Month 11

Dear Luke,

Buddy! We had such a fun month! I LOVE April because of the weather and all the fun activities (including my birthday!) We have had a great month so far, and you turned 11 months old the day after my 23rd birthday! We celebrated all month long pretty much! Daddy had spring break last week so we went to California for our first real family vacation just us! This time was much more fun than the first time because you didn't sleep all day every day. We went to Sea World, and the beach, and you loved everything about both places! It was too quick of a trip, wish we could have stayed longer. But when we got home, Grandpa and Grandma Jones and Uncle Jef came down for Easter weekend. We hung out with them as well as Uncle Jared, Aunt Leesha, and your cousins all weekend. We went to parks, the Hoover Dam, shopping, ate yummy food, and had birthday cake!

Firsts/Things we did:
-You can stand by yourself for about 5 seconds before you get scared and lower yourself slowly.

-You got your top teeth. Three actually! Pretty sure you are getting some molars or something on your top because you have been EXTRA fussy and keep putting your fingers way back in your mouth...we'll see!

-You can say so many words all of the sudden! You say: mama, dada, baba, ba (ball), pop, uh-oh (except you just say uh-uh in the uh-oh tone...so cute.) bampa (grandpa).

-We started you on soy milk and weaned you off formula for the most part. You seem to like it a lot! And it's so much cheaper, we are happy about that!

-You discovered gold fish and prefer them over "puffs" any day. Good thing Costco has a BIG box for only 7 bucks! We are set..

-You watch one of your Baby Einstein or other cartoons a day. Is that bad? I don't think so. You love it.

-You LOVE going up stairs, and you know you aren't supposed to. Makes an interesting day.

-We went to Cali. for a couple days and you loved it. You did so well in your carseat and were such a good boy for not having consistent naps.

-Got your first "real" hair cut. And you DID NOT like it one bit! You screamed and looked at me like, "Mommy! How could you let this happen!" You look so cute though. Like such a big boy!

I can't believe you will be a whole year old next month! Your party is going to be lots of fun with lots of people who love you coming. I will probably cry. I want to just thinking about it. It seems like YESTERDAY I was holding my perfect little newborn. And now you don't let me hold you because you have too much to discover! I love you so much. Daddy and I are the luckiest parents. You make life so fun and exciting. Every day brings something new. And we wouldn't have it any other way! Love you sweetie. Let's make the most of this last month as a "baby baby!"

Love, Mom
BEFORE:


DURING:



ATER:

San Diego

We went to San Diego for a quick get-away last week. Drew's spring break was kinda late this year, and fell the week before my birthday (which is today. Happy 23rd me!) So we decided to make a birthday/spring break little trip to Sea World. We left Sunday morning and drove to our hotel in downtown San Diego. It was a super nice hotel that lots of famous people have stayed at. It was the most expensive hotel in America in the 1970's, and had all of the original marble and carpet and everything. It was really cool to see. The lobby was super fancy, which made us feel super weird checking in with all our baby gear. Once we got settled, Luke had a quick nap and then we went to a mall right across the street and hung out for a few hours. The next day we went to Sea World! One of my favorite places, though I feel bad for the animals. I am obsessed with dolphins. Like, it's kinda scary how much I love them. So of course the dolphin show and the dolphin pool are my favorites. But the penguins are a close second! Luke tried so hard to stay awake for Shamu, but missed it by a few minutes. He just fell asleep in my arms like *that* (snap). We stayed until about 4 then left so Luke could have a quick nap before we went to dinner. We just got pizza (I know, diet food? not so much..) and then went back to the hotel to put Luke down. FUN DAY! Tuesday we went to the beach in Carlsbad. Drew's brother's wife Kelsea and her fam have gone to this beach for 21 years now, and we have gone a couple years with them. It's such a fun town and an awesome beach! We always have to eat at Senor Grubby's. YUMMY. Then we were on our way to our next hotel in San Bernardino. (We decided to split the trip up on the way home for Luke.) That hotel was SUPER nice too! Not as fancy, but more "modern nice." We swam in the pool, worked out, and stayed in watching Biggest Loser. It was such a fun get away. I'm so happy we were able to do it. Drew and I are going out tonight for my birthday! Not sure what we're doing but I'm sure I will blog about it later. Can't believe my little boy is 11 months tomorrow!! He looks like a little boy with his new haircut..pics to come.

He's Got a Way

During my Acclamation show in 2007, (before I met and was on Acclamation with Drew,) our show was a 70's show. It was all pretty fun. Maybe not very good with our 8 members that year, but we worked with what we had and it turned out okay. My absolute FAVORITE number was sung by one member, danced by another, and accompanied on the piano by a third. It has been a long time favorite song. Billy Joel's, "She's Got a Way." I remember thinking as I watched Stacia dance from off-stage, "Why can't someone feel this way about me." "I want to find a guy that thinks all these wonderful things about me." And ever since then, whenever I heard the song, I would think the same thing. Sometimes more of a, "I hope my HUSBAND thinks these things of me" thought. Until the other day when I re-watched our Accla show. As it started I listened close to the lyrics and realized, I am the one who can say THAT about my spouse. Sure, I hope he can say the same of me, but how lucky am I that such a wonderful song can reflect my feelings of my love? Changing the lyrics to "him" and "he", I was able to just smile as I thought of my Drew and the amazing man he is.


He's got a way about him

I don't know what it is

But I know that I can't live without him

He's got a way of pleasin'

I don't know why it is

But there doesn't have to be a reason anywhere



He's got a smile that heals me

I don't know what it is

But I have to laugh when he reveals me

He's got a way of talkin'

I don't know why it is

But it lifts me up when we are walkin' anywhere



He comes to me when I'm feelin' down

Inspires me without a sound

He touches me and I get turned around

He's got a way of showin'

How I make him feel

And I find the strength to keep on goin'

He's got a light around him

And ev'rywhere he goes a million

Dreams of love surround him everywhere



He comes to me when I'm feelin' down

Inspires me without a sound

he touches me, I get turned around oh oh oh



He's got a smile that heals me

I don't know why it is

But I have to laugh when he reveals me

He's got a way about him

I don't know what it is

But I know that I can't live without him any way



I love HIM! Sorry for the cheese...it was needed!

The good, the bad, and the funny.

I know, it's supposed to be, "The good, the bad and the ugly." Not "funny." But I don't have anything ugly to share today!

The good: I haven't mentioned this on my blog yet, but I am doing weight watchers. I started Feb. 26th, and have lost 14.4 pounds so far. I HIGHLY recommend this diet to anyone, even those just wanting to maintain. It's seriously the best diet because you can "cheat" every once in a while, and you can eat WHATEVER you want as long as you keep the portions and nutrients within your point allowance. I have tried lots of diets in the past 2 years and honestly, this one is the best. It might be a little slower than others, but I never ever feel deprived, and Drew and I still get to eat out once a week and I still lose. I have almost reached my 10 % and then have 20 more pounds to my goal. Hopefully I reach my goal by mid-July. I will keep updating :) I feel so much better, though I don't really feel like it's showing yet. Hopefully soon!

The bad: Clark County School District is in the process of laying people off due to budget cuts. Luckily, Drew made it past the initial round, and now we are waiting to hear if he gets "bumped" or not. (If a teacher got fired in the district that has his credentials/teaching requirements, they can take his job from him.) We should know by May.

The funny: We have (had) a cockroach infestation. (No that is NOT funny, but it gets funny..)Drew claims it wasn't an infestation, but I say 12 a day is one indeed. We had our bug guy spray twice, and they were STILL showing up places. Finally, Drew went and bought our own spray to try and get rid of the little stinkers. I HATE them. Worse than spiders, really. They are creepy and yucky and run fast and...BLAH! Anyway, he bought the spray at about 5:00 p.m one day, and I told him we would wait til the next day to spray because I wanted to gut the whole house, clean and spray. (I assumed it would take a couple hours and didn't want to start that night.) So...he sprayed our door ways and the garage and we called it a night. We had commented a couple times that day that we were happy we hadn't seen any upstairs, and hoped they hadn't found their way there. At this point Drew was really stressed that I was so stressed and bugged about these bugs. Well, bed time came (10:30 ish) and I was the first to go upstairs. I turned on the light and BAM there was a cockroach sitting on the top stair. Ugh. I yelled for Drew and he came and killed it...then I said, "If there is one up here, there has to be more..." not 2 seconds later I turned to our bedroom and said, "MY PILLOW!" There was one sitting there staring at us like, "Haha, I found the WORST place in the house to possibly sit." I died. Seriously. So, Drew killed it. We looked all over our bedroom/closet, and didn't see anymore. Drew decided to spray that night instead. (He was mad at me that I said we couldn't do it later and now it was 11 pm and he had to spray.) Anyway, he eventually finished, however I would NOT sleep in our bedroom. (Remember from a previous post, our bed is currently on the floor...yeah, not happening.) So we slept on our fouton in the guest room. *Uncomfortable, LONG, miserable night.* I kept waking up thinking they were crawling on me. But the next night--there were 12 dead downstairs and NONE alive. (Huge record since they showed up.) And since, we've only seen 1 alive and only a couple dead, meaning they don't come in anymore. I just hope they are gone for good soon. I HATE them. Sorry no pics, I'm lame.