March Update

Hey everybody. Sorry it has taken so long to update you all. Things have been crazy since we dropped Mom Jacob off at the airport. Anabelle had her first birthday last week. I can't believe it has already been one year. She is such a fun baby. She loves to cuddle all the time. I love to cuddle, but she seems to only want to do it when I have to make dinner or some other household chore. She is also a walking nut. She loves to walk. The first time we took her outside to walk, she loved it. And now whenever the door is open, she tries to go outside. She thinks it is a blast and that she is such a big girl. For her birthday, she got her first pair of shoes. The first time she wore them was at a park. It was also her second time walking on grass. She didn't move. She was really freaked out by the shoes and then by the uneven ground. It was really funny. She wouldn't even move when we held her hand. Here are some pictures of her eating her cake. I guess she didn't really eat her cake, she mostly smooshed it.

Beckett has grown up a little this past month. He is starting to enjoy books now. My mother lent us "One Fish, Two Fish" by Dr. Seuss and this book is what did it. He wants to read it almost every day before his naps and before going to bed. It is great. I was worried that he was never going to like books, but I have high hopes now. He has also started to become more mischievous. One day I was at my mother's house and I noticed that the kids weren't around and that it was kind of quiet. I started to search for them and started to hear giggling in the basement. I went down there thinking they were just playing in the little toy room under the stairs. No, they were in the bathroom splashing away in the toilet bowl. I thought I was going to die. YUCK! So gross. He also loves his new independence. He loves that he can get into the cupboards all by himself. He will get the cereal out or the crackers, and then after he has gotten his spoils, he will leave it on the floor. Belle will then proceed to dump them all out on the floor. I guess they have become partners in crime.

Matt got fired a little over a month ago for being an honest guy, and then last week got a better job that fits him perfectly. He takes pictures of cars for dealerships and then puts them on the Internet with the facts on each car. So it all turned out for the better. I just want to say thank you to everyone that helped us stretch our finances and for all of the prayers. We have been truly blessed.

So, during the month that Matt was out of work, we had a camping trip in our living room. We set up our tent in the living room, put in the mattress that goes on our hide-a-bed and some camping chairs, got out our camping lamp, and made smores bars (made from Golden Grahams). Christa, my sister, came up and spent the night with us. We watched "Kung Fu Panda", one of our family's new favorite movies. Then Matt, Beckett, and I slept in the tent that night. It wasn't that bad. I think Beckett only woke up once. It was really fun. A nice way to shake it up.

There hasn't been much new going on with me. I am reading the Chronicles of Narnia and am really enjoying the series so far. A friend's blog has inspired me to do something special this month. I have decided to blog each day this month about something I am grateful for. It is the month of Easter and I want to honor what our Savior did by showing my gratitude. Today I am grateful that Matt has a job. I already started talking about it, I just want to expound a little bit more on it. I am grateful for it because now we don't have to sell our home and move back in with my parents (which is what Matt and I had started talking about if Matt didn't get a job by the first part of April). I am grateful for it because I can go to the store and buy some non-necessities and not feel guilty. I can cook whatever I want because we now have an in-come, not just an out-go (pun). I can now go to the Treehouse Museum with my kids and feel okay spending the $5 it takes to get us in. I can pay our bills with confidence. It is amazing how easily I can breathe now that we have money coming in. What a blessing work can be! The children and I will miss having Matt around more, but as soon as school is out, we will see him more again. Plus he now has something we haven't had for a long time with Matt's jobs - paid vacation - so we can take advantage of that too. I am grateful for Matt's job.

Promised Videos and Pictures

Here is the video I promised you guys:




Here are some cute pictures too. (Only the first one is of her walking)



I think Matt is going to have a hard time with this one wanting a cell phone too early.




Maybe this one too.






Babyzilla distroys the train station!!! Look out!!!

Walking!!

I am going to call it official. Anabelle is walking! She has been walking to everything today. She doesn't make it all of the time, but she is choosing to walk first rather than crawl. She has been taking lots of steps whenever we have coaxed her to walk before, but when it came to getting around, she wouldn't be too adventurous and just crawl everywhere . Today, though, she has been walking first and then crawls after she falls down. Plus she is walking further than before. I think it is safe to say she is walking. Yay!!! It's also sad that my little girl is growing up. Scary too, because the two of them can really gang up on me now. Seriously though, my mom said the other day at a family get together, when we were trying to get Belle to walk to everybody, that we were witnessing a miracle in the making, and that is very true. It is a miracle that she can walk and become more independant. She wants to feed herself now too. She is very different from Beckett. A new season in our life has begun. Wish Matt and I luck!








p.s. These videos were taken last month. Sorry they are so dark. It was at night and we don't have the best lighting in our living room. They are all I have right now of her walking, but I will post more pictures and videos later.

Time for a change

Well, the Hanukkah background is gone. (sniff, sniff) We just wanted to hold onto it as long as possible, but change happens.

The latest in our life is not much. Anabelle has cut her first tooth (for real this time, last time I think it got scared and went back in). Now we are anxiously awaiting the second. She is also extremely close to walking (as stated before). She took about three steps last night, but she isn't steady enough to walk completely. My bet is that she will be walking by the end of the month. (That will be our goodbye gift for you to take on your mission, Mom Jacob) She is also getting more of a little personality. She is very determined and wont be distracted easily. She has mastered the stairs and unless you block them completely, she will find a way to play on them. Maybe if she would have a tumble on the stairs she wouldn't like them so much, but, fortunately, that has not happened yet.

Also, Belle has her own room now. The kids did fine together in one room, until Christmas. For whatever reason, sleeping at other people's houses has destroyed my kids sleeping habits. Beckett now comes and crawls into bed around 3 or 4 am. Due to the fact that Beckett leaves the door open when he comes to join us, he would let out all the warm air in their room, so Anabelle would then wake up around 5 or 6. When we tried to take him back to his bed, he would cry really loud, which would then wake Baby Belle. In the best sleeping interest of all, we moved Belle into the front room, across from our room, so that she wouldn't wake up when we return Beckett to his bed. She is sleeping fine now. Naps are working out better also because they can now take naps at the same time and Beckett doesn't wake up Anabelle playing for an hour before he conks out. So, all in all, this move has been good for everyone. (except that Beckett still crawls into bed with us, I think we just need to get one of those things you put on door knobs so kids can't open them, that should work for at least a month until he figures out how to work around the door knob thing)




This was the typical arrangement prior to the room switch. You can see Beckett's head resting right next to Matt's. When I got out of bed, Belle was more than happy to take up the space that I had been using.

Beckett is growing up more and more each day. Sometimes when I look at him I don't even recognize him. He now likes oranges. I shouldn't be surprised because the boy loves fruit, but I am. Neither Matt nor I like eating oranges. I don't like to peel them (which I now have to do so Beckett can eat them), and I especially don't like the stringy stuff leftover that you can't get off. But hey, it is one more food that Beckett does like, so that is a positive. Usually it is the other way around.

We are missing Matt terribly (and it is only the 3rd week of school). Hopefully he can test out of one of his classes and then he will be home one more night during the week. Hooray!! Keep your fingers crossed. It is also looking good for him to get his Bachelors in December. Things are looking good.