An easy update!

Hi.  So it's been a little while since I blogged.  Blogged is a funny word.  Well it's 9:30 at night and my kiddo is asleep and I'm not too tired yet so here we go.  I think you readers have probably been craving an update for a while!  Well, phew!  It is finally here!  So Ezekiel, EZ as we call him, and yes we say both letters so yes it sounds like "easy".  It stuck, what can I say.  Although I always feel a little funny when a stranger asks his name... I want to say EZ but I always say Ezekiel and I often get asked, "what?"  or to say it again.  Does Ezekiel really sound like "easy kill"???  I guess so, and yes, I named my baby Easy Kill...  Have you never picked up a Bible??

Okay so a few new things, he's walking!  It's such a cute walk too.  He still doesn't have full range but he wants to.  He wants to climb up things and fit into small spaces and explore explore explore.  It's awesome!... said no one.  Actually, it is a lot of fun, but it is such a challenge!  As any parent knows.  We have to constantly keep our eyes on him because he falls, bumps, dive-bombs, and trips all.the.time.  One day he fell so bad he hit something inside his mouth and was bleeding very badly.  We were just on our way out to go to church and boom!  When he's really really upset he cries so hard that he doesn't make a sound, for a few solid seconds, then he lets out a wail!  Which he was doing so I knew it was bad!  This was the first time I'd really seen him bleed and from somewhere in his mouth I couldn't tell because he didn't want to show me.  I was panicking a bit.  Thankfully my husband was home and helped me with the situation.  Have I ever mentioned how much I love being married to a nurse?  He is a rock!  He got EZ calmed down and talked me through it.  It turned out not to be that bad and it only took ME about 40 minutes to calm down.  I couldn't hardly talk, it was so scary.  It's freaking crazy how much you love your kid!

Moving on, have I mentioned how much he LOVES to sleep?  Seriously, this kid still takes 2 naps, usually for about 2 hours each as well as going down at night around 8:30 and sleeping in til about 7:30.  He never makes a fuss about going to bed.  He absolutely loves it!  He loves walking and crawling in his crib, he loves his crib toys and blankets and he loves playing bed time games.  Mostly pee-a-boo.  He does it himself.  I'll lay him down and throw a blanket over him and he'll reveal himself, then hide, reveal, hide,... and so on, giggling the whole time.  When we turn out the lights and close the door, that's the last we hear of him.  In fact, sometimes he'll wake himself up in the middle of the night and cry for a few seconds, then roll over and go back to sleep.  He cries because he is mad that he's awake.  Just the other day I checked in on him and he heard me creak in and, with his back facing me, he sat up, grabbed his blanky, then fell right back down on his face!  So cute!  I think we've only had to let him cry himself to sleep 3 times.  He's an awesome sleeper and I love that he allows me to get lots of sleep too!  Because it doesn't come so easy for me...

Hmm what else?  Well he's still not totally talking.  Well he actually talks all the time, but he doesn't say any real words.  When he really wants something he will mumble "mom" over and over.  He does know the names of everything.  He has lots of toys and every time we ask him "where's blank" he'll go right over to it and pick it up!  Sometimes he'll even start giggling because he understands what we're saying and he gets excited about what happens next.

He LOVES food.  Way more than he loves sleep.  He's happy at bed time.  He's also happy at meal time.  But only if he gets his food right away!  He has no patience!  None!  And, when the food's all gone, he screams, drops big tears, and keeps crying until you give him more.  Even if he throws up because he is full, he still wants to eat more.  He's got no full senors, I swear!  This is really the only thing he does that makes me crazy.  It's not just once in a while too, it is ALL THE TIME!!!!  I am not exaggerating.  He throws a fit, every single time he finishes eating.  Needless to say, he's huge!  Personally I don't think he's a big chubby baby but everyone tells me he's big, and he's got the gut to prove it. He's 15 months and about 21 pounds.  He can still wear some 12 month size clothes but he's mostly in 18 months.  (there's no in-between size)  We learned recently too that he has high calcium levels.  The doctor assured me it's nothing to worry about, but it's still weird.  I don't give him a lot of dairy.  Whatever!

He's also super clingy and nervous.  I can't say I love or hate it.  I want him to not be afraid of people and to start running around!  But no, he is a scaredy cat.  He even hates it when I'm standing up and he's not being held.  If I'm up, he has to be too.  Or else I have to be on his level.  He'll throw a fit til we pick him up or sit on the floor with him.  In fact, at his last appointment I set him down next to me so I could do some paperwork and he wedged himself as close as possible to me and once I stood up, he grabbed my pant legs (which he always does) and I inched away and handed my paperwork in.  I walked about two feet away from him for about 4 seconds and his world completely ended.  But, once I picked him up, he was totally cool.  Also, I've been taking him to the park a lot lately and he hates the grass and the playground wood chips.  He refuses to walk on either of them.  But he loves being outside looking around, watching the people, animals, especially the ducks! 

I started taking a class recently, which I'll get into more in a sec, so one night a week for about an hour and a half I need a babysitter.  The funny thing is when I get home and walk through the door, EZ sees me and often starts crying.  He'll walk over to me crying, and grab and reach until I pick him up, then he's happy and playful.  It's like when he seems me, he realized I left him and then realizes he's upset that I left him.  He doesn't give the babysitters a hard time typically, he's just shy and cautious.  Then once I've got him in my arms he's super cute and playful and interested in the sitter.  Kids are funny aren't they?

So yeah, I'm taking an algebra class.  It's the first time I've dealt with a math class in like 13 years.  Sheesh I'm getting old.  Since high school, I've been in college randomly.  I did a little, took a break, went to hair school, took a break, did some college, took a break, got married, took a break, went back to school for a summer, then took a break and went back again the next summer, then took another break, had a baby, and now I'm back.  Math is the last general ed class I need.  After this, I'm just 12 credits away from an Associate Degree.  Which I know isn't much, but I'm so close, I just really want to finish.  I want to get it done before life gets any crazier when John starts his Bachelor's then Master's programs.  Or before we have another kid.  Or before we move out of state and I have to transfer credits, pay out-of-state tuition or whatever.  It's now or never to me!  Never meaning like, 15 years.  But I don't want to be an almost 50 year-old still working on her Associates....  So, I've signed up for the summer as well.  I've got 3 out of 4 classes picked and found my best option is to have the goal of a Behavioral Science Degree.  And that's about as much as I know about it!  See, that's the hard part, the reason I went to college part time for so many years.  I love doing hair, that is my passion.  So, I could never find something that I loved second best, and I still don't really know.  But I looked around at my options and that, or Business, were my best options.  But, the business classes I need to take aren't available in the right way right now.  So, Behavioral Science, for now I guess!  Yay me for getting it done!  Hooray, I am proud of myself so bugger off if you think it's a waste of time or money.  You heard me right, bugger off!

If you agree that I'm awesome, which if you're still reading this then you probably do, I want to say thanks!  You're awesome too!  I should probably update about John too.  Poor guy, I feel so bad for him.  He is still working nights and it's awful.  He is also taking a class this semester.  So, here's his typical week.... Monday: try to sleep from about 2am-12pm, go to school from about 1-3, take a nap?, go to work 6pm-6am.  Tuesday: try to sleep from about 8 am-4pm, go to work from 6pm-6am.  Wednesday: sleep from about 7:30-12:30, go to school from about 2-3, come home and go back to sleep til about 7.  Then up all night, by himself.  Thursday, sleep til about 2, try to spend time with the family, go play basketball at 9pm.  Friday, sleep from about 3am-12pm, go to school from 1-3, go to work 6pm-6am.  Saturday, sleep til about 3 or 4 and try to spend the evening with the family.  Sunday: 9am church?  yeah right!  Sometimes makes it, most the time, he just can't throw his schedule off that much.  He typically gets 4-5 hours of sleep at a time, wishes he could get more but just can't, and just feels sleepy all the time when he is awake.  So yeah, it sucks!  He was offered a day time position but had to turn it down because of school.  Day shifts are random and he needs a set schedule.  Until the beginning of May.  So, we're hoping they'll hold the position open for him for a couple months... doubtful... but maybe?!

Wow I've talked (or typed) a lot.  It's been almost an hour!  I still feel like there is more I could say but I really should try to go to bed now.  Plus, you're most likely tired of reading by now.  Also, my hands are a little tired of typing on our crappy keyboard.  Well, you are my friend and you're special.  You're my friend, and you're special to me.  You are the only one like you, like you my friend, I like you.  You are my friend.  You are special.   ...we watch a lot of Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood these days.  Gotta love kid shows right?  They really change your life!  But I absolutely love it!  Okay, now time for some pictures!!

The third picture cracks me up, he looks like he's meditating.  The fourth one is my zombie baby pic.  I just put my finger over the flash and that is what I got.  Haha!  The last one was just a funny time when John put his sweater on EZ and EZ could not get it off.  He was walking around blind.  It reminded me of that part in E.T. where he's just walking around drunk not knowing where to go or what he was doing!

 

Ezekiel is 1

Thanks End Of May Photography for doing this photo shoot.  Sadly, my kid just wouldn't smile but hey, he's still cute!

 

 

My 100th Post: Our Story

I've been hanging on to this post for a while.  I've been editing and editing and finally it feels just as perfect as can be.  This is our story.  How John and I met and came to be.  It just happens to fall on our 6th anniversary and my 100th post.  Pretty cool!

The time was July, 2006 in Orem, Utah. It was fast Sunday in my singles ward and a friend of mine named John, got up to bear his testimony. This John was from Oklahoma and we had met just a few weeks earlier. In his testimony he mentioned that an old friend of his from when he lived in St. Louis, also named John, was now in our ward. He looked over at John and I followed his gaze and saw my husband for the first time. (Although I had no idea) John noticed me that day too and decided he wanted to get to know me. At the end of church, Oklahoma John invited me and a few other friends, including my John, over to his house after ward prayer to play games. After my John heard me say I would go, he then planned to go too.

I was in charge of ward prayer.  Once the message was over and the socializing began, John came over to me and said, "you look like someone who listens to good music" (his classic line) We talked briefly, my roommate taking up most of the conversation... then afterwords we went to Oklahoma John's. I need to mention that Oklahoma John was a very flirty-friendly guy and although I wasn't into him, I flirted back. I was single and enjoying myself!  So, my also very flirty (not to mention forward) roommate, who I'll just refer to as C, suggested that we play Truth or Dare.  Nothing too crazy happened, but by the end of the night I could tell C was going to pursue things with my John and my John went home that night thinking I liked Oklahoma John.  Such a conflict of interests... 

I think I should mention here that C and I had a history of not getting along all the time and at this time it was especially difficult.  Our "friendship" was coming to an end.  I can't say why exactly, other then the fact that I just didn't find her a very good friend.

Sure enough C was pursuing John (as well as a few other guys...) but it didn't turn into anything.  As did nothing happen between Oklahoma John and I.  About a month went by.

One night at ward prayer John and I were talking. We were making group plans and needed to exchange numbers. He told me to get his # from C. Since C and I weren't exactly talking I told him to just give it to me now. He told me a few weeks later that he knew then that I could be interested in him since I asked for his number. He said it was his own little test.  Really I just didn't want to talk to C, especially to ask her for the number of a guy she liked that I was now going to hang out with...  Coincidence none the less. 

So for that whole week John and I hung out almost every day. He came bowling with me and my friends, we hung out at a local music show, he came over to a house party that I had, sat by me in church... just lots of hanging out. By that following Sunday I was thinking he was a pretty awesome guy. Easy to get along with, cool, and down for anything!  After ward prayer that night he called me and asked me if I'd like to go on a date sometime. I said sure! After we hung up, I was so excited that I called 3 of my friends and told them the good news!

The next day everything felt different.  It was becoming obvious that John and I were headed somewhere together.  It was new and exciting.  We ended up at John's apartment and watched a movie. He held my hand and it made me really happy.  Shortly after he leaned in to kiss me and I leaned away.  I was shocked that he was moving that fast!  I had just realized this guy liked me! I told him it was too soon, and he was perfectly fine with that.  So he waited 2 days and tried to kiss me again.  I guess he thought that was long enough.  Dude, come on!  I felt bad after denying him twice that the next day, I let him kiss me.  Ha!  So this was now mid-September. 

A little background here; most of the guys I chose to date were pretty much inadequate. I was not ready for marriage so I chose to date guys that I knew I would never marry. Smart right? Not really. So dating John was really different for me because I knew John had serious potential.  John's background on the other hand; he had been in a serious relationship where he'd proposed to his girlfriend... she turned him down. That heartbreak made him cautious of expressing his feelings. He didn't want to feel vulnerable. Which was unfortunate because I was not about to open up to someone who refused to open up himself. Plus I didn't want to rush anything. As a result, we casually dated for about 7 months. We liked each other a lot and would joke about not saying 'I love you'.  We had a lot of fun but, after a while it just got routine.  We weren't going anywhere.  

In April John planned a trip to visit his home town of St. Louis for a couple weeks.  Just before his trip he started acting weird, and distant.  I had a feeling he was going to suggest taking a break those 2 weeks he was going to be gone.  Admittedly, some time apart sounded like a good idea to me.  So, sure enough right before he left he broke up with me completely. I was painfully surprised and totally balled afterwards. I cried about every day for a week. I was confused and had trouble functioning without him.  I tried seeking advice from just about everyone and actually learned a lot about my feelings for him in that week. Resulting in the feeling that being without him felt wrong.

On his trip he called me every couple of days, which I thought was weird since we weren't a couple anymore. It made things almost worse for me, but John was determined however, to stay friends. In his second week he apologized for letting a few days pass without calling. I told him it was ok because he didn't owe me that since we weren't together anymore. That hit him kind of hard. He was really missing me and started second guessing his decision to break up with me. When I said those words "you don't owe me anything" he knew that he could lose me forever, and he didn't like the thought of that. 

About a week after he got back he called me and asked if I'd like to go get food with him. We went to Subway and then walked around a park. It was nice. Then we ended up at my house talking about "us". He brought it up and I wasn't sure what to say. I told him I was trying to move on and it got a little sticky and he left. I was kind of angry and annoyed. Why did he have to bring up the pain? About an hour went by and I noticed a missed call on my phone from John. I had only stepped out of my room for a minute when he called so I called him right back. He expressed he was grateful I called back because he really wanted to talk about something. He told me when he left my apartment earlier he stood outside for a minute dazed and couldn't remember where he parked. He eventually made it home and sat down in his room staring at his phone for an hour debating whether or not to call me and tell me how much he's been missing me and how he's been hoping we could talk sometime about getting back together. I couldn't believe it! Although shocked, I was happy and agreed to think things over.

I spent the next day constantly thinking about John and when he came over later, we had a good talk. He said he didn't know what he wanted until he didn't have it anymore and basically told me he never wanted to be without me again. I told him I hadn't been ready to give up and I wanted another chance. We agreed to get back together and he leaned over and kissed me. It was so sweet I even shed a tear or two out of joy. This was May, one month after we broke up.

This time things were really different and so much better. John constantly told me what he liked about me and how much he liked me and he unintentionally slipped in the "L" word a couple times. He started talking about getting married almost right away. I knew he was ready, but I was not. Marriage was not an easy concept for me to grasp, it's a  huge and scary decision!  Plus, things were just getting back on track and he was almost like a new person, having opened up now.  Things had changed and I was still adjusting. It took me 3 months after getting back together before I told him I loved him. He finally got something, but I pretty much put John through Hell with how long it took me to decide to marry him. I felt like I should take as long as I'd like to decide. I refused to rush into it. So here we were, John and I, about 5 months after we got back together and I was still trying to figure my feelings out and he was about out of patience. We were driving back from Salt Lake one night and I was going over in my head something a friend had just said about taking your time.  When I spoke to John about it, well, it about pushed him over the edge. He was done trying to convince me. He started yelling at me! As I listened to his reasoning, a feeling came over me that hey, I do want to marry him. So that's what I said. It was something like, 'John, I want to marry you.' Simple as that. He was taken aback. He was about to drop me off and be done with me forever because he just couldn't wait anymore and I tell him I've finally made up my mind??  Well, yeah.  I gave him a kiss goodnight, got out of the car and went inside my apartment.  He just froze. He couldn't quite comprehend what just happened.

 The next day I went over to his house and said we needed to pick a date. He double checked with me to make sure that I was serious about getting married. I probably would have too if I were him. Then he called his mom with the good news. Since it wasn't an official proposal, I didn't see the need to walk around telling everyone we were engaged. I just emailed my family telling them all we were wanting to get married and thinking about Christmas time. I'm not sure my family took me seriously at first but it didn't matter.  They figured it out eventually! 

We began planning the wedding. Finding the right ring was a problem. None of the ones I looked at meant anything to me. I didn't like the idea of just a pretty sparkly piece of jewelry on my finger that had what seemed like little or no other symbolism. One night while I was laying in bed brainstorming what to do, I remembered my Grandmother's ring. It was special because I never met her. She died before I was born. Her wedding ring is a gold band with rubies inside of sketched out flower petals. Ruby is my birthstone. My mother gave me this ring when I turned 16. I know that was a big deal to my mother, so it was a big deal to me. It is the one thing of hers that I have that keeps me feeling close to her.  I even wrote a paper in High School about it and how much it means to me. So, that was that. I would design a ring after my Grandmother's. I thought it would be so cool to make a modernized version of her ring. I didn't tell anyone in my family either. I wanted to show them in person and especially surprise my mother, hoping it would make her cry!  

We picked Friday, December 21st, 2007. Christmas time was not the best time to plan around. So we tried to make things as easy and simple as possible. I probably should have been more interested in detail but I wasn't. We picked Timpanogos Temple because it was closest. Since I moved around so much growing up, I didn't have my heart set on any special place. We considered St. Louis, but because of budget and convenience, we decided against it. I moved into our new apartment a few days before the big day. My very best friend ever came in from Colorado and stayed at the apartment with me, as did my parents. I'll never forget when my parents walked into the apartment, took a quick tour then asked to see my ring. My mom took my hand and looked at it ever so curiously. She started to say something then stopped. I asked her if it looked familiar at all. She looked at me with shiny eyes and I said, "I had it designed after grandmother's ring.' Yep, goal complete, I made her cry! So, the ring means something, not just to me, but to my family too! 

Just some quick details of the wedding day and honeymoon...

Our sealer was just fantastic and he said some things I'll never forget. Our wedding was lovely, and freezing! We didn't get a lot of pictures because of the weather. I might have been the only one who stayed warm because I wore white winter boots and a white winter cloak with my white wedding dress!  (Throw in the white snow and white temple, it was just a lot of white!)  We had our reception at a church in Lehi near John's parents house. We had a great caterer and everything was beautiful.

We spent our first night together at the Anniversary Inn. The next day we flew to Florida for our honeymoon. We had a blast and so enjoyed the sun! Spent Christmas morning with John's brother Tod and his family. Oh and I even got to go sailing, a long dream of mine!

Now here we are, 6 years later and things just continue to get better and better! I love my amazing husband so much and I'm so grateful he is patient and sticks with me. I love his hilarious personality and endearing charm. He is so smart and still so easy to get along with. My family often tells me how awesome he is. I couldn't agree more! I love you John, and look forward to the rest of our lives together!  Happy Anniversary!

Ezekiel's 1st Birthday

Can you believe it?  I sure as heck can't!  I'm so amazed at how fast time goes and how quickly a baby grows.  He'll be my age before I know it!  Ok, so most people do huge parties and have the whole cake-smash  for the first birthday.  John is one of these people however, I am not.  And here's why, for one thing, EZ usually cries around groups of people.  Plus he hates loud noises.  So, a bunch of people around him cheering and taking pictures sounds pretty traumatizing.  Plus it's winter so we would have to do it indoors and our place is too small to have a bunch of people come to and to ask someone else to let us make a big gross mess in their home just didn't sound right to me either.  After some disagreements and a lot of compromise, we decided on a cupcake instead of an actual cake and a family get together in celebration of EZ's first birthday instead of a birthday party.  Ok that doesn't sound much different but in my head it did.  This next part is going to sound worse because we asked to do it at Grandma and Grandpa's house and Grandpa has been dealing with some bronchitis and Grandma recently had a total knee replacement.  But they seemed more than alright with having the "party" at their place.  So, here's how it went down.  The day started out like normal, eating breakfast and throwing a fit when it ended....

I made a bunch of cupcakes and 2 cheesecakes to take to the birthday party and they were a big hit!  We had quite a bit of John's family come too.  We were so grateful for the company and EZ did really well.  He didn't cry much and he didn't make a big mess either.  Everything turned out great!  Thanks to those that came and thanks to those that helped!



Here's Ezekiel's cousin's baby.  Does that mean second cousin?
I don't know... 6 months apart.  Can you tell who's older?

John wanted to show 

  off EZ's cute big booty...

My parents gave EZ this freaking adorable tuxedo onesie.  It was the star of the night!

Presents!

             

The Cake Smash!!! ....well sorta

He's looking up at the ceiling fan here. He loves fans! 

 

Happy Birthday my son!  You make the sweetest sounds and have the funnest expressions.  I love watching you grow and learn.  You are so handsome and I just love you more than anything else in this world!