Motherhood 101, part 5

THE LITTLE THINGS

The best part of being a mom is the little things... those moments that make me smile and remind me that I am the luckiest girl in the world. These are only a few of them.

I love watching my two boys together. They are absolutely adorable. There is nothing better than having a happy family.

Joshua is always so happy to be alive and to discover the world around him. It makes me happy just to be a part of it all.

He got a kick out of Daddy's hat!

He spent several minutes trying to get this carrot out of the grass. He kept coming up with a handful of grass! It was so funny to watch him get frustrated and try, try again. He finally got the carrot and for the next hour or two, Joshua and his carrot were inseperable!!

This one is my favorite. I set Joshua down to play after mealtime. He was so content just to sit there in the sunlight and play with his toys, and he was talking and singing to himself. Then I noticed that his little buttcheeks were showing so I snuck up behind him to snap a picture. At the last moment he turned around and gave me the most pure, genuine smile. I swear, this child knows a thing or two about happiness, love, and contentment. I am very fortunate that my days are filled with moments like these. I can't get enough of my little boy!

Motherhood 101, part 4

MEALTIME = PLAYTIME?

Joshua loves to eat. He also loves to make funny faces, goof off with Mommy, and pose for the camera. More often than not, all of these combine into the several-times-a-day adventure known as Mealtime.

So excited!!

His newest face! I can't think of a name for it, but it cracks me up every time!!

I have no idea how I managed to capture this picture at just the right moment, but it is definitely priceless. I just love this little boy. We have so much fun.

Motherhood 101, part 3

GROOMING THE FAUXHAWK

Joshua's hair was getting really long and scraggly (not to mention falling out and leaving bald spots everywhere), so I had my friend Danielle-- who is a hairstylist and who is NOT Danielle Young :) -- give Joshua a trim. Joshua was terrified the whole time! But it turned out really well and his fauxhawk looks better than ever!

Before:

During:

After:

Motherhood 101, part 2

Okay, I'm still not very good at blogging. I wanted to make one big post with all of these photos in it, but the blog will only let me upload so many photos at a time, and then they all have to stay in order (I can't figure out how to rearrange them on the page). Sooooo these next few posts are really all part of my "Motherhood 101" post. I'll just break it up so it's easier for me to figure out. :)

POOPING IS FOR THE BIRDS, part 2

I decided to help Joshua poop by feeding him some prunes:

This is a very small jar of prunes. 3 ounces, in fact. I fed this to him over the course of 2 meals along with his other food. And about 8 hours after the first prune feeding, this was the result:

A onesie full of poop!!! (And yes, it smeared all the way up his back and arms when I took it off. Bathtime followed shortly thereafter....for both of us.)

A sinkful of poop!!! (And yes, I discovered after filling the sink with poop that the drain was slow. I ended up cleaning the poop chunks out of the sink after it "drained" the poopwater out. Gross.)

But in the end, a clean onesie-- thanks to the modern miracle of Dreft stain remover-- and a much happier Joshua! (Although he continued to have diarrhea for the next few days.) WARNING: PRUNES ARE POTENT. FEED TO YOUR CHILD AT THEIR (AND YOUR OWN) RISK.

Motherhood 101

I would like to present you with a series of images, descriptions, and video footage of some of the entertaining moments I experience every day as the mother of a 7-month old boy.

NAPTIME

Joshua is the best sleeper! Right now he sleeps 12-13 hours at night and then takes two 2-hour naps during the day. I am a very lucky mother! I am currently taking advantage of his naptime to blog. :) (Note how much hair he has in this picture, which was taken just 2 weeks ago. There is a drastric difference between this picture and later ones on this post!)

POOPING IS FOR THE BIRDS

Shortly after we arrived in Missouri, Joshua became miserably constipated for the first time in his life. This was quite traumatic for him. Here is a series of photos that shows just how excruciating this constipation was for him:

Poor kid!!! :( We would be doing a normal activity (such as eating dinner), and suddenly he would assume the "Pooping Position" and scream his lungs out in an effort to poop. Sadly, this rarely resulted in anything but the occasional rock-hard turd and the consequential sore bum. Joshua was miserable for several days.

Yes, I am a College Graduate

I just figured out how to post pictures on here. It only took me a month. In honor of my lameness, I will post some pictures. :)

Update: Okay, I still don't know how!! Now the pictures are "page elements" off to the right! Help! lol

Update: Got it! Thanks Danielle! :)

Welcome to Kansas City, Dorothy

Let me name just a few things that have happened since I last posted:

1. I graduated from BYU!!! Bachelor of Science, majored in Nursing. Magna Cum Laude. 5 years of hard work. Sooooo glad it's over.
2. On my graduation weekend, we packed up and moved out of our apartment. It was so much fun that I can't wait to move couches with Jake and shampoo the carpets at 1 am again. Oh the joys.
3. We moved out to Kansas City, Missouri, for the summer so Jake can work for APX with two of his cousins. Much to my surprise, one of my old college roommates-- Allyn Nelson-- is out here with her husband, Jared, who is also working for APX! That was definitely a memorable moment- when they showed up at my doorstep the morning after we arrived in Missouri!
4. We survived a tornado on our third night here! There were tornado warnings all evening, during several of which Joshua and I hid in the closet with Allyn and Danielle. Nothing much happened, so Jake and I went to sleep with relatively little worry. We were both woken at 2 am by the most terrifying weather I have ever experienced! The lightning was almost constant- like a strobe light. I thought the thunder was constant, too... until I realized it was just the wind! The apartments were shaking and I thought we were in a tornado... except the warning sirens weren't going off. We reassured ourselves that it must just be a bad thunderstorm because the tornado sirens weren't sounding off. We actually fell back to sleep, only to learn in the morning that the tornado had touched down 1 mile away from our apartment and wreaked havoc on a bunch of houses and demolished a restaurant. I guess that was our welcoming gift from the Midwest!

I know that's only 4 items, but it all took place within one week! If I included all the details, the list would probably go up to 100. Since I don't feel like recounting in detail the last 2 weeks of my life, I will just do a "tag" that I read on Kathryn's blog. I may be a new blogger, but I do know what a "tag" is. She didn't tag me, specifically, so I tagged myself instead.

A- ADVOCATE FOR: freedom, truth, and love
B- BEST FEATURE: my intuition
C- CAR OF MY DREAMS: a natural gas SUV
D- DREAMS & DESIRES: to be completely self-reliant. to live happily with my husband and children. to see God.
E- ESSENTIAL ITEMS: Jake. Joshua. wheat. water. cayenne pepper. tampons.
F- FAMILY: Jacob, Joshua; Dad & Mom, Gina & Rob, Nate, Kirsten, Emmie; Randy, Kathy; Hartman & Chelsea + Gabe, Ethan, Lily, Olivia; Kaerlig & Dave + Rainer, Davey, Ellie; David & Michelle + Talia, Sophia, Naomi, baby boy; Kassi, Julie.
G- GREAT PLACES TO EAT: Tepanyaki Japanese Steakhouse. Macaroni Grill. Rector family gatherings. Andersen family gatherings.
H- HAVE NEVER: smoked weed. gone skydiving. gotten a B. plucked a chicken. watched Bravehart. kissed someone on a first date.
I- IF I HAD A MILLION DOLLARS, I WOULD: save the world, obviously.
J- JUNKIE FOR: love, baby.
K- KINDRED SPIRIT: my husband. my son. my mom. my sister.
L- LITTLE-KNOWN FACTS: I was a competitive gymnast for 5 years. I went to a Hanson concert when I was 13. Jake and I told each other we wanted to get married on our second date. I have lived the majority of my life in Minnesota. I was Miss Teen Idaho and Homecoming Queen in 2002. I was drum major for my high school's marching band. I won an essay contest at BYU. I used to teach salsa dancing. It only took us 2 weeks to get pregnant.
M- MEMORABLE MOMENT: covering my arms with garbage bags and cleaning diarrhea from a 400-lb. woman's butt.
N- NEVER AGAIN WILL I: ingest castor oil to induce labor.
O- OCCASIONAL INDULGENCE: online TV episodes. a new shirt. Cheetos. a 3-hour nap.
P- PROFESSION: nurse. professional wife/lover/mother/cook/maid/driver/billpayer.
Q- QUOTE: Be the change you want to see in the world.
R- REASONS TO SMILE: a good paycheck. afternoon delight. Joshua. friends. fitting into pre-pregnancy clothes.
S- SOME OF MY PAST JOBS: nurse (pediatric home health, burn trauma ICU). certified nursing assistant (burn trauma ICU, Huntsman cancer hospital, psych ward, various nursing homes). lifeguard. telemarketer. math tutor. spanish tutor.
T- TAG SOME FRIENDS: Anyone who has actually read this far on my blog!
U- UNINTERESTED IN: Nascar. Golf. Shopping channels on TV. Hannah Montana.
V- VERY SCARED OF: Hillary Clinton as President. John McCain as President. Barack Obama as President.
W- WORST HABIT: putting off cleaning the bathroom. letting food spoil before I use it up.
X- X MARKS MY FAVORITE VACATION SPOT: Mexico.
Y- YEAR I WAS BORN: 1985
Z- ZODIAC SIGN: Gemini.

Okay, now that I've wasted at least an hour blogging, I'm going to try to reclaim it by being productive in some way. Oh, and can someone please explain to me how to post pictures on here??? Thanks!!!