Ready for Camping!

This week has been amazing! I am so thankful that Scott was able to take off the week in between jobs to spend with Daniel and me. My hubby is incredible and totally made it like a vacation for me too! We have grown so much closer together and as a family during this time! The week went by way too fast, though. :( We went shopping a lot and then yesterday Daniel had his one-month check-up. He is doing awesome and growing like a little boy! He is now 12 lbs. 4 oz. and 24 in. long. (At birth he was 9 lbs. 9 oz. and 22 in. long.) His head is 15 1/2 in. long. (It's grown an inch.) I will put up some pics of him at one month. He has grown so much!

Daniel's biggest changes other than weight and height this past month were... 1) He is smiling almost all the time now when someone smiles at him or when he sees his mommy or daddy. This morning he was smiling up a storm at me when I picked him up and changed his diaper. :) I finally got a picture which I will put up once I get those on my computer. 2) He has slept between 6 and 8 hours each night for the past four nights now! THAT is amazing! 3) He is doing amazing with holding up his head. When I burp him he can actually hold it up without Mommy helping and without it falling to my shoulder for over a minute!

Those are his main changes, although there are so many of the other little ones that we can see since we're with him every day. :) He is trying very hard to roll over so I have a feeling that will be soon... I can't believe how fast he is growing! My little Danny... I love him SO much!

Well, since I need to get to packing, I should end this real soon. Scott just put Daniel in his swing which he LOVES, so while he is happy I need to finish packing for our camping trip this weekend! We are leaving in probably a few hours to head to Lake City, CO. That is where Scott and I had our honeymoon last year, so it is awesome that we will be able to go back for our 1 year anniversary, which is on Sunday. It's amazing the changes a year has brought though... We will be staying in a little cabin in town with Daniel and my older sister, Amanda. My parents and younger sister, Lelia, and her hubby will be staying in a pop-up camper. It'll be great fun with the family and it's also nice having them because that means Scott and I can go have some time together to celebrate our 1st year together because we have babysitters! :) Daniel is super excited for his first 'camping' trip, even though it's in a cabin... That is another reason he was smiling so much this morning because I was telling him all about it! We'll see how he does, especially with the LONG car ride (the longest he has ridden has been 20 min. at once).

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Fun days with my boys!

It has been so nice having Scott home with Daniel and me! It is definitely going to be different when he starts work in a week. We spent Saturday grocery shopping all morning, which Daniel did ok with as long as Daddy was there to hold him. :o) It was our first big grocery shopping day since he was born because we had been just about living off of left-overs. Good to start planning out meals again. I am finally feeling somewhat of a wife again to go with my mommy-ness. :o) The rest of Saturday we hung out with Danny and played with him, watched as he slept a long time finally in his swing (amazing!), watched TV shows together on the internet, and just had fun as a family! It was an awesome day!

Sunday we went to church which was amazing and very refreshing! We were able to go a little early and take Daniel back to meet all my Sunday School kids (I had been teaching 4th and 5th grade S.S. all year. They loved him and each of them prayed a little prayer for Danny that he would grow up to be a godly man, a man of character living for God's kingdom, a good boy, and a lover of God's Word. It was so amazing to hear the little prayers! :o) They are definitely our prayers for him, also, and it is so nice having friends and family who are praying for the same things!

Church kicked off the Bible in 90 Days challenge everyone as a church is doing starting yesterday. We are really excited for it but I am glad that we are doing it as a church so we can have the encouragement from others to keep going! It's quite a bit of reading each day, but I know it will be very rewarding!

Sunday evening we headed to some of our friends' house for a going away party for our friends, Caleb and Lindsey, who we met through our small group at church. It was a lot of fun hanging out with everyone, and Danny was able to be passed around to some amazing moms who are just awesome with him! (I have seriously decided that I can't wait until I'm one of those awesome moms who have the crazy skills of putting a child asleep in their arms after hardly any time just because they've been a mom for so long! I LOVE it!) It's going to be so sad seeing Caleb and Lindsey go, but the good thing is since he works for Marathon Oil, also (that's how Scott really got the job), we'll be able to see them from time to time at conferences and such.

Yesterday, Scott, Daniel, and I had another wonderful day together! Scott and I totally were able to have an unexpected 'date' even with Daniel all afternoon when we went shopping at Kohl's, Cabela's, JCPennys, and out to eat at the mall. Danny was with us in his stroller and seriously slept in it for three hours while we were shopping for clothes for Scott's new job and some shorts for me. It was amazing! He did so great, and didn't even wake up until the final store because he was hungry. :o) It was so nice getting the chance to hang out and talk with Scott!

Okay, gotta go... At least I had the time to catch up with life. :o)

Friday night...

I am hanging out with Scott, Daniel, and my sister, Lelia. We are watching Avatar while Lelia is trying to get Daniel to sleep... His Aunt Amanda (my other sister) was here earlier in the evening doing the same thing. I love it when his aunties come over! They are amazing with Daniel and he definitely loves them a lot! It will be nice when Scott's brother, Bryan, gets home. He has been in N. Dakota for about three weeks now on a job. It already seems like forever since he has seen little Daniel. He's going to be shocked how big Daniel is when he gets home!

Today was a great day. Daniel and I had lots of fun this morning hanging out like we always do. He even took a nap in his bassinet this morning which allowed me to sleep! It was amazing! Then, I was completely surprised by my amazing hubby who came home just after lunch today after his boss sent him home early on this last day of work for the City of Fruita! He is officially home with Daniel and I for the next ten days, which needless to say, I'm SO excited for! Both because of the extra help with Daniel and that I have been really missing my hubby... :o( Plus it's a wonderful anniversary gift to see him this much because our anniversary is coming fast - May 30th will be our 1st year together!

This afternoon we ventured out with Daniel to go play some frisbee golf at the nearby park, but even though it wasn't that windy when we headed out, once we got to the park it began getting windier and windier until I finally had to take Daniel back before we were blown away! At least we have our super cook stroller and car seat that completely closes up except for a few small gaps... keeps the wind out of his face, but he still didn't like the darkness in there oh so much. Poor boy. I wouldn't either! It was fun while it lasted, though. Hopefully all this wind will die down soon so we can go on more walks soon.

Well before I just ramble on and on, I should close. Hopefully we can put Daniel down and head to bed. I'm exhausted! Seriously, it's way past my bedtime - already 8:40!

The Wee Hours of the Morning

Sometimes I wonder... what did I used to do during these early morning hours between 2 and 4? Oh yes, I think I used to sleep! Somewhere back in my memory of four weeks ago I seem to remember those times of long sleeping nights. :o) But even though I love my sleep, don't get me wrong, I wouldn't change these past four weeks for anything! Four weeks ago this morning I was an hour and a half away from meeting our little Daniel face to face. I can hardly believe it's already been that long. My little boy is already growing up so fast! That is why I enjoy these early mornings with him because it gives me time to spend in the quiet and peaceful night holding and cuddling my little one. :o) Like now... he is laying in my lap totally ready to go back to sleep. His mouth is partially open and he has that look of pure contentment on his face as he snores a bit and makes other weird sleeping noises. So cute! :o) I love this boy SO much! I don't know what life would be like without little Daniel Mason. Our life changed forever four weeks ago, but I don't even care because the changes are more than I could have ever asked for! Throughout all the long nights and sometimes very long days, God continues to show me how amazing being a mommy is especially through all the smiles and looks Daniel gives me throughout the day. When he stares at me with those big, blue eyes and smiles he makes me realize yet again that all of this is worth it! I just hope I can be the mom he needs every day!

Graduation...

Scott's graduation was a ton of fun on Saturday, although we did get beyond soaked during the rain downpour at the ceremony. We were almost certain that they would have moved on to their Plan B and have an inside ceremony, but no, they decided that we could all persevere, so we did and definitely will remember that graduation day! :o) My parents stayed with Daniel at our place which was amazing because there was no way I would have taken him out in all of that rain! I watched the ceremony with Scott's parents and even though I only caught a glimpse of Scott a few times through all the millions of yellow, red, blue, smiley faced, striped, and polka-dotted umbrellas, I still enjoyed my time there and am so, very proud of my husband and all of our friends who graduated from Mesa!

His party that afternoon and evening turned out to be a fun-filled time, also, even when we had a bit of a scare when another storm began rolling in with strong winds, thunder, and lightening. It blew away soon, though, and we just had a cool evening to hang out. :o) Many of his friends were able to make it, which was great. The food was amazing and everyone enjoyed lots of ladder-ball, frisbee, and Bocce Ball.

Yesterday afternoon, after Scott got home from work, we took Daniel out on his first walk in the stroller. :o) He had a wonderful time and slept the entire time, which we were very excited about! I definitely want to make this a daily event at least until it gets dreadfully hot which might be soon. Considering I missed almost three weeks of the spring staying in on bed-rest with Daniel, I really want to enjoy the spring days we have left. I love this time of year! The green leaves on the trees, freshly cut grass in the yards, flowers blooming everywhere, people out and about, kids playing frisbee golf down at the park nearby, and just the smell of Spring in the air is amazing! How could there not be a God who made all this??? I will never understand how people cannot believe it!

Today is just another day here at the house with Daniel recovering from the busy weekend. I love how moms with little ones take almost the entire day sometimes to get dressed, brush teeth, eat, make up the bed, clean up anything at all, do hair, etc. since you must be ready at all times to go to your baby if he or she needs you. :o) I'm getting used to it a little at a time, but I'm definitely enjoying right now as Daniel has been sleeping an hour on the blanket doing tummy time! (That is quite the record sleeping wise for him during the day...) But he is waking up now, so I need to go see what he needs. :o)

First Post - Update on Many Things...

So, several people were encouraging me to start a blog to keep friends and family updated on the exciting life of our family. I have a feeling I will greatly enjoy keeping this updated, especially now that Scott and I are the parents of our amazing little boy, Daniel Mason. He was born April 22nd, which means he is already 3 weeks and 1 day old! I am now officially a stay-at-home Mom and loving it! We definitely haven't gotten anywhere close to on a schedule with Daniel yet, but even so holding him and having him sleep in my lap makes up for the long nights of waking up, nursing, and trying for sometimes hours to get him back to sleep. God has blessed Scott and I richly with such an amazing boy and we are very excited for the months and years ahead with our little family. :o)

Tomorrow my wonderful hubby is graduating from college! He has worked so hard for the past four years to get his degree in Business Management and we are both really looking forward to celebrating both at the ceremony in the morning and at his party later on at the park. I hope the weather is nice as it is very cloudy right now. I don't mind it being cloudy tomorrow but I don't want it to be chilly or raining! Anyway, he is doing his party with our friends Nate Towne and David Edwards, which means it'll be even more fun as we celebrate what all they have accomplished.

It is very hard to believe that Scott and I have been married for almost a year! May 30th will be our 1 year anniversary, and to celebrate we are going camping in Lake City with my parents, sister, and brother-in-law. Lake City, CO is where we had our honeymoon so this will be very fun and special to be able to go back there even though it will be with many more people. But, it works out great because this way my family can stay with Daniel various times to let Scott and I have some time together... which we are very excited about! :o)

The day after we get back from Lake City, Scott starts his new job with Marathon Oil as a Materials Controller (I THINK that is what his job title is... you would think I would know that by now...). He is so looking forward to it. I hope that it is perfect for him and that he loves it.

Well, I must go. My hubby is home! :o)