6 Months

The day Declan turned 6 months, I sent Doug a text message that said "Happy 6 months to Declan",

Doug's response was "the best 6 months ever". I thought that was so cute and so true. It truly has been a great 6 months with the sweetest little baby. 

Declan is such a good baby and is so happy. He smiles a lot and loves when people talk to him. He laughs a ton (mostly with daddy). He wakes up about once a night, and hopefully soon that will wear off. He takes great naps and wakes up as happy as can be! He is the happiest after his naps and we play the most then. 

He is getting his first tooth and handling it like a champ. He babbles a tin and has this hight pitched squeal  that is the cutest! 

He is the light of our lives and we love having him and sharing fun memories with him.

My 1st Mother's Day

Mother's Day can bring lots of emotions for many different women. Although this one brought some sadness for me, Doug went above and beyond to make this year extra special.

First, he let me sleep in!! Oh my how wonderful. Then I took a shower without having to rush, and then Doug brought up a yummy breakfast to eat in bed. 

 As I was eating he brought up Declan with a Mother's Day balloon tied on his arm, (because he is the best gift)

As we enjoyed family time we gradually got ready for church. Then we went to my mother in law's ward to surprise her with little Declan. She was very happy that we came  and she could show off Declan. 

After lunch we had a early dinner, that my dad made with my grandpa's. It was nice to enjoy time with them. Then we headed over to celebrate with the Summerhays family. Lots of food, and lots of family which I love. At the Summerhays party we played a game of badmiten and I actually played pretty well, which made me happy because I am usually pretty bad :(.  Over all the day turned out nice and my husband spoiled me. He got me beautiful flowers, a watch and some cute bracelets. He also had the downstairs filled with balloons with pictures of Declan in them. SO cute!

A mother's Moment

With Mother's Day fresh on my mind I have had a lot of mixed emotions. Feeling super excited that I am a mother to share in such a special day, feeling happy to celebrate my wonderful mother in law, but mostly I was just missing my mom. How is it possible that it has been almost a year? How has to gone so quickly. People say that time heals all wounds, and it does. But It has made mine worse. When I first got the horrible phone call from my dad and then rushing over to my parents house to find police cars and the ambulance it was a truly horrific feeling. To see the look on my dad's face was heart breaking and to hear the words from my dad's voice, it seemed as though the room was caving in. My dad doesn't cry much, but when he hugged me, he cried. I cried to. But I also got this incredible feeling of peace. There was a lot to be done, my dad needed me and my family needed me. The rest feels like a blur... As time went on and the shock were off, I carried on and let my self feel numb for a long while, months even. Avoid of much emotion regarding my mother. It is easier to ignore the feelings then deal with them. As time has gone on. I find my self missing her more often and all the things she did. I find my self thinking how much she would of love to go shopping for baby things with me, and get the babies rooms all together. How much she would of loved to be there when little Declan was born. How much she would love him now, to cuddle him and kiss him. Something happened right after my mom died that I will always cherish and hold as a special memory. My dad, aunt Bonnie and Laura, Cousin Tammy and my 2 sisters and I were all able to get my mother dressed and ready for the viewing at the funeral. It was difficult and emotional. But I knew it was also very special and the last earthly experience I would have with my mother. After we were all finished, my sister's and I had a quiet moment with my dad. We all shared some feelings and emotions, but mostly just let the spirit comfort us. As I was still looking at my mother I had the sweetest vision of my mother kneeling next to a little boy. She was kneeling next to him and pointing downward. She was smiling and happy. She was talking to him. I knew then that I was having a little boy (because at the time it was to early in my pregnancy to know what we were having). I knew that my mother was up in heaven with little Declan and getting him all ready to come down to earth. This experience, brought so much happiness to me. I felt comforted to know that my mother was happy and happily playing with her grandson. Whenever I feel sad and miss my mother, I think of that moment and how happy she is, playing with the other grandchildren, who are anxiously awaiting their turn to come down. I know that my mom will be handing down all the babies as we continue to have more. I am grateful for the little "mother moments" that I will continue to get to have.

TOFW

I had the chance to go to a weekend Women's Conference called Time Out For Women. It is a church sponsored event put on by the Deseret Book. One of my girl friends was kind enough to organize it, and get it all arranged and boy am I thankful she organized it. She did a great job! There were a lot of women from the Stake who all came down, and about 17 women in my group who went down together. At this even there were Friday night speakers and all day Saturday Speakers. It was super positive and up lifting...Just what us women needed. It was nice to take a break and get away for 2 days. We stayed in a hotel that was walking distance from where the conference was held. We enjoyed, relaxing, shopping, lots and lots of eating:) and mostly some wonderful girl time. What I remember most about the speakers were..... * Take one day at a time and life in the moment. * You will spend an eternity knowing your children as adults and just a short time knowing them as children, so enjoy all the little moments. * Taking good care of your self is not selfish, it's healthy. * Instead of making a "To Do" list at the beginning of the day, make a "Ta-Da" list at the end of the day and see all you accomplished. There were many more wonderful thoughts but those where just a few that I really liked.

My Dear Friends...

So I have been friends with these girls for a long time...Some since Jr. High and some since Freshmen year of High school. We were all good friends in High school and have stayed good friends since. We all got married with in a few months of each other and 3 of us had babies a few months apart. Since we are all busy and don't live close to each other we try to get to gather when we can. It was fun this time to get together and see the babies together!