First Thanksgiving

Levi celebrated his first Thanksgiving yesterday with Jason's family. It was so nice to see his family and be around them for some length of time. And Levi did GREAT for having been up for 4 hours by the time we finally headed home. It was quite an evening but he did great. He even had a little mashed potatoes, roll, and pumpkin pie. He LOVED the pie, lol, but he only got a little bit. Tonight we have Thanksgiving with all of my family that is in town. It is going to be an awesome afternoon and I can't wait to eat another feast! Not to mention I made my Gran's world-famous noodles for the first time all by myself, and I'm so curious to see how they turned out. Hopefully everyone likes them :-) I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving and a restful day. God bless!

Newest Adventure

So, not only am I teaching while taking care of a new baby, I have decided to add another component of chaos to my life. I am going to be a Premier Designs jewelry consultant. I never thought I would be that kind of person that does the home shows and sells things like this, but the opportunity came up and I am going to run with it! It is a Christian company, so that made me feel good about it right away. The jewelry is very affordable (or I wouldn't sell it), the hostess plans are phenomenal (or nobody would ever host a party), and all of the profit of the company goes into a fund that supports missions. I did a lot of praying, thinking, researching, and talking with other people who are in businesses like this one before I made my decision. I'm excited to get going with it and to make some money for us to be able to do some of the things that are outside of our current budget (like get a truck and a camper for this coming summer). I hope it is as fun as I am anticipating. I know it is going to be "work" but I am hoping that the fun outweighs the work. If nothing else, it is something super fun I can do over breaks and the summer that will bring in some more money than not doing anything. And who knows? Maybe eventually it will turn into something more than a hobby? And, since I can do it in any state in the country, maybe when I travel to see family or friends I will be able to set up some fun "girls night out" things for my loved ones. Maybe that is just a silly dream, but maybe not? I will try to write about it as things progress and as I start throwing parties and whatnot. But, if anyone is interested, let me know and maybe we can plan a party for the future!

Amazing day

Today was the best day I have had in a really long time. Jason and I both had the day off today, so it was extra special that we were able to spend time together and with Levi. Not to mention we were extra productive today! We:
1. Took my car to the dealership to get the oil changed and get a recall fixed
2. Took Levi to the doctor to have his 6 month appointment and shots. The doctor said they usually like to see babies at 9 months also, but Levi has hit several 9 month milestones that they would check, so he didn't need to be seen then.
3. Got the last part of the things we needed for our bathroom remodel. We can officially use our master bathroom completely!
4. Went by my school to check on my fish. We have had some serious fish difficulties in my class and I wanted to check that they were still alive. They are! At least, the four that were alive on Wednesday. Why are fish so challenging? I thought they would be an easy, straight forward class pet...
5. Ate lunch at one of our favorite restaurants.
6. Got fish for our home aquarium.
7. Went to visit Jason's grandparents whom we haven't seen in several weeks. They were so excited to see how much Levi is growing!
8. I went to a jewelry party a friend of mine hosted and got a little bit of Christmas shopping done.

It was such a good day and the baby was so good, it gave us hope for what family outings will be like in the near future! We know things can come up and the baby can be cranky or whatever, but it was so nice to have a pleasant day with no issues. I am one happy mama right now :-) And tomorrow is Saturday!! Woohoo!!

6 months old

My little man is officially half way to being a year old. WOW how time flies!! I simply can't believe he is already this old. I know I keep writing about sleep, but last night he only woke up once. It was amazing. I'm hoping now that he is getting older he is going to start sleeping more at night. Although, I've had too many bad nights to be counting my chickens before the hatch at this point. Right now I feel like maybe last night was a fluke and waking 2-5 times is his normal. Ugh. I digress...

He is now sitting up like a pro, reaching for everything in sight, and it seems like he is itching to be able to do all the things Jason and I do (read books, eat, write, walk, etc.) He is amazing to watch and is growing so quickly! I will be honest, though, I don't really miss when he was a tiny little guy. He is so much fun right now and I am enjoying seeing him reach every milestone! He still has not rolled from back-to-belly, but he is sitting up so well he might kinda skip that stage. His trunk control is tremendous. He is not really showing any signs of crawling just yet, but he LOVES being on his feet and bouncing/walking around. He has also started giving us "kisses". They are really slobbery and his mouth is wide open, but I am sure that is what they are. He also likes snuggling when he first wakes up and before he goes to bed. We have still been letting him cry himself to sleep when he is sleepy so he doesn't get used to falling asleep on us, but sometimes I still rock him to sleep just because I want to. I know before long he will be running around and not interested in being rocked to sleep, so I am still taking advantage of it when I can.

Jason was hunting last weekend and he got an elk!! I am so proud of him! It was his very first hunt and they were planning to head back home. They pulled up to a clearing, Jason told my dad to stop the Jeep, he got out, walked around to get a little closer to the animal, and then got it! It was literally 10 minutes before they were going to call it quits and head back home. But, since they got one, they had to stay another night out there, so that meant another night alone with Levi. It wasn't too bad but I'm certainly glad to have Jason back. We have already had some of the meat and it is delicious! There is not much better than super-fresh elk meat... the taste of my childhood. I know Jason was excited and hopefully he continues to be successful so we can continue to have amazing meat in the freezer (and on our dinner plates!).

I think that's it for now. I don't have many new pictures, but hopefully soon. God bless.

Blah

So, Jason is out of town for his hunt. Friday night Levi and I went to the school's Halloween carnival with a friend and her little girl. It was really fun and super nice to get to see everyone that was there and show off the babies! Friday night Levi only woke up twice, so that was ok. Then we had some company come down to play with Levi. I then was able to go to a mommy-baby Halloween party. It was a ton of fun! Levi was dressed up as a puppy and he did so well.


Saturday evening we ate dinner with Debbie, Christine, and Matt. Thankfully! I wouldn't have known what to eat had Deb not offered to feed me. Then, Levi and I came home and I bathed him and put him right down to bed. He slept until 11:30pm then got up 5 TIMES between then and 6:30am. Ugh. I'm so tired! I'm also incredibly frustrated because he used to be such a good sleeper and now he is reverting back to what he was doing a couple of weeks ago. It is so hard when Jason isn't here to help because I always just end up feeding Levi since he won't calm down for me otherwise. I am hoping Jason will be home tonight but it doesn't seem like it. I haven't heard from him yet, but I'm hoping soon. He will for sure be home tomorrow, but that means I have to take Levi to daycare tomorrow morning, which will be a first for me when I'm working. It is not going to be easy, but I have to do it! I will probably be late to work tomorrow (not late, but later than I normally get there, which will still be early, hopefully). I'm not sure what I am going to do if tonight is like last night, though, because I can't really handle many more nights like that.

Also, I have to figure out how I am going to get my lesson plans and sub plans done. I don't even know what language to do my lessons for because my sub is not bilingual but I no longer have my English teacher's materials since they were taken to another teacher at my school. I'm just at a loss as to what to do. I guess I will have to figure it out!

Thanks for your prayers. I don't know how single parents do it. I'm exhausted and I've just had him by myself for two days and nights. One more to go. I can do this...

Alone again

Jason and his dad headed up to Jemez to do another scouting trip for his upcoming hunt which means it is just Levi and I, and Abby, tonight! Hopefully he does just as well as he did last night because I can totally do that again :-) He slept from 7:30-3:00, back down until 7:00, then back down until 9:30am. It was amazing! I don't know what he did yesterday to make him so exhausted, but it was great for the night!

My little boy is over leaning on us and just wants to sit up by himself now. I guess he realized he can do it by himself and he doesn't want our help. He is going to be moving around before we know it and I'm not entirely sure I am ready for that. I think I am, but I'm already missing my little baby (even though getting more sleep is so nice).

Pray for us tonight! I've done it before and it isn't usually a big deal, but I have to make sure I eat dinner and pump and all those things that can go by the wayside when I am tired. And pray that Jason and his dad have a good, safe trip up to Jemez and that they hurry home :-)

Sitting up, zoo trip, and first food

Levi sat up, completely unassisted on his changing table, for at least a minute last night. It was so cool! He was so proud of himself because he would play with a toy and then look up at me and give the biggest gummy smile you have ever seen. It was precious. I can't believe how fast he is growing!

We went to the zoo with some friends a couple of weekends ago. We didn't take many pictures of the animals because I already have a bunch of those, but we did get some cute pictures of the baby and our friends' little girl, Sofia. She is one month and one day older than him but he already weighs at least 2lbs more than her. She's just a tiny little thing. Here are the best pictures we got.





Levi also has started trying to eat baby food. His first attempt was carrots and he HATED them, haha. Here are a couple of pictures of that momentous occasion.