Arizona

Last week Doug and I made a last minute decision for me to go to Arizona for a week. He has been studying a few hours a day for a big test he has to take for his work, so we figured that if Declan and I were gone for a week that would help with him and his studying. I found a last minute deal and booked the ticket. 

  I was very excited......This is something I had been wanting to do for a while now and this was the perfect chance. I flew there on Monday and stayed till Saturday. Tammy has a very busy life so I didn't expect that we would do that much, we mostly have fun just being together. We did go on a hike one day, but we called it the death hike because we were walking in sand beds, and it was about 100 degrees outside. we went about 6 miles and that was enough cause we both were dying towards the end. 

It was Tammy's daughter, Cassidy's homecoming dance that week so we spend a lot of the week getting ready for that. She had her dress made. We had to get all the accessories, but it was fun to help  get it al ready for her. 

Tammy has been doing great on eating healthy and working out. So we had fun being creative on healthy things we could eat. I wasn't a huge help with the working out part but we did swim one day. 

It was a fun week and I am glad I was able to go. 

Declan had a blast playing with their Doug, and Cammie. And I know Cammie had a blast playing with Declan. 

4 years

4 years ago Doug and I got married. 

What a crazy and wonderful adventure we have been on! 

I can honestly say in our 4 years of marriage we have been through so much, and I couldn't ask for a better partner. We have been through....Buying our first place together(our condo), Doug's aunt and cousin passed away shortly after we got married. I got a new job and then a few months later a promotion at that job as a day care site coordinator at a place called Sunshine Day Care. 

We went on a trip to Hawaii, to celebrate our first anniversary. We sold Doug's Toyota Tacoma, and my Honda Accord. We went on lots of fun mini weekend getaways. Hiked Half Dome, in Yosemite. We hiked part of the Grand Canyon called Havasupi. We ran a half marathon together. 

Celebrated almost every holiday with both families since they both live so close. 

We got pregnant, and I was horribly, horribly sick. I had a miss carriage.  

Getting pregnant with our sweet little Declan. 

My mother passing away, when I was only a few moms pregnant with Declan. 

Having Declan, and my having lots of health problems related to breastfeeding. 

Moving with my dad, to keep him company and helping save for a house. 

I am sure I left some out, but wow that is ALOT!!!

I know I would not have been able to go through and experience all that I did without Doug. He was my silent help through it all, and showed is love for me. 

I am not sure what the rest of our eternity will look like, but after the first 4 years I am sure we can handle anything. 

And of course Doug came home with Beautiful roses for me!

Declan's BooBoo

I knew that eventually the day would come when Declan would get his first real ouchie....

I was up stairs and Declan was downstairs with Doug. I heard Declan start crying but it took me a minute to realize that it was more that just normal cry. Sure enough Declan was crying hysterically as Doug was outside trying to console him. 

Declan had been on the couch with Doug when he crawled over to the other end of the couch. He is pretty fast, and he started to hang off the edge of the couch. Sure enough he slide right off before Doug could catch him. He went straight down onto a set of weights that we keep on side of the couch. 

He got a nice little bump and bruise to show for it. 

Nothing that some ice, a baby einstein movie and a cookie can"t fix :)

Memories

I have been working on organizing all of stuff that is in my parents house. My dad is getting remarried, in Oct so I figure I could start going through all of holiday decorations my mom had and distributing it out to the family. It has been a very therapuetic process that I didn't think I would enjoy as much as I do. It has been truly wonderful for me to slowly take each item out of the box and take a picture of it so my sisters can see it. I think of all the special memories that go along with each item. 

In 1 box i found Halloween bags for each of my sisters and i that she never got around to giving us, but oh how we will treasure that gift now. She was always so thoughtful and each holiday she would try to get us a few things that we could decorate our house with. 

I miss my mother in these moments and so wish I could just have her back for just a few moments. But in my heart I know she knows and is watching. I know she is happy that her stuff is being used and carefully distributed out to those she loves, to be cherished and loved. 

The Daily Grind

When I was a little girl, I loved to play house and teacher. I am sure lots of little girls do this. When I played I never put much thought about me actually being a mom. I always knew that I wanted to be one, but I thought I would be nervous and get scared. The moment Declan was born all those fears washed away. 

I can honestly say that I have been very calm and not at all nervous. Things have come very naturally to be, and I was easily able to figure Declan out and get the hang of things. We naturally fell into a routine and slowly my life became a nice schedule and routine. I am not obsessed with keeping this routine, but I have found that this routine has made my life much easier. I know what to expect and how my day is going to go.

I feel incredibly lucky to be able to stay home and take care of Declan. He is such a joy and I throughly enjoy playing with him and chasing him around the house. I realize that I wont have all these little moments with all of our children so I am soaking as much as this as I can. 

9 Months

I took Declan for his 9 months check up. Although he is closer to 10 months that was the soonest the doctors could get him in. He did great at this appt. And even better that there are no shots at this appt. 

He was in the 90th percentile for his height, and 50th for his weight. 

At this point Declan is full of energy and just wants to explore.

 He is standing and walking along furniture. 

He walks with his little walker all around. 

He prefers crawling everywhere because it's much faster. 

He babbles a lot. 

He says "Da" when he sees daddy come in the door from work. 

He laughs lots!

Smiles and everyone that says hi to him. 

He gets shy and is attached to mommy, but once he warms up he likes to play with anyone. 

Loves to play with dogs. 

Is the center of attention whenever we go out and shopping. 

Eats anything I give him. 

Drinks out of a straw sippy cup. 

We love having this bundle of joy and love watching him grow and learn. 

Declan (almost) Walking

Tonight Doug's Co-worker, Mollie, came over to get her hair cut.  We were excited to show her all of the new "tricks" that Declan has learned since the last time she got her hair done a few months ago.  Among those were: he can climb up the stairs (while hysterically laughing), he can now crawl, he can pull himself up onto the coffee table and walk around it.  He laughs a lot when someone else gets on all fours and pretends to "chase" him.  His balance has improved to the point where he can "walk" using a baby walker.  As we were showing this last trick to Mollie, he let go of the "walker" and pretty much stood on his own for about 5 seconds; we can tell it won't be long now!

Snuggle Time

So Declan has been going through a phase where he has been waking up at night at standing at his crib and crying/screaming. It is somewhat alarming because he has never done this before. It is one of those cries where it is hard to know whether or not there is something wrong or not. Anyways, sometimes there is no way to calm him down. After he drinks his bottles he continues to rage or sometimes he rages and refuses his bottles, and that is the most frustrating. 

The only thing that helps keep me sane when he does is, is the fact that often times the only way to calm him down is to snuggle and cradle him. And although I am tired and frustrated, I cherish those few quiet moments where I get to snuggle him I just smell him and stare and him. At those moments I feel so in love with this little baby and feel very blessed that he is apart of our lives.