Crow Updates

Nathan is working like crazy in order to get a little extra time off for a family vacation in St. George next week. He has even taken an additional shift to help out a co-worker. He does this without complaining and helps at home more than I can ever thank him for. He is liking his job more and more with recent changes. It was a challenge throughout the winter months and we were constantly talking about moving. As of now we are just taking one day at a time and seeing where we end up.

I started working out everyday in March and could not be happier. My body craves a good workout and thanks to Nate I've been able to fit it in (usually) without Kendrick sitting on me. Kendrick loves to follow along if possible and while it is the cutest thing ever I appreciate Nate's help in making it my alone time.

I have also been called into the young women's. It is by far my dream calling and yet I never thought I would feel so unqualified when in it. I have already learned more from the girls than I have taught them. It is more difficult than I imagined but I can't help but smile that I get to work, learn, teach, help, play, etc with such amazing young girls.

Kendrick is my angel. He is growing up faster than I want to admit. I love waking up each day and not knowing what Kendrick will discover in the world. His smile makes me smile so wide that my mouth will hurt. He has learned the names of most of his friends and loves having play dates. While I'm too shy to schedule them all the time I sure have a happy boy when I do. I'm hoping I can be brave enough to start a play group in the summer. Right now our favorite place together is the library. It is far away so usually we make a whole day of it. I love that he is interested in books and learning how to sit still and listen.

I really just haven't felt like writing. I go through phases where I just hate social media. I've been off fb for a few months and then I just kinda got sick of blogging too. Sometime the computer just stresses me out rather than relaxing me. I want to keep on blogging for journal purposes but I may be mia for awhile. That is our update though and life just keeps on moving forward.

A girl worth fighting for (think Mulan)

So Kendrick has madly fallen in love with a baby doll that I kept from when I was a little girl. It isn't that he plays with her all the time or anything but he just likes to randomly take care of her.

It started a little over a week ago when he was playing with the stuffed animal bin and came across the baby doll. He snuggled her most of that day and has randomly dragged her into his playtime.

On Wednesday we were playing with his toys and he looks at me and says "baby sad". He then jumps up and runs to his room to go get the baby doll who is apparently crying.

When the baby is sad he will either put a pacifier in her mouth or bring her to me and tell me that she is poopy. I actually had him help me put on one of his diapers on her which made the poopy response come much more often.

When is friend Kason comes over to play they both fight over it so much that usually the baby doll has to go to sleep in another room for awhile so that the boys will stop fighting/ crying over her.

Sleeping with the baby is a must. It is now routine to rock the baby when I rock Kendrick before bed. When Kason is over during nap time Kendrick is generous enough to let Kason sleep with the baby girl but will usually steal her back once he is awake.

I never knew little boys loved babies so much. Kendrick also loves real babies too. He will play with them and acknowledge them more than kids his age. Pretty sure if he had the choice between having a friend over or a baby over he would likely pick a baby. I love this stage. I love that he is so nurturing and loving. I know this baby lovin stage will likely not last for long but it sure does make me smile each and every day.

**I will try to get some pictures of Kendrick and the baby. I haven't pulled out my camera in so so so long that really I don't know why I even own one.

Advantages of being 2!

*No matter how hard you scream or throw a tantrum, if there are other adults around they will tell stories about more impressive 2 year old tantrums.

*If Daddy is driving and we need to get the mail, it is almost guaranteed that a 2 yr old needs to be the designated driver for the rest of the way home.

*If we pass a park it only takes two special words to make parents stop and play. "Slide Please"

*As long as I can say it, I can probably have it for lunch... unless the main ingredient is sugar... in which case I can typically can have it after lunch. :)

*I can be patient, cuddly, busy bodied, loud, sad, happy, etc all in about 5 minutes and not have anyone question my emotions or talk about hormones.

*I can pick whoever I want to feed, bathe, put me to bed, etc as long as I put their name before the task. (ex: Daddy milk!)

*If I say please I can get the parents to share just about anything.

*I can wear pj's all day and still look outstanding.

Tonight's Conversation

2 knocks come from Kendrick's door

Mister: Mama! Mama! Mama!
Me: (seeing a sweet hand under the door so I get on the floor and put mine under too) What?
Mister: Stoies! stoies! (stories)
Me: No go back to bed.
Mister: Ock? Ock? (aka rock)
Me: No go to bed.
Mister: No bed.

Pause... I hear Kendrick rumble.

Mister: Poop! Poop!
Me: No that was just a rumble. Go to bed.
Mister: Poop!
Me: Do you need your diaper changed? Did you really poop?
Mister: Yeah

Went in and changed his diaper... which was completely dry.

Me: You didn't poop.
Mister: No! (Giggles out loud)

Kendrick is quite the little thinker. I am afraid that he will out smart me when he is a teenager with his little schemes. Luckily I'll have years of practice before then and a smart husband to help me out when it happens.

Love the fingers and conversation under the door but slightly nervous about raising someone that has the potential to be as/more brilliant than his father.

Accepting creative names!

Purple/blue color with gray interior 

Introducing our new 2013 Hyundai Sonata. We payed it off! We are still going strong on our debt snowball with this being our smallest loan (obviously everything will be smaller than Nate's student loan). If we can stay on track we will have Nate's loans payed off 2 years from now. It would have been from November but our car breaking down changed it a few months.

If you remember my update here on how we returned a car then you should know that our Hyundai is used. After getting buyers remorse of buying a brand spanking new car we decided we needed to stick to our original budget and buy used. The new car was only a couple thousand over our budget, which was why we got it. Patience is key though because this Hyundai is a much better car and we were able to stay $500 under our budget (including interest). I'm still not 100% believer of craigslist but so far our car has been working just fine so I can't complain. :)

Now we realize that we didn't follow all of Dave Ramsey's advice on this purchase, but we did our best. We felt like because we sacrifice with being a one car family we wanted a more reliable car and not just another beater. We had some mula saved when our car broke down but because it was sooner than expected we decided it was worth going into debt for a few months to get a car we can rely on. Utah trips are kind of important to us. :)

When we lived in SLC Nate's dad helped out a LOT with fixing our car. We no longer have his skills to help us and quite frankly Nate doesn't have the time or tools to do it on his own.

It took us a few weeks to decide on a car. We wanted a car big enough to fit Kendrick's car seat rear facing behind the drivers seat, have a big trunk, low mileage, and still get good gas mileage. We set a budget and went to town looking for the car closest to our goals. It was not a easy task! We are already planning out our future cars so that we won't have to decide EVERYTHING in a matter of weeks.

The Sonata has been a great car so far. We truly are happy with our purchase. We loved Toyota so we will see how Hyundai can compare once we run this car into the ground.

Rock or toilet?

This week we have had one sick little boy. All day Sunday was spent sitting in front of the toilet. Monday he seemed to be doing better but then Tuesday the sickness seemed to switch directions on where it wanted to exit. Kendrick is handling it better each day even though the sickness has not left our house.

Kendrick started with a stomach bug and I started with a cold. On Wednesday we both had both illnesses. It has been a very trying week. Poor guy can't eat anything without getting a upset tummy that he is sad about until the food can pass through. It is so sad to see such a little person in pain.

Tonight while we rocked and read some stories he kept whimpering. I finally asked him if he wanted to keep rocking or go sit in front of the toilet. He response broke my heart when he said toilet. Who knew that reading in front of the toilet would be more appealing than a rocking chair? I guess it is fun to see it flush... which of course he is allowed to flush 1000000000x when he is sick... even if it is just to watch the water disappear.

I cannot not wait to have my outdoor bike lovin little boy back. Until then we will enjoy watching trains and airplane shows and get lots and lots of snuggling in to help us feel just a little better.

Buzz kill!

So my very very very exciting news did not happen :( We were going to pay off our car at the end of the month. Unfortunately we had something come up that required delaying it a week. I already wrote most of the post so I will introduce our car when indeed it is 100% ours. I am so so so so sad that we were not able to make our goal but it was out of our control and we were able to help someone out because of the delay. Be excited for when we actually do... I know I am :)