Prayers

First of all, I want to just thank God for my blessings. Mine and my family’s health mostly but the list goes on and on for what I am grateful for. It’s sad to say that when tragedy happens around you, you stop and think “Thank you God for MY blessings”…when we should be thanking him every day. I fall short of this ALWAYS and it saddens me. I’m just asking for unspoken prayers right now for a dear friend of mine. She is going through some really rough times right now. A tragic death and health issues within her family. God give her strength to get through this.
Also, still praying for a co-worker… that her hearing will come back. She said her little boy was singing in the back of the car and she couldn’t hear him and he was asking “mommy can you hear me” :( breaks my heart. She is too young.

I am no saint, nor do I have any place to preach to anyone or be all “holier than thou” – but I just wish people would stop complaining about the petty things in life and look at all of their blessings. Me, being one of those people. Facebook AKA DEVILBOOK is where I am starting too – I am getting on less and less. It’s so negative and I’m so tired of people and their selfishness and hypocriticalness. Basically it’s a Debbie Downer @ times and I just want positive/happy thoughts. I still love looking at kiddo’s pics tho!

On a happier ending… I want to give a shout out to my lovely husband. ;) No, he is not perfect, no, he doesn’t do the sweetest things sometimes, and he annoys me some… but he is my best friend and he is one heck of a daddy. Jake looks up to him so much, and so do I. Josh is so easy to talk to and he always knows just what to say to make you feel better. I respect him and am proud of him. Jake is a lucky little boy.

Everyday Josh let's Jake put all the "change" in the change jar!

This makes Jake super happy

Sweet baby

I had to post this b/c it's hilarious (to me) - Josh drinks out of a measuring cup sometimes (weirdo) haha and Jake must have seen him, so he was doing the same thing.... omg he's funny!

gotta be like his daddy :)

OH I almost forgot - we went to get his booster flu shot yesterday and good ole' mom here forgot about his 15 mo checkup and shots... so we had to get those too (a month and half later). Jake was not HAPPY. Nor was I b/c Josh wasn't with me to hold Jake down, so I had to do it and I cried. It was horrible... but it was ok like 2 seconds afterwards haha. He is almost 3 ft tall and weighs 27 lbs. Perfect healthy baby boy, thank you Lord for my sweet sweet blessing!

It's a beautiful day!

This week I have been staying off of Facebook. I have wanted to delete the thing so many times but can't bring myself to do it with all the family I have on there. They enjoy seeing pictures of Jake and hearing about him. I enjoy seeing pictures of my friend's children also. In our busy lives its a way to stay in some sort of contact. I however; log on way too often and find myself so negative while on there. Soo... my pact to myself this week... is no FB, no coffee,(I'm on a health kick) and more time with Jake and doing things around the house. I seen a few other friends do this so I thought I would too. :) It's been nice.

Today I was reading from one of my "Pins" off of Pinterest "25 rules for moms with boys". I had no idea how emotional it would make me. I seriously cried the entire time I read it. I guess I am emotional today all around. I found out a co-worker of mine has lost her hearing in one ear and some in the other. She has children and I just can't stomach the thought of losing my hearing and not being able to hear my children laugh, cry, say momma, I mean... anything they say or do. It's really sad. I pray she can cope with this and maybe try to get a hearing aide of some sort. She has many more dr apt's ahead. I take for granted so many little things and I ask God for forgiveness that I take these things for granted and appreciate how blessed I am.

Back to the rules I was reading... I wanted to share a few of my favorites... although I loved them all!

*Be an example of a beautiful woman with brains, determination, and integrity. You already are all of those things. If you ever fear that you are somehow incapable of doing anything - remember this: If you have done any of the following: a) grew life b) impossibly and inconceivably got it out of your body c) taken care of a newborn d) made a pain go away with a kiss e) taught someone to read f) taught a toddler to eat with a utensil g) cleaned up diarrhea without gagging h) loved a child enough to be willing to give your life for them (regardless if they are your own) or i) found a way to be strong when that child is suffering...you are a superhero. do not doubt yourself for one second. Seriously

> I need to hear the one above. I honestly get down on myself often. I agree that we should teach our children to look beyond the outter layer and deeper within.

*Kiss him! Any mother of sons will tell you that little boys are so loving and sweet. They can be harsh and wild and destructive during most of the day. But there are these moments when they are so kind and sensitive and tender. So much so that it can cause you to look around at the inward, reserved grown men in your life and think, 'what happens in between that made you lose that?' Let's try to stop the cycle by kissing them when they're loving and kissing them even more when they're wild. Kissing them when they're 2 months and kissing them when they're 16 years old. You're the mom - you can go ahead and kiss him no matter how big he gets - and make sure he knows it. p.s. (this one is just as important for dad's too).

>This one makes me smile. Jake is the sweetest baby boy ever... but the wildest too. In one second he is kissing me (a big wet slobbery one) and the next he is running wild, screaming, and roaring like a dinasour! haha I love my boy so much!

*Be home base. You are home to him. When he learns to walk, he will wobble a few feet away from you and then come back, then wobble away a little farther and then come back. When he tries something new, he will look for your proud smile. When he learns to read, he will repeat the same book to you twenty times in a row, because you're the only one who will listen that many times. When he plays his sport, he will search for your face in the stands. When he is sick, he will call you. When he really messes up, he will call you. When he is grown and strong and tough and big and he feels like crying, he will come to you; because a man can cry in front of his mother without feeling self-conscious. Even when he grows up and has a new woman in his life and gets a new home, you are still his mother; home base, the ever constant, like the sun. Know that in your heart and everything else will fall into place.

> OH how I love this last one. I want more than anything to be Jake's "Home Base". I want him to feel stable. I want him to be strong. I want him to look back one day and know he had a good, Christian, loving, and stable home. If you don't have these things, your life will be unstable - until you find the stability again one day. Take it from someone who knows. I want him to always be able to talk to me or Josh about anything.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far :) My little sweetie is awake now, so time to go give him lots of kisses!!!

Brrr!

Old man winter has come to show his face finally! It’s been a weird winter season with temperatures in the 60’s a lot of days. I’m not complaining at all though. Jake and I have played outside bunches! He’s not interested in his 4wheeler Santa brought him… he just wants to run wild and free and pick up sticks and leaves and look at everything around him. He is in awe of the outdoors, which makes me so happy. He is so precious. He will be 16 months old on Sunday (1-15-12). I will just tell ya a few things he has been doing lately b/c I doubt I’ll be back on here this weekend to update J
My sweet baby boy isn’t such a baby anymore. He is growing so fast and doing new, hilarious things each day. Some of his favorite things are books, Disney channel, his paci and lovie (addicted to these ha!), Lola aka “Wowa”, canned foods haha, tractors, Elmo, watching videos of himself lol, dancing, climbing on everything, hiding and scaring us, & being outside. He is going through a weird stage with eating. He won’t eat hardly anything – but the dr told me this day was coming. He said “you will think he is starving b/c he is going to start not wanting anything at all” and he was right… he has begun this stage. He won’t even eat his favorite… mashed potatoes! AHH! He is starting to tell me and yes and no on things he wants. Talking more every day. Trying to repeat everything I say to him… yikes haha. Gosh… so much more but I don’t want to bore everyone.

Josh has been working outside on the weekends. Right now we are trying to get electric to the shop. So he has been digging a ditch and working on that. This spring we have lots of plans for the house/garage. Hopefully we can get going on that too!

I started my workout and healthy eating plan this week. It’s been pretty good so far. I’ve ran every day, even if it wasn’t much… at least I did it. Whew. The eating healthy has been hard though. I eat a lot of sweets and junk ;) I’m trying to cut that out… b/c I basically want to feel better. When I eat healthy I feel awesome…. have more energy, etc. I’m not trying to lose weight, just get tone. The older I get, the more saggy things are ;) yuck.

2012 has started out great for me and my family. However; my heart goes out to some families in our community who have tragically lost someone. My heart feels so heavy for them. All I can do is say a prayer for them and realize just how precious life is and how I need to appreciate each day and each person in my life… and tell them how much I love them.

I have a lot of goals this year. Nothing major but things I want to get done and things I want to do for myself. I’m excited and ready to take on this new year with a positive attitude… leaving all the negative behind.

Last thing….looooving my new camera and teaching myself new things on it all the time… here are some of my favorites from this week ;) Everyone have a great weekend!!

Umm... when did he grow up so much!?

Gosh dang, I love that face!

Love capturing precious moments like this.... so innocent!

A little grin like he knows he shouldn't be eating those leaves haha

All boy ;)

Probably one of my favorties!