6 Months!

I realized 90% of my posts are about Patrick and it makes me wonder what I talked about and did with my life before he came along...maybe someday I'll get back to thinking about more things than just my kids...maybe.  Anyway, happy 6 months to Patrick!  Today he had his doctor's appointments and here are his stats:

head: 17.5 in.(can't remember percentile but it was lower than before)

weight: 20.8pds, 91 percentile

height: 27.7in, 83 percentile

His growth is slowing down a lot, which is nice because he is heavy and I'm getting some serious muscles.  Not really.  More like, he's heavy and I get tired a lot.  I wish the serious muscles would come.  His personality is also changing.  I love my little boy but I'm afraid some of his new personality traits have tested my patience.  Like, he is soooo squirmy and wants to be on the go all the time.  I think Abby and Max are scared of him because he tries to chase them and then what does he do?  Rip out their hair of course. He's also getting very strong willed.  I wish I could say I have no idea where these traits come from.  He definitely has a mind of his own and I can see that he constantly has wheels turning in that cute little head of his.        

He wants to stand all the time.  Stand or crawl.  Not much in between.  Yeah, it's fun...

Always a ham.

Patrick we love you!  Strong-willed, hyper personality and all. :)

Man's Best Friend

Aren't these two cute together?  :)

New Trick

So, my last post was a little bit...dramatic.  Probably wouldn't have posted it had I not been awake at 3 in the morning.  It's good to have nights like those because it reminds me that I still have a baby and that I love to sleep.  I look at little babies and tell Jon I wished I had one again and he's like, "uh, we do still have a baby."  Speaking of our baby, he's learning to crawl!  5 1/2 months and he's had enough of us carrying him everywhere and he decided to do something about it.  It's not a perfected crawl...more like a spastic one but it gets Patrick where he wants to go.  Please people, don't tell me I'll be wishing soon enough that he can't crawl.  I know that.  But, what first time parent isn't excited to see their child learn all of these new things?

Mid life crisis, anyone?

I feel like there have been a couple things in my life that have made me look at my life and wonder who I really am.  The biggest things have been marriage and having a baby.  But most recently it was a rehearsal.  College brought about these thoughts too but not to this degree. I used to do rehearsals quite frequently but as I was playing this week, I felt so totally incompetent.  And as I looked to the person in front of me, I saw a person who seemed completely competent and confident.  Cocky really.  Music has always been a huge part of my life.  But, going away from that rehearsal I felt totally at a loss as to who I am.  I didn't even want to go back.  It feels like, to me, music has become a popularity contest.  And through marriage and having a baby, I'm slipping into mediocre/bad playing land and wondering if I'm really "popular" enough to make it.  More importantly, I don't know if I even care.  I know if I practiced for a few hours a day I could be a different player than I am now and I could fit in with  "serious" players but honestly I don't even think I want to.  I talk to Jon more about zoology, geology, OB, home and family studies, lifting weights and psychology/behaviors(just for a few examples) more than I do about music.  This is big for me because whenever people ask me what I do or like my response has always been, "I do music."  Patrick has brought a new passion(and I'm not even sure I could call music a passion in comparison) out of me that I am soo grateful for.  I could go more into my thoughts but I don't really think this is the place, because I have thought more deeply on the subject, but I hope other people have felt this "mid life crisis".  With that said, I'm soo grateful for music, I'm grateful I have a job in it and I still hope my kids are interested in it when they're older.  I am going back to the rehearsals but it's just a self esteem hit knowing you're working your way to the bottom of something that used to help give you self-esteem.

On a side note: has anyone else's baby struggled with separation anxiety at night?  Patrick has always been a great sleeper and I've worked hard to make that so, but the last couple nights he's woken up crying a couple times in the night.  He's always gone back to sleep but tonight he won't(hence my post at 3 in the morning).  I went out and held him and all he wants is for me to cuddle with him and he goes right back to sleep.  At the moment I'm actually, thankfully, enjoying the extra cuddle time with my baby but I know that's not going to last long.  I don't even have a slight clue as to what to do about it...

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!   Goodbye 2011.  Please don't come back.  I think it's safe to say this last year has been one of the greatest and hardest year of our lives.  A few events that happened this year:

*We found out we were having a boy!

*Jon and I both traveled to California, separately(you can bet our next major vacation will be together)

*Max and Abby turned one year old

*Jon finished another year of college

*I learned how to rehair bows, which makes work and Patrick a lot easier to schedule

*We found out my dad was battling stage 4 cancer

*Saw and experienced more miracles than I would have dreamed possible

*Patrick was born

I think this year has helped Jon and I to realize just how short this life really is and that we're here on the Lord's timeline.  With that said, I've made a bunch of new year's resolutions, that I won't mention, and hopefully I can continue to learn how to be a better person.  Here are just some pictures that I think are cute.

 First Sunday in 2012.  My cute boys.

Our chunky monkey

 Patrick ate solids!  He hated it...

Yeah, this picture pretty much sums up his feelings on eating anything besides milk.  With how he ate things off my finger, I thought he'd enjoy eating solids.  Nope.

Happy Holidays

Instead of writing this huge, long post about Christmas and repeatedly telling everyone, again, how fun Patrick is at the holidays, I'm just going to say Merry Christmas!  We had a great weekend with both families and here are some pictures.  Of course, mostly with just Patrick in them...I really should try to take pictures of other things once in awhile.

 Patrick got a Finding Nemo hat...so funny.

 Patrick enjoying his gifts and showing off a new outfit.  Since he's little and wouldn't know any better, Jon and I pretty much just got him a seat so that I can feed him solids more easily.  Boring gift, but needed.  Luckily, the grandparents saved the day and got him all the toys he could ever want.  He loved all the attention...and wrapping paper.

 Patrick with his newest cousin, Keaton

Family Pictures!

Oh, I can't tell you enough how much I enjoy having such a talented photographer in the family.  This time Aubree was kind enough to take pictures of my whole family.  She did a great job and I'm soo excited about them.  Last time my family had a picture of all of us was when I was in 5th grade.  In comparison they were very...amateur. :)  Plus, I was going through that very awkward stage and my teeth hadn't had braces yet...not a pretty site. Anyway, since there's too many pictures to put them all up I'll just post a few of my favorites.  Pretty much all of them are my favorite so I'm not cutting back much but anyway, here ya go:

Love this one

 Seesters

 We're just that sexy

Thanks again, Aubree!  And, Merry Christmas everyone. :)  I can't wait for Santa to come to our house this year since we have a cute little boy he can spoil.

Dear Patrick,

The other night you oddly woke up an hour after you went to bed.  Normally, I'm good at remaining unemotional to the crying but that night was different.  You sounded so heart broken and I decided to do something I normally avoid.   I went and held you.  For some reason I just wanted to comfort my poor, heart broken little boy.  You immediately stopped crying when I started to rock you and it was soo nice to just cuddle with you.  I've spent so much time trying to get you to go to sleep without my aid that I've missed out a little on how great it is to hold a sleeping baby.  Sitting there, staring at your cute, innocent, peaceful face, I was  overcome with emotion and love for you.  I can't believe I'm soo lucky to be your mother.

 I hope you always think I'm funny and charming.

  I hope I can always comfort you.

 I hope we can always be best buds. I hope you always remember that you're wanted and that you're here for a reason.  And, I hope you learn to become close to your Father in Heaven, who will also always be there for you.

And, can you pleeeease stop growing so fast.  It seems like yesterday you looked like this:

  

We love you forever, bud!

Love,

Mom and Dad

    

O Christmas Tree!

Call us lazy, but we finally put our Christmas tree up.  When is Christmas?  10 days from now?  Anyway, it's up and I love it.  Jon and I always have this argument discussion on when it's o.k. to listen to Christmas music and put up a tree and obviously he won this year. :)  Next year, I win.  Have I mentioned I love having a little baby?  People are probably tired of me saying this but everything is more magical through a child's eyes and I have to say the tree was no exception.  Patrick loved it.  In fact, he got up 30 min. early this morning so I laid Patrick by the tree and he just stared and smiled and rolled around by it for 20 min.  New babysitter. :)  Of course, I have to take pictures so here they are:

I just added this picture because I like his pajamas. :)

All about Patrick

Yes, I'm writing another post about Patrick.  What can I say?  I'm obsessed.  It's seems like he's just growing so quickly and learning new things all the time. He can now sit without my help for about a minute and he's recently mastered rolling from back to stomach so now he can roll both ways.  This means I have to be more careful when I set him on the couch!  He can also pull himself up to a sitting position if he's laying in a reclined position.  When I took this picture, Patrick was in the process of trying to sit up.  

  We'll be starting solids soon because I can't keep up with how much milk he wants to drink, which is getting to be large in quantity.  Plus, he is super interested in what I'm eating.  He's constantly trying to steal my drink, or my fork or anything he can get his hands on when I'm eating.  I mushed up some peas yesterday and he's pretty much a natural at eating.  Definitely my child. ;)

Fortunately and unfortunately, Patrick has learned the joy of squealing.  He squeals all the time and sometimes it's pretty darn loud.  Cute, but loud.  It never fails to make me smile when he starts giving me his cute little squeals. :)

I love this video.