Friday, October 28, 2011

BOY oh BOY!!

Okay, this is cell phone picture quality and although it's going to take me a while to catch up on the last week or so of festivities that need to be blogged, I just wanted to post all our good news! Baby Maxfield #2 is a BOY! Neither of us could believe it and made them double check because everyone kept saying "With how sick you are, this is gonna be a girl!" So I built myself up saying it's a girl, I'll probably never get a boy... Goes to show that all those pregnancy myths are crazy. We are ecstatic!! We are so excited to have one girl and one boy in our house... it'll even things out! And although I love dolling up Little Miss Leighton, shopping for a boy is a whole new world of fun!
We are so excited to meet you, Little Buddy...as your big sister is already referring to you! Now, let's just see if Mommy and Daddy can agree on a name!
In other exciting news, Jack was offered an ICU position at Holston Valley in Kingsport and has accepted it! He is really excited and this is another big accomplishment for him! He's itching to start graduate school app's and this is just one step closer to our main goal.
Leighton and I are so proud of all his hard work!!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

The Big 25

I have to say, Jack spoils me every year, but 25 is my favorite birthday yet! He had to work all weekend, so we celebrated Thursday-Monday! I loved every minute of it, especially when Leighton was singing me Happy Birthday! On Sunday(my actual birthday), Leighton made the whole nursery sing Happy Birthday to Leighton's Mommy for their songtime! How sweet is that?! And since it was the Primary program in Sacrament, we had yummy cupcakes in Primary... so I told my class I was pretending it was my birthday party :]
When Jack got off from work, we were supposed to grill...but it was so late we hit up 5 Guys instead...where they have cherry coke on tap...Mmmm! On Monday, Jack had asked our friends to babysit and Leighton got to play with Hollidae (Thank you Annemarie and Sean!), so he took me out to the movies. It was so much fun to have a date! Then we picked Lei up and went to Amigo's for family birthday dinner -- 75cent tacos on Monday's...woot woot! And Jack let me help pick out some birthday stuff this year, but I'd say he did pretty dang good!!
I got a Canon Rebel T3i with the portrait lens and telephoto lens (say goodbye to the long delay and hello to cute baby pictures!) and some B&BW swag...y'all know I love smelling like Christmas all Fall/Winter long!
BEST BIRTHDAY EVER! I am so lucky to have such an awesome husband and family!
I really need to start a new blog. Mostly because this blog is my only form of journaling/scrapbooking right now and I probably need a bigger outlet to express all of the feelings and emotions running through me at this stage in my life, but as this is really the only place I write about our family I try to post pictures and keep it light. However, I don't want to let this morning pass by and lose memory of it...because let's face it, whether you're a mom of 1 or 10, you just get busy and forget things if you don't write them down! :)

Every morning while I am pregnant I wake up somewhere between 3 and 5. Rarely can I fall back asleep within an hour.... I am envious of people who are "back asleep before their head hits the pillow." My thoughts get going, and my to do lists, and before I know it my mind is reeling! In fact, if it weren't for a half a Unisom every evening(which is BABY SAFE, so no lectures) I doubt if I would fall asleep at night to begin with. And it's not because I'm not tired... I am EXHAUSTED! I just can't sleep.

I usually use this time now (since I know I'll be up at least an hour) to process what I'm feeling about the new baby, to think about how I can be a better Mom to Leighton, and just to try to have a minute to myself to relax, because those will be far and few between in about 5 months(a reality, but I'm so excited anyway! YAY!). I also go take Leighton to the bathroom **side tangent** she has not had an accident during the day in quite a while -- she even takes herself to poop in the potty now, which was her worst struggle with potty training. Night training on the other hand, she wakes up and tells me she has to go.....from her bed. If I don't hear her at first, she gets upset because she's tired!**

So this morning was like every other morning. I wake up around 3am and have a hard time falling back asleep. But around 3:45am I doze off. And the sleep when I doze off is wonderful because I am so exhausted and will have to take Jack to work at 6am. But at 5am, Jack grabs me and wakes me up and I hear Leighton screaming. This isn't a "go peepee" cry, this is a terrified, weeping crying that instantly has me running to see if she is hurt. I calm her down to a slow sobbing and take her to the bathroom. I let her go potty and I wipe her face with a warm washcloth, but she just has little tears and keeps saying things half asleep that I can't understand. After about 5 minutes, she has calmed back down enough to say she wants to go back to bed.

So I take her back in her room and just can't shake this feeling because I know she's not happy and that breaks my heart. And I know all kids have bad dreams now and then, but as a mother you just can't go back to bed when your baby is so sad. We don't let Leighton get in our bed until 6:30am. It's our rule and for the most part she doesn't ask to, but occasionally when Jack is off it's nice to just all lay in bed for an extra hour and she is so happy that she'll sometimes go back to sleep with us -- till 8 or 9 -- woohoo! This said, I wasn't going to take her to our room because I think it's important for her to be able to go back to sleep in her room and Jack needs good sleep before work.

I lay her back in bed and ask her if she's okay. She quietly leans over and says, "Mom, sing me Heavenly Father?" (A Child's Prayer from the Primary Songbook) At that moment, the Spirit in the room was so strong and I just had this overwhelming feeling that although I have been feeling inadequate about motherhood (whether because I compare myself to other Mom's in the Church, or because I feel like a comment was directed at me, or because simply you never feel like you are everything your child needs and will need) I knew that Heavenly Father is always in my home and with my family and that I am doing everything I need to do to teach Leighton to be a righteous daughter of God. After I sang her this song and she hummed along with me, I hug her and ask "Can Mommy say a prayer with you, Leighton?" And she said, "Mommy say prayer for me." So I quietly said prayers with her that she could be comforted and I know she will be. Right before I got up to come back to bed, Leighton leans over and says "Mommy sing I'm Child of God" and while I sang her another one of her favorite Primary songs, I was once again so overwhelmed by that peace and calm that I knew that the Lord is watching over my family and I felt so much comfort and faith. I am so grateful for the gifts and blessings I have seen in my life and with my family. I know that we are watched over and protected. I love that I can feel so close to my Heavenly Father in my own home and that I can make it an escape from worldliness. And I know that although Leighton is small, she can feel the Spirit too and receive comfort. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father found me worthy to be her Mother.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Some Family Fun in Jonesborough!

My friend Lauren asked me to snap a few photos of her and her family in downtown Jonesborough, so I had her snap a few of us too. (Thanks Lauren!)
Here are a few I think turned out great!



Charity Photoshoot

An awesome photographer in our ward told us about a food drive/photoshoot that was going on last Friday and did some pictures of the girls all dressed in their costumes. She was supposed to leave, but let Leighton sneak in at the last minute before she left. To see a sneak peek of her photos of Leighton and a bunch of other cute kiddos, check them out here:
http://brandilyndavidsonphotography.com/

I'll post them after she emails them to me, but I also had to take a few of all the girls together :]






Thursday, October 13, 2011

Almost 2 1/2 years old and we have conquered the swing!


For all my playdate buds, near and far... you probably remember the horrible looks I would get when I practically forced Leighton to try out the swing. Little L has hated the swing since infancy... which made me sad when we had our nice tree in our yard in Idaho and I wanted to get a swing for it... but nevertheless, all we had to do was look at a swing and she shuddered with fear. It actually got to be a joke because she loved the slide, but would start going to the car if I took her by the swings!

Well the past couple of weeks she has been asking to try them and they've been wet everytime so I would just send her to the slide instead, which the other kids had already dried with their bottoms, haha. Then this week, she has been in the swing three times and LOVED it!
I know it doesn't seem like a big deal, but to me it is a huge deal!


She is so much fun! She is going to be a great big sister!!

JackDaddy got to go to 'Mommy & Me' Gymnastics

Last Monday, Jack was off work and decided to crash gymnastics with me and Leighton. He kept jumping in to spot her on bar, but was surprised how much she actually does on her own. I told him I always hang back and take pictures except to lift her to the bar. I think he had a lot of fun getting to watch our daily routine instead of staying home to study.... but anything is better than studying some days :] Leighton calls it "gym-mas-a-tics!" and is always asking if it is Monday yet because she loves it so much. It has been really good for her to sit and stretch and take instructions (as has preschool). She's still 100 miles a minute, but she's 2 so that's not really a surprise. I am trying to post gymnastics pictures every couple of weeks because this serves as most of my journaling/scrapbooking right now. I'm so proud at how much she has come out of her shell in Tennessee, she really has grown up so much lately!

**Disclaimer: Please excuse the undies hanging out... anything 3T swallows her whole! Haha!





Wednesday, October 12, 2011

October Fun!

Last week we planned a Pumpkin Carving FHE and had over a few friends to hang out and enjoy some good festive food. While no pumpkins were carved before the night was over, it was a lot of fun and we got some pictures of all the gals in their embroidered shirts that we made (props to Audrey for teaching us with her awesome embroidery machine). I love this time of year and getting to hang out and enjoy nice weather and yummy treats!





Monday, October 10, 2011

Halloween Preview


I took a couple pictures of Leighton in her costume... we're taking her to get her pics done on Friday, but I thought I'd post a little sneak peek because she's so stinkin' cute!! Can't believe we'll have two munchkins next Halloween...better enjoy having all her candy to herself this year :] I love Halloween!!