New Years Resolutions

I'm not normally a big New Years Resolution maker, but this year I have a whole list of things I want to do/improve for 2012.  I thought I would share them, it might help motivate me in really trying to achieve my goals. 

1) Time Management I want to spend more quiet time with God, and it's easy to say I don't always have time for it, but that would mean no one should see me posting things on pinterest, facebook, or blogging because in realty I waste a lot of the free time I have doing these three things!

2) Make it to my weight loss goal. I know this one is cliche and pretty much on most people's list but I am going to make it there and stay there!  I have done so much better after Carson, I gained 33 pounds with him and since he was born I have lost 36 pounds.   I would love to loose 7more pounds, and it's not a huge amount so I know I can do it! 

3) Stick to a Budget and save some money.   We have always had a budget since Matthew and I have been married but have never really had any follow through or did any checking up on it to see how we were doing.  I think we always knew we weren't following it so it was pointless to track but for 2012 I am ready.  I have my spreadsheet all figured out, printed and ready for budgeting to begin.   The crazy thing is I'm kind of excited about it, however I need to keep the momentum going so I don't cave in and let my discontentment take over and  make persuade me to forget the budget and get things we really don't need.  That could be a whole other goal but I'll just lump discontentment in with  this one.  ( I really don't like to address my problem with that!)

4) Get Organized This is something I always want to have more of.  I love organizing closets, cabinets, drawers anything that allows me to. However the last few years since we have added children into our lives my life feels way less than organized.  I feel like there is always somewhere in the house that needs my attention and I just don't feel like I ever have everything together.  I am going to be making a household binder, thank you pinterest for some great ideas and websites to keep papers, budgeting, and information all together and easily accessible, then I am going to try and develop some sort of plan for cleaning the house, weekly and monthly goals since  cleaning is always a big stressor for me. 

5)  Learn to Relax more  Now  this one doesn't really make since after the other 4 items on my resolution list but it  does to me.  I am always so uptight and high strung and want to learn to just not worry about all the little things and enjoy life with Matthew and my boys.  This will honestly probably be the hardest item on this list, just because  I feel like I always have to be doing something and always worry/stress out about stupid things!  I want to do things I enjoy like sewing/ or crafting during naptime or after bed instead of working on my to-do list or cleaning.  I always feel like there are a million things I need to do but want to learn to just stop, have fun and enjoy the ride of life! 

I may have a lot of things I want to do/achieve this year but what I already have is a wonderful husband, and two adorable boys who make each day interesting.  Matthew and I both have jobs, we have a wonderful home, money to buy food/ life necessities, vehicles to get us where we need to be, and awesome friends and family.  We truly have everything we need and are so blessed.  We are thankful for  the last year that we have had with our boys and look forward to each new day of parenting since I realize no two days are ever the same with little ones.

Carson's Christmas Day Firsts

On Christmas Carson did two things for the first time for us

He rolled over twice from his belly to back

Then that night he did some first real laughs for us when Matthew was giving him zerberts.

I just love the video we got, it's too cute, Noah of course is hanging out right his brother watching dad and laughing along with Carson.

I put the video on facebook, if you haven't seen it, here is the link
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10100105335069775&saved

Merry Christmas

We have been celebrating Christmas now for a few weeks.   This year has been very different in that our Christmas family events have been quite spread out.  We already had one in the beginning of December and that had one last Sunday and then had just mini family events all weekend around the actual dates of Christmas. 

Here are a few pictures from Christmas at dad and Dinah's last weekend

This was Noah helping me open Carson's presents, it was like double for him since everything Carson got he thought was fun and was for him as well.

 Love the look on Noah's face, he enjoyed present opening this year

 Our cutie pie Carson, hanging out while everyone was opening presents.  Next year he will get to join in on the action

Friday we celebrated Christmas with the Dirks' and I failed to bring my camera so no pictures from that one.  Dad and Angie got Noah a remote control Jeep which he was in love with.  Saturday morning he was already playing with it at 6:45.  We have already run the batteries down.  I didn't think he would figure it out but he has mastered forward and backward.  If he can't get it to turn he just picks it up and points it in the direction he wants.

Sunday morning mom and the crew came to our house for Christmas brunch and presents.  I again pretty much failed to take pictures.  Aunt Randi had taken some of the kids and I took a whole like 5 pictures so here are the few  I have. 

Noah's joy, he loved pretty much every present and wanted to play with everything as soon as he opened it. 

Grandma Shelley and Kevin got Noah a baseball tee ball set and as you can see we have some practicing to do with him.  Right now he hits the ball off the tee with the wrong end of the bat.   

 Our annual toe sock picture,  don't ask me how this started but mom got us toe socks one year when they were cool many years ago and has been getting them for us ever since.  Funny thing is, she got us these same toe socks last year but couldn't find any others so bought them again.  Apparently toe socks aren't really in any more, haha!

Noah climbing on his mount of presents while playing with his magna doodle. 

 Yes mom.....

 Noah trying to wear the glasses from his Mr. Potato Head

I wish I had more pictures but I was not in the best of moods Christmas morning, I was tired, grumpy and let stress and worry get to me.  I missed out in just sitting back and enjoying the day with my family and I regret that.  I hate that I worried about silly stuff and wished I would have just enjoyed each minute of it.  We still had a great day overall and we all got such great gifts and are so thankful for everything we received and the wonderful friends and family we have.  Noah I think was overwhelmed by the end of the day and didn't know what to play with.  He kind of stayed away from his playroom, I think there was just too much new stuff in there for him.  We are in the process of picking some items to stow away for awhile and bring them out later in the year and also splitting up his toys so he has some downstairs as well. 

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, the Jones family sure did! 

Melts my heart!

Is that not sweet or what?

This morning I was making Carson do some tummy time and Noah was trying to entertain him as usual then he laid down right by him and put his arm around him.  I couldn't believe it and ran to get my camera.  He actually stayed like that for awhile because I caught a picture thank goodness.  Oh I just love these too!  It amazes me every day how much they already seem to like each other as well!  Wish you could see their faces, but still cute!

OCD Much

So I'm pretty sure my son is just like me.....

I have already known he is quirky but more and more lately, he has done a lot of things that make me laugh and have shown how particular he is...

Below are pictures of things he did today with his toys

Lined up all of his trucks in the crack of the couch

 He got these books this afternoon from Great Grandma and Great Grandpa White, which he loves.. Of course they have all had to be out of the box this evening and he had to neatly line them up on the coffee table

 Earlier today he took a bunch of his trucks and lined them up by the front door.  He did this a few different times, he would put all the ones he had a way and get a new set out..

Such a funny kid he is!

9 hours

Last night was great, Carson slept from 8:30 to 5:30, in case you aren't good at math, that's 9 hours!  I went to bed around 10:30 and woke up at 5:30 thinking it was much earlier since Carson usually gets up anytime starting at midnight.  We have been back and forth some nights he's up at 12 and 3, some nights it's just 2-3.  We haven't had a certain time each night.  I know why he slept too, it's because I finally got him to take a good bottle.  Man that boy lately is frustrating in the eating department.  He seems to take bottles good for Nana Jill but for me it usually takes me like an hour to get him to take a bottle and he still rarely finishes it. He will eat about half, wait a half hour and will eat the rest.  I have tried moving him up to level 2 bottle nipples, which I did use last night but he still eats a little cries, then eats a little more, cries and it continues until he's done.  Then today I tried using them again all morning and the same thing he just cried and cried, so this afternoon I switched back to level 1's and magically he has finished his bottles all afternoon/evening with the old nipples.  Weird I know.. He seems to be gaining weight just fine, but he really doesn't eat that much as compared to most babies his age and if he doesn't get enough during the day then I know he will continue to wake at night.  He did take a decent bottle tonight before bed so we will just have to wait and see when we get up tonight!  Crossing my fingers for another good night.  With Noah we had  to wait almost a year until we had a sleeping child so we were due for one to start a lot earlier! 

Brotherly Love

Noah loves to try and "play" with Carson. 

Carson loves to watch his brother Noah. 

I can't wait to really watch them play together. 

When Carson is awake, and is playing in something Noah has to be right there, whether it's his swing, bouncer, play mat or jumperoo.  I think he actually helps because he helps Carson get toys moving so he likes staying in things longer than a few minutes sometimes. 

Now it doesn't always fair well, because Noah isn't always gentle with his brother so we do have a to keep an eye on them when he is around him but I know in time he will understand more and more!  When Carson starts moving these two are really going to be great buddies!

 Giving Carson a hug, after he had just given him a kiss! So sweet!

 Carson smiling at Noah, just love seeing this!

These are the Moments

Lately, I just haven't had a lot of wonderful moments with my kids.   Noah had a nasty cold  for a bit, and was teething  so he wasn't his self for a little while and I think Carson could feel my tension with him and was crankier than normal as well.  I have just felt high strung and beat down for awhile now and feel like I have had 0 patience with them.  I have hated feeling like I just can't handle them lately. 

Then the weekend happened!  Friday night we had a wonderful evening out with the Sterchi's, dinner and the MercyMe concert, then Saturday I hung out with my sisters and the boys all day.  Saturday night we made crafts with Noah and then had movie night with the sisters and hubby!  Then yesterday Matthew and  I got to go shopping alone in Champaign without the boys.  It was such a nice day but I was ready to get home to our little men.  Last night I had a wonderful evening with both of them, I played with Carson before bed, gave him a bath then fed him and just cuddled with him after he fell asleep on my shoulder and just enjoyed my sweet sleeping boy.  Then I laid him down and came out to Mr. Noah who already had got a bath from dad and he did his normal mom-mom and hit  the couch to summon me over to sit by him (love it when he does this) and we cuddled on the couch and watched an episode of Jake then went to the playroom  to read books before his bedtime.  He has really been into books lately, and really seems to be taking everything in.  Then I got to tuck him in for the night.  Then the wonderfulness has continued today.  Noah has been an angel and we have played all morning with cars, trains, magnets, other toys and read a lot more books.  He has been super cuddly and pretended to get hurt so he could get some loving, I hugged him and sang to him for like 10 minutes (pretty unheard for him to just sit still and hug us for longer than 15 seconds).  It was great, I totally soaked that moment in.  Carson has been so good today too and has actually slept a lot which is the opposite of his normal 30 minute cat naps. 

It has been such a wonderful weekend of friends, family and great times with my boys, I very much needed this and am so thankful today for all the help we had this weekend with the boys while we got away and thankful for our two little wonderful blessings who have captured our hearts! 

Days like today make every diaper change struggle, the daily non stop mess of toys and baby items, lack of sleep, the tantrums, and crying all worth it!  Now I just need to read this on the bad days and remind myself, haha! 

Christmas Fun

Last night we decided to try some Christmas crafts with Noah. On Pinterest I saw a craft that was supposed to be a Christmas tree and it was simple, waffle cone turned upside down, covered with green icing and decorated with candy.  I thought it may be something he would enjoy so I bought  the stuff and decided to be lazy and bought store icing as well.  I was going to dye it green but as young as he is, knew he wouldn't know the difference and decided to skip that part and left it white to keep the mess minimal! 

Aunt Kate, icing the first cone and Noah wondering what the heck we were doing. 

 Ornery aunt Kate put icing on his nose and Mr. Picky about anything being on him didn't even notice because he was really paying attention.

 Just started and did not like once he got the icing on his fingers.....

 That didn't last long and he started putting the candy on the tree, then taking it right back off to eat it.  Apparently candy is much better with icing....

Next I found this cheap little gingerbread man kit so we did that after the cones.  Basically all it was, was stickers you could put on the foam gingerbread man.  Noah loves stickers so this was right up his alley!

 Carson didn't think craft time was too exciting, he fell asleep on me

 Our finished products!

Matthew and I have always decorated a gingerbread house each year since we have been dating and always thought we would have that be one of our holiday traditions but this year decided to do something a little easier.  Maybe next year we will try with Noah, but it will be a few years before Carson would get into it.  I've been trying to think of some more neat traditions to start with our kids, anyone have any neat ideas they want to share?

Proud

Lately (well a few months now) Matthew and I have been worried about Noah's speech.  He just really hasn't ever been a talker and we've realized that more after Carson started cooing and just making noises because Noah never really did much of  that.  At his last check up at 18 months they said they gain a lot of speech from then to 2 years so we have just been waiting for him to make up that ground.  Well he is almost 2 years old and he is finally starting to say more words each day, not as much as we would like but it's progress.  We have been going back and forth about whether to have him evaluated for it and possibly start meeting with a speech therapist but the last week he has really been showing us he can talk and has been doing it more often.  He also has moments that you can tell he is really listening to us and soaking things in.  We have really been trying to work with him more (Matthew more, he has so much patience and will tell him what something is 50 times to try and get him to say it)  He won't say anything on command and some words we have heard him say he may use one week but won't use it again for 2 weeks.  It's so frustrating for us, but I know it has to be for him too when we are always trying to guess what his signals and pointing mean and can't figure it out. 

 Tonight I was just so proud of him as he gave me a book and said "read this" and then he snuggled up next to me (which I love, he is such a lover sometimes now, a huge change from when he was younger) and he totally paid attention while I read book after book and interacted with me as I read it to him and asked questions.  In our Bob the Builder book, he loves the end where it has all the machines and he pointed to each one when I asked where that color was, then in another book he pointed out the cow, pig, duck and sheep, and in another he counted things with me and said his favorite number 6 when it was time.  It's nice to know he is learning because somedays it seems as if he doesn't hear a word we say.  We don't doubt that he's smart because he very much is and has proven that to us over and over but it's nice to have the reassurance that mom I do listen to you and I will prove it to you like he did tonight.  Now if we could just get him to vocalize all the things he knows, we will be so relieved!  I'm sure once he really does start talking he won't quit and I will look back and this and laugh. 

Our Little Fireman

 Noah definetly is a big brother, because he is quite the boss around our house (at least thinks he is).  Lately he has been in love with his fireman hat we got free awhile back at the Fire Station Open house. Noah has never worn hats pretty much since he was old enough to pull them off.  He just throws a fit if you even try but for some reason lately, he knows when a hat is for fun like his fireman hat or a cowboy hat he found at Nana Jill's and Papa Bob's.  It's so cute to see him just walking around wearing it.  Well today he wanted dad to wear the black hat all day and he wore the red one.  At dinner tonight Matthew was tired of wearing the silly hat and kept trying to take it off and everytime he did Noah would notice it immediately and point to him and  tell him to put his hat back on (the last picture is him bossing in action).  Funny kid! 

I Made It

I'm getting closer and closer to my weight loss goal.  With Carson I gained 33 pounds and had set a goal to have it off by Thanksgiving, right around when he would turn 3 months.  Well lately I have been getting closer and closer and knew any day I should of seen that last pound drop.  I didn't even make it up the last two days to workout so I really wasn't expecting to see that wonderful number today but I did!  Yahoo!   I have now lost all of my weight from Carson, but I'm not done, I still have some weight I never lost from Noah and some more I just want to get rid of.  So hoping I can lose 9 more pounds, and I'm setting a goal for that of February 1st.  I'm sure it will be tricky with the holidays so it might be borderline impossible but I'm going to try! 

What stinks is though even though the weights off from pregnancy and I can fit into a lot of my clothes, they still don't look good because I don't feel like my shape is back to normal.  Now I've always been wide but during and after pregnancy I'm extra wide.  Hoping these hips move back in soon! 

First Christmas of the year

Yesterday we had our first Christmas get together of the year.  Matthew's parents will be out of town for Christmas visiting his sister in Arizona so we had Christmas a few weeks early.  Matthew's sister Amanda and her new hubby in Arizona weren't able to make it (which we hated, becaues we miss them) but all of his other siblings and their spouses/kids were able to.  What a day we had.  There are 6 kids right now and 4 are under 2.  We had mexican for lunch and pizza (the Christmas tradition) for dinner, so it was an all day affair.  The younger kids all got naps but Noah's was only about 30 minutes, he definetly could of used more.  We had some crazy moments and pictures were borderline impossible with that many little ones.  Overall it was still a great day hanging out Matthew's family including his parents.  He loves hanging out with his brothers, and I love all their wives so it's always a good time!  And Noah loves his cousins, Carson is too young but I know he will someday as well!

I didn't know how Noah would do this year with presents because he hasn't opened any since his birthday which was in January.  Almost a year ago!  Well when he saw boxes in a pile he was ready to open them and did manage to do most of it, but I had to help a little.  Once he opened the first thing with little trucks, that is all he wanted was them out of the box to play with.  but we got him to finish the rest of the presents first.  He got some great things and I was excited too since we have some new toys to play with.  I don't think he does but I get bored with the toys he has.  Carson missed out, he was napping so mom opened up his presents for him! 

I have been a little forgetful lately and forgot the camera so we didn't get any pictures of Noah and the day or the presents but I did take some after we got home.  I think we were all ready for bed. 

Here is out tired little man, watching Chugginton before bed and notice all the trucks he got for Christmas, there are ten of them  next to him and he had to line them all up on the couch while he watched TV, funny kid!

(cute look with the hiked up pajamas, huh?)

Random picture of Carson from this morning, got a good smile out of him! 

 I guess he was excited about his new toys as well! 

 Noah playing with his new Chugginton trains this morning.  He got a  track too, but they didn't last long on there, he has been playing with them all over the house this morning

on the couch.......

 lying down playing with them, haha.......

                                           on the side table in the living room.......

Then  the trains ate lunch with him and are now in bed with him napping!!  I think we are going to have to get a few more!