December

Well, it has been a long time since updating.... So here is December all wrapped up in a small post. This month has been interesting, we have all been sick at the same time and different times with different colds. Yuck, I know. Andrew has been exploring and discovering new things, he loves to video conference with his grandparents though his attention span is only about 10 minutes it is still really special. He tries to touch the screen as if he could in real life and smiles and laughs. He is talking (or what he thinks is talking) sooooo much it is very amusing. He is a very outgoing kid.

Paul's work is slow this time of year and we are hoping things pick up in the new year. He finished the 1st of 3 math courses he needs to take to finish his degree and is starting to apply to several school he is interested in attending to get his Bachelors. We are not set on staying in Utah so we will see where the wind takes us. He hopes to start school full time in September. In the mean time he is trying to enjoy the snow and has been skiing a few times since we have been here and I plan to go with him sometime in January.
Not much has happened with me, I hit the ripe old age of 25 this month and for my birthday Paul surprised me with getting my wedding ring fixed. I was missing a couple of diamonds. It wont be ready until January and I cant wait to get it back! I am working on a few projects and still practicing day trading to work toward staying home with a second income. We plan on adding one more to our family in 2011 and that is about it.

We had a nice quiet Christmas and Andrew LOVED all his gifts. Here's to a eventful, exciting 2011!

Gratitude

Well, this last month has been filled with ups and downs. I will keep this short and sweet. So the job Paul got so that we could move back to UT so he could finish his school turned to not be a very good or stable job. In fact, through series of events, out of Paul's control he ended up loosing that job. It was very stressful because we are sick of being so tight with money, living pay check to pay check and we thought those days were close to over with this job. I guess the Lord saw that we were getting too comfortable and decided to throw a wrench in our plans, we are now starting to see the blessing in all this. So we were trying to think of what we can do, I am not making very much a week and now Paul was jobless but we still needed to pay for mortgage, car and other living expenses. We didn't know how it was going to work and feared for the worst, loosing our home. Through the network of FaceBook, Paul contacted a good friend who had a referral for him. He had an interview the same week he lost his other job and was hired on the spot! It is in the same industry but pays significantly less in salary but offers a higher earning potential over time. With this cut in pay we had to rework our budget and are blessed that we can make everything fit within it with our 2 small incomes. No wiggle room though until his commissions start coming in. Christmas will be very tight this year and I am forced to be creative with gifts as well. I am not complaining too much because I love to come up with fun crafty projects. :) All in all, we are so blessed to have each other and our family. I know the Lord knows a bigger picture than we do and I know he is looking out for Paul and had a hand in redirecting him to this new job where he is so much happier and relaxed. I don't know where it will take him or how long he will be there but I know the Lord would never put us in a situation where we could not provide for his righteous little spirit that he has entrusted us with (as long as we are doing our best). He is aware of our needs and our bottom line and it is not just coincidence that this worked out so smoothly and that our budget equals out to almost the dollar. We are a lot more appreciative of the things we do have and are learning the true meaning of happiness. The happiness and joy that is brought through love and faith, through being creative and supporting one another. I love my family and friends with all my heart and I love the Lord and my Savior for looking out for us and directing us through this life filled with land mines. In a way, I feel this change in job for Paul has saved us from stepping on one of those mines in the future, I guess we will never know. I just know that Paul was not happy ans was being held back by the way the corporate giants were running the place. We are so grateful for where we are now and I am happy to see the stress melt off of Paul, he is a happier man at his new place of work even though the pay is much less. It proves that money can't buy happiness.

On another note, Andrew had a fun Halloween and we are looking forward to spending the holidays with him and watching his discover the world around him. He is walking so good now and is trying to run! He has mastered the art of walking in just a few short weeks, he is so smart! Until next time, enjoy the season and God Bless.

Excitment

This month is full of excitement. I have been working our costumes for Halloween and cant wait to post pictures of our little Mummy family. We are excited to take Andrew to our ward trunk or treat / party. He is going to have so much fun!
Paul was just called a Gospel Doctrine teacher, he is excited but nervous at the same time. He says  that most of those teachers are old and know the scriptures front and back. lol He will do GREAT! I am also enjoying studying the material with him (we all know I need it, that is an area I am lacking in) :)
Paul's Dad is coming in to town next week and week and we are looking forward to him bonding with Andrew. He has not seen him since he was 2 months old.
We went to Gardner Village on Sat. while Daddy was at the Priesthood session of General Conference, Which was AMAZING by the way. We looked at all the Halloween deco and went on a fun witch hunt. Got some cute photos too.

at Gardner Village

I start a nanny job for a friend on the 19th and I am looking forward to being busy again, it is the perfect schedule and an answer to our prayers. I will be able to take a little of  the stress off Paul. Paul's job is slow and steady and he is looking forward to going back to school full time and change his career to do something he enjoys. He has to finish up these last 2 classes then probably transfer to BYU full time next fall.

Found the laundry

Andrew is happy and healthy as ever. He wakes up smiling every day and is such a sweet boy. We are enjoying seeing him grow and learn. His new thing this week is he likes to feed Mommy pretzels or crackers when we have snack time. He thinks its funny when he gets it in my mouth and I bite it. He also is into anything that has wheels and loves to push them all over the house. We have to watch where step so we dont trip on any of his cars. :) He is still working on walking and took 3 steps by himself last week when he thought I was not looking then when he realized I was, he fell on his bum and started laughing. I think he really does know how to walk but is tricking all us to think he cant. he is just to smart. He loves to feed himself and eats what we eat. He is not on jar baby food anymore and he drinks whole milk (which he LOVES). He is 21 pounds and tall, i dont know how tall I need a tape measure :) We have used his car seat to the max, it says up to 22 pounds so we are now in the market for a new or used car seat.
I have started a Boutique with some fun accessories and I want to branch it into toddler clothing made with unwanted adult clothing. I have a bunch of ideas and designs in my head and am slowly working on them. I have already got one style out, a jumper. I hope that over time I can really bring in some money and make this a dream career instead of just a hobby. Only time will tell if people are interested in my creativity and designs. I know it will take some time to build up a fan base and interest but I am excited to expand my products as much as I can.

My Recycle Jumper

I am so grateful for EVERYTHING and all the opportunities in our life right now. We are on the road to a new chapter in our lives and although sometimes scary, we are looking forward to what the Lord has in store for us. That's it for now, see you next time.

The year has flown by!

This last week was fun. We went to Mill Creek Canyon on Saturday for a picnic. It was a beautiful day and we stopped on the way to get some sandwiches, we got Andrew a grill cheese and when we got to the picnic site he ate the whole thing! My boy definatly has an appetite just like his Daddy. We got some fun pictures and fresh air.

I cant believe my Baby turned 1! WOW the year has just flown by so fast. Looking back he has come a long way from the NICU and tubes. He has caught up faster than the doctors had thought and if you were to meet him now you would have no idea he was a premature baby! I am so proud of the little boy he is becoming.

 He has such a sweet and loving personality with a hint of goofiness. He always makes us laugh and smile. He has 5 teeth and is still working on walking by himself. He loves patty-cake and giving wet slobbery kisses and pushing cars on the floor with Mommy. Paul and I could not be happier with his development and we are so blessed that the Lord sent this special spirit to us to raise in the gospel. I only hope and pray that we will give him every opportunity he seeks in life to grow, develop and explore. Parenthood has brought our family so much closer and my love for Paul has grown as I see him become the best loving and caring Father to Andrew. We are so happy in this season of our lives.
Until next time, have a fabulous week bloggers!

Long time no talk?

Oh my, i have been so bad this month about updating the blog. We have just had so much fun since last time I forgot to share with everyone. :)
Paul started school and he goes every Tues. Thurs. night. He is enjoying it as much as anyone enjoys MATH. (yuck)
My mother came and visited a couple weeks ago and we had fun. We drove to Fairview  to see Grandma and for Andrew to meet her and Grandpa. They adored him and he was a really good boy. We went to lunch then got some ice cream.

The next day we had a Wardell reunion which was the first one we had been to for about 3 years. It was nice to see everyone and Andrew met some of his 2nd cousins.

We went to see our cousins new home and attend a party there. It was a lot of fun, good food and family and friends.
Then the next day we went to a good friend of Paul's family for dinner, I made some spar ribs (thanks Mom for the recipe) they turned out delicious! Andrew had a lot of fun with all the kids and made some good friends.
I am now working with the Webelows  (spelling?) Scouts. They are a great bunch of boys and they also adore Andrew. Paul is at school while i am with the scouts so Andrew tags along with me.

We went to October Fest in near Park City and went to the top of the mountain where Andrew played in the rocks, i had to watch him close so he would not put them in his mouth.

I am really excited about Halloween and am getting our costumes put together. It will be a lot of fun for Andrew.

This is short and sweet this time, i dont have a lot of time to write today. I will catch you all later!

Hike and tons of FUN

We have had so much fun being back in Utah. The weather is beautiful! We are doing daily family walks in the evening and last weekend we went to Timpanogos Cave. It was a 1 1/2 mile hike up the mountain and 3/4 of a mile in the cave. Windy but nice day and the cave was a cool 40 *F . Andrew loved the sights and the hike on Daddy's shoulders. Tomorrow we are headed to October fest at Snowbird. Family fun with music and food....could not be better.
We went snow shopping this last week and got a nice deal on some new ski's, bindings, boots and poles for Paul, a ski outfit for me and a snow suit for Andrew. Also got a couple of hats and gloves all for the price of one set of ski's! If you know how much ski's cost than you would know that we walked away with a killer deal! We are so excited for the winter here, we probably will not be saying that next year. We plan on sledding a lot with Andrew and Paul will be hitting the slopes every weekend. I plan on going a couple times with him if I can get a sitter for Andrew for the day. Next winter we will put Andrew in ski lessons. :)
We are slowly getting our little condo put together, I am creating a design plan for our bedroom right now and am excited to get started and become a savvy but creative shopper! I am loving it! When it is done i will post pics but it will take some time.
I am still looking for a part time job or do some day trading. I am doing well with it now but it is all practice. I hope to be able to make that my part time job, I know it works because I have heard of stay at home Moms doing it for extra money and are quite good at it too. This gives me hope that I can have my cake and eat it too! Will keep you posted on that at well.
My Mom is coming in town next week and we are so excited to see her and spend time with the family! Andrew is growing so fast and will probably look older to her. His hair has grown so much I think it is time for a trim. We cant believe our baby will be one at the end of this month! Time has flown by and it has been a roller coaster. This year has been an exciting one for us as we watch him grow and discover new things, we have been so blessed to have such a healthy and active boy. He has the sweetest spirit and is so loving, there are never any bad days when you look into his deep blue eyes that are filled with so much love and he cracks such a sweet smile. It just melts my heart every time. I don't know what we have done to get the privilege of raising such a honorable spirit but I am forever grateful and honored to be Andrew's Mother. I only hope I can give him the best of what I have and not let him down. We are so blessed! I am so proud of Paul and the Husband and Father he has become, my love for him is deeper than I have words to express and I am so lucky to have him by my side to raise our children. I am so filled with Joy I can say that this is one of the best years of my life. I LOVE MY FAMILY!

Goals

So I am going to commit to updating my blog once a week. I have never been good at journal writing and I know it is important. There are so many exciting things going on right now that i need to document them somewhere! This is a good place for me and I hope I can continue.
So this last week Paul has completed training and is really enjoying his new position. We went to register him at LDS business Collage and found out that if you miss 2 semesters in a row you have to completely re-apply! So he did that and hopefully we did it in time for him to start next month. He still has to select his classes after they accept his application.
Andrew and I have been hanging out at home most of time, i have been looking for a Nanny position or something that would allow me to make some money and stay home or keep him with me. I do have the opportunity to help a good friend out this week with some project for her business, that will help a bit with some money. I am also working on an idea and several examples on my sewing machine that i hope to have up on Face Book in a couple of weeks. I hope people will find interest in it and I hope it will help me become a stay home Mom with some income. I really enjoy making things and being creative.
This weekend we are going to a Ward Camp out! It will be so much fun and Andrew's first time camping. I hope he enjoys it! It will be nice to take advantage of the beautiful weather here and I cant wait to spend time with my Family and friends. We are so grateful to be back in Utah, we are enjoying ourselves so much and fell a lot less stress. Paul is so much happier and excited to do activities and enter the next chapter of our lives together. This move has truly been an answer to our prayers!  Until next time.

Utah

Well, we made it to Utah! It was a long and eventful trip and Andrew was a trooper. He was so good through the whole ride, we could not be more proud.
We have got all our stuff in our condo in West Jordan and took a look around to see what condition our tenants left the place in. Not too bad but they did a horrible job at patching holes and trying to touch up the paint on the doors. The problem is the paint did not match so we have a very patchy doors and splotchy walls. We are giving our little place a face lift with new paint and already have our master bedroom painted.
It was a fun project and took longer than we thought but we are happy its done, it looks great!
We went to the Zoo this last week and Andrew had a BLAST!
He loved looking at all the animals and even laughed at a few as they ran past him. The animals were very active and the weather was so nice! I do not miss the Texas humidity at all! We practically live outside now, its warm with cool breeze. We spent the day yesterday at the water park at Cherry Hill with some friends and it was so nice to catch up. Andrew loved the slides and splash pool but i think his favorite was in the lazy river in a tube with Mommy and Daddy. He LOVES The water. He went on a big slide with Mommy and Daddy and was not scared at all! He smiled when we got to the bottom and the life guard said that most babies his age are crying when the slide is over, so brave! 

Paul starts his job on Tuesday and is very excited to get going. Hopefully this will work out to be a stable and secure job for us until he finishes school, we have heard a lot about the company and every one has said its a great and solid place to be. We are enjoying this new change in our lives and are excited to see Andrew grow and thrive, he has got his big top tooth since we got here and is about to cut is second one and his bottom teeth are fully in now. I am sure by the end of this next week he will have 4 teeth. :)

Meant to be

So its been kinda a crazy month. Turns out Paul is going back to school and got a job. We will be moving back to Utah and will be on the road next week! I am really excited for this change and our future. It is bitter sweet, I will miss my Family here but hope to visit often. It is a sigh if relief knowing we will not have a rent and mortgage payment hanging over our heads and we hope to  refinance our condo for a better rate and possibly shorter loan term.

Andrew is a ball of energy like always but in such a mellow way. He is teething again you can see the white from his top teeth about to break through! Our boy is growing so fast!
I will update again when we are safe and settled in Utah, until then, good bye.

Opportunity

These last few weeks have been up and down. Paul has been looking for a new job for a while now and it seemed as though a great opportunity fell in his lap but at the last minute it was too good to be true. We have learned over the years that when one door closes another opens and that is just what happened. He is now interviewing for an even better position with Fed X. We wont get our hopes up but will continue praying for the best.
Andrew has been such a happy kiddo! So fun to be around and play with. He is learning fast and catching up faster! Walking along furniture is his favorite thing now and he loves to talk and make growling noises too. We did have a scare with him a few days ago, he woke up in the middle of the night having a hard time breathing. We tried to calm him down and I ended up taking him to the emergency room. They diagnosed him with the croup and gave him a steroid to bring the swelling of his esophagus down. I bought a  humidifier and elevated his mattress and he is doing much better now. Being a first time Mom it scared me to death! I kept my calm though the best I could. He has not really been sick so this is his first time really feeling like crud and he is taking it like a champ.
We spent the 4th of July at Freedom Over Texas. It was so much fun and Andrew LOVED the firework show, here are a few photos.

I am very proud of my boys! I love them both with all my heart!

Finally

Wow, so I only did one blog entry for the entire month of June! I am sooo bad at this. I will try to make July more eventful for our little family.

June was a good month though, Andrew started to crawl and is now pulling up on things and he almost has his balance down. He has 2 teeth and a big apatite! He loves to laugh and is practicing waving to new people he sees. Its funny because he wont wave to me when i try and practice with him but he will wave at anyone who comes up to him, lol. I guess he is thinking "Mom, i don't need to wave at you because you aren't going anywhere.." Too smart :) He is such a good boy and easy going.

We are excited for this weekend. I have Sunday evening off work so we can enjoy fireworks together as a family for the first time with Andrew.

No word yet on what is happening with Paul's job, we are anxiously waiting and I really don't like waiting. ugh.... My Dad is having a hard time right now and is on medical leave for 6 weeks. He has had several TIA's (mini strokes) and he is now suffering from anxiety disorder to the point where it is hard for him to even leave the house. We are all trying to keep him positive and distracted while he works with the doctors but he is doing ok.
Things are looking up for us and we are so excited to see what the future holds.
I love seeing Andrew and Paul together, they are best buds! Our little Man brings so much happiness into our lives and we are excited to give him a Brother or Sister within the next year as long as things keep going well for us and we can afford to. I know you are never financially ready for children and I know that it should not keep us from having another child, however, we are believers in family planning and I don't think there is anything wrong with making sure we have the insurance and some savings first. We wan to enjoy the experience, not be stressed and we want Andrew to enjoy being a big brother too and that is hard to do if there is too much stress in the home.
Paul and I had the opportunity to speak in sacrament meeting last week and it was a great experience. Our topic  was Marriage and Families and how the gospel blesses us in those relationships. It was a good reminder and a humbling experience while preparing the talks. It is nice to be reminded on how the Lord views a family and how much he loves us and trusts us. I am so grateful for the gospel in my life and for the blessing of the temple and priesthood sealing power so that my family can be together forever. I am so excited to spend eternity with Paul and continue to grow with him. We are so blessed to be sent such a sweet spirit with Andrew, we are the luckiest parents in the world!

Slow Down

I have not been good at this blog thing but I will keep at it until I get it right. This last month we had my Mother in law in town and it was so nice to see Andrew bonding with her. He loves his Baba.

Andrew is so silly, he loves it when i get the camera out and he thinks that after the flash is when he needs to smile. Or he will be looking really cute then pull a silly face. I guess he takes after me more than I thought, here are a couple of faces he pulled.

He LOVES watching Shrek and Baby Einstein with Mommy and is still working on crawling. He scoots or rolls to wherever he wants to go but he loves walking with my hands. I dont think he will crawl for very long before he walks and I am not rushing him because he is growing too fast. He is not even supposed to be as advanced as he is for being born 7 weeks early so his Dr said to enjoy it. He is only 8 months for heavens sake! He is all boy, he likes to make different sounds and growl's all the time. He laughs after he farts and LOVES his Daddy. He is such a happy boy and so smart!
Andrew has 2 teeth now and thinks its funny when we brush them for him. He is on a solid schedule now, he sleeps from 9pm to 7am and naps 2 times a day. I love it! We are having fun with different foods and trying new things.
I am so  blessed to have such a great little family. Paul is an awesome Father and Husband and is so dedicated to make it possible for me to stay home full time. I love that determination from him. In the mean time I work at Carrabbas and am so blessed to be there because my schedule allows me to stay home with Andrew in the day and when Daddy gets home I go work for 5 hours and make great money! We are able to save so much by not having to pay for day care and we know that our little prince is in the best care with Mommy and Daddy! The only down side to that is Paul and I dont see as much of each other as we used to, but I think through it all we have grown closer because we have to make time to communicate and find a few minutes here and there. They say distance makes the heart grow fonder and I think that is true, I find myself missing him more and more each day and when we are together we have so much fun. I know my love for him has grown through this experience and cant wait to have our family grow!