Goodbye to the best year if our life.....

How do you say goodbye to the best year of your life?!? I love that a new year is about to approach us and that we can start off "fresh", but I have to say that I am a little bit sad to say goodbye to 2011.

Luke was born March 17, 2011. It was by far the very best day of our lives!! He is the biggest blessing God could ever give us! It has been a wonderful year seeing our sweet baby grow and grow. I guess I can't be that sad for the new year. I look forward to all the new things 2012 will bring!

I am never very good at making "resolutions". I think that any time can be a good time to better yourself. But no time is a better time than the beginning of a new year! So here are a few things that I plan on doing to begin a "healthier lifestyle".

1. Working out.....I have a love/hate relationship with working out. I absolutely LOVE the feeling right after you are done working out. There really isn't any feeling much better (other than the obvious things) than when you have completed a workout. The problem I have.....getting my butt moving and actually working out! Since I had Luke I have not stepped into the gym. Awful I know!! I have gone on walks with him, but nothing enough to give me that "endorphin releasing, sweaty, feel good feeling" that a good, hard workout can do for you. I have a weird phobia of taking Luke to the gym childcare. I am not "one" of those moms that needs to keep her child germ free from everything, but I have worked in a gym childcare ( a really good one in fact) but I have a hard time trusting that they really keep it as clean as they say they do! Okay...all this talk may need to lead into another "resolution"...stop being a germ freak and take your son to the gym with you!" anywhoo..... the point is I need to get moving...and I just need to find a way that works best for me, because this jiggly tummy and legs/butt need to go!!!

2. Healthier eating habits. Plain and simple... I need to eat better and make better choices. This will not happen unless I take the time to change my habits. I want Luke to grow up in a healthy home, and food is one of the many things I want/need to do better with in order to make a healthier lifestyle for my entire family!

3. Worry less. My goodness do I worry. Half of the time I don't even know what I am worried about. Someone once told me to write down all of the things I am worried about and look back on it and see how many actually came true. More than likely very few would come true. I think I am going to do this. It is not healthy how much I worry... which brings me to my number 4.

4. Trust God more! He knows the desires of my heart and I need to give my worries to him. I don't know why I have such a hard time with this. I always feel like my beliefs are strong, but then why do I worry so much? Giving it all to him, and letting myself know that no matter what, everything will be okay, is something I need to remind myself and actually start believing.

5. Smile more and just be happy!! This will help me in so many aspects of my life. I have a wonderful life. It is not perfect, but I was never promised a perfect life. It has its ups and downs, but it is my life and I wouldn't want it any other way! I need to put more effort into being the best mom I can be, the best wife I can be, and the best teacher I can be! Unless I start putting more of my energy into these things, I am just going to end up not enjoying them to their fullest! (as you can see, my job comes last, not that I don't think it is important or that I don't enjoy it, but my heart (and energy) will always be somewhere else).

Well....That is what I am going to start my new year focusing on! I am sure I will find new things that I need to "better" but right now, I think my list is a good one! I think it is unrealistic to have 5 million "goals" to achieve in a new year. So starting off simple I think will work for me.

So with a little hesitation....goodbye 2011, you have been wonderful....and Hello 2012...I look forward to your many possibilities!!

Let me leave you with a cute little video of my little big boy walking across the living room with his new walker! ( and don't mind my annoying voice :)

LOVE him!!!! :)

Christmas 2011

Christmas this year was SO much fun! No, Luke isn't old enough to understand the true meaning of Christmas, but we sure had a great time celebrating his first. I loved watching him open his presents, stand on the boxes and babble on to his new toys! It makes me really excited for the coming years and the time when we can truly celebrate Jesus' birthday!

Christmas Eve was spent at Nick's grandparents house. It is always a great time! Nick's entire family(he has a huge family) was there and it was so nice to be with family! We had great Mexican foods for dinner and yummy deserts! Luke was spoiled like crazy from all of Nick's family. I feel so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives!

Christmas day we spent with Nick's dad's side of the family. We had lunch/dinner over at his cousins house. It was a lot of fun! I think his dad really appreciated that we spent Christmas with him this year. It is so nice to see how much he appreciated us being there and celebrating with him.

I did not spend Christmas with my side of the family this year. I had a hard time at first with this thought, especially since my family goes up to our cabin every year, but I got over it! I have my family of 3 right now that comes first, and I was completely content being with my boys and Nick's side of the family!!

I am a huge believer/fan of traditions and missed my yearly traditions with my extended family, but it was SO much fun to start new little traditions with my little family!

All in all we had a wonderful Christmas season with lots of fun, food, presents, celebrations and laughs!!

I hope yours was just as wonderful!

( I just realized how very few pictures I actually took on Christmas. I guess we were having too much fun, and Luke is crawling everywhere I can't get a face shot of him, lol)

9 months...a little late

9 Months old on Dec. 17, 2011

   

                    You are always crawling towards the camera so I get the top of your head a lot!

Or I get your behind....you were LOVING all of the Christmas presents. All you wanted to do was climb on them :)

 Luke,
My little man...you are 9 months old (on Dec. 17) I can't even believe it! We are having SO much fun with you! I am so shocked at how much you have grown...it's hard to believe that only 9 months ago you were this little baby that was so dependent on me and daddy and now you are becoming more independent, crawling everywhere, pulling yourself up, standing for a little while by yourself, and eating new foods! I think this month has really made me take a step back and think, wow my baby is turning into a little toddler before my very teary eyes!
Here is what you are up to my love:
~You are 24.3 lbs and 31 inches long! You are in the 92% for weight and 99% for height!
~When people see you they always think you are older than you are. You are SO tall and solid!
~You are wearing mostly 12-18 months clothes! When it comes to pants, for the length you need 18 months.
~You are on your last box of size 3 diapers and then we are on to size 4!
~Your hair is still a dark blondish brown
~Your eyes are dark...but still not completely brown!
~You are talking up a storm. Your babbles are my favorite things to hear. It is SO cute and you do it the most right before you fall asleep...so precious.
~You are eating all sorts of foods now! You are eating most baby foods as well as some table foods. You love mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, mac and cheese, spaghetti, some meats, and all sorts of other soft foods!
~You have 6 teeth! Holy moly! Your two bottom teeth have been in since you were 4 months, and then within the last month your top 4 teeth have popped through. Your top center teeth and your "eye" teeth or the "sharp" ones as I say. I am amazed at how fast they are popping through. You poor guy, you have had some rough days and nights because of this!
~You still look just like your daddy :)
~You crawl everywhere! You are so fast, one minute you are in one room and before we know it you are in the next (supervised, of course)! You also pull yourself up on everything. If you are able to grab onto something and pull yourself up, you will! You also stand by yourself for a short while. You usually realize what you are doing and get really excited, clap or wave your hands all over and then fall to the ground! You are too funny!
~You are taking at least two naps a day. Usually one around 9 or 10ish and then again in the afternoon. You are still a little unpredictable when it comes to sleeping. That goes for sleeping at night as well. For the most part I would say you are sleeping through the night, but every now and then you have an off night and are up a couple of times. You go to bed between 7:30 and 8:30pm.
~You wake up around 5:00 or 5:30 and then usually snuggle with me in bed until 6:30 or 7:00am(only on weekends or when I am on breaks from school). I LOVE our snuggle time!
~You say "mama" and 'dadda" It's pretty much the cutest thing ever! The only bad thing is that you have learned to throw in a mama or dada when you are crying in your crib. It's a killer. You make it really hard to let you cry it out when you hear those sweet words! That's about all you say, but like I said before, you babble all day, but we are working on other words and a little sign language.
~You don't love to be held too much. Now that you can crawl and are so mobile, you love to be on the ground exploring. It makes me a little sad that you don't want me as much anymore. Oh well, I knew it was in due time!
~You are starting this new thing when people hold you, you start hitting them. It's playful, but I have NO idea where this came from. I have to blame it on you just being a boy, because I have no idea where you would have learned that from. You got a hammer toy and you instantly know to hit things with it! I am in for it, if you are starting this early.... I have to get used to this boy, crazy, rough stuff :)
~You are a little dare devil. You make me nervous my boy! You love to look out the back door, but you just pull yourself up by sliding your hands up the window....sometimes you slip and you bonk your head. It is just the phase we are on, we have falls, tears and then you are ready to go again! Somehow you always want to stand or play where you shouldn't. I swear babies have instincts of where they should not be!
~You went through a couple of days where you all of a sudden hated the bath. You would just cry and try to crawl out of the tub, but now you are back to loving bath time!!
~As of lately you are such a daddy's boy!! You LOVE your daddy. The minute you see him your eyes light up and you smile.
~You are starting to wave. Its cute, you get both hands going and you do if for a while!

Well my babe, you are truly my very best friend, and we love you more than you could ever imagine! Thank you for being such a joy!! I can't wait to see what the next month holds for you!!

Love,
Mama

P.S. Your 9 months pictures above were impossible to take...you are such a mover and climber, I couldn't get you sit still for a second!

Love that grin :)

Visiting Grammy Tammy....he babbled on and on while he was sitting there..I think he was talking to her :)

Look at all those teeth!

Such a goof :)

So busy and a few picture

Life is so busy....but I feel like a broken record when I say that....but seriously it is!! I am almost on Winter Break!! Yay!!

We got some pictures taken a few weeks ago and we just got them back! They are pretty precious! My sweet Luke decided that he was going to be pretty serious in most of them though....oh well, it was the stage and mood he was in at the time, what can ya do?!? He's still pretty precious to me!

Happy Sunday!

It all makes sense....

Well not everything in life, but the past couple weeks my sweet little Luke has been CRANKY!!! Not bad, but just a little whiny and wanting to he held all day long!! Well what do ya know.....two top teeth popped through! I just noticed one last night and another one just breaking through the skin today! So there are 4 teeth total now! I feel like his first two came really early (at 4 months) and then we have been waiting for more for the last 4 almost 5 months!! Poor guy, it all makes sense now why the last couple of weeks he has been a little "off"

I am hoping that we have a little break between the next set of pop troughs, but you never know! I am really glad we don't remember the pain of our teeth coming in. It HAS to hurt!!

We had a nice relaxing day today. We put up our Christmas tree ( which totally looks tiny and I never realized how small it really was until this year!) Maybe next year we will need to do some black Friday shopping for a bigger tree. The one we has is good for now, but in the future I would rather not have a Charlie Brown look alike tree!

It is Sunday, my most favorite and most dreaded day of the week. I love it because it is our Family day, but then I hate when the evenings roll in and I realize once I go to bed, it's back to work the next day! Ugh! Only two more weeks and I am on Winter Break!! Thank goodness!!

I hope everyone had a great Sunday, and is truly grateful for what they have in life. I learned about a family through my sister a while ago about this Dad that is battling cancer. He is married and has two kids. What I am hearing is that he is not doing well. My heart has been hurting for this family. I can't even imagine. Here I am complaining of having to go to work tomorrow and there are people fighting much bigger battles. It really puts life into perspective. I am praying for this family and truly hope God can heal his body and let this family become whole again.

I think once you get married and have kids you realize that you are not only needing to take care of this child, but how important it is to take care of yourself. Not that cancer discriminates, but I have realized in the past 8 months how much Luke needs me and Nick and how much we need each other. If I think about it too much I stress myself out....my point here was just to be thankful for what you have, and if you can pray for this man that is battling cancer, I am sure his family and himself would appreciate it!! (his name is Troy by the way)

Okay, my friends! Have a good evening, and week ahead!

8 months old!

My sweet Luke,

You are 8 months old!! (well actually on Nov. 17, 2011) I am only a few days  weeks late!

Oh my goodness buddy, I really think this is the month of a big growth spurt. You are developing right on track and are learning new things every day. I am amazed by what you are doing theses days. Lets talk about it:

                                                

~You are about 24 lbs and I am not sure your height at the moment!

~You are wearing a size 3 diaper. Daddy bought you size 4's, they fit but are a little big, so we aren't quit there yet!

~You are wearing mostly size 12-18 month clothes, very few 9 month clothes fit anymore. I realize how many adorable outfits you never wore because you grew so fast!

~You are an eating machine. You eat three baby food meals a day and then bottles in between. We are on all stage 2 foods and pretty soon will start with stage 3. You love the gerber puffs and would eat them all day long if I let you! (if you asked your dad, he would tell you I let you eat too many of them.....nah, they are snacks...they say that 20% of a child's diet is from snacks...I think it is fine :)

~ You have had your first real cold this month. You poor thing. It has lasted on and off for a couple of weeks. It is just the cold season and unfortunately you caught the darn thing! With that said, you have become quit attached at being held. Nap times for daddy during the days are hard, and putting you down at night is quit the chore. I really think it is just because you aren't feeling very well and just want to be close. I can't complain to that....I love snuggling you!

~You are crawling EVERYWHERE!! You army crawl still, but for the most part you are up on all 4's and are SO fast!! 

~ You are pulling yourself up on anything and everything you can! You also stand on your own for a little while if you have a good balance!

~You love to stand up in your crib. Yes, it's cute and all, but it has made nap time and bed time a little harder because you will just stand there and cry. 

This picture cracks me up, you are so proud that you can stand in your crib!! Don't worry, we have since lowered the crib to the very lowest setting)

~ You are pretty stuborn. If you don't get your way, you will get a little mad. It's cute now, but lets not let that become a habit, mmk?

~You make this really cute growling noise. I am pretty sure it's the way you and daddy communicate while I am gone! It must be a man thing :)

~Your hair is growing a lot and is still a light brown/dark blonde. I am still not sure which color it will turn out.

~Your eyes still are a mystery to me. I can't pinpoint what color they are. Dad says they are brown, but...whatever....I think they will be blue (fingers crossed) Either way, you are adorable!!

~ Changing your diaper/clothes is like taming a wild animal. You move and throw yourself all over the place. It is usually a 2 person job, but these days it's usually only daddy and I separately trying to do it. You are an animal my child!!

~You truly are such a sweet boy that loves to be close to his loved ones. As long as someone is around and in eye range, you are happy.

~ Getting ready in the mornings are really hard. You are so mobil, but I can't just let you rome the house while I am showering, so you are usually stuck in your jumper while I am in the shower and doing my hair. You don't last long. I have resorted to putting you in your high chair in front of the TV and putting on baby Einstein. It works for about 5 minutes, and then I give you some puffs, and I just gained myself another 5 minutes. Usually by the time I get in the car, I am already exhausted! ( and I probably look like I only spent 10 minutes getting ready, lol)

~You say Mamma, and Dadda....it's too cute!!

~You love books and turing the pages. The teacher in me LOVES this!!

~Anything new to you that you touch you only use your one pointer finger to touch. For example this past weekend we got family pictures taken (which I will post when we get them) and you were sitting on the grass for the first time and all you did was touch the grass with your one little finger. It is really cute, and you do that with anything you touch.

~ You still only have your bottom 2 teeth. I swear you are teething, but nothing new has popped through yet!

Well baby love, your 8 months of life has been amazing. You are such a gift from God, and I cherish you so very much. I love all these new stages and can't wait to continue and watch you grow.

Love you baby,

Mamma

You  love sticking your tongue out!

3 generations of Mallaire boys :)

"Whatcha doing down there Bear?" (again, we have lowered the crib since this picture was taken)

One of my many attempts to get a picture on the chair. He never says still!

"Look what I can do, hahahah" (that's what I picture in my mind what he is saying)

My 2 teeth!

Happy Thursday, Friends.....I am SO thankful tomorrow is Friday!!

I promise, and updates

I promise that Luke's 8 month post will be up before he turns 9 months (hopefully)!! But I am excited to share a few pictures that we got taken this past weekend!! I don't have the disk yet, but she shared a few cute pictures on her blog, that I will share! I am happy with the few I saw, and can't wait to see the rest!!

her website is http://www.clairebeeler.com/ and the link to our pictures is http://www.clairebeeler.com/blog


Luke is growing like crazy and doing and learning new things everyday! He is SO fun, but SO busy!!

I am teaching 1st grade now. Long story short, the 2nd grade classes got combined and I got moved to 1st grade. I still miss my 2nd graders, but my 1st grade class is starting to really grow on me (even though I had to write a referral for one of my students yesterday because of her behavior. SO SASSY! I have never met a more disrespectful child in my life!) Other than that, it has been okay! My heart is still wanting to be at home with Luke, and someday I will be, but for now I am thankful for my job!

We had a great Thanksgiving that I will post about also! My goodness I need to get better at this!

Happy Tuesday, friends

Gobble Gobble

Well, as you can tell....I kinda stopped blogging for a few days weeks. It was not because I could not think of things I was thankful for....honestly, each night when I would normally sit down at the computer to write, I was being very thankful for a sleeping baby and a bed that was calling my name..... So sorry!!! I love writing, and this blog really does mean a lot to me, I just need to find time and commit to it!! with that said.... HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Today is by far my favorite holiday of the year!!! It is a day completely devoted to spending time with family and friends, and celebrate all the things we are thankful for and blessed with. It is all about family, food and ohh what do they say...oh ya, football?? I love me so football, but I would rather be looking at all the black Friday adds in the newspaper! We woke up this morning and watched a little of the Thanksgiving day parade...but Luke got sleepy and now here I am writing....

This year has blessed me beyond imaginable! My sweet Luke was born and poof my whole life has changed! He is so much fun, and such a joy. I could go on and on about my sweet boy, but if you read my blog, you know that I could talk about him all day long!

Don't get me wrong, there have been some very rough patches along the way, but whose life doesn't right? It's all about how you handle it! (um, I am eating my own words though, because that is so much easier said than done) I have had a rough teaching career this year. SO many ups and downs, but right now I am thankful for a sweet 1st grade class that already tell me they love me and that I am the best teacher ever! ( although, it could have been because I has just sugared them up with a yummy Thanksgiving celebration cookie :)

With all of the unknowns in life, it is so nice to rely on God, who is faithful to me always. Even in the moments that I doubt ( and to be honest, I doubt a lot) I try to remember that no matter what things are going to be okay. Financially, Spiritually, and Physically......We are all going to be okay...no matter the outcome. I worry a lot, I have anxiety, and I have so many fears in life, it is not healthy...I am trying to take the steps to change this!! I know this will all pass and I would have the strength to move on from these crazy thoughts that go on in my head! ( I swear, becoming a mom changes your life in SO many ways.....good and bad....only bad because now I worry about every single thing with Luke...again I am trying to get past these issues in life :)

Anyways......Today is such a great day to celebrate life, and all the wonderful things in it! I am so very thankful..... My family and friends are one of a kind, and I am blessed by them all!!

Have a wonderful day my friends!!

Day 13

Day 13

Today I am thankful for a husband, that despite was not feeling well yesterday, and works so much for our little family, woke up with Luke this morning, let me sleep in, and made me breakfast!! I could never explain the love that I have for that man. I am not here to tell you I have the best husband in the world, but to me he is perfect. Flaws in all (because we ALL have them) he is so perfect to me and Luke! I am SO very thankful that through the last couple of weeks, actually months, I have had a strong man beside me to make things seem just a little better! Through all of our everyday struggles, he is supportive, loving and tells me the truth, even when I don't want to hear it ( I think I may be repeating myself on this, but it is so true). So today, I am thankful for getting to sleep in.....but truthfully I am thankful for Nick, today and always!!

Happy Sunday, Friends :)

Day 12

Day 12~ of Thankfulness

Today I am thankful for my sweet little niece Stella. We are celebrating her 2nd birthday later on today! She is such a sweet, adorable little one, and I couldn't be more thankful to be her Aunt! She is a great cousin to Luke and they love each other so much! I have 4 adorable nieces and 2 nephews. I have never met, or may never meet one of my nephews, but I am so grateful for them all!!

Being an aunt is wonderful, and I have SO much love for those kiddos!

Sweet Stella Bella and Me