Extended Rear Facing

Here is a picture of Erik rear facing and a link to the video in the post below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvyIv9QVRBE

Rear facing is safer

I have debated for a while on if I should post about this or not but since I keep getting comments from strangers and from people I know I decided I would. As this is something that I think more people should know about. I just recently found out about it myself. What I am talking about is Extended Rear Facing. It is basically keeping your infant rear facing after they turn 1. We are doing this with Erik because 1) after loosing Joslynn we try everything to prevent that from happening again, and 2) after watching the video on this we thought it was in the best thing to do for Erik and our future kids.

Cookies!

So a few weeks ago I watched my friends daughter since it was staff day at school. I decided we could make some cookies and decorate them. I let AJ help for the 1st time and he had a blast. It was so funny he would icing a cookie and then he would eat it right away instead of moving onto the next one. By the time we were done with the cookies he was done with icing them. He just wanted the icing.

mmm this is good.

Savannah decorating cookies

AJ decorating cookies

This is better mom!

Crazy Boys!

I do not know why my boys think it is okay to keep getting injured but they do. Erik had his 1st major injury the day before his birthday. He fell at or back door and cut his eyebrow and had to get dermabond. When it was time to come off I had no other choice but to pull it off so he ended up with 1/2 an eyebrow.

Then just a few weeks ago he fell and hit his head and ended up with a nice goose egg in the middle of his forehead. It looked like he had a 3rd eye.

This past Sunday at nursery AJ and another little kid collided going for the same toy. After a 4hr trip to urgent care he got 2 stitches. He got them taken out today and he did great.

Family Visit!

For Erik's 1st birthday my Grandma and her new husband Monty drove all the way out here to Vegas from Indiana! I was so happy that they both were able to come. Since they were coming my sister her 5 kids and 2 of my cousins came down from Utah. We had a blast. We were able to check out some old stuff of my Moms and of my Grandmas when she was a kid. I just love looking at old pictures and love it even more when they are of my own family. I learned a lot of things about my Grandma that I never knew and am glad that I had a chance to learn them. We did not do too much while they were here. Mostly just talked and caught up(even though I talk to my them almost everyday.) We of course had Erik's birthday party, we went to the strip and saw a few of the hotels and that was about it. While they were here Monty put a celing fan in our living room which I am soo happy about. I have had to run the air a lot less lately. When they left I of course was sad as I only see them every few years. This has made Arli and I almost decide (we keep going back and forth about it) that we will move to Indiana with in the next few years. Like I said it is now back up in the air and we have no clue if we will or not. I love my family but I also love my ward family and all of the friends and family that I have here. There is also the fact that the only best friend/family of Arli's lives here in Vegas and I would feel horrible about him leaving his family for me. So we are once again putting this on hold and will decide in a few years what we will do. Thank you to everyone who came out here. We know you traveled a long way but we are so glad that you did. We love you all so much.

Happy Birthday Arli!

Today is Arli's 44th birthday. He says 39th but it's not. I am so thankful to have him in my life. He is the best man, husband, father and friend I have ever had. I do not know what I would do without him. He is such a strong man and with his help we have been able to go through the toughest thing any parent could ever go through. And I look up to him in so many ways. As you can tell if you do not already know Joslynn died 4days before his birthday. So he really does not like to celebrate it anymore. But he does and I will never know how it is to be in his shoes having that situation. But am very thankful that he does celebrate it. The way he plays with the boys is so funny. He always knows how to make them and me laugh at just the right moment and just the right time. I love you so much honey and can not wait to see what our life has in store for us as the years go on.
I love you!

For some reason blogger is not letting me upload pics. so this post will have to be pictureless. :(

3 years without you

Today is Joslynn's angel day. It has been one of the hardest days since she left us 3yrs ago. Even harder than her past angel days. I do not know why but for some reason every time I have looked at the clock today I have remembered what we were doing 3yrs ago. From waking up, breakfast, we had her favorite fruity pebbles, playing, lunch chicken nuggets, taking Arli to work and stopping by the park on the way home. she always loved playing at the park and just running around. Then coming home and playing some more, to the moment I put her down for her last nap ever. I still wish I had not done that. Even now as I am writing this I remember what we were doing. We were at the hospital saying goodbye. Something we never wanted to do. I remember everyone who was there, me, Arli, my mom, sister, aunt Susan, cousin Kristi and Arli's best friends Ken and Pattie. How we all held her and never wanted to let her go. How we all took our turns and kept passing her back and forth to each other want just 1 last chance to hold her. It lasted until about midnight and none of us wanted to leave. I can still remember every ones faces so vividly. Something I wish to never ever see again.

On days like today I do not know how I have made it this long. But I am so happy to know that I have found my way to get back to her. That she is up there waiting for all of us to be with her again. That we are a forever family and nothing can break that.

I do not want this post to be all sad. So I will end it with some of my favorite memories of her. She loved taking baths and the water. She was like a little fish I could not get her out. She would even dunk her head all by herself. She had the biggest most beautiful brown eyes ever with long eyelashes. I do not think I have ever seen a baby with that long of eye lashes. She loved spending time with her Daddy and would just glow when he was around. He was also the only man that she liked for a long time. She would always cry when a man came around who was not her Daddy. She was always happy I do not think that she was ever upset. I take that back. She did have like 2 temper tantrums in her life. One was that she could not get a bath and the other was that I had to wash her blankie. She loved her swing and slide. She would always try to walk down the slide instead of sliding down. But she never got hurt and would just laugh and laugh. She also thought we were not saving enough money for her so she thought it would be a good idea to hoard some change in her hiding spot and then eat it because her hiding spot was not good enough. I found a total of $.93 in her hiding spot plus she swallowed 24 cents. She was the best baby from the beginning. The night in the hospital she only woke up once! I was up at every little noise that came from her of course. It is so funny how everything changes when you are a mom. I was the hardest sleeper in the world until that night in the hospital. I mean she would the smallest noise and I would be at her side. I could go on and on about how many times she made us laugh and how much joy she brought into our lives. I love you so much baby girl. You are with us everyday and we miss you so much. I can not wait for the time where we can be together again and I can hold you in my arms one more time and watch you grow. I love you!

Erik's party

Erik had a blast at his birthday party and got a ton of gifts. I am so glad that my Grandma and Monty were able to make it out here all the way from Indiana. And of course my sister all of her kids and my two cousins who all live in Utah. We love it when we can all get together as it is not too often. Erik loves everything he got and plays with all of the toys. His favorite is the little farm thing my Mom got him and my favorite is the picture collage of him enjoying his cake that my friend Tiffany did for me. As you can see he enjoyed his buzz lightyear cake. He did not eat as much of it as I thought he would but that was fine with me.
We are thankful for every moment we get to spend with Erik and especially all of the milestones that has occured in this last year. You are such a wonderful son and I can not wait to watch you grow into a young man. (Well maybe I can. But I will enjoy watching you do so.)
Mommy.
Thank you to all who came and shared this special day with us.

Erik's 1st Birthday!

It is hard to believe that Erik is 1! he is getting so big. We could not imagine our lives with out him. He loves to play with AJ. I love watching them grow together. They are the best of friends. Erik is such a handfull. All of the things that my other kids never got into he gets into. Nothing is safe from him. He is also my first to climb out of his crib! Arli thinks we should switch him to a toddler bed early. But I am just not ready for that one. He is such an attention getter. He will do anything to get your attention and loves anyone who gives it to him. It seems like everywhere we go people comment on his skin and his big eyes.

Hair-dark brown

Eyes-dark brown

Height-29.5in

Weight-21.5lbs

Likes-Any food but his favorites are water melon, apples, oranges, pears and frozen grapes, all of his big toys, anything AJ has, swimming, baths as long as you do not pour water on his head, walking around, babbling, getting attention, getting into things he is not supposed to get into, reading, playing with Daddy, Mommy and AJ, car rides, going outside to play, bubby's 4 wheeler and going over to Nannies house.

Dislikes-getting told no, nap time, bed time, finishing his food, getting his diaper changed and getting dressed.

Look at what I can do-walk, feed myself, use a sippy cup and water bottle, say more, up, hi, bye-bye and da da and climb out of my crib.