Loving Life

I don't necessarily like to make "New Year's resolutions", however I do like to set out some goals for myself whenever we enter a new year. Posting my goals on my blog makes them more real to me, and hopefully I'll be more apt to stick to them, so here we go....

1. Read through the Bible. I'm going to do the Chronological Bible again, and I found a cool online Bible study that I'm going to do it through (click here to see the site). Anyone else reading through the Bible this year? If so, let me know and maybe we can keep each other in check :) I read through the Bible the year before last, but sometimes it's hard to keep the momentum.
2. Loose my last 5 pounds of baby weight.
3. Resume working out at least 2-3 times a week.
4. Buy an SLR camera (once we have finished saving up enough $$ for one), and learn how to use it.
5. Learn how to use Photoshop really well
6. Stay current on my scrapbooking.
7. Market my business and do at least 2 jobs a month.
8.…

I often put Ethan in his bouncy seat next to the table when we eat, which also happens to be next to the wine rack. For some reason he loves to stare at the wine, it's kind of funny. Anyhow, here is a little video of him cooing and smiling :)

Cookie and her new friend Coco (the Oates' new dog). I certainly couldn't do this... one spin around the coffee table and I promise, I'd be dizzy. I'm a wimp. In fact I got dizzy taking the lights off of the Christmas tree.

Matt and I were sitting on the couch playing with our cute little boy and of course I just couldn't resist taking a bazillion pictures.... he's just so stinkin' cute, I can't help it :) He'll be 2 months old on Tuesday. Oh, and a side note.... he slept through the night again last night!!! He slept for 9 hours at night and during the day he had 4 good naps :) Praise God! Funny how big of a deal sleep becomes when you have a baby.

Ethan hasn't slept through the night again like he did on Tuesday night.... I guess that was a one time gift fro him, haha. Hopefully he'll do it again soon and it will become the norm. Yesterday he spent the day with Grandma Walters and I got to spend the day at the spa :) Matt gave me a gift certificate to Glen Ivy Hot Springs for Christmas, and he even went with me yesterday to enjoy it. We spent the day relaxing in the various spas and I got to get a massage. It was a wonderful day, and the first time Matt and I have gone out alone since we've had Ethan. I came home like a puddle of mush I was so relaxed. Thank you honey :) Thank you mom for watching Ethan all day too!

Christmas Day was spent at Matt's parents house. The whole gang was here for Christmas; there are 16 of us now. We all fit very nicely since Matt's parents finished their nice addition. We had a yummy meal with with ham, candied yams, salad, veggies and rolls. After the meal Mike took Emily out to the street and gave her her very first driving lesson. A little later we dug into the presents. We also added a white elephant gift exchange this year which was fun. The very best part of Christmas for me was last night... Ethan slept through the night!!! He slept for 9 hours!! I woke up at 5:30 this morning and was so excited when I realized it was morning and I hadn't had to get up. I couldn't fall back asleep, but Ethan stayed asleep so I went in and got him up at 7:00 to feed him. I am one happy Momma today. Let's hope he keeps this up :)

Ethan's first Christmas, and our first family picture in front of the tree :)
Holding my little man on Christmas... I …

It has become our tradition that on Christmas Eve I make a bunch of appetizers and we have my family over to open gifts and celebrate. This year I spent the morning getting the food together and then Danny, Jolene & Christian came over around 1:00. We hung out all afternoon and then I busted out the food around 4:30.We had a great time just hanging out and relaxing. My mom and my brother came at 5:30, and Matt's brother Dan stopped by for a little while as well. We are blessed to have such great family and friends.
Ethan got his first stocking from Grandma Walters, along with a couple of cute outfits and 2 savings bonds.
Jerrod & Cookie relaxing with some wine

Jolene and I took a picture in front of the tree with our boys... the first shot turned out great but we decided to take another just in case...
...the moment that Matt went to snap the picture Ethan spit up a bunch... I think our expressions say the rest, haha. We were laughing for quite a while after that one.
Yumm…

I came across this cute poem on another blog and it made me laugh, so I thought I'd share. Being that I only have one little baby, my life isn't like this yet, however I know many of you moms can relate to this :)
_____________________________

Dear Santa,

I've been a good mom all year.
I've fed, cleaned, and cuddled my children on demand,
visited the doctor's office more than my doctor and
sold sixty-two cases of candy bars to raise money to
plant a shade tree on the school playground.

I was hoping you could spread my list out
over several Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my
son's red crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between
cycles, and who knows when I'll find anymore free time in the next 18 years.

Here are my Christmas wishes:

I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache (in any color, except purple, which I already have) and arms that don't hurt or flap in the breeze, but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out o…

On Wednesday my mom and I baked up a storm. We baked four batches of Spritz cookies (the green and red ones), 2 batches of sugar cookies, and chocolate covered pretzels. Flour and sprinkles were flying everywhere. It was fun to have her bake with me. I usually do even more than that, but I decided to pare it back this year since I have a little cutie-pie that keeps me busy :)









When Matt got home from work we decorated the sugar cookies together. They are yummy.
















I had been trying to figure out a way to display our Christmas cards when I came across this idea online, so I thought I'd share. It works great.


This week I've been working really hard at getting Ethan on a schedule (eat, awake time, sleep... every three hours), and it's been going great. I've been doing the Babywise thing. He has been taking 4 naps a day that are 1.5-2 hours, and sleeping about 6.5 hours at night (from about 9:30-4:00), then another 2.5 hours and waking up at 7. I have a feeling he may st…

I finally caught Ethan smiling on camera today... he even smiled when I was taking a little video of him :) I have to say when he smiles at me it melts my heart.

I have to admit that being out in the Christmas hustle and bustle is not my favorite thing. Any shopping that I can do online is fine with me. Now I love shopping, and I also love Christmas. I just don't enjoy maneuvering myself around amidst gobs of people at Christmas time; especially now that I have to carry a heavy baby carrier everywhere I go. There's just something about Christmas crowds that seem to make people especially cranky.... especially older people. Now I love senior citizens, and have nothing against them. It just seems that seniors tend to go either one of two ways: pleasant and sweet, or extremely cranky and crotchety. I think I just happened to encounter quite a few of the latter kind today. In fact I think they were out in full force at Trader Joe's.

Anyone who has had a baby knows that it is not the easiest thing to push a shopping cart with a baby carrier on top. Unless you are 6'4" like my husband, you can't see where you're g…

Last week I took Ethan and we met up with Jolene & Christian in Cabazon to do some Christmas shopping. I was able to find a few gifts, and now I only need a couple more things and I'll be finished with the Christmas shopping. I have a bunch of wrapping I need to do yet.... not my most favorite thing. Ethan slept most of the time in Cabazon in his stroller. Jolene and I were laughing about how our shopping days have changed... now we are nursing, changing diapers and trying to maneuver our strollers around stores without hitting too many things while trying to shop. I guess it's even easier now while Ethan isn't mobile. It was such a beautiful day... crystal clear with snow capped mountains... doesn't get any prettier than that.
Christian got a lot of comments with his cute little Santa hat.
Danny, Jolene & christian came over for dinner last Thursday. We had delicious fish tacos (for a very detailed detailed description of them, read Matt's blog).We p…