THANKsgiving Day 15

Today I am thankful for a house that gets lived in. Granted I get tired of picking up the same toys every night but I am thankful for the room that we have and the blessing of watching Lil Hoff play and learn and grow.

But I am also thankful for that moment that Lil Hoff goes to sleep and my house is picked up too!

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THANKSgiving Day 14

Today on the 14th of November how can I be thankful for anything other than Lil Hoff. Today he turned 1 and this past year has flew by so fast. He amazes me everyday with what he does and how he thinks. I still remember how I felt the first time I seen him and how full my heart was. My heart is still full of love and joy every time I look at him. Thank you Lord, for blessing me with this child and I pray everyday I raise him in a way that pleases you.

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THANKSgiving Day 13

Today I am thankful for those moments where inquisitive exploring turns to joyful finds by little ones. Tonight I was in the kitchen cleaning up and Lil Hoff discovered the bottle cabinet. This is where I have stored all his baby bottles such as the 4 oz ones that he outgrew by the time he was 3 months old and extra nipples for those bottles. You would have thought the kid found a cabinet with nothing but candy in it :)

He was really digging for all those goods!

and Score!!!

He found a nipple, but sadly nothing came out of it.

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THANKSgiving Day 12

Today I am so thankful for a little boy that is the perfect mix of his daddy and mommy in the morning.

 Example: We have a video system with our baby monitor so every morning I check on him several times while I am getting ready and he general starts to stir in his crib by 7:00 or a little after. But he likes to have his time to wake up before he actually starts to make noise and wants someone to come get him. (that is like his momma - Don't speak to me unless spoken too). He then wants to eat first thing (like his daddy) but then after he has eats there is no time to sit around (like his daddy) he must start playing. But then he grins that big grin at me and I know that he is mine. (I lay claim to that smile)

PS - I am also thankful for warm fuzzy footed PJ's. There is nothing cuter than a kid in PJ's.

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THANKSgiving Days 8-9-10-11

Oh golly, where has the days went??? This a marathon post with several days thrown in there so let's get started.

Day 8

Today I am thankful for this man and his love of animals. Big or small he naturally has a spot in his heart for all animals (besides snakes).

You see a couple of weeks ago a couple of kitties were waiting for us in a pet carrier when we got home from church one Wednesday night. They were for Lil Hoff from memiers and pops (his great-grandparents). So we have had these little kittens and one stayed next to the house and one ran to the barn not to be seen from again. Then one day Farmboy told me that he picked up what he thought was our kitten at a neighboring farm, but he wasn't for sure so he dropped it off at his parents house. Then a couple of days later he came home, got out of his truck, and was holding both our kitties. For you see, the other cat was missing his friend and managed to stow away to the in-laws as well.  They are more of community type kittens.

Then later on that night when I was locking up the back door out of the garage, I heard a little scuffle and I looked down and saw this fluff of fur and I couldn't kick them out into the cold. So Maybe Farmboy's love of animals is wearing off on me.

***Note***

In posting this I need to give a update - Boots aka the black cat stowed away on the bottom of Farmboy's truck hanging onto the emergency brake cable all the way to church Sunday and Farmboy realized this when he got out of his truck and heard the faint meow's. He then proceeded to walk into church and tell me about this and shrugged his shoulders when asked what he was going to do about it. After church a fellow church member told us that they saw the kitten hiding in the wheel of his truck and put it into the bed of his truck. Once again Farmboy shrugged when asked what he was going to do about it. We then went out to my parents house and when we came back to town to pick his truck up the kitten was gone. Stating all this has made me rethink my post in the first place. Cause we now have kind of a sad ending.

Day 9

Today I am thankful for a happy ending that involved this.





This is my wedding ring. The other night as I was getting Lil Hoff ready for bed I took off my ring to apply lotion to son. I went about my business and as I was crawling into bed it occurred to me that I better remember to get my ring off of son's dresser first thing in the morning before he has a chance to get ahold of it. Next morning rolled around and since I have now acquired mommy's brain I totally forgot about it. As I was in the kitchen I looked up and saw Lil Hoff chewing on something as I raced to him to see what was in his mouth he pulled it out and there in his little chubby hand was my wedding ring. It then dawned on me, that the night before I put my ring in my pocket with my cell phone and when I grabbed my cell phone out of my pocket my ring must have fell out onto the living room carpet. So thank goodness son found it for me.

Day 10

Today I am thankful for a beautiful day to celebrate a very special birthday! It is today that we will be having a party to wish a Lil Hoff a very happy1st birthday.

We held his party in our shop which has heat and electricity, it is nice to have such a building to hold events like this, but the high was in the 70's today and then tonight it only got down into the 50's. So while I got slack for having his birthday on opening day of deer season I could have not picked a prettier day to party and go on a hayride! Since the next day the high only got to 32 and it rained all day.

Day 11

Today I am thankful for Fluff Fluff aka Lil Buddy aka World's Biggest Maltese aka Roscoe. He is such a loving dog and has been so great to Lil Hoff only wanting to be his friend. He races into Lil Hoff's bedroom every morning to great him with me and he will follow him around ( I think hoping for treats ) but also to keep a eye on him. I have only had to get onto Lil Hoff a couple of times for grabbing Roscoe's fluff. "We have to pet the dog, not grab the dog". Then at the end of the day he is ready just to lay on the bed with me and get my undivided attention for a few minutes.

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THANKSgiving Day 7

I was really trying to post on the day that I am actually talking about but yesterday was too long of a day and not enough hours to match it.

This is also the first edition of "Watch it Wednesday". I am so scared that one day in the future I will be looking back on my children's life and wonder about a moment and realize I did not capture it either by photo or camera. So on a daily basis I do video tape Lil Hoff and hope that at that same time he is doing something really memorable. Today happened to be one of those days.

Today I am thankful for my Wednesday's off so that I can be around Lil Hoff and have fun and pretend what it would be like to be a permanent hermit in the woods . Enjoy!

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THANKSgiving Day 6

Today I am thankful for my right to have a voice and vote! I'm not a political fanatic and by far I am ready for campaign ads to be done, but I am thankful that I have a vote for what happens in the land that I live in. I have morals that I deem important and I will back those in office that shares those with me. But I will pray for whoever does hold that office because I know there is a higher leader that will always have control!

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THANKSgiving Day 5

Today I am thankful for the memories of my childhood, and that Farmboy and I can compare stories of growing up and that they are similar. Playing outside, getting into fights with siblings, home cooked meals, going to church together as a family and many other happy memories. Seeing Lil Hoff play and fall in love with a tractor that was once Farmboy's makes me hope for many more memories that we can pass on down to him.

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THANKSgiving Day 4

Today I am thankful for that first moment you realize it is quiet and the baby has given into sleep. I instantly feel a sense of peace coming over me and I finding myself smiling and exhaling. Thank you for that moment. And the fact that Lil Hoff is keeping real with the mouth hanging open and drool coming out with ahold of his snack cup. Nothing wrong with that kid.

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THANKSgiving Day 3

Today I am thankful for my bed. That might seem a little silly to be thankful for a bed. But I love my bed. I love that it is king size and I have room to stretch. I love that with the curtains drawn and doors shut I can have darkness and I love on a sunny day I can open the curtains and lay in sunshine and be cozy and warm. Also on this particular day I got to sleep in till 8:30. *gasp* thanks to a slumber part at nana's house that Olan was at and a hubby that took him feeding with him this morning. So altogether I have a very strong feeling of thankfulness (and rest) for my bed today.

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THANKSgiving Day 2

I am thankful of the beauty that God shares with me everyday.

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THANKSgiving Day 1

I am thankful for the laughter that fills my house at night.

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Woo-Hoo

It's Friday!!!

I can't keep it bottled in........

(And who wants too?)

Happy Friday Everyone!

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The Moments That Take My Breathe Away

As a new momma, there are so many things I am afraid I am not doing the best at with Lil Hoff. For instance other babies his age are rolling over and Lil Hoff is not, true that he has A LOT to get rolling to roll over but he has no interest in it at all. Second example which goes hand in hand with rolling over is tummy time. He HATES tummy time, he sees it as some form of punishment and will cry until we put him back on his back. Which if he could roll over then we wouldn't have to worry about tummy time, see the two go hand in hand so all around I feel like I have let Lil Hoff down in the early 4 months of his life. Since he did not have tummy time, he won't be able to support his big head, and won't be able to sit up, won't be able to touch his toes, tie his shoes, or spell his name. He will forever be doomed because his mother didn't make him have enough tummy time as a newborn.

But on another note. There are sometimes I look at him and he literally takes my breathe away. My heart fills so full that I am overwhelmed with the joy and love that this little person has given me. That God has blessed me beyond what I was ever deserved. And this morning was one of those moments.

He is always in such a good mood in the morning and I think where did my joy go in the mornings? I dread my alarm going off cause it is another reminder of time, time to get up , time to do this, time to do that and all I want to do is look at this.

I love this picture and he isn't even smiling. But it is such a innocent picture of him and it makes me wonder what is going through his head. He is probably thinking I wish this lady would quit taking pictures of me. Or maybe even, I hate the way she dresses me, who wants to wear a funny hat? Time is going by so fast. Every month when it's time to take his monthly pictures I think how is he another month older already?

Then I look at this face and think everything is going to be ok. He will eventually roll over, he will eventually like to lay on his tummy and maybe even learn to tie his shoes. But for right now, he just needs to stay like this. His mommy loves him just the way he is.



And so does his daddy. (I think the feeling is mutual :) ) 



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Felling So Blah Tuesday

You know when you think everything in your life is going perfect and you say a little praise to God about how blessed you feel and you smile all the way home cause you had a good day at work, and then a great night with your mom filled with a wonderful movie (The Vow) and a terrific meal (at Cornerstone's) and my mom and I had lots of laughs and talked and like I said a overall great night. So back to saying my praise to God, on the way home I am thinking about how blessed I feel with my family and that I am heading home to my husband and to my Sugarbug (that is my nickname for Lil Hoff) and I'm hoping that he is still awake - (when I say "he" I am basically meaning either one, Farmboy or Lil Hoff) and I was excited when I pulled up and the lights were still on in Lil Hoff's room and my heart fluttered a little bit that I would be greeted with a smile from my little guy and get caught up with my husband. As I walked into the house I am greeted by Roscoe and I talked to him as I am making my way through the house and as I walked into the living room I was taken back with a mess. Lil Hoff's quilts are all over the ground and I walked into the kitchen and Farmboy's meal is still spread all over the kitchen with a plate of food still sitting on the island I think to myself "This can't be good" So then I hunt down my family and find Lil Hoff waking up in our bedroom and starting to cry and Farmboy was in the shower. When he saw that I was home he was very excited and I heard a big sigh of relief and then the words "Lil Hoff is not feeling good" and my heart stopped. As I picked him up, I could tell right away that Farmboy was right. He wasn't grinning and he just had a glazed look to him. He was just so serene and that might be nice if that is they way Lil Hoff  usually is, but my baby at 8:30 at night is crying and wanting his bottle and wanting to go to bed. Farmboy then said that he has held him most the night and that is why the house looks like it does (I think he was just covering up so I didn't get mad, ha).  At 9:30 he was still just as quiet and when we put him down he barely ate 3 oz. when normally at night he eats between 6 oz and 8 oz. He slept pretty good until 4:30 this morning when he nose got so congested that he couldn't breathe and then he started coughing and woke himself up. I went in twice to put a pacifier in but he couldn't hold the pacifier in and breathe so I gave up and really woke him up with cleaning his nose out and changing his diaper. We then ate a little bit and I put him in his swing and he spent the rest of the morning coming and going from sleep.

 It broke my heart this morning to think of taking him to the baby sitter's, but he didn't have a fever so I had no other choice.

This morning was very quiet.

A little too quiet.



He was just so content but then he would cough and it sounded so horrible.

So I took his chair, Vick's, saline drops, and nose syringe to the baby sitter's today and said good luck. Kissed my sugarbug several times and walked slowly away.







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So Sleepy!

So I reported in a blog not to long ago that my mother and I have a constant battle going back and forth over Lil Hoff and swaddling him. And in my head I keep going back and forth imaging how I could permanently be dislocating his shoulders cause I have him swaddled up so tight and that the Velcro holds him in place and he doesn't move his arms for several hours.

 For example.....

Now I take this picture one of two ways. Look how soundly he is sleeping and he does sleep through the night from about 10:00 at night to 7:30 - 8:00 in the morning which makes for a very happy mommy, which in turns leads to a calm mommy and a happy baby. All are good things!

I would also like to mention that being swaddled does not slow this boy down at all. He does circles all night long in his crib and is never in the same spot as where we lay him down at. So another point I would like to use with my argument that he does not mind being swaddled with Velcro. But certain things are starting to happen that makes me think that I might want to come up with another sleeping pattern for him. I have told everyone at four months we will not swaddle anymore. I have picked four months because due to my extensive GOOGLE research, it is about four months when they quit their involuntary movements, so he will not be waking himself in the head with a out of control hand and in return will sleep and then I will sleep. I do often ponder if I should move that four month marker up. I went into his room the other morning and was greeted with this.

After I stopped laughing every so softly not to disturb him, my heart broke a little bit that all he could get free was one little finger and he was making the most out of it. An eternal optimist, that is my boy!

Then this morning was the big sign that I might not make it to four months. He had broke free and loving it!

So to my mom I just have to stick my tongue out and do a little dance that even Velcro will not hold my baby in and he is fine and can escape at any time. To my husband I just have to shake my head and say that we have a long road ahead of us and maybe not so restful nights of sleep.

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What he teaches my Son

I would like to start a segment that I am sure will be the first of many titled "What he teaches my son" and in this segment what you may or may not be aware of is the item he is exposing my son to is a very sore spot in our marriage and I think it takes up too much of Farmboy's time and is just a all around nuisance and now he is already teaching Lil Hoff to be addicted to it as well.

How dare he expose my sweet baby to the likes of the Internet? All those sites of trucks, tractors, and ugh...craigs list!

"HI MOM! How come you never showed me this pretty object before? It has pretty lights and sounds and is soooo cool."

"Never mind, I'm bored"

There is hope that he is mine :)



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