What I love about...

What I love about being Kyle's wife:

• He's a stud. I am married to one goood looking man and I love that!
• He keeps me very entertained - he makes me laugh, he picks on me/flirts with me.
• He makes me feel safe. I'm a very fearful person. Mainly I get scared at the idea of someone breaking into our house. I love how big Kyle is, it makes me feel very safe.
• I can be embarrassed around him but not be worried about being embarrassed. If I do something stupid or gross and he makes fun of me, I feel embarrassed but I don't care that I feel embarrassed because I know he doesn't really care about whatever it is that I did. And we're usually both cracking up about it.
• I can completely be myself and be comfortable with him. He knows more about me than any other person in the world, and I think that's pretty neat. He loves me despite my sins.
• He's smarter than me, which means I can learn from him. He's a very good teacher. (This ranges from things like the Bible to just being logical about every day things)
• He's made me a more laid back person. Kyle's suuuuper laid back. But sometimes a little too laid back and I feel like I feel emotions for him.
• Overall the Lord has used Kyle to make me a better person in general. He's very patient, logical, giving, kind, funny - to name a few.
• I know that he loves me. It sounds like a simple statement but that's a pretty huge thing. It's amazing to know you are loved by someone else, and especially when you admire that someone.
• I get to be a stay at home mom. He is very intent on letting me know he has no expectations of me going back to work (but he's also told me if I wanted to work part time so I could get grown up interaction he was fine with that too) - all that to say it takes a lot of pressure off of me.
• I love being parents with him. He has amazed me in the past almost 10 months to watch how he's transformed into such a loving and wonderful dad to Tommy.
• I love sleeping with Kyle. I love to snuggle. Not only that but when you wake up from a bad dream and you have your spouse next to you to hold you and make you feel safe - I greatly appreciate that privilege of marriage.
• I love watching movies and tv shows with him. We like to find shows we really enjoy (i.e. The Office, Bones, Monk, 24...) but haven't kept up with and watch full seasons of them in like 3 days!
• I love to play games with him, when I can be on his team. I don't like to play against him because I like to talk smack. He eventually talks smack back...and wins. And I get mad. But together, when I'm on his team, I win too :)
• I love that I can talk to him about the Lord and my faith.
• Date nights. Kyle takes me on a date night every Tuesday night. It was his idea that we started over 2 years ago now.
• Having him to take care of me. He provides for me, he cares for me if I'm upset or have had my feelings hurt, he is very good at taking care of me when I'm sick.
• He doesn't baby me - he doesn't give me everything I want. This is something that really attracted me to Kyle because I wanted someone who would spoil me in sweet ways and romance me but not someone who was a pansy and gave in to everything I wanted all the time. And I love this because this is what challenges me and helps me to change me for the better.
• And I love that I could keep this list going, but I'll stop...for now.

What I love about being Tommy's mom:

• Showing him off to people because he's the cutest and sweetest baby boy in the world!
• How he knows my face and my voice.
• The way he smiles when I say certain words like what, who, how, sing, jump...
• Holding him when he sleeps.
• Seeing him do something for the first time. Oh man I get suuuuper excited! It's kind of ridiculous.
• Watching him change so much as he's growing - his face looks so different then it did when he was first born.
• How much more grown up and confident I feel now that I am responsible for this little life.
• How it has grown my faith and reliance upon the Lord. Never have I understood better that the Lord is sovereign.
• When he falls asleep while I'm holding him and I walk back to his bedroom and I catch a glimpse of him asleep on my shoulder in the hallway mirror. I LOVE this. I always loved when I'd see parents in public and their kid had fallen asleep and they were carrying them. Aw it melts my heart, it seriously is a little dream come true. Sounds dumb I know, but I can't get enough of it.
• Of course - HIS LAUGH! His laugh is by far the most wonderful sound my ears have ever heard - it cracks me up.
• Watching how much Tommy loves his dad and his puppy Maggie. He's crazy about them.
• I love that he's mine. As much as everyone else loves on him and plays with him - he's coming home with Kyle and me!
• How good of a baby he is. I pray our future children are as easy and fun as he has been.
• Watching him sleep.
• Watching him get startled and cry. You think I'm mean by saying that but if you seen it, you know it's one of the funniest and cutest things you've ever seen. He has a very delayed reaction when he gets startled (which usually happens when a man laughs loud) - his eyebrows go up, stretching out his face, his lower lip slowly comes out, then he squinches his eyes and lets out a high pitched noise that sounds like a tea kettle boiling! Oh man I'm laughing thinking about it. But it is sad too.
• Waking him up in the morning and from naps - he is all smiles! All he has to do is hear your voice, he doesn't have to see you, but once he hears you he is smiling ear to ear.
• I love that he needs me.
• I love that I truly feel that I am serving God's purpose for my life.

And the list goes on...

Thank you Lord for my family! I am so very blessed!

AAAAAH!

Sometimes I LOVE being a mom so much it makes me want to SCREAM! In a happy and excited tone!

But who could resist such a feeling when you have this little guy as your son! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

What's been happening...

Well there's been a lot going on since the last post. Tommy is now a champion roller - he's been rolling back to belly since November & has just started using this new skill to try & get different places.  He's a little peanut for his age, I'm not sure of what percentile he is in but I know he's small - but right now it will help me when it comes to carrying him around.  He can sit all by himself but doesn't prefer to, he usually throws himself back b/c he wants to be able to grab his feet.  His feet are by far his favorite thing, he likes to eat his toes. Tommy has become even more social, he's sharing more smiles with family members and friends. He wants to crawl and talk REALLY bad! He's making all kinds of noises and chatting without real words. When it comes to being on his belly he holds his head up high but can't get his legs up at the same time.  So what he does is he lays his head down and then gets his legs up but can't get his head back up.  I feel so bad for him when I watch him do it b/c you can tell the wheels are turning in his head like "What am I doing wrong here? It's not working." He'll get it soon enough.

Christmas was absolutely wonderful! Every year we go to St. Louis for Christmas (job permitting) to see Kyle's family b/c it's their big holiday, and we spend every Thanksgiving with my family b/c it's our big holiday.  So we celebrated with my family on the 20th and it was so much fun. It's definitely more fun to celebrate before Christmas, rather than after, b/c then everything is over and all the excitement has passed. But my mom was so sweet to make my favorite meal, she makes these fancy/yummy sloppy joe type sandwiches, with her delicious macaroni and cheese! MMM! And she made ham delights - another one of her top requests from Kyle and my oldest sister Jennifer. I love food so this made me very happy! We opened our presents and gave our presents to family.  Tommy was spoiled rotten - he got lots of cute clothes, books, tons of penguin stuff, your baby can read dvds, and lots more. That night Tommy spent the night with my parents; we plan on making this a tradition so my parents can get special time with him since they don't get to see him Christmas day. My mom loved having him and has already asked when he can stay again. I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would - I feel more of a purpose taking care of him and I missed waking him up in the morning b/c he's always so happy and sweet. But it was definitely nice to have time with just Kyle and me.

Our trip to St. Louis was really fun too; the drive there and back were great - no road work, no big delays - that always makes everything nicer. I felt bad for Tommy having to sit in his seat all the way though, but we stopped once to eat and feed him and play with him. He traveled really well. I love getting to see Kyle's family in St. Louis - I miss my family a lot but I'm thankful we get to see them so much through out the year.  I told Kyle I would hate if I didn't like his family, it would be so difficult to be away from my family if that were the case. But thankfully his family is really loving and fun to be around.  Tommy got some more good presents, some toys, cute ugg boots, a music and picture night time machine, more clothes, his first piece to his first train. 

The only thing I didn't like about Christmas is that I didn't remember to be thankful for Jesus being born. I thought about it a ton during the week and was so thankful in my mind and heart but on the actual day, there was so much to do and we were having fun with family, that I didn't even stop to think about the real meaning until the late hours of the night.  Kyle and I were trying to be so intentional about the way we celebrated but we failed this year.  We did read Luke 2 that night in bed and it's a sweet memory that I'll always cherish for Tommy's first Christmas. Just as I got in bed to read with Kyle, Tommy woke up in his pack & play.  So I figured he wanted to hear it too (and we intended to read it with him earlier in the day but it didn't happen). I got Tommy out of bed and put him in our bed between us and Kyle read Luke 2. It was pretty great. We let Tommy lay with us for a little bit and then put him back in his bed.

Next year we will have to change the way we're "intentional" about remembering the real meaning of Christmas. We want to have sweet traditions that Tommy can look forward to & that will help him to understand what we're celebrating.

On another note - Kyle is now working part time so he can go to school more & ultimately finish quicker. Right now it's really fun b/c he isn't in class so Tommy and I are getting lots of quality time with him.  And it's such a blessing for me to watch Kyle be with Tommy; they really are good buddies already and I'm so thankful for how great of a husband and father Kyle is.

2010 was an amazing year and will always be embedded in my memory. It brought with it the sweetest baby boy, a whole new role in my life, the feeling of being a "grown up," and so very many moments of joy! To God be the glory!

50 Free Cards from Shutterfly What What!!!

So Shutterfly has this amazing offer to get 50 free Christmas Cards if you're a blogger and you post about the offer. Ever since I saw a friend's blog post about this I've been checking out their cards, and let me tell you, they have some super cute stuff! My favorites are in order as follows.

My favorite is the “Rejoice the Lord is King” because it is centered around the Lord. And also because this fact, that the Lord is King, has been of the greatest encouragement to our family this year. I think the Lord has matured me more in this year of my life than ever before. He has reminded me in both challenging times and joyous times that He is in control. And I am so thankful that He is! The Lord is on His throne!

My second favorite is the one with the last name initial in the middle. I think this one is very classy and elegant. It's one people could keep on their fridge and it would look cute all year round, not just at Christmas. That's why I prefer it in the color black over the red design.

And my third favorite is the one with the polka dots. I like this one a lot, but I don't think Kyle would. He might think it's not manly enough. But I love the colors and the polka dots. I think it's very festive for Christmas.

We're going to use the family pictures that Cara Croft took for us in the card. I'm sooooo excited to put the card together. This is an extremely generous offer from Shutterfly and I'll explain the process of what you do. First you go to this link: http://bit.ly/sfly2010 and fill out the information. Then in a couple of days you get an email that tells you what to do. Then you write a blog of 200+ words, follow the instructions, and they'll email you the promo card.

Some of the other neat things Shutterfly offers are things like, desk calendars, personalized thank you notes (with pictures, I saw the wedding thank you notes and thought that was such a cute idea), and of course they have many different styles of Christmas cards. Here are some links to get you to these products:

calendars:

http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars

thank you notes:

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/thank-you-cards

Christmas Cards:

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards

I hope you're able to take advantage of this great deal too! Thanks Shutterfly!

Shutterfly's 50 Free Holiday Cards with Blog Post

I am so thankful to have some beautiful family pictures taken by Cara Croft. And now there is this awesome opportunity to get 50 free Christmas Cards from Shutterfly if you post about them on your blog. I have seen it on several of my friends' blogs and that's how I heard about it. Can't wait to pick them out and order them. Thanks Shutterfly for such a wonderful gift!

Stand up, stand up for Jesus...

It's been a while since my last blog and Tommy has grown so much! He is now spitting/blowing raspberries, he is rolling over like a champ (just from belly to back, he almost has back to belly down), he is eating rice cereal/oatmeal and all kinds of veggies, and he loves standing now! Tommy boy eats like a champ, there hasn't been any foods he's refused to eat yet, however, I can tell he prefers rice cereal over oatmeal. He's had green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, and peas. I think his favorite so far is squash. We'll be trying fruits soon and I'm sure he'll love those! Before Tommy I never realized how much of a young baby/child's life revolves around teaching them to eat. As soon as I have nursing down pat it's time to introduce baby food. Next will come solids and feeding himself. Eating is a lot of work. But thankfully our boy's good at it!

In other news, Tommy celebrated his 1/2 birthday with his cousin Brady, they share the same wonderful birthday! We had a blast having pizza and cookie cake and playing Uno with our sweet family. We now have a new nephew - Logan Scott Boone was born on October 27th, and he's so precious! Also, my sister Jeanne is now expecting a precious baby boy or girl, she's due at the end of May! Our family has been so blessed this year - we're growing leaps and bounds.

Oh the big new news, as mentioned before, is that Tommy is now standing! He is such a big boy and he's growing so fast and I cannot tell you what a joy it is to be this kid's mom. The Lord uses this sweet boy to bless my heart beyond belief. We're still working on sitting up, he prop sits really well and he can kind of sit all the way up by himself but if he knows you're not behind him, he loses "confidence" and let's himself fall. His PT explains it as him not having enough confidence to do it on his own because he gets scared if he realizes you're not there and lets his muscles go. However, it is wonderful that he is standing so well. A couple of weeks ago I tried to let Tom stand on his own but he needed me behind him to hold up his little tooshi, well his PT said yesterday that she thinks he could stand on his own if there was something a good height. So I tried it tonight and baby boy stood (holding onto the recliner) for probably 10 seconds! Talk about a champ! And glory be to God because He is answering our prayers. I thank the Lord for Tommy's physical and mental strength but ask Him to continue to strengthen Tommy and He is! Tommy's favorite way to stand up is while bouncing to the song "Stand up, Stand up for Jesus..." It's the only song I can get him to smile to when he's standing. He such a smart boy, he already likes Jesus!

Kyle just wrote a paper for class on counseling a family who has a child with Down Syndrome. And I almost always proofread his papers for him, more for telling him if something makes sense or sounds good/bad, not to help with grammar. Anyway this paper was such a blessing to me because it served as such a great reminder that while I should hope for the best for Tommy - as far as physically and mentally thriving in society - the ultimate goal is that he will be saved and used by God. And while I pray this daily for my son, it is so easy to get caught up in thinking about things like, "how can i get him to do this, or he really should be doing that, or I can tell such a big difference between this baby and Tommy." In the end none of that will matter. Oh and speaking of which, in helping Kyle with his paper I looked up David Ring, the evangelist with cerebral palsy. He had one video, which of course made me cry, where he said when he gets to heaven he's going to have a new body. He'll be able to tie his own shoes, and button his own shirt. He said you may not like me now, but you don't have to, I'm not finished. God's still got me in the oven. But when he gets to heaven God's going to open the oven door and say, "Well done...my good and faithful servant." It was so funny but also such a great reminder of how perfect heaven will be.

I'm not sure if there is anything that the Lord could have used to soften my heart more than this baby boy. I am so thankful.

What do you get...

What do you get when you start out your day by feeding your baby, then getting up to go get him an outfit only to find spit up behind where you were sitting on the couch and down the back of your shirt. After a quick & easy clean up of the couch, you go to change your baby's clothes only to find a bumpy rash on his body from the baby oil you used last night. So then you bathe him with some Aveeno sensitive wash and put some Aveeno lotion on him. As he starts to get fussy from teething you give him a little Tylenol, thinking it might help his little rash to go away too. He usually naps for at least an hour and you'd think with tylenol he'd sleep longer - 45 minutes is all he could stand this morning. While that's only 15 minutes it usually means a cranky time later on b/c he's still tired. The whole time while you're walking around in the morning the cat is constantly meowing at you and the dog is right under your feet. (At this point I was a little teary eyed and asking Kyle not to go to work b/c the past two days have been very long with a sweet baby boy who needs lots of attention b/c he's teething) (Oh and his Nana Gram Gran who is usually hear to help if ever needed is out of town for family/wedding visits). Then your hubby suggests to put the cat in the basement for a little while to have a break. Great idea! You go to the basement to start the laundry and clean the litter box. The cat has puked, pooped, & even peed outside of the litter box. You are now at a crossroads - do you cry really hard b/c you don't think you can handle this, or clean it up & be a big girl. You can't decide b/c you're so angry at the cat so you go to put the laundry in. At this point the Lord gives you grace and you go into survival mode and make a plan of action. First laundry, then clean up everything you can without having to make an extra trip upstairs, oh but first punishing the cat for being bad b/c he definitely knows better (he was not punished for the throw up, just the pee & poop), and finish by getting cleaning supplies and cleaning up the basement. So what do you get when all of this happens...the first 3 hours of my day.

On a positive note, the Lord used the cat mess to push me beyond the point of just thinking of myself and snapped me out of my "i'm trying not to cry but when it comes, it's going to be a big one" mood. Also, Tommy did not get cranky, he has been super good all day (it's obviously not his fault he spit up or needed a bath or that he's teething - it just equals extra work but he's well well well worth it). God is so good to know our needs & bless us with meeting them for us. I pray and hope Tommy's little teeth don't cause him too much trouble today. And I would like to give a shout out to all the working moms out there b/c I can't imagine having to work all week, coming home & taking care of your family, and then have a morning like this morning. I love staying home with our baby boy and wouldn't change it for anything, but let me tell you that I am looking forward to date night this week.

Random side note - we watched The Office last night and it was a GREAT first episode. Possibly one of Kyle & my favorites!

Thank you Lord for my life, thank you for being sovereign so that I am not in control - now that would be a mess of a morning!