Confessions From a First Time Mom

People always tell you that when you become a mom, your whole life will change.   It's true, but that's not really surprising.  Some of the things that I expected have come true:

*Sleeping in consists of when you wake up and it's 7:30am and you feel really well rested!

*You can have long conversations with your spouse about nothing but poop.  Literally poop.  Who knew that could be such a concern?  And don't get me started on the language you come up with to describe it...

*Goldfish crackers have become a staple in your diet too.

*Christmas becomes magical again - that "I've tried for hours but can't go to sleep because I'm so excited!!!!" magical.

*You notice things you never noticed before, like the first thing I look for when we go outside is if the moon is up because he loves to point at the moon.

*And the one that is most often talked about - that you will wonder how you can love something or someone SO MUCH!!!  I love my husband.  It's a fact.  But the love that I feel for my child is so different and so amazing.

Something that I didn't expect was how my emotions would change.  And I'm not talking about hormones, because that is almost a given.  It's more that my entire way of thinking about things and life has changed.  Let me explain:

When we were younger, we used to laugh and make fun of my mom because she couldn't watch a movie where a child was being hurt.  And I'm not just talking about horror movies, but regular ones as well.  When the first Pirates of the Caribbean came out my mom couldn't watch it because during the part where the pirates are pillaging the island there is a split-second shot of a young child screaming all alone until he is scooped up by someone and presumably taken to safety.  It was too much for her to handle, so she couldn't watch the movie.  We would laugh at her and call her crazy.  Now, I must publicly apologize to my mom, because

I get it.

I can't watch shows where it's children being hurt.  I can't watch the news without thinking "what if that was me and my child?  What would I do?".   There was a tragedy in Oregon last night, and I couldn't stop thinking that if I had been in that situation with my beautiful boy, how would I make him safe?  How would I get both of us out?  I just started reading a book today called Gone.  The premise of the book is that one day, inexplicably  everyone 15 and older suddenly disappear.  I can't tell you much more than that because I am literally only pages into it, and I'm considering not even continuing.  Before I had kids, I would think that it's just a good time-passer book to be entertaining on boring nights.  Now, I just imagine what would happen to Jaden if Jake and I both disappeared.  It makes me get all worked up thinking about all of the different scenarios.  All I can say is that I'm glad I read The Hunger Games before I became a mom!

Regardless of how my life has changed, I wouldn't trade it for anything!  There is nothing better than having my child cuddle in my lap while we watch Thomas the Train and I mouth the words along with the show because I really have seen it that many times.  How, when he gets hurt or scared, the only thing that will make it better is hugs and kisses from me.  The way his face lights up when I come to pick him up from Nursery and he comes running across the entire room to jump into my arms.  I love you Bubbas!

I Love My Camera!

Let me tell you the story of how I got my camera.

My mom decided that for her 50th birthday she wanted to get herself something really nice.  She did a lot of research and finally decided on a Nikon D60 camera.  She bought it and was happy, but she never really used it.  I, on the other hand, was asking to borrow it constantly!  For every family function and just every day life I was asking to use it.  Finally, she got tired of me asking and just flat out GAVE IT TO ME!!!  Yup, I have a really generous and awesome mom!

I love how simple the camera is, and yet it takes such amazing pictures.  It can probably do a lot more fancy stuff than I know, but it fills my needs perfectly.  So here are some pictures of us lately that were taken with my fantastic camera!

Watching the Blue Angels Homecoming Show:

Family Pictures in Utah (which consisted of Hana taking some quick pictures so I would have something to put in our Christmas card - thanks Hana!)

As you can tell, Jaden was NOT happy about sitting still long enough for pictures. :)

Taking Jaden to the ER on Thanksgiving Day (he threw up that morning, for the first time EVER, and so I was concerned.  We knew there wouldn't be any Insta Care's open on Thanksgiving, so we just went to the ER.  He's fine - he has been SUPER congested lately and it made his tummy upset)

Just so you know, not every picture of Jaden is adorable - in most of them he just looks drugged:

But he still looks kissably cute!

Here we are at a playground the other day just having fun as a family:

 Even though it's blurry, I love the look of terror on his face!

And my new All Time Favorite Picture:

At Least He Understands the Ultimate Goal...

As I was putting away the dishes this morning, I saw Jaden playing in the bathroom.

Not a big deal - he usually likes to play with the lid on the toilet paper holder.  But then my mommy senses started tingling and I knew something wasn't quite right.

At least he gets that the peepee needs to go in the potty, but we'll just have to work on his delivery.

P.S. We haven't even approached potty training with him yet partly because I am not up to the task and partly because all of his doctors and therapists have told me he's not ready.  I really don't mind diapers, so I'm not pushing it.
P.P.S. Yes, we both washed our hands THOROUGHLY after this event.

Happy Halloween!

We had a great time at our Trunk or Treat (we were a family of ducks!) but since then we have been hunkered down in the house because we have all been sick. :(

This was our first walk in several days, and now that we are home Jaden has been laying on the couch ever since, too tired to play.  But he is still wearing his ducky costume of course!  Best $6 ever!

Happy Halloween!  From our sandy sunny beaches to your cold snowy streets! :)

Just Chillin'

I enjoy spying on my child while he sleeps.

Pumpkin Patch

Well, we had to drive an hour to find a decent one, and spend a small fortune to get in (by the end of the journey we had spent about $50 just for the three of us) but we had a BLAST at the pumpkin patch!!  The main reason we went was because they offered small train rides, and with Jaden's love of Thomas the Train, we thought it was a match made in heaven.
Wrong.
So wrong.
The train whistle scared him to death!  He ran crying to one of us any time he heard it, whether we were on the train or not.  He didn't like how much it shook and rattled and how it smelled (we think it was run off of coal).  Thankfully they had an even smaller train that he loved so much we ended up riding twice!  But we also got to pick out some pumpkins (Jaden needed to look at practically every pumpkin there before choosing just the right one), decorate our pumpkins, go into a "petting zoo", go on a hay ride, play in a bounce house, and play in a play area with wooden trains.  We all had a blast!