Me and My Boys: May 2013

Friday, May 31, 2013

Kindergarten Graduate

Apparently graduating from Kindergarten is a big deal in these parts. Parents showed up with balloons, flowers, and all the works. And part of the package deal, apparently, is that parents take their child home from school early to go celebrate at McDonalds or Chuck E Cheese or something like that. I took Caleb out of school as he would have been one of two students left in his classroom, and we "celebrated" by going to the closing on our old home (boring!!) followed by a snow cone.

(I'm so grateful to my friend Morgan who took pictures for me as I forgot my camera. Moving and my house in shambles has really frazzled my brain!)

Walking into the ceremony

He's such a good smiler

Walking across the stage to get his certificate

Waiting patiently while other classes took their turn to walk across the stage

All graduated!

Picture with Mommy afterwards

Caleb's teacher, Mrs. Maldonado

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Bryson at 6 months

Bryson is 6 months old! At his check-up the other day, he was 17 lb 11 oz (51st percentile), 27 in (62 percentile) and his head count was 47 cm. His head is still measuring large.

Love his smiles.

Bryson is grabbing for everything, putting everything in his mouth, and turning into a slobbering machine. His gums are swollen, which is probably contributing to the excessive drooling lately. He loves this giraffe that MeeMaw bought him for Christmas. It makes soothing noises, and this is how I find him sleeping most naps.

3 weeks ago, Bryson became an independent sitter. I can leave him alone for long periods of times without him falling over, but we still keep a pillow behind him to be safe.

He's eating really well. I'm making all my own baby food (fruits and veggies) this time because I have the time, it's easy, and it saves money. Why didn't I try this with my other boys?!? He eats both rice and oatmeal cereal, peas, spinach, carrots, applesauce, bananas, and peaches. I tried giving him avocado, which he didn't like. I had trouble getting the texture smooth enough so I think it was just a texture thing. Sweet potato and green beans are the next foods I plan on introducing.

Bryson is capable of sleeping through the night and quite often does. It just depends on his schedule for the day and how well he nurses for the last feeding of the night. If he nurses for the last time around 7 or 7:30 pm (and eats well), then he can make it till 6:45am. If the last nursing for the night is any earlier than 7pm, he usually wakes up around 5 to 5:30 am. He is napping 3 times a day: a longer morning nap, a 30-minute mid-day nap, then a longer afternoon nap.

I get comments all the time about how Bryson is such a happy and calm baby. I have to agree! He takes everything in stride, but he still lets me know when he needs some attention. :o)

Family Night

Last Saturday we went to a park with my family for a Family Home Evening. After eating dinner, the boys went fishing while the girls chatted and took care of the babies' needs, then later the adults had a lesson while the kids played at the park.

Caleb has quite the luck when fishing. This time he caught 4 catfish and 1 huge turtle!!

Matt is holding the turtle that Caleb caught. They were expecting a big fish because Caleb needed Matt's help to reel it in! Zane is holding up his impressive catch :o).

Carnival

Every year we look forward to a community carnival nearby that raises money to provide educational resources and other services to kids and parents in the community.

Carter got a bumblebee painted on his face.

Caleb eating a blue bubble gum snow cone and showing off his prize for winning the lollipop game.

Camel ride with cousins Hunter and David Earl.

The boys came home with lots of ~~junk~~ prizes when we just finished the process of getting rid of toys they don't play with anymore! :o)

Fun in the Tub

This is how the three of my boys bathe together every night! Now that Bryson can sit up, we've gotten rid of the baby bath and there's lots more room!

Bubbles always provide lots of entertainment!

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Month 7: Getting Ready to Move

My focus for month 7 of my year-long happiness project was getting our house ready to put on the market. Check it off the list! We've sold our house! The buyers need to move in May 30, and we have been able to push our moving date up to May 25. There's still lots to pack up around the house, and we'll spend a good few days doing a thorough cleaning after all our stuff is moved out. It's super exciting that we're now 3 weeks away when this move has been anticipated for almost a year!

At the same time, I'm very sentimental about leaving our current home. We've put a lot of hard work into this house, and it's very sad to say goodbye. I've already planned to make a book that will include pictures of every room in the house (and how they have changed through the years) as well as several pictures of monumental things that happened while living in the house. This house represents our hard work in saving up to buy it in the first place, we grew our family here from 2 to 5, all the hours spent working together inside and outside to beautify our home, and many, many other happy and cherished memories. As I've been doing my regular cleaning lately, I can't help but think I'm winding down to the last few times I clean these bathrooms, or mop these floors, etc. I know there are many more bathrooms to clean in my future, but I feel like I know every nook and cranny of this house as I've cleaned it over the last 6 years and in many ways it's difficult to say goodbye. I'm sure I'll have a good cry at some point as we get closer to shutting the door on this chapter of our lives.

Besides getting our home ready to sell, I made a small goal to stop biting my nails. I made some progress, but overall failed miserably. Ha! Some habits are hard to break! I did index 200 names, and I started The Continuous Atonement by Brad Wilcox. I'm learning a lot and plan to finish it in May.

May's happiness goal is to do my part to improve my marriage. I've attempted this goal in a previous month, but I didn't feel like I was ready to commit to this goal fully at that time. Especially since we're coming up on our 7th anniversary on June 2nd, I thought May would be a perfect month to put a little more focus on my marriage. I'm using the book, The Love Dare, as a guide throughout the month. A part of me feels it is sad that I have to make a conscious goal in order to be more patient and loving to my husband, but adding children to a marriage adds a whole new element to the mix. I'm no longer just "Haley" or "Matt's Wife." First and foremost I am "Mommy." My children's needs always come first. Hopefully I'll create several habits that carry over long after this month is over!