The Elf on the Shelf

Last year my friend Lindsey introduced me to The Elf on the Shelf, and I couldn't wait to start my own tradition. Now, although Alex is way too young, I might have Colt play along this year!

In case you haven't heard, the elf watches the kids during the day and each night leaves the house and reports back to Santa how the kids behaved that day. Then when the elf comes back to the house, he hides in a new place. When the kids get up every morning they have to hunt to find the elf's new hiding spot. I think it's a super fun tradition and can't wait until NEXT year when Alex will get to play along :)

Thanksgiving

Top 10 things I'm thankful for in no particular order...

1. Alex
2. Colt
3. Family & Friends
4. My fellow Mama friends - who just get it ;)
5. My job...this one is tough, but in the end, I am thankful.
6. Gus
7. My faith
8. Chocolate
9. Chai
10. Disney Movies

Random

Giving Mama kisses. I just love this guy so much!

Crawling..

We took a trip to the beach with some friends over the weekend. 7 adults and 5 babies! It sounds much scarier than it actually was. We had a great time, and as I expected, Alex started crawling. Watching his two buddies, August (7 mos) and Joey (6 mos), crawl around all weekend long was all it took to motivate him enough to give it a go. I love it and can't wait for him to get faster. I'm excited to see where he decides to go once he realizes he can explore. I know, most of you are rolling your eyes thinking, just wait Candice - you will miss the good ol' days of putting them on the floor and knowing they are stuck there. That's probably true, but I can't help my excitement for him. Baby gates, here we come!

Pumpkin Patch

Our first trip to the pumpkin patch with Alex was so fun! We went to Lakeview Farms in North Plains and it was such a cool place. Train rides, face painting, and of course pumpkins everywhere! Alex was such a good sport for all of our pictures too ;) I already can't wait to go back next year! It was definitely a success.

Something's Gotta Give...

I've stolen this title from not only the popular movie, but also from Scrummys. I couldn't help myself, it is the perfect phrase for my life right now. Have you ever felt like you are juggling too many things at once, or that your balancing act is becoming unbalanced? I read somewhere that having too many choices is actually more stressful than not having any choices. My two seemingly simple choices have become extremely hard. One choice would be the financially responsible choice, and in these economic times nobody can afford to be irresponsible. The other choice has more to do with family values. Have you guessed yet what I'm talking about?

Speaking of family.... Alex is now 5 months old, and weighs 17.3 lbs! He's rolling, almost scooting, and laughing up a storm every night. He's not a baby anymore, he looks like a toddler! I will post pictures next time, I promise!

And as far as our house goes, we almost have a garage! Colt recently tore down our carport and has been working since August on building our garage. Hopefully this will add a good amount of value to our house. Speaking of that, there is another important choice we will be making in the near future. To move, or not to move...

There's Not Enough Hours in the Day

I've heard this phrase for years and until now, have never fully understood how horribly true this is. This past week, I have been praying for more hours in the day. Tuesday evening, Alex fell asleep at 6pm and didn't wake up the rest of the evening. I was a little devastated. I woke him up a little after 8pm to feed him but since he barely woke up I put him right back to bed and he slept all night. Poor kid must have needed the sleep but that gave me just under two hours with him. Yep, that's it, less then 2 hours. Last night was a similar situation. Maybe this week has been particularly hard because I'm coming off of a GREAT 4 day weekend with Alex. It sure makes me think, is a reliable paycheck, an insurance policy and other working perks worth the time I lose everyday with him? Or worth the extra lbs I've gained burying myself in M&M's? (The M&M's really are the only way to keep from crying some days!). Boohoo, I know. I really am very lucky and shouldn't be complaining at all. Some weeks are just hard though and it's nice to "vent" here.

Georgia

Colt made a very quick trip to Georgia a few weeks back to watch Casey graduate from Basic Training in the Army. I was suppose to be on that trip but with all the struggling I've been doing just leaving Alex to go to work, I couldn't bare the thought of leaving him for 3 whole nights, so I stayed back.

Colt had a great time, other than the travel. The first ceremony was the Turning Blue ceremony. Not exactly sure what this means other than meaning he's an official U.S. Soldier now. Each soldier was allowed to have one family member place their blue "ribbon" (not sure if that's what it's called) on their shoulders, so Val did this for Casey. The last picture is of the big ceremony the next day with a band, a gun show thing, and all the units marched out onto the field. Clearly I don't know the terminology! Maybe I'd be more knowledgeable if I went. Congratulations Case :)

Back To Work

I'm back to work now and it's been very rough. We met a great lady through a friend of a friend who is now watching Alex during the day. She has been a daycare provider for 20 some years and she seems great with Alex. I think he really enjoys being around the other kids too because he seems fascinated by them and is always watching them. So Alex seems to be taking this transition much better then I am. It's been so much worse then I thought it would be. Leaving Alex with a stranger is almost impossible for me so Colt has been dropping him off in the mornings and I've been picking him up in the evenings. But even picking him up has been a struggle. Watching Alex start to bond with somebody that isn't even a part of my life is awful. It's great for him, but hard for me. I should be thanking my lucky stars that she came into our lives because so far she's been nothing but a blessing... but I struggle with being thankful. It's a work in progress and I'm hoping each day will just get easier and easier.

Sunday Traditions

I don't know if I would call it tradition so much as just habit, but growing up my mom, sisters and I would always go get coffee and pastries after church on Sunday mornings. Now that I'm older I can't go strait home after church, it just seems wrong or like something is missing and I have to stop and get a coffee. After having Alex I'm finding it's not always so easy to have such a leisure Sunday out and about so I've decided to start making brunch at home on Sundays. Hopefully it will help us save a few extra bucks on coffee and keep us from shopping at Lowes or Home Depot after church, our OTHER tradition/habit. It will be a while before Alex gets to enjoy our new Sunday tradition but I'm hoping that while he's still young this will become so routine for him that when he's a teenager and maybe even older he will come to look forward to it (this might be wishful thinking, I know!).

This week I made Dutch Babies... yum!

Crazy Thoughts

I think there is something sick and wrong with me because for the past few weeks I've actually missed, and are you ready for this... kind of want to be pregnant again! This is just madness because I did not enjoy being pregnant with Alex. My first trimester I was sick almost every night. My second trimester was Ok, not great just Ok. And my third was a mixture of sleepless nights, back pain and swollen feet and ankles. Why in the world would I want to go through that again so soon?? This is why there must be something wrong with me. Instead of postpartum depression, I must have postpartum I want another baby syndrome.

It's not just the pregnancy either, Colt's cousin and his wife just had a baby yesterday and ALL day all could think about was how exciting that first day was. Getting to watch your little one look back at you really is amazing. I would probably start crying if I got pregnant anytime soon but I just keep thinking about how I can't wait to do it all over again. Maybe it's because there is nothing to fear now? I know what being pregnant is like, I know what labor and delivery is like, and I know how AWFUL the recovery is... but I also know how totally worth it is is too.

I just need to keep reminding myself to enjoy the time I have with Alex now and not rush into making my family bigger just yet.

Picture Updates

I have been getting flack from a lot of people about not updating my blog so here are a few pics!


Saying hi!



After bath time :)



With cousin Joey



With Auntie Mallory

Alex Christopher

Alex was born on April 26th at 7:42pm. He's almost 2 weeks old already! Of the hundreds of pictures we've taken so far, here are a few from our time in the hospital right after he was born.

Our little man...




Mama and Alex...






Daddy and Alex...



First family photo...

38 Weeks!

I've finally made it! 38 weeks and counting. My hopes are that I go into labor this week sometime, but that's probably wishful thinking. Here are a few pictures of how large I am, proof that this baby is ready to come out!

Beach Fun

A few weeks back I planned a weekend trip to the beach, so we went this past weekend and wow did we pick the BEST weekend to go! It was sunny, blue skies, about 60 degrees and almost no wind. It was amazing. We still needed our jackets but come on, it's February, so we totally lucked out. Knowing that in 9 short weeks it will never again be just Colt and I, I really wanted to get away for a mini vacation. I also have been wanting to take Gus back to the beach for months now and this was the perfect opportunity. Gus had such a good time! The beach was fairly empty so he got to be off-leash a good portion of our time down there. He loved being able to just run around in the sand but he wasn't at all impressed with the ocean, acting as if it was no big deal. Here are just a few of the pictures we took down by the water.

Colt and Gus heading to the sand...


Colt HAD to bring his metal detector.. I know, I rolled my eyes too...


Me and Gussie...


Such a happy puppy!





Us :)

Names...

I think every girl from the time they are 5 have had certain names that they especially like and envision using for their future child. I was the same way, only now that I'm pregnant those names have gone out the window! Colt and I are having such a hard time coming up with a name. Every time I settle on one I start second guessing myself days/weeks later. Here is what we have so far...

1. Alex Christopher - I love love this name and this is probably our number one right now, but for some odd reason I can't fully commit to it. I can't tell what it is either. I try picturing myself calling out the name Alex to a 3 yr old, 10 yr old, etc and I just can't visualize it.

2. Carter - Colt likes this name the best. I think it's pretty cute too but can't come up with a middle name to go with it that "flows" or sounds right. Plus... I'm afraid of becoming the "C" family... Colt, Candice and Carter! It's a little cheesy to me.. but that shouldn't stop me from choosing the name, right?

3. Everett - Again, no middle name. This is Colt's least favorite name. Mallory suggested it and I kind of fell in love with it for a few days.. now I'm having second thoughts.. weird!!

Shouldn't I just know when I hear it? Why am I so indecisive?? Is this a pregnant thing? I feel like your name says a lot about you and now I'm feeling the pressure. My first responsibility as a mom - pick a good name!

6 Months

To me, this is a huge milestone! I went into this pregnancy very naive and thought that I would feel great! No morning sickness, no back aches, nothing... like I said, very naive. Why would I think this, you ask? Well, for one my mom LOVED all three of her pregnancies. I quote her when she says "I never felt better than when I was pregnant". And on top of that my Grandma Bass also never had morning sickness and had pretty good pregnancies ( all 10 of them). So I thought I had this thing in the bag. Well I was very very wrong! Maybe it's because I'm having a boy, and my mom had all girls, or maybe I just have more Rennie in me than Bass, but either way I was wrong. So I'm very excited that I'm at the 6th month mark! Now... here's to hoping the next few months go by quickly ;o)