100

Happy One-Hundred! 

I just realized this was my 100th post to the blog... kinda exciting - also not a big deal at all. :)

I had big plans for the month of January - to dive into my new goals and start accomplishing. My plan was to break down my goals into bite-sized pieces and have monthly goals. I then would have some weekly goals to work towards my monthly goal. I know, I know, I know... I'm weird and I make too many lists...

I was going to post my January goals but now that the month is half over and some other things that are going on - I'm scratching my January list. I love planning but you just can't plan everything. It just doesn't happen like that... something I am realizing and trying to come to grips with.

Just this past weekend I spent alot of time with my family and at the bedside of my sweet grandma. She is on hospice and the family was called. There were many precious moments of holding her hand as she  peacefully slept. After battling many health setbacks the past two months, her body is so weak. It has been emotionally draining to see her in this state the last two days, but yet I am incredibly thankful for the tender moments of holding her soft hands and kissing her cheek. I wouldn't trade these moments for the world.

So, I'm throwing out the list this month and focusing on what is really important - family and getting through this tough time. Maybe I will come back with goals for February - but for now I am not going to worry about lists and goals and the to-dos which I so easily get distracted with.

13 for 2013

I love lists and making goals so New Year's is a perfect time to reflect on all the things I hope to accomplish in the coming year. If I post my goals online, there is a much better chance I will stick with them! So here are my 13 goals for 2013:

1. Read 26 Books 
That breaks down to two books per month, and I want one of those each month to be a non-fiction book.

2. Go to the dentist, fix my tooth, and whiten them
I hate going to the dentist... so I'm putting it on my to-do list so I feel accomplished when I go :) I also chipped my tooth a couple years ago and realized it was from grinding my teeth at night...so I wanna get that fixed too. And whiten my teeth - I always forget to do that..but its something I should do!

3. Exercise 3 times per week
I know I could exercise more and its probably needed to get into better shape. I figure if I do it three times a week for at least an hour, then I don't need to worry about it and at least I am doing SOMETHING at this stage in life. I fell in love with Zumba and it makes working out fun - because usually I hate working out.

4. Come up with a purpose statement and family purpose statement based on strengths and talents
After reading about making a purpose statement in a couple of my Bible study books, I figure it would be a great thing to come up with. I want to come up with what I want to accomplish in life and maybe try to make sense of what God's purpose is for my life. Maybe a pretty lofty goal? :)

5. Blog at least 3 times per week 
I have been TERRIBLE at blogging - so I would like to be more consistent.

6. Do devotions everyday. Focus on my prayer journal and memorize a verse each month.
I started reading through the Bible at my birthday and I still have a bit left and then I read the Bible in a year. This year I will still read through different books of the Bible, but focus more on writing in my prayer journal. I used to memorize verses all the time as a child - this shouldn't stop just because I am an adult.

7. Write at least two encouraging notes per month
I want to get in the habit of writing little encouraging notes to others. Because, who doesn't like to get one of these?

8. Organize all paper, toys, junk, clothes, ect. 
I love organizing as much as I love lists. I want to go through everything we have and get rid of what's unneeded. Everything must have a home, otherwise it will find a new home even if that home is the trash or goodwill.

9. Make our house a home by decorating
Since we just moved in September, we have no art or photos up and everything is boring! I want to work on one room at a time and make things pretty!

10. Organize and document all photos
I take SO many photos and I snap many of the same photo to get the perfect shot. I need to go through these and clean up the duplicates. I also don't have any pictures in albums or books. Although I like to scrapbook, I want to make online photo books from the last few years of us being married and get all caught up on my books.

11. Make family binders 
I want to make two binders - an important paper binder - for an emergency, ect. it would be good to have everything in one place. I also want to make a household binder - with home fix-it numbers, cleaning charts and more.

12. Freezer cook 10 things a month and make a menu planner binder
Who doesn't love to pull dinner out of the freezer and in a few easy steps they have a fabulous, hot dinner? I would love to be better at this, hence the goal for the year. Also, when I am meal planning for the week, I have no idea what to make. I want to have a list of possible meals and recipes of my favorites off of pinterest.

13. Have weekly dates with Todd and weekly outings with Brecken
I really want to make a conscious effort to carve out weekly time with Todd and go out (without Brecken) twice a month and then the other two weeks do something in. Watch a movie, play a game, ect - but not have other distractions, like sitting on our phones, but instead get good quality time in together. I also want to take Brecken to do something special each week such as go a park, library, zoo, ect. It doesn't have to be anything crazy long or expensive - but just spend quality time with him.

So there we go. The list for 2013! Now, instead of planning, I better get doing!

Mystery Solved

So a couple months ago, I posted about how Brecken wasn't growing well. So here is a little update on that...

We went in six weeks after the first appointment to see how he was growing and the doctor was still concerned with his growth because he had only gained a few ounces. I was so frustrated because I thought I had fed him more and really focused on getting more food in his little belly. A blood test the day before showed that his iron levels were coming up after we had been taking iron supplements daily. But still not enough weight gain. So more blood tests were ordered...this time to check for thyroid problems and celiac's disease. Have I mentioned that I hate seeing them take his blood? It hurts my mama heart to hear him scream like that...

I waited nervously for a couple days to hear the results and both tests came back negative. This was good, but still no answers. Did he just need to eat more or was there some other underlying issue that I wasn't aware of?

Two weeks later we visited with a dietitian at the clinic. Our doctor had highly recommended it and I thought some good could come from it. The lady was super nice and she gave me lots of tips like not being so worried about him eating a certain amount at each meal. Sometimes toddlers are hungry and sometimes they aren't. If they don't eat much at one meal, they'll eat more later. I also was one of those moms who let their kid snack any time they wanted, where ever they wanted. Yes, I hated stepping on goldfish in my bedroom, but my thought was that if he wanted to eat, more power to him. Go on and eat those goldfish in my bedroom. Apparently, not a very good mommy move for more reasons than just my poor bedroom floor. If he snacks all the time and drinks juice any time he wants, he gets full, therefore, eating terribly at meal time. There was an "Ah Ha" moment for me!

The dietitian also gave me a sheet with recommended food to give to Brecken. On the back was the foods I wasn't supposed to give him - low-fat milk, low-fat yogurt...basically anything low-fat or fat-free was frowned upon. I guess you could guess what was on the "recommended" list: yup, HIGH fat everything. Whole milk yogurt, whole milk, butter, cream cheese, cheese, cheese spread, buttery crackers, ice cream, ect. Basically, everything you shouldn't ever be encouraged by a clinic to give your child to eat. But they did recommend it, so off I went and packed my cart with high-fat foods and tried to shove them into my toddler.

After only feeding him in his high chair for meal and snack time and not being so uptight about how much he was eating, he seemed to eat more. And he started drinking alot more milk- something he barely touched before.

Two weeks after the dietitian appointment, we were scheduled to have another appointment with the doctor. I thought this was pointless, because after all, it was just two weeks after he was last weighed at the other appointment and no change. It was also the week of Christmas and with all the traveling, I didn't think there would be good results.

(photo by Tessa Leen Photography)

I was incredibly surprised when he was weighed and he had gained weight. The last three times he came into the clinic he was in the 4% for his weight and this time he was in the 8%!! Up 4% in just two weeks! We were doing something right! Woohoo! So then the doctor said that he just must be smaller and that he must not have been eating enough calories to keep up with the amount he was burning off. Hmm... I always wondered if this could just be the problem.  Then it makes me feel bad for all the blood tests Breck had to go through... but I guess it's better to be safe than sorry and we now know it wasn't a worse problem.

So there ya go, mystery solved. At least I hope it is! We go in again in a few weeks and hopefully he is up a bit more in weight!

17 Months

Little man is 17 months and I must say that I have loved this month! It has probably been one of my favorites with Christmas and all the new things he is learning to do and his new words. 

Learning to do: 

He is at the stage where he tries to copy what we do. It's cute, but it's also scary. I better be careful with what I do. :) He has also started being able to do easy tasks - like the other day he found a piece of paper on the floor and threw it away. When he does things like that, it just reminds me that he isn't a baby anymore.  He can point out his eyes, nose, mouth and teeth are and can say them. 

Loves: 

Playing drums - he got a little drum set for Christmas and loves to annoy play for us

Cookies - He now knows that Target has cookies so when we go there he reminds me to get him one

Cars - He has started to love playing with cars. 

Books - He likes to sit and look at books in the chair in his room, and there is one book that he really likes and proclaims "oh, wow" every time he looks at it 

Watching videos of himself - He will sit and watch videos of himself for a long time. Which for him sitting for any period of time is amazing. 

Elmo - what kid doesn't love that fuzzy, red character? 

New words: 

MOMMY!! Finally! Although it sounds more like "Bobby" I still love to hear him say that! 

Cheese - Probably my favorite word he says because he says it in a funny way

Baby, Cars, Cookie....there are alot more that he says, but can't remember them all. He is constantly trying to mimic words of things I point out to him. 

Anything to get a picture of him...

A big change in 2012

Our biggest change of 2012 was something we weren't really planning to do but... 

we bought a new house!

I won't go into all the details on here, but let's just say that after alot of thought and prayer we thought this was the best decision for our family. It was so amazing to see God work each and every detail out with both this house and our old house. We moved in mid-September, but I feel so behind... we have no pictures up on our walls yet and that is why I have been terrible at blogging! Well, get ready to see lots of home-related posts for 2013...because that is my plan!

Hello New Year

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a great start to the new year today.  I always love the start of a new year, partly because of the clean slate the new calendar brings and the hopes and dreams of what  the next year could bring. I also love reflecting on what the past year has brought, both the blessings, changes, and what I can work on for the next year. 2012 was a great year, with our biggest blessing this year being Brecken and watching him grow from a five-month-old baby in January to the crazy, fun-loving seventeen-month-old toddler at Christmas.

Another part of the new year that I love is setting new goals. I am such a list maker, so it wouldn't be a surprise that I've been working on writing my goals for the new year. I don't call them resolutions because those don't stick. I do goals - ones that I can work towards for the year that are realistic - and nothing crazy like giving up chocolate - because, let's face it, that would NEVER happen. For the last two years, I've been doing my goals starting on my birthday - "25 goals til I turn 25," ect. but I've burned out shortly after writing the list. I got a few things done on the list, but because there was 25- 26 items on the list, I got overwhelmed and gave up. So onto the new year lists like everyone else does. I have to finish my 2013 list and then you can bet I will be posting it so that it's published somewhere and I have to stick to it! I can tell you though, blogging more regularly is on the list! :)

16 months

Ahh!! I have been SO SO SO bad with blogging lately. This month has been crazy. I feel like the whole fall has been busy, but especially December. I think this is probably the most busy December I've ever had, but I'm hoping for a quiet January! So I am really behind and Breck is already 17 months and has been for a couple week... but here is what happened when Brecken was 16 months. I hope I can remember everything... 

Likes: He started to like stuffed animals and will hug them and carry them around the house. He still loves his Cozy Coupe play car and will push it around the house and sit in in. He loves being chased and being tickled. 

Dislikes: He doesn't like his vegetables and he is a pretty picky eater right now. He does not like to get things on his hands. Any sticky food that gets on his hands, he starts having a bit of a fit.

Learning to do: He loves to say hi to strangers in restaurants or at Target.. and won't just say hi once. No, he will continue to say hi several times even if you ignore him. He learned where his eyes are and points to them and says "eyes." He likes to point (or poke) the eyes of whoever is hold him. I'm always amazed at the things he figures out to do just by watching us. He is constantly coming up with new words every couple days. I just love it.

Words: Buh-Bye, Coco (Aunt Dakota), Skye (Uncle Skyller), Paci, Coat, Go, No, Eyes and he was saying "Love you" for a day and now won't do it anymore. And still no mommy. 

And here is what really happens for our monthly photo shoots.....