sweet. Several friends are getting close to heave their babies now too!

- Brice finished the bookshelf he was working on and I love it! 

- Father's Day is right around the corner and we can't wait to spoil Brice a little bit. He really does a lot to provide for our family and we sure love him! 

- A week away from turning 5 months and our little babe is almost crawling. Just yesterday he got his knees bent underneth his tummy and moved himself forward several feet. Its fun to watch him grow but I really wouldn't mind if he just laid there a bit more :)

- I got a calling this last Sunday- Visiting Teaching Coordinator- nothing too exciting or too scary!

Henry is sleeping through the night! 

Its been a solid two weeks now and I'm really starting to feel more alive and rested. It took four nights to make it happen, but I was ready and I knew he really didn't need to eat at night.

Henry goes to bed at 8:00 and I nurse him mostly to sleep and then we put him down swaddled still. He is still sleeping on his tummy and rolls quite a bit during the night but doesn't even wake up crying anymore. We slept with the fan on high and with our door shut so we wouldn't hear him cry and its hard to do but worth it! 

We love Henry and we love feeling rested again :)

6:30 AM- Wake up, nurse Henry, and get ready to go running. Henry will go back to sleep and then he and Hazel are both up around 7:00-7:15.

7:00-8:15 I run :) Brice is at home with both kids and getting himself ready for work. Most days this goes pretty well and everyone's happy when I get home, but occasionally things just aren't going smoothly and Brice needs me back home earlier. Hazel and Brice have established quite the little routine together and its fun for me to be the one observing their little relationship.

8:30- I nurse Henry again, and swaddle him for his morning nap.

8:45- 10:00 Henry is asleep so now I set Hazel up with a stack of books, stickers, and occasionally nursery rhyme songs on Youtube. I do insanity and usually shower in an hour. Since getting rid of cable tv this is pretty much her only screen time of the day so I don't feel too bad about it.

10:00-10:30  I finish getting ready for the day, pick up around the house, put dishes away, start laundry, and Henry is up so I get the kids dressed!

10:20- I nurse Henry again. does it ever end?!?

10:30- We head out for the day. Sometimes its just a walk to see the ducks, or its a walk to Target, or if we're lucky we get to meet up with friends. 

11:45- lunch time 

12:00- Naps! Hazel goes to bed and I feed Henry again and he goes down for his long afternoon nap.

2:00-3:00 The kids are up. I usually spend nap time folding laundry, organizing, watching Netflix, prepping dinner, or working on a project. I nurse Henry again.

3:00-5:00- We play inside, go outside, swim, whatever! If we're home Henry goes down for his last nap at 4:30 and he usually sleeps an hour.

6:00- Brice gets home! We are all happy to see him and we have dinner together.

7:30- Baths, books, scriptures, bed

8:15- both kids are asleep pretty quickly now and I am so grateful. 

1. The way Hazel talks to her little brother. 

       - "Good job buddy- you can do it!"

       - "oh that's such a good smile,Hen."

       - " Hey, boom-boom!"

it's pretty clear that she loves him and is copying a lot of what I say so its always good to see shes repeating the nice thing ;)

2. Pink nail polish. I tend to favor grays and purples and when I bought a bright pink color Brice about lost his mind. He was practically hovering over me to see if I'd really paint my fingernails or not.

3. All my clothes. It's so nice to have all my clothes fitting again- just in time for summer (when I wont be wanting to wear anything besides a bathing suit of workout clothes). Speaking of I'd take about half of the swimsuits and exercise tops from AlbionFit any day!

4.  This moisturizing oil. It seriously is the best. I started using it the last few weeks of pregnancy and I am happy to report it works. My skin is way less dry, dark spots on my face are clear, and scars on my legs are gone!

^ Dont mind that middle finger of his- we had a talk about it :) ^

- He loves his mama!

- Hazel can make him laugh the easiest.

- Weighs 15 pounds and 8 oz (50th percentile) and is 24.5 inches long (25th percentile)

- Henry does not like his carseat at all! It's probably because he's not in it all that often, but its guaranteed even a five minute drive will be filled with crying.

- Wears some 3-6 months clothes and some 0-3 still.

- During the day he naps from 9:00-10:15 and 12:00-3:00 and 4:30-5:30. He goes to bed between 7:30 and 8:30 most nights but is waking up two to three times each night. I usually feed him because then he goes back down so easily, but I've decided it's time to sleep train. He's big enough and just needs to learn to sleep at night now. WISH US LUCK!

- He is a tummy sleeper. At 8 weeks old we noticed he was getting a pretty big flat spot on the back of his head so after getting it evaluated (it was too mild to act on it but the specialist suggested we avoid things with an incline and do more tummy time) I started putting him to sleep on his stomach. He didn't seem to mind or care about the switch at all. He probably only spends an hour or two each day on his back now and the spot has almost completely fixed itself.

- Still wearing size one diapers but he is ready to move up to size two

- Does great in the stroller, loves his binki, and loves being swaddled to sleep.

- this kid is a sweaty sleeper. 

- Henry loves one-on-one attention and being talked to directly. He will give anyone the biggest smiles and has started actually giggling. 

- He can grab toys and hair :) and is starting to put most things straight into his mouth. 

- Isn't rolling over yet, but does baby pushups and can sorta scoot!! Its kinda crazy to watch him bending his knees under his tummy and plow forward but he does it daily!

We just love him!

It feels like its been awhile since I've been to this little blank space of internet. I find myself mentally writing blog posts and things down as were out on walks and I can't remember to sit down and write them out when we get home. But here's my chance.

Some days...

Some days are so good it is overwhelming. I give thanks for my two healthy kids, a supportive and fun husband, our little apartment, a good job, a car that fits all of us, such good friends, and such loving and thoughtful family members. On these days I am extra observant of all the little things that make me happy too- clothes that fit again, watching Hazel act out stories with her animals, listening to her sing "Follow the Prophet," seeing Henry notice me walk by and smile right at me, enough food to keep us full and happy, furniture we like, little house decorations, Henry's long eyelashes, painted nails, and even new shoes. Some days having two kids is a breeze and i just love being home, in our safe and clean home all day with the little people that I love the most.

Some days...

Some days it rains and we cant even get out to go on a walk and I just stare at the walls of our apartment and I can't stand anything we own. Some days we miss out on fun play activities and seeing friends, I get sick of playing with the same toys, or even playing in the same room everyday. Some days I think about just how tired I am from getting up with Henry each and every night and answering each of Hazel's questions. Some days I just really resent not having time to myself, or going to the gym to exercise, or miss teaching Pilates. Some days I miss going to the temple so easily and having more quality time with Brice. Some days I can't help but notice everyone else's vacations they take so often, or the money they seem to have, or the talents that I'm lacking.

I'm thankful for those days where things just don't feel right or I'm just not quite feeling happy enough, because they're almost always followed up by a day where I notice everything good and I can't help but just thank my Heavenly Father all day for everything. I guess the thing that I'm learning is sometimes the bigger life things aren't always going to be right or aren't the way we want them to be (housing, car, relationships, finances, freedoms) but there are so many little things going perfectly and little things that are just right that I really would hate to see them go. 

So some days are good and some days are just the opposite but I am so grateful for each and everyday.