The New Year

Well the new year has started out pretty darn good!  Tanner and I have been having some great cuddle time watching our favorite morning show Good Morning America and then switching over right at 9:30 so he can hear the theme song to his show Dinosaur Train (which he watches a whole whopping 3 minutes of)!  We have been doing a lot of baking and cooking. Our latest endeavor was red velvet cake balls. Yummy, but now this mama needs to make a trip to Jared to get her ring cleaned! Red velvet stuck in diamonds looks pretty tacky.  The weather has been so nice and that is definitely helping with the working out goal I set. We've done really good so far and need to keep it up with all the baking we have been doing :)  Sadly, we have also been hit with a case of the lonely's (don't know how to spell my made up word).  Our good friends are on vacation and soon my mommy friend will be starting work. I'm happy for her, but will miss our let our kids beat each other up so they have a good nap days! I'm sure we will find something to pass the time (other than cleaning) and I am happy to announce that this mama is officially looking for a part time job! Don't know what I want to do yet, but I am excited to start looking!

One a different note, I am so excited and nervous for tomorrow! January 5th has been really good to me and I need the good luck to rub off tomorrow! Five years ago tomorrow Morgan and I had our very first date. First of many amazing days over the past five years! Tomorrow is also a very important day for our future! I have a phone consultation with an amazing doctor in Chicago who may be able to help me carry another baby to term with a procedure called a TAC.  He is one of the best and I really, really want him to do this surgery! This surgery is my hope and could give me a shot at having a safe, full term pregnancy in the future! I pray that insurance cooperates and that Morgan and I can soon have a less stressful pregnancy than we had with the little man!  Think good thoughts for us please!!!

12 Goals for 2012

I hate resolutions!!! I always break them about two weeks in and then feel crappy!  This year instead of resolution making, I am going to try and accomplish 12 goals. Kind of like resolutions, but without the long word and added pressure!

1. Make my marriage more of a priority.  Sometimes being a mom and all that comes with it (cooking, cleaning, working, etc) doesn't leave much time for my relationship with Morgan. I want to make him a priority and really show him how much I love and appreciate him! More date nights are definitely needed!

2. Make more time for the Lord. Church has been on a back burner and I am really missing it.  I haven't been so fulfilled with my current church, so in the next few months I want to try out other churches to try and find a better fit for our family. I need to make God more of a priority too because without him I am lost.

3. Find a part time job! I am ready to get out and be more than just a mommy! I'm not quite ready to jump back into full time, but part time would do us both good. I hate saying this and it sounds so mean, but I really need to "miss" Tanner. I don't feel like I am an effective mom right now and long for just a little more in life.

4. I want to try and cook one NEW meal a month.  Pintrest is amazing and will help a lot with this. Sometimes I feel like we are in a rut when it comes to dinner ideas. I am sick of spaghetti! Hopefully I can add some spice into dinner haha!

5. I really need to get back to the gym. Working out at home is hit or miss depending on when Tanner decides to nap for longer than 20 min, so I think the gym is the only way I will get a quality workout in, at least until it warms up and Tan and I can start running again!

6.  I want to travel to Chicago to get my TAC procedure done by Dr. Haney hopefully this summer sometime. I am scared, but this surgery gives me hope of having healthy, full term babies in the future.  If everything goes as planned we would like to start "trying" for baby number two next Fall!!!!

7. I really want to work on potty training when Tanner turns two. My hubby and I have a deal that we can start trying for baby number 2 after Tan Man is potty trained and after the TAC. Two kiddos in diapers would break the already broke bank!

8. I want to spend more quality time with my grandparents. Morgan and I both recently lost two of our grandparents and I really want to spend as much time and show the living ones that I have, that I love and appreciate them.

9.  I want to learn to sew!  I am asking for a sewing machine for Mother's Day and I really want to start being more crafty!

10. Blogging more consistently! I don't know that I'll blog every day, but would like to do more than two posts a month like I've been doing lately!

11. Finally finish Tanner's first year in my scrapbook!!! Poor kid is going to be 20 by the time his first year is done at the rate I'm going!

12. Be the best mommy I can be. I want Tanner to know how much I love him and how blessed I am that I was chosen to be his mommy! He is the best thing that has ever happened to me and he deserves me at my best!!!

      Hopefully I can  accomplish all of these goals! I am going to try my best! Here's to a great 2012!!!

Top 11 in 11

Our year was filled with so much love, happiness, and memories! Here are my top 11 memories of 2011!

11.  My dad fulfilled one of his dreams, going oryx hunting and actually getting one! Seeing him and my brother so excited was amazing!

10. My mom and I got to spend a lot of time together shopping, eating, and just laughing. She helped me so much with Tanner and he loved spending so much time with her!

9.  Tanner and I joined a mommy group over the summer and both made some really great friends! These ladies have been such a godsend and it has been so nice getting out of the house!

8.  Over the summer me and my mommy group friends started running to shed the left over baby weight! We decided to train for a 5k run and in September Brittany and I completed our first competitive run post babies! Times weren't the greatest, but it felt so good!

7. I went back to work for a while teaching 1st grade. At first I hated being away from Tan full time (only for 6 wks), but it showed me that I do miss teaching and that I think I am ready to find a part time job in 2012!

6.  Our family was blessed with a brand new, beautiful baby girl named Gemma Vonn! I am a proud auntie, Morgan a proud uncle, and Tanner loves his baby "Emma".  

5.  My cousin Renee and her Morgan (haha how did we both manage to find guys named Morgan) moved back to NM from Cali and got their own beautiful house! It is so nice having everyone back home!

4. Morgan and I celebrated our 2nd Anniversary in October with an amazing dinner!  He is the best hubby anyone could ask for!

3. We celebrated Tanner's first birthday party in July! He had a blast and LOVED his cake!

2. Tanner started walking and talking and has not stopped or shut up since! I've loved every age, but this is by far my favorite! He's a cool kid!

1. The best part of 2011 was being able to spend every day with these two!  I love my family so much and am so blessed to have them! They are by far the best things that have ever happened to me!

This year will be hard to beat, but I am looking forward to 2012!  Happy New Year everyone! Hope the new year brings you happiness and joy!

A December to Remember

December is always a time of family, stress (which sometimes go hand in hand), food, LOTS of food, and the most important the celebration of our Lord.  This December started out very stressful for me. I stressed about how we were going to afford presents on one income, stressed with the fact that my car was minding its own business in my driveway and was hit by the neighbors runaway jeep and the fact that the neighbor is pretty much a douche bag, enough said there. Then there was the camera incident of 2011. Even with all the stress I was shown the true meaning of Christmas. This year was Morgan's year to see his family. We switch off each year and his family lives in Northern NM. It was hard being away from mine, but we had an awesome time in good old Espanola!  We started our Christmas Eve off at the outlets in Santa Fe where my hubby surprised me with a trip to the Coach store. He told me he wanted me to have something nice and let me pick out whatever I wanted! The sales were so good that we left with not one, but two beautiful purses for less than we would have paid for one at Dillards! SCORE! Then we headed to  his Dad and Stepmom's house. We ate, watched Tan open tons of presents, and had the best eggnog ever! One glass had me pretty tipsy!  Then we went to Morgan's Aunt's house and spent the rest of the evening with cousins, aunts, uncles, and his grandma! Tanner thought he was a big boy and wanted to keep up with all the big kids!

Christmas day brought lots of Santa presents for Tanner. He was obviously a good boy! His favorite by far was his Green Bay Packers chair and the wrapping paper roll!  We enjoyed, or tried  to enjoy mass, but church with a one year old is hard. Tanner loves clocks, but can't quite say the word, so all through mass we screamed "cock"! I was about 10 shades of red, but all you can really do is laugh. Finally, it was my families turn. We had lunch with my familia at my aunts house. This year the adults decided to do a white elephant gift thingy and let me tell you I have not laughed that hard in so long! I think this may be a new traditions! I also got my baby fix, or should maybe caught the fever, because I met my brand new baby cousin Jaxon. He is a doll!  We ended the night at my inlaws where we had a feast of tamales, beans and cookies.  We enjoyed the football game and I got to see my Bears lose, again!

All in all our holidays were amazing. Seeing Christmas through Tanner's eyes was the most amazing thing. He was so excited and next year will be even better! Sometimes having such big families is hard, especially trying to fit everything in, but then again it is amazing to have so much love and support around us! The gifts were great, but honestly just being around those that I love was the best gift of all and the memories made will never be forgotten!

Here are a few pictures from the big day!

This makes a nice seat!

Are these all for me?

sitting in his "crackers" chair!

fun with grandpa Doug!

Christmas is tiring, but auntie Diana is pretty comfy and doesn't even mind my hand down her shirt! Told everyone I was a boob man!

One of Those Weeks

This has been a rough week for this tired mama.  The Christmas hustle and bustle is a little too much to handle. I have so much to do and am running out of time and patience. Tanner is first off amazing, but this amazing kid seems to be into everything lately! He likes to climb and play with things that could possible kill him. The huge toybox is lame ya know!  He is also cutting two molars and is a snot and droll machine (most of that ends up on his dear old mama).  Along with teething comes Mr. Clingy who needs to be attached to me at ALL times.  If I have to pee, the wee ones world crashes around him. Showering? What's that?  My hair is a grease ball and I'm pretty sure my husband would rather sleep on the couch than have to catch a whiff of my ever so pleasant, actually BO ridden self. Okay, I'm exaggerating, I don't smell that bad, Febreze is a god send!

This morning was the kicker though. Last night I baked beautiful cookies (more on that next blog) and decided to document the process with the awesome camera I got 2 Christmas's ago. Well stupid me left camera on counter, where I thought the mini me couldn't reach it. Boy was I wrong. As I'm getting his yogurt out of the fridge I hear a bam! And low and behold my prized possession is on the floor. I'm horrified to admit this, but I yelled. He cried. Then I cried for yelling at my baby.  My lens was crushed and dented and my heart was broken. Mom of the year right? I picked up both of my babies and just cried, called hubby and admitted I'm overwhelmed and then decided to just cuddle my love and hope that he forgave me (which he did and I'm not even sure he remembers the incident).  Soon after he went down for a nap and I sat and stared at him and cried some more.  I realized that yeah it sucks that my camera may be broken, but who cares it can be replaced, my kid cannot. Then I start thinking about all of those you wish to be parents and cannot for various reasons and I felt like a total ungrateful biotch for making a big deal out of something so small and taking my son for granted (if you haven't noticed I tend to over analyze EVERYTHING).  Hard days are a part of parenthood and I need to learn to embrace them.   A good friend of mine told me to "just keep smiling, because these are the moments we will look back on and smile the most about".   So with that said, I'm gonna keep on smiling and enjoying every moment (even the my claim to fame is breaking stuff, teething and boogers) with the greatest son anyone could ask for!

Love you, Tan Man!!

How can you stay mad at this face?

Hives

Well my poor baby boy had some type of weird allergic reaction to, well we aren't exactly sure. It started Monday night with a few bumps on his arm. I wasn't alarmed and thought maybe his shirt was rubbing weird. The next day he had them on his butt and legs, but they faded fast. Well, Tuesday after his afternoon bottle the poor boys face was covered in mosquito like bumps from under his eyes to his neck! I freaked, ran for the benadryl and called the nurse hot-line. After my hubby calmed me (basically calling me crazy) I gave him a bath and he seemed fine. Well then this morning came along and his poor booty was covered again and his face looked swollen. I decided to bite the dust and pay the $40 copay and make a visit to good old Dr. Walsh. She seems to think that changing brands of milk or eating goldfish crackers (wheat?) could be the culprit. So now we are going to go back to our old stand by Creamland milk and will be using my new best friend Benadryl for the next few days. I should have taken some pics, but I'm sure little man would hate me for it when he's a moody teenager!  Hoping I have a welty free kid tomorrow!

Out Of My Comfort Zone

A few weeks ago my friend Sarah and I were talking during one of are "breaks" (those of you who are teachers know that there are no real breaks through out the day, just some moments of peace and quiet to cram as much as possible in, but I digress)  at work about how we needed to step out of our comfort zone a little fashion wise.  We decided that on "jean day" we would wear our new boots tucked into our pants (a look that I was convinced I couldn't pull off). Well we kept our word and (well she did and as we made our way to my classroom she made me tuck my jeans in) tried out a new style. It was different, but after a few compliments I felt more at ease. We decided that a shopping trip to find new styles was in order so we got the help of our very fashionable friend Brittany to help us out.  So today was the day of our big shopping extravaganza! We hit up the mall, babies in tow and went crazy!!! First stop Old Navy. I am proud to say I purchased my first pair of skinny jeans and my butt actually looks good, like I have a butt (maybe my ass kicking by Jillian Michaels every morning is paying off)! Sarah found a really cute shirt and Brittany (who looks amazing in everything) found a lot of cute things! Next stop Forever 21 and holy cow, jeans for 9 bucks! I found two really cute wrap thingy's and a really nice sweater at Dillards. All in all our trip was a success! I have a new outfit for Thanksgiving and a greater appreciation for trying new things.  It helped to have friends give the yay or nay  and know that we are all struggling with body image issues, especially after having the kiddos! Now I am thinking we need another shopping day sans babies and lots of margaritas!

This cutest shopping buddies around (the one on the left is responsible for the not so toned mommy tummy and lack of booty, but he sure is cute and worth every stretch mark and scar! Love that kid!