This Mormon Madhouse

Four More Days

2012-01-22T21:55:00.000-07:00

Only four more days left in Utah.

Seems so crazy. I've lived here for the past 12.5 years. I've had the same job for the last 6.5 years. I've been wanting to move out of Utah ever since David & I got married. I am seriously excited to be moving on, but it's still bittersweet.

I won't be able to see the gorgeous mountains everyday. I'm leaving all of the wonderful friends that I've made here. I'll have to find a new mechanic for our car & a new pediatrician for my son.

Everything is changing, but it's so exciting.

In Ohio, I'll be able to see my family regularly, rather than once or twice a year. We'll finally be able to attend church at 9am instead of 1:30pm. (I can't tell you how excited I am for that one!) Most of all, I'm really excited about venturing out & going where the Lord wants us to go. So many blessings have come our way in order to make this move possible. When we first decided to move (& do so right away), we had no idea how we could make it happen, but the Lord has had a plan for us all along. He has provided the means & support that we have needed in order to do this; for that, I am so grateful.

I will miss Utah (somewhat), but this will be a truly great adventure!

Bank Holidays + Fotogenix = Mega Disasters

2012-01-16T20:22:00.001-07:00

Labor Day, 2007: I got a call that morning (which was my long-awaited day off for that week) from my boss saying that I needed to go into work because there was a major catastrophe. The University Mall, where our studio was then located, had suffered from some serious structural and water damage due to the main water line bursting underneath the mall.

Why did I have to come in, you ask?

a.) I was the store manager at the time.

b.) That main water line ran right underneath the entire length of our store.

It pretty much destroyed our entire store. The walls had shifted and cracked due to the fact that the floor above the water main was completely buckled up and we ended up having to move to a different location outside of the mall so that they could tear it down and rebuild. Awesome.

Fast forward...

MLK Day, 2012: I get to work a little bit early and see that there is a portrait order laying flat on the floor in a really random spot. As I walk over to see what it is and why it's lying there, I feel a pretty heavy draft. I look around the counter, only to find this:

Seriously?!

Honestly, my first thought was, "Holy crap!" After calling the police, I got to thinking about it and realized that that glass was some seriously heavy duty stuff, double paned and is tinted from the outside. Whoever did this had to have known what they were doing or what they were after. The officer who responded seemed to be thinking the same thing. He fingerprinted the till drawer and called the owner to speak with him, but other than that, there wasn't much else that could be done. Whoever broke in was really only after the cash. They didn't take any equipment or anything else.

then...

So I'm photographing a session later on in the day, after the craziness of the break-in has died down, only to have the shutter on our camera (translation: our only camera) start going haywire on me. I made it through just fine, with only a couple of ruined images. No biggie. A coworker of mine also successfully photographed another session right after that without any problems. However, when I went to photograph my last session of the day, the shutter completely went out. I felt so bad because there was nothing that I could do and we didn't have another camera in the studio at that time (as one is in the shop being fixed and cleaned right now). I told the client, who was really nice about the whole situation, that we might have to reschedule. It turned out that she came all the way from Vernal (about 2 hours away), so I told her that if she'd wait for about 20-30 minutes, I could run home and grab my personal camera to finish her session, for which she was very grateful. Everything turned out fine.

And after nearly 10 hours of insanity, I'm finally home.

If I never, ever, ever, ever, ever have another day like that, I won't be too sad.

Crybaby

2012-01-15T23:49:00.002-07:00

Things that have made me cry in the past two days:

1. Saying goodbye (in anticipation of our upcoming move) to one of my bestest girlfriends on the whole planet.

2. Making a comment in Sunday School.

3. Reading Breaking Dawn.

(Don't you judge me for that last one.)

I think I'm just getting overly emotional from all of the stress & anticipation of everything that's happening / about to happen. I'm very excited about everything, but it whacking out my mood.

Also, I am quite sad (to the point of wanting to cry a little) about the prospect of James not being able to go to nursery right away in our new ward in Ohio. Our current ward is a married student ward, which means that most of the babies are just that, babies who are too young to leave their parents for any length of time. In our ward, James became one of the oldest kids about 2 months ago, right around the time that he turned one. There's one family who has a 4-year-old son (who consequently attends our primary/nursery combo situation), but other than that, there are no other kids over 18 months. This poor 4-year-old was super sad that he was suddenly all alone when a bunch of families moved at semester's end, so the then-Primary president asked James & another little boy (who is only 5 days older than James) if they wanted to start attending nursery so that this 4-year-old boy had a little bit of company. It has been fantastic! James absolutely loves it! He happily goes in, starts playing right away without a second look back at us. When we come to pick him up nearly 2 hours later, he's happy to see us & comes right to me. I always ask how he did & the wonderful Primary workers have had nothing but very positive things to say about him.

Also, we've become quite spoiled. It has been so nice to be able to sit through church & actually learn something rather than playing Baby Wrangler for 3 hours. How can I go back? And for another four months until he's officially old enough? I can't even begin to tell you how sad I am at this prospect. Any of you who have spent more than 30 seconds around my son know of his desperate need to roam wild & free. Keeping him happy during sacrament meeting is a tricky enough task by itself. Having to revert back to keeping him with me for the whole 3 hours could be disastrous.

My plan is to talk to (or possibly bribe) the Primary president or nursery workers to see if there is any way they might let him keep going. It's worth a shot, right? I have a super social, super active, super loving little guy who hates being cooped up or made to hold still. He does a fabulous job in nursery, so I'm hoping that there will be room for him there (just a few months earlier), too.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T20:41:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year, everyone!

I always seem to feel a little behind everyone else on the whole New Year thing since most of my family & many of my friends live in the East. Getting most of my "Happy New Year!" texts just after 10pm allows me to ponder all of the things that I have to be thankful for in the coming year. One such thing is our upcoming move to Columbus.

Only 26 more days until we leave Provo.

Exactly one month from today, we get to move into our new place.

Now that it's officially January, the pressure of everything that we have to do before moving is starting to seem much more real. I do love it, though. I always seem to kick into gear when the pressure is on.

Anyway, I'm hoping that this busy month will lead up to a big adventure for our family in 2012!

So Much To Do

2011-12-19T15:49:00.002-07:00

With our new adventure only weeks away, I find myself having LOADS of things to do. Well, partly. Christmastime comes with its own hefty "To Do" list as well.

Today, I was planning on doing a whole list of things after getting off of work. The plan was to put James down for his nap & then set off on an errand-running spree once he woke up.

Yea, wishful thinking on my part. "Oh, you want me to nap today, Mom? Because I want to PLAY!" Blech.

So, here it is, almost 4pm, & I still have yet to run one single errand. Guess I better get on top of things, even if it means having a grumpy bum for a son later this evening.

Our Sort of Biggish News

2011-12-18T23:07:00.003-07:00

We have sort of biggish news for you.

No, we're not pregnant. (You were thinking it, weren't you?) We're moving to Ohio at the end of January.

We are super excited about this! Originally, our plan was to have David apply to a few schools for his Master's program, wait to see where he was accepted & then make our decision as to where we would move. However, a couple of weeks ago, we were both feeling like it was time for us to move & that we needed to act on that immediately. We both had been feeling like Ohio State was the place for David & that waiting around here in Provo would be like putting our lives on hold. I know that it might seem presumptuous to assume that he'll get into his first choice school, but we definitely feel like Ohio is the place for us right now. If he doesn't get in to OSU, he'll work for a year & we'll apply again to other schools.

At any rate, this is our plan. Only 5.5 more weeks left in Provo!

New Birthday Toy

2011-11-28T14:47:00.003-07:00

Today, James got a birthday present in the mail from his Uncle Tony & Aunt Jen. It was a Toy Story DVD & a toy car to go along with it - RC with Woody riding inside! Here he is giving it a test run:

(You can also catch a glimpse of James' main Christmas present sitting in front of the couch. I'm not sure what I'll do when I have to actually hide them!)

The Sweetest Thing

2011-11-28T12:32:00.005-07:00

How did I get such a sweet boy? No idea. Though he loves to be a little mischievous at times and has learned how to fake cry like the best of them, he's still a really big sweetheart. He won't fall asleep in my arms anymore (unless he wakes up in the middle of the night and I'm helping him back to sleep), but he loves to snuggle and be tickled mercilessly. I know that Thanksgiving was a few days ago, but I have to say that I'm really thankful for my little family. We don't have much right now, but we definitely have each other and that's good enough for me.

James' 1 Year Portraits

2011-11-20T21:45:00.001-07:00

Here they are! James' one year portraits! He was having a little bit of a sad day, as he was quite opposed to sitting still, but they still turned out pretty cute. (After all, this is James we are talking about here.)

Happy Birthday, Little Man!

James' First Birthday Party

2011-11-19T23:18:00.007-07:00

We decided to celebrate James' birthday a day early because his actual birthday falls on a Sunday. Here are some pictures (and a video) from his party earlier today.

Here's the sign we put on the door, along with a few balloons, to welcome the guests to James' Doctor Who-themed party!

All of the delicious treats, including the TARDIS cupcake layout!

This is the fabulous name banner that my good friend, Lisa, made for James.

Digging in to our first birthday cupcake.

James' buddy, Matthew, wanted to have some cupcake, too. Matthew's birthday was just a few days earlier and James decided to help himself to Matthew's birthday cupcake at his party, so it was only fair to share.

Here's a video of James enjoying his cupcake.

Opening our presents!

Mommy & Daddy gave me a Cars backpack (so I can carry my own stuff now).

The party was tons of fun and we were so glad that so many of our friends could make it. Thanks for making it memorable!

On My Own Two Feet

2011-11-07T18:10:00.001-07:00

Here is a FABULOUS new video for you! It's pretty self-explanatory. :)

(Oh, and I'm sorry about how loud I am. I am well aware of my own loudness, but it always seems to escape me that a microphone is right by my big mouth when I'm recording these videos. Sorry!)

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T20:48:00.001-06:00

James made it through his first Halloween wonderfully. (Well, almost. There was that "no nap" business we encountered earlier, but other than that, it was a success.) Earlier this afternoon, we met David on campus & had lunch. After David got home from class, the three of us went to the University Mall in Orem for a little trick-or-treating. Here's James' first go at it:

Then, once we'd finished, we let James examine his loot.

Happy Halloween! :)

Motherhood Is Hard Enough As It Is...

2011-10-24T21:46:00.001-06:00

So I was perusing Facebook today (like most days) and I saw a bit of a running theme within my friends' status updates that didn't sit quite right with me. I saw a few different women post about the terrible day that they had, which was obviously caused by their chaotic (though I'm sure still lovable) children. At first, this gave me a little bit of comfort, seeing as how I fought my baby for two hours this afternoon to take a nap that he actually never ended up taking, which resulted in tears on both ends. But as I read further, I saw the aforementioned theme emerge.

Naturally, I'd expect to see other women, particularly mothers, consoling their friends or relating to this experience. No biggie. But a couple of these women (who originally posted her parenting woes) felt the need to make sure that her friends knew that her problems were monumentally bigger than their consoling friend(s) could ever understand.

I'm talking about pulling out the "I have more kids than you" card.

What is it about women, particularly mothers, that make us think that if we one-up our friends that it somehow makes us smarter, prettier, wealthier, a better parent and all-around much more awesome?

On one particular status, this friend, who just had her second baby, jokingly posted about having another mental breakdown. A friend of hers (who I do not know) commented that she'd been "having more of those since becoming a mother", to which my friend replied, "Try having two. Then we'll talk. LOL" (as if the "LOL" made the comment any less rude... but that's a pet peeve for another day).

I'm not saying that this friend meant to be intentionally rude, and maybe it's just the mother-of-one in me being a little sensitive, but motherhood is hard. Period. What kind of good does it do to cut others down just because you have more kids than they do, as if they can't understand your parenting frustrations? Does it make your problems more important? Or your triumphs more successful? Does it mean that they are less of a mother because their attention is less divided?

Absolutely not.

I think it's perfectly okay to feel sorry for yourself every once in a while, because hey, things get rough sometimes. As long as you aren't dwelling in it, I see no real harm. The harm comes when you make others feel like their feelings or experiences are somehow less important simply because they haven't quite reached the stage of parenthood that you have reached.

Having even one kid is a hard adjustment. You went from being able to spend your time, energy, money and emotions the way that you wanted to (for the most part) to having a little one demand every ounce of your time, energy, money and emotions. I'm not doubting that having two kids is harder than having one. You have two little people who are now demanding it all. But at least you are already used to the parenthood gig by this point (unless you have twins first). And I'm guessing that adding any number of children to your family is a big adjustment. But sometimes, I think that parents with more than one child tend to forget that rocky transition from merely couple status to family of three.

So why the rudeness? Motherhood is hard for all of us. We all have good days and we all have bad days. One thing that we all need is a little more support.

James' 11 Month Portraits

2011-10-24T21:38:00.001-06:00

Videos! Videos! Videos!

2011-10-12T12:44:00.001-06:00

Okay, only two videos, but they're cute ones. :)

This first one was from a month ago. (I know, I know. I'm really behind.) James was showing off his self-feeding skills.

This next one I just took this morning. Here, I coaxed him into showing you his waving skills.

James' 10 Month Portraits

2011-09-22T09:38:00.001-06:00

Sorry that I haven't posted in a while, but here is the next dose of James' fabulous monthly pictures!

James' 9 Month Portraits

2011-08-25T09:31:00.001-06:00

Watermelon Monster

2011-08-16T17:05:00.001-06:00

Check out my little watermelon monster...

Graduation

2011-08-13T20:48:00.001-06:00

Yesterday was the big day! David & I walked in BYU's graduation exercises! Although David doesn't technically finish school until the middle of December, it was still fun to be able to share this experience as a family.

David had to work for a couple of hours in the morning, but once I picked him up, we went to campus because they were having Meet the President in the Alumni building, which of course meant that we were able to meet President and Sister Samuelson.

Our graduation exercises weren't until later in the afternoon. We were able to have James stay with my wonderful friend, Laura, for a few hours while we went. It was definitely a fun memory for us.

Dinner in the Park

2011-08-12T18:04:00.001-06:00

Yesterday, in celebration of our upcoming graduation, the three of us went up Provo Canyon to Nunn's Park to have a delicious picnic and to play in the grass and sun. James had a wonderful time, as he got to finally get out of the house! Here are just a few photos from our adventure...

Lack of Blogging, Too Much Excitement

2011-08-07T20:10:00.001-06:00

I feel like I've been a little too preoccupied to do some quality blogging lately. This is because I have my last day of classes tomorrow, one of my finals tomorrow as well and my other final on Wednesday. David is also taking his GRE on Tuesday and we are both walking in BYU's Graduation Exercises on Friday.

With that said, I have to get back to my school work/studying, but I do promise to be better at blogging in the near future (which can be translated to mean, in about a week or so).

We have a few new videos of James that we should be posting sometime soon, so if you aren't too overwhelmed with our video overload yet, you can look forward to that! :)

Nom Nom Nom...

2011-08-06T00:07:00.001-06:00

So, James, in his infinte cuteness, was showing off his skills by climbing up onto David to snatch back the toy that David had. We decided to bust out the video camera to see if he would do it again. Of course, James had other plans...

Escape Artist

2011-07-28T13:58:00.001-06:00

I thought I heard a little squeak coming from the other room. (This isn't the first time that I've walked in on a scene like this.)

Note: That loud sound in the background is the vacuum. We sometimes use it to help him fall asleep if he's having a particularly hard time doing so.

Babyproofing

2011-07-26T13:51:00.001-06:00

So, someone has decided that his newfound skills of pulling himself up onto things need to be put to good use multiple times a day. Last Saturday, his adventures landed him a couple of huge bruises on his head. We decided that it was probably a good idea to buy a little extra padding for our shelves, so we ordered some from Amazon and padded the bottom two shelves on our three bookcases in the living room. As you can see in the video, James can reach beyond our babyproofing efforts, so I guess it's back to square one!

Notice the red pillow in the corner below the TV? Yea, it's blocking the Wii and other fun accessories that are oh-so-tempting to James. We have all of our couch pillows strategically placed around the living room in order to block electronics and cords.

I never get tired on videotaping this guy. :)

James' 8 Month Portraits

2011-07-20T20:29:00.001-06:00

Here are the portraits that I took of James to show how big and fabulous he is at 8 months old. Many of you may have seen these posted onto Facebook or Google+ already, but I like to make a habit of sharing them on my blog anyway, just in case.

As you can tell, my son is quite handsome and quite silly.

You Can Never Have Too Much...

2011-07-19T19:40:00.001-06:00

So, I was informed that my other videos didn't accurately portray James' super cool crawling skills. (They are basically super cool because he just learned them and, as his mom, I have the right to simply declare them so.) Here is (yet again) another video. Hopefully, this one will not only show off his crawling skills, but his couch climbing (okay, not really, but sort of) skills as well. Mostly, it's just for you to enjoy!

Free the Leash Kids?

2011-07-19T14:00:00.001-06:00

So, I've been coming across a handful of blog posts and articles on this particular aspect of parenting:

To leash your kid, or not to leash your kid.

What do you think?

Here's my take on it. Basically, I think it can be good or bad. Mostly, I'm in favor of the leashes.

We've all seen that kid. You know, that one toddler who you would swear channeled the Tasmanian Devil just before running into your shopping cart and knocking packages off of every shelf in the aisle in his attempt to escape his freedom-stifling mother, who, consequently, is chasing after him with two other calm, yet noticably embarrassed, children who are attempting to keep up with her. So where is the harm in a kid leash in this instance? There are obviously those children who will push and test boundaries like they are made out of modeling clay and there isn't much that can be done about it. After all, the more you push, the more they push back. So why not give them a degree of freedom to explore while still maintaining a safe connection with them?

Also, have any of you tried to walk through a crowded mall with your arm over your head for the better part of an hour? How comfortable or tolerable do you think that would be? I'm sure that the tiny arms of our little ones feel it far sooner than we would. Both David and I are pretty tall. Even though James looks like he'll catch up with his dad in height someday, our extra inches will surely mean that he'll have to stretch his little body, or we'll have to stoop ours, just so we can hold onto his hand. The leash would give us all the chance to walk around comfortably without having to worry about losing our child.

Unfortunately, there are those parents who use the kid leash as a method to control or ignore their child. Nothing is quite as heartbreaking as seeing a child mistreated. I've seen parents put their rambuncious children on a leash, only to yank them onto their little butts when they wander off (but obviously not very far off, as they're on a leash). Or there are those parents who put the leash on their kid, attach it to their own wrist and manage to forget that they even brought a child with them. They fail to give them any sort of attention or guidance on how to stay close to mom and dad when in public. But that's not a reflection of how bad it is to put a leash on a child. That is simply bad parenting. And while I don't like to throw out parenting judgements (as we all make honest mistakes with regards to raising our kids), I don't think anyone could disagree that yanking on or ignoring your child is harmful in many ways.

Obviously I'm no expert, as we haven't reached the stage of being parents to a walking child yet, but we plan on purchasing one of those cute little monkey or puppy dog backpack leashes so that we have one just in case we feel like we need it.

Have you ever used one? What do you think when you see people walking around with their kids on a leash? Do you think it's cruel or perfectly acceptable? Let me know what you think.

Silly Little Boy

2011-07-17T09:07:00.001-06:00

James has been learning all sorts of new ways to explore and use his little body. Here's another video of him just playing around.

Mr Messy

2011-07-12T15:17:00.001-06:00

We get this look a lot...

Microaggressions

2011-07-12T13:20:00.001-06:00

I was on Twitter one day last week (as I am most days, actually) & someone posted the link to this blog called www.microaggressions.com. The premise of the blog is to make people aware of the small, but powerfully hurtful things that they say everyday. These comments can be categorized as racist, sexist or discriminatory in any way based on a person's "classification", if you will.

I probably spent the better part of an hour or more perusing through these posts. A lot of them I found pretty offensive. Some of them sounded like the receiver of the comment was probably overreacting or misunderstanding what the person was actually trying to say. That could just be my take on it, though.

Here are a few of the posts that I thought were particularly sad or cruel...

"No you can’t like him. It’s the most disgusting thing to mix a Black and an Asian!"

A friend, after I told her I liked a guy at my university. She assumed I was completely Asian, but I come from a biracial marriage. I was hurt, confused, and shocked to be told that interracial relationships are offensive to others.

"Hey! You’re uncle died."

At Uni, walking to class. She was referring to Osama bin Laden, because I am Muslim. Made me feel like shyza, I remembered all the abuse I went through after 9-11.

"I don’t know why she even bothers. If I were her, I’d put a gun in my mouth."

My father, when asked by a clinician to describe how he felt about my schizophrenia. I was horrified.

"I feel so shiftless, no good and guilty. I might go wait by the bench."

My mom, in reference to the fact that I’m disabled and was buying food with food stamps at a grocery store.

"I’m proud of the woman you’ve become. I was so afraid you’d be a lesbian when you were growing up."

My father said that to me when I wore a dress. How am I supposed to come out to him now?

Makes me feel scared, unworthy of love.

It's unfortunate to think about how people can be so thoughtless, or just outright offensive, towards others based on what we perceive to be their imperfections.

It brings the scripture Acts 10:34-35 to mind. Peter declares, "... of a truth I perceive that God is no repecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him."

I may be whiter than Wonder bread, but being a woman and being LDS puts me in company with these marginalized individuals. Even though I am confident in both aspects of my life, does that mean that thoughtless remarks aren't going to sting occasionally? Of course not. However, it is up to me what I do with these things in my life. Now, I realize that I will never know what it is like to be Muslim or gay in today's cultural and political climate, and I will never claim to be a voice for all of the oppressed, but there is a degree to which I can relate to some of these prejudices.

I can take in what others say about how weak I am as a woman, or how crazy or close-minded I am as a Mormon, and seeth about how hurtful these comments are, or I can yell and scream and kick down doors until I get my justice. I don't think that either one of those approaches is going to be effective, though.

It's tricky, but I think that there is a fine line that we must balance on in order to protect ourselves from hate while making progress in changing the attitudes that we encouter. How do we do that? I'm not completely sure, but I think that we need to start with recognizing what is in our minds and our hearts. If God is no respecter of persons, what gives me the right to be? I saw an Indian woman, probably mid-20s, walking with an older white guy - most likely a professor - on BYU campus yesterday morning. It made me think of a blog post that I saw on this microaggressions.com site, where an Indian woman wrote in about how she was sitting with a friend (who was also Indian) and they heard two guys make rather loud comments about how "Indian women are so ugly". I couldn't help but think that this random woman that I saw has probably encountered comments like that before, but there she was, walking along with a huge smile on her face as she chatted with the gentleman next to her. It was kind of a sobering moment for me.

So, what do you think? How do you think we can help to change hateful attitudes such as these? How do we break hurtful stereotypes? And in a world where behavior like this seems to be more socially acceptable, how do we teach our children that these things are not okay? Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Crawling Around

2011-07-11T21:35:00.001-06:00

Here's a little video of James where we captured some of his adorable crawling techniques. He's such a little mover!

New Decade, New Goals, New Blog

2011-07-10T22:39:00.001-06:00

Today, I officially enter my thirties. Am I sad at the passing of my twenties? No. If I get nostalgic, I can live vicariously through my husband, who will be in his twenties for another four years. However, I really don't think that I'll need to do that.

Not that I'm rejoicing in my old age, but I feel like I've earned the right to pass out of my twenties. I mean, I spent a solid ten years being in my twenties. Time for a new adventure!

With that said, I've decided to do a few things. First of all, I moved my blog. (This is obvious, as you are here right now.) I like how this site looks, feels and handles my information. Besides, I'm a grown up now. Grown ups can choose to not use Blogger anymore if they want to.

Secondly, I've decided to alter the focus of my blog a bit. My blog has always been a "Mormon Mommy Blog". While there is absolutely nothing wrong with this, I find myself occasionally wanting to write about my take on issues and events, or to offer up some self-reflection. I've noticed that, when I do this on my Mommy Blog, I get little to no feedback. I'm guessing that it's because the people who come to my blog want to read about James and the adventures that we have together. (Don't worry, he'll still make plenty of appearances.) However, I'm not "just a mother". Even though being a mother is the best gig in town, there is a whole lot more to me than that. I was a pretty awesome person before I was a mom and still think that I'm the same awesome person with thoughtful insights and ideas.

I've also decided to make a few goals for myself -- sort of like a What I Want to Accomplish During My Thirties bucketlist. I'm still working on what it will entail, but I'll post more when I decide how I want to go about this.

That's about all I have for now. Stay tuned for more fabulousness.

Moving This Blog...

2011-07-10T21:28:00.000-06:00

It's official. I think I've outgrown Blogger.

Not to worry, though. I am still going to continue to blog, but I've found a site that I like a lot better than Blogger.

So, if you want to continue to stay updated on our lives, here is our new blog address:

http://tertipes.posterous.com/

I will still be leaving this one here so that you can view old posts, pictures and videos, if you like. (And if you've linked to my blog on your blog, you'll want to switch that address, too.)

Here's to a fresh blogging start! :)

James's New Pool

2011-07-08T22:39:00.002-06:00

It has been warm here in Utah the last few weeks. So, we got James a little inflatable pool that he can play in. As you can see below, he really enjoys it.

Late Bloomer?

2011-07-06T23:26:00.001-06:00

This time, I'm not talking about James. I'm talking about me.

Today, I had a presentation in my Forming Marital Relationships class. It had to be 30 minutes long, professional in nature and on the topic to which I was assigned. I'm pretty sure that I did well. There are only 9 students in this class (including myself), the professor and the TA. When my presentation was finished, I got compliments from most of the students in the class about how much they enjoyed my presentation, which made me feel great. Even the TA told me, as we were walking out of class together, that I was a "natural presenter". Awesome! Now, I'm not trying to brag about my public speaking skills or anything. This experience just made me a little reflective.

On Sunday, I'll be turning 30.

What the...? Where did my 20s go? Who took them? They can't be over already. I guess that this milestone has made me realize that not only do I have a good life, but it took me a little longer than most people to "get there". Not that there is really a place of arrival that one must get to in this life, but I just realized that I did everything much later than it seems most people do things. Here I am, graduating college at 30, even though I started at 18. When my friends were getting married and having babies, I was still single and rockin' the cool friend-aunt role like any awesome single friend would do. I didn't end up getting married until I was 27 and didn't have my first baby until I was 29.

And you know what... I don't regret anything.

Why?

Seven or eight years ago, I'm sure that I wouldn't have been able to rock that presentation nearly as well. Not that I would have been bad at it, but I've gained a lot of confidence in myself during those earlier years. Being single during much of my young adult years allowed me to grow as an individual in many ways. I notice that I act far more confident in my classes now than I ever did back in the day. I say more of what's on my mind without the fear of looking silly. I was able to manage a business for 5+ years, which helped me to develop skills, knowledge and even more confidence.

All of these things that I've learned have helped me to be a better wife and mother. I know I'm not perfect now, but I feel better prepared for life, even if it took me a few extra years than everyone else to reach this point.

I just feel very free being able to say that I have no regrets. I have NO regrets. It feels great.

Getting So Big

2011-06-28T23:59:00.001-06:00

I just peeked in on James, like I usually do right before I go to bed. And as usual, he's sprawled out like a big ol' crib hog.

I couldn't help but notice just how big he's gotten recently. It's so amazing! He's gotten so long and is really workin' those limbs.

He's rocking back and forth on his hands and knees, so any day now we'll probably end up seeing him cruise right past us.

He doesn't like to sit up all that much - mostly because he would rather be moving around - but he can push himself up into a sitting position and hold it there (until he gets bored of it).

I've had to gradually start babyproofing a few things around the apartment, like taping down cords and relocating picture frames. But despite all of my efforts, he'll still crawl right over to David's oh-so-tasty shoes and try to lick them. (Seriously, why?)

He is so smiley and so snuggly and is just the light of our lives.

Continuous Sleep!

2011-06-27T12:44:00.002-06:00

James slept for 12 straight hours last night, not waking even once. It was probably the best night of sleep that I've had in the past year and a half. I just had to share that with you. :)

Who Wants Free Money?

2011-06-08T20:06:00.002-06:00

A friend of mine has a fabulous DIY furniture design blog & is doing a giveaway for $25 cash! You should definitely check it out, as $25 in your pocket is never a bad thing.

Just click on the 551 East Furniture Design button in the right-hand column.

Go. Now.

Crawling

2011-06-04T16:15:00.002-06:00

We aren't quite there yet, but we're making some pretty good progress. We'll be cruisin' around in no time! (Time to go buy some baby gates!)

Back to School, Back to School...

2011-05-31T23:50:00.003-06:00

As some of you may or may not know, I recently returned to BYU in order to finish my bachelor's degree. (Yippee!) I only had 4 classes left to complete in order to graduate, which means that I am taking 2 classes during spring term (which is going on right now) & 2 classes during summer term. Then I will graduate in August. (Hooray!) David is finishing up this fall semester & graduating in December. (Woo hoo!) Since BYU doesn't have commencement exercises in December, he's opted to walk for graduation in August, so we can do it together. (Have I cheered with excitement yet?! Just checking.)

Memorial Day Adventures

2011-05-30T21:25:00.002-06:00

Today, we decided to go up to Fairfield to Camp Floyd to see a Civil War reenactment. It was pretty low key, but it was fun to walk around and see all of the little set-ups.

Afterward, while we were hanging out at home, I saw that a friend of mine had posted on Facebook that he was trying to get rid of his television. Apparently, he had purchased a brand new big flat screen and just needed to get rid of his old one. So I told him that we would take it.

The awesomeness?

It's a 50" flat screen.

And we got it for free.

It's an older one (obviously), which means it's one of those thicker ones that stands all on it's own, and it takes up a lot more room than I thought it would, but it's pretty great just the same.

I really just like being able to say that we got a 50" TV for free.

Bad Mommy

2011-05-29T22:51:00.002-06:00

I've been a bad mommy blogger.

Actually, I went to post sometime a couple of weeks ago when we got this cute video of James eating solids for the first time, but it kept giving me errors, so I kind of gave up.

No worries. Here's a cute picture of our little dude trying to feed himself some delicious carrots.

And I promise that I will try to be a much better mommy blogger. I'm thinking that this blog needs a facelift anyway. I'll get crackin' on that right now.

Sick Boy

2011-04-11T10:42:00.002-06:00

My poor baby boy is sick & it's all my fault.

I got sick a week ago. I'm unsure how, but it was impossible for me to stay away from David & James, so they both got it, too. David woke up feeling yucky yesterday, just like James, but he started feeling better by the end of the day. Poor James has a cough & has been very cuddly & sleepy.

I'm still holding out hope that I'll get a shower or breakfast this morning. I guess this is what I get for getting my little guy sick. :(

Super Duper Update

2011-03-31T19:26:00.007-06:00

I've been a bad, bad blogger this March. Lots has happened, actually. Here's what has been going on with us:

Trip to Ohio

I went to Ohio to visit my family from March 4-22. As some of you may or may not know, my mom was diagnosed with colon cancer in January. Luckily, her doctor felt as if he detected it early enough that he would be able to remove it with surgery, so my mom was scheduled to have that done on March 7.

It turned out that the cancer that they removed was found to be an aggressive form & that if it had spread, she would require chemotherapy. However, the doctor was, in fact, able to remove it all & once she is finished healing from her surgery, she should be just fine. We were all very thankful for that huge blessing!

Aside from the surgery, this was also the first time that my family was able to see James (other than my mom, who came out right after he was born). James particularly loved hanging out with his Uncle Tony & Aunt Jen!

While I was there, Tony & I also looked at a house for sale that David & I were looking at possibly purchasing. David is planning to attend OSU next year to start his Master's program & purchasing an inexpensive home actually ends up being cheaper than renting an apartment after only a year. We're still talking about what we want to do, but it's definitely an option for us.

James Turns Four Months Old

My baby is getting so big! James turned a whopping 4 months old on March 20. We were still in Ohio on that day, so we took his pictures later that week. Here he is, sporting his "lucky shirt" for St Patrick's Day.

He's learned to do some fun things this past month, too. First, he learned to roll from his back to his tummy a couple of days before he turned 4 months. And apparently, that's backwards from most babies; or at least that's what other Moms have told me. Last week, he finally managed to get from his tummy to his back, but he's only done it a total of maybe 3 or 4 times. He has trouble getting over his arm, so I think he's kind of given up for the time being. If he doesn't want to be on his tummy anymore, he just screams. Like a pterodactyl. Aside from rolling, James has started grabbing at things a little bit. He still gets pretty easily distracted, though. I actually bought one of those play mats for him today that has the little arches to hang toys from. He doesn't really care for the fun little toys yet, but he just stares at the clear inflatable beach ball. I guess it's a start.

David's New Look

That's right. My husband is growing a beard.

Quite a few months ago, David sent in some headshots (that I took for him) to the LDS Church Film Department so that he could audition for a role in an upcoming New Testament production that would be filming this spring & summer. He has since auditioned & received notification that he made the first cut to be an extra in one of the films. Hooray!

Since these films will be taking place in the time of the New Testament, every guy who made the first cut was asked to grow a beard if possible & to grow his hair as much as he can. Since BYU has dress & grooming standards that say that men must be clean shaven, except for in specific instances approved by the University (such as medical reasons... or Church filmmaking, I guess), David had to get a temporary beard card so that he could grow his facial hair out. I asked him if anyone at school has said anything about it yet. He said no, but he has gotten a few strange looks. On the flip side of this, there is no allowance for hair growing extra long, so we're just letting the top grow out as much as we can without letting it get too wild-looking. I just keep it trimmed up around his neck & ears.

Now, we're just waiting to hear back about what the next step will be.

Day 20 :: This Month

2011-03-01T23:10:00.002-07:00

Conveniently, as it is the first of the month, I haven't done anything yet to blog about. I guess that means that I should tell you my plans for March? I'll take that as a yes.

On Thursday, James & I will be flying to Ohio, where we will be staying for nearly three weeks. My mom is having surgery the following Monday, so I'm going so that I can be there with her & help to take care of her afterward. Even though these circumstances are less than ideal, it will be really neat to see all of my family again & to have them meet James. (So far, my mom is the only one who has met him from my family.)

Sadly, we will be away from David for that whole time since he still needs to go to school & work. But no worries. He won't miss me too badly. Why? Because I'm a good wife & am leaving him a lovely To Do List so that he not only doesn't get bored, but he'll be thinking about me every single day while he does awesome things like unclogging the bath tub drain & cleaning out the car. I'm quite thoughtful like that.

Day 19 :: Something You Regret

2011-02-28T10:18:00.000-07:00

I don't have regrets.

I know that sounds lame or fake or like I'm trying to prove something perhaps, but the truth of it is that I don't. If I do something stupid that I should supposedly regret, I chalk it up to being human & grow from it. Or at least I try. But I don't like to dwell on the things that I should have done better any more than is healthy.

So no regrets for me.

Zander

2011-02-27T21:25:00.000-07:00

I did a photo shoot yesterday of the most adorable little man, Zander. I've taken all of his pictures since he was born, so it was really fun to see him growing up & being such a "big boy". I just thought I would share a few of my favorites with you.

Day 18 :: Your Favorite Memory

2011-02-27T20:55:00.002-07:00

It's impossible to pinpoint one exact moment that is my very favorite. I'm sure that's true for most people. One of my more recent favorites, however, was when James was born. I mean, seriously, I waited (& counted down) for nine long months for that day to come, so when it finally did, it was the most wonderful experience. And I'm not gonna lie, having a baby is some hard work, but every time he does something new, like giggle or roll or smile, that becomes my new favorite moment. So I can't pick just one.

Day 17 :: Your Favorite Birthday

2011-02-26T22:51:00.004-07:00

This one is EASY.

David proposed to me on my 27th birthday. (This, consequently, is his excuse for not trying to "outdo himself" when it comes to my birthdays since he obviously can never top it.)

I could stop right there, but I'll go ahead & briefly tell you about this fabulous birthday in a little more detail...

I took the day off of work, but David still had school or work or something, so I had to wait allllll daaaaaaay for him to get home. I can't remember every single little detail of this day anymore, but what ended up happening was that David & I went for a walk down Seven Peaks Boulevard. This particular walk was right near our apartment complex & we'd taken many walks down this way before. Along this path was a very large buckeye tree. As I'm from Ohio, I became good friends with this buckeye tree that we'd often pass by on our walks. Anyway, so we took our walk & David took my down to our "special tree". First, he busts out some roses from his satchel (which was kind of impressive because he successfully hid roses in his man bag. Who seriously can pull that off?). Then he gives me a birthday card. So far so good. But inside of this card was a folded up piece of paper. I open the paper & it's got this comic on it.

Here is the comic:

(Only David could use a comic as a precursor to a marriage proposal.) Below this comic was written some lyrics to a mushy love song that we liked. When he could tell that I was done reading it, he asked me to marry him.

And that was that.

Best. Birthday. EVER.

Day 16 :: Your Dreams

2011-02-25T11:55:00.002-07:00

David & I talk a lot about the places we'd like to go or the things we'd like to do. Ultimately, we're very happy with our lives, but there are a few things that we dream about. Here are a few:

Move Out of Utah - That's the first thing on our list. Utah has been good to us for this time in our lives (after all, I did meet the love of my life here), but we are definitely ready to be moving on. And soon.

Buy a House - Of course, this will hopefully come once we move out of Utah, but we'd really love to have a place of our own. (And with a big kitchen, says David.)

Visit Europe - Particularly London (for me) & Germany (for David). That is our rich fantasy dream. We've got some coins in our Tootsie Roll bank, so we're on our way!

Day 15 :: Your First Kiss

2011-02-24T14:46:00.002-07:00

I was five when I first kissed a boy. (Don't judge me.) His name was Aron Wise. My mom babysat him & his little sister on occasion. We were playing one day & decided that we wanted to know what this kissing business was all about. And that's all.

Why I'm Awesome Today

2011-02-23T15:41:00.002-07:00

Today, I was able to run a few errands. Among those errands was some grocery shopping. Upon arriving home, I was able to carry the following into the house in one trip:

- Two gallons of milk

- Two grocery bags

- A 12-pack of soda

- A diaper bag

- A baby in a car seat

Not only did I manage to carry this all in at once by myself, but I managed not to drop or break anything. And I managed to not wake up my baby.

And this is why I'm awesome today.

Day 14 :: What You Wore Today

2011-02-23T08:06:00.002-07:00

Um, no. Not blogging about my clothes again. It was bad enough the first time. So I'll talk about what James is wearing.

Pajamas. With yellow duckies all over them.

See? Much more exciting.

Day 13 :: This Week

2011-02-22T10:54:00.002-07:00

Monday

Since yesterday was a holiday, David didn't have school or work (since he works for BYU), so we had a nice, relaxing day. We got a little bit of cleaning done & started watching 24: Season 8 on Netflix. I work Monday & Friday evenings, so I still went into work for a few hours in the evening. David took me into work so that he could have the car to bring James into the studio once my shift was over & I could take his three month pictures (which you can see in my previous post). He did a fabulous job for David while I was away & during his photo shoot!

Tuesday

That's today. So far, James & I have taken a little nap. About ten minutes ago, Matthew came over & now we're all chillin' here together. David gets home at 2pm today (due to having Monday classes today because of yesterday's holiday), so I'm hoping that, together, we can get some other things checked off of my To Do List.

Wednesday

I don't have anything especially fabulous planned for tomorrow other than to hang out with my little man. One thing from my list that I would like to get done is my mending. David has some new pants that I need to hem, plus a few shirts that I'm going to attempt to patch & see if they can be salvaged well or not. That's my goal.

Thursday

Again, nothing big planned except to go visiting teaching that afternoon.

Friday

I work again on Friday evening, after which David, James & I are going to a friends house for a fun get-together. A couple of our friends are moving to California very soon & we're having a little bash to send them off properly!

James' Three Month Pictures

2011-02-21T22:48:00.005-07:00

Here they are! This gorgeous little man of mine did such a great job today taking pictures. I just can't get enough of him.

Look at those eyes!

* * *

James hasn't been able to hold his head up for very long before, so when I put him on his tummy like this, I totally expected him to put his cheek on the floor rather than look up like this. Since he was doing so well, we turned him around & got the following pictures.

* * *

Awesome big ears.

* * *

This one is my favorite! He smiles like this all the time.

* * *

Whoa!

* * *

Who's back there?

* * *

I don't know why, but this picture makes me laugh. He just looks so bored!

* * *

"For real, Mom. Let's be done now."

* * *

Day 12 :: What's In Your Bag?

2011-02-21T22:42:00.002-07:00

Baby stuff.

Since having James, I've kind of given up the purse & just put my wallet, keys & cell phone into the diaper bag.

Oh, the exciting life that I lead.

Three Months Old

2011-02-20T21:35:00.003-07:00

The super handsome James is three months old today! I can't believe time is going by so fast. I love my fabulous baby boy!

Day 11 :: Your Siblings

2011-02-20T15:09:00.005-07:00

I have one sibling. This is my little brother, Tony. He is pictured here with his fabulous wife, Jen.

Tony is exactly 14 months & 14 days younger than me, which I'm sure was loads of fun for my mom when we were little. Being close in age, however, has made us really good friends over time.

I usually only get to see him once or twice a year when I make it back to Ohio for one reason or another. Luckily, I will be going back at the beginning of March & he, along with the rest of my family, will finally get to meet the handsome, handsome James!

And in case you didn't know, this is where James got his middle name -- from his Uncle Tony! Lucky him!

Day 10 :: What You Wore Today

2011-02-19T15:06:00.002-07:00

From top to bottom...

Olive green army-esque knit hat.

Black shirt.

Black undershirt.

Blue jeans.

Felix the Cat socks.

Red and black argyle skater-type shoes.

I feel safer knowing that I've posted this. Carry on.

Day 9 :: Your Beliefs

2011-02-18T23:20:00.004-07:00

Rather than sitting here & thinking of the best way to describe my beliefs, I decided to do something else.

On the website mormon.org, members of the Church are encouraged to create personal profiles so that those who are investigating our beliefs may connect with everyday members & hear what they have to say. So what I decided to do was post my mormon.org profile.

Hope this helps to answer any questions that anyone might have. If not, I would be more than happy to go into further detail with you!

* * *

About Me

I got married in 2008 to the man of my dreams and we had our first son last year. I started getting involved in portrait photography over a decade ago through the generosity of friends who were willing to allow me to use them to "experiment" on. More recently, I've been working as a portrait and wedding photographer. I have a real passion for studio photography and love to create beautiful images that others will cherish for the rest of their lives. The best feeling? Seeing the look on someone's face when they catch a glimpse of what I've created for them and knowing that they've fallen in love with it. Well, that, and seeing my little boy smile.

How I live my faith

First and foremost, I live my faith in my home. My husband and I read the scriptures and pray together daily so that we may, as a couple, draw closer to our Savior and have his Spirit in our home with us. I also show my love for my Savior by serving others. I am currently serving on a committee that sees to the needs of women at church. We take a special interest in those who have recently become mothers by trying to provide them with emotional support and other resources that may help them as they transition into this new role in life.

Why I am a Mormon

I became a Mormon when I was 15 years old, along with my mother and my 14-year-old brother. I lived in an area where there were plenty of religious people, but very few Mormons. When the missionaries contacted us, I knew nothing of the beliefs of the Church. At the time, I didn't have a burning desire to associate myself with any religious organization, but once I started learning about the gospel, that quickly changed. It didn't take long for me to receive the impression that this was definitely a good path to take in my life. Since then, I have strived to live worthy of the Holy Spirit so that I can continually feel those sweet feelings that prompted me to change so long ago.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a ward/stake/branch?

Many churches refer to their collection of members as their congregation. While this is still true for us, we more frequently use the terms ward, branch or stake. The term "ward" would be interchangeable with the term "congregation". One could say that someone is "a member of my congregation" in the same way that they could say that they are "a member of my ward". It is just more common to hear us use the latter. The term "branch" can be used in the exact same way as the term "ward". The only difference is that a branch is a much smaller congregation than usual. The term "stake" refers to a specific grouping of multiple wards and branches in the same vicinity. Again, one could say that someone is "a member of my stake" and be referring to someone who is not a member of their own ward or branch, but attends another ward or branch nearby.

Are all Mormons required to serve a mission?

No, they are not. No one is required to serve a mission. All young men are told that they should prepare to serve a full-time mission and that they should do so as long as they are able. Young women are encouraged to serve as long as they feel so inclined after much thought and prayer. Many faithful members of the Church are unable to serve full-time missions due to health concerns or other circumstances beyond their control.

How can we stop the spread and influence of pornography?

We can all begin by keeping all forms of immodest or immoral media out of our homes. In our house, we don't own or watch any R-rated movies, nor do we subscribe to premium television channels. We also have a protection filter on our internet that will block inappropriate web content. This is a personal decision that my husband and I have made together. It allows us to enjoy good, clean entertainment freely without being overly concerned that something immoral is going to pop up unexpectedly. I feel strongly that we can all make a difference by controlling what we watch. My motto is that if we don't watch it, they'll stop making it.

James' New Trick

2011-02-17T22:09:00.002-07:00

My baby is not only the cutest baby that ever was, he has now mastered a fabulous new trick that will no doubt launch him into immediate stardom. Someday, you can say you knew James "way back when". So just sit back & enjoy this glimpse of his awesomeness.

Day 8 :: A Moment

2011-02-17T11:24:00.004-07:00

After writing my last post, I started to think about all of the moments that I've had with David. The one that keeps coming to mind as I think about what to write here was from back before we started officially dating.

After meeting David, we became friends fairly quick, especially since I was already friends with most of his roommates. We started to hang out together all the time & most of the people in our ward were just "waiting for us to get our act together".

I was the Relief Society president at the time. Being in a small single's ward meant that everyone knew our business. And by everyone, I mean including the Bishopric & other ward leadership. Anyway, we had a High Councilor in our ward, Bro Oldroyd, who was especially fabulous & always took an interest in the lives of the people in the ward.

One day in late March -- actually, on Easter Sunday -- David & I were having dinner together in his apartment (as friends) when he told me that Bro Oldroyd had asked him if we were dating. Obviously, David tells me this to see if I would respond positively to this news (which I did), but he still doesn't say anything about wanting to start dating, nor does he make any sort of move. Sheesh!

So the next day, I decide that I've had enough of this "friends" business (I mean, after all, eight months is a heck of a long time!), so I went over to his apartment as usual. After we had been hanging out for a while, I said, "Let's go for a walk." Before we were even away from our apartment complex, I turned to him & said, "Are we dating yet?"

His response? "Do you want to be?"

Really, boy?

Needless to say, that's when we started dating & the rest is history. It just always makes me giggle to think about this moment. And I like to tease David about how lucky he is that I took the initiative. Actually, I like to tease him about that a lot.

I love my formerly socially awkward husband. :)

Day 7 :: Your Best Friend

2011-02-16T11:25:00.005-07:00

As I've been reading this blog challenge on the blogs of some of my friends, I've noticed that they have all had one thing in common -- everyone has posted on day seven about how their husband is their best friend.

And why not? I mean, who wouldn't want to spend forever with their best friend?

And fortunately, I can say the same thing. I don't feel like I need to list every fabulous quality that I love about David right here & now, because I do that on a regular basis in my day-to-day blog posts. But I will say that having a baby really lets you see just how strong your friendship is. When you don't have time to be romantic & lovey all evening because it's spent changing diapers & fighting for naps & giving baby baths, you have to shelve the romance for a little while & become a real team. And David is the best teammate.

Day 6 :: Your Day

2011-02-15T19:05:00.001-07:00

My day was pretty normal. I hung out with James for most of the day & also watched Matthew, a friend's little boy, for five hours while David was at work. During that time, my friend Thuy came over for a little while. (It was so nice to have company!) After David got home, I was tired of being in the house all day, so we went to Target because we needed to buy diapers & wipes. Super exciting outing, I know! Now, we're at home. David is in the bedroom doing his homework while I hang out with James some more & watch Lost.

James hanging out with his pal, Matthew.

(He is only 5 days older than James.)

This picture was taken yesterday.

Day 5 :: Your Definition of Love

2011-02-14T21:44:00.002-07:00

I guess it's fitting that this post should fall on Valentine's Day.

Love has many different faces, as most of us know, so I just thought I would share a few recent examples of how others have shown their love for me through kind acts.

* Today, my fabulous friend, Lisa, stopped by to lend me her baby carriers & gave me a delicious Valentine's Day treat of homemade cookies & chocolate milk.

* My neighbor, Kayleen, offered to watch James for an hour so that I could do my most recent Mormon Artist photo shoot & my friend, Jennifer, volunteered to watch him for a couple of hours so that David & I could attend the temple together.

* My brother, Tony, called me earlier this week because he wanted to let me know that he borrowed a Pack 'n Play from one of his friends for James to use when we go to Ohio in a few weeks. He said that he was cleaning it up & everything so that it'd be all ready to use when we get there.

* Today, David helped my bathe James, after which he got him all ready for bed while I got to take a nice, relaxing shower.

I know there are plenty more examples of how fabulous the people in my life are, but at least this gives you an idea. Happy Valentine's Day!

Day 4 :: What You Ate Today

2011-02-13T22:44:00.002-07:00

For real? What I ate? I'd think there would be something cooler for me to blog about today, but no, I'm blogging about my eating habits for the day.

* Got up in the middle of the night last night (technically early this morning) to feed James & was really thirsty, so I had a glass of milk.

* No breakfast.

* Had a deli sandwich with a can of soda for lunch.

* Had a cheesy chicken casserole dish with a glass of milk for dinner.

* Ate a few Cheetos. (I have a love-love relationship with Cheetos.)

* Had another glass of milk.

* Had another soda.

* Ate half of a graham cracker with peanut butter & chocolate chips on it. I stole that from David.

* Also had a cookie. David made it, so eating the cookie was inevitable. Don't judge me.

Day 3 :: Your Parents

2011-02-12T10:52:00.008-07:00

My Parents

This is the most recent picture of my whole family; my dad, mom, brother & me. It was taken at my brother's wedding in October of 2009. The weird thing is that my parents have been divorced for the past 19 years & I truly cannot recall the last time we had a picture taken with all 4 of us. One thing can be said for my parents -- they were always civil with one another in front of my brother & me.

So, here is a little bit about my parents:

My Dad

Name: Daniel

Birthday: 21 March 1958

Bio: Lives with his wife & her daughter in Lincolnton, NC. Works as an auto mechanic. Was once offered a job on the pit crew of a very popular (now retired) NASCAR driver.

This part is a little harder for me because I had a pretty strained relationship with my dad for quite some time up until recently, but I still want this to be a positive post.

There were multiple events that helped us on our way, but the defining moment was when my father spoke at my brother's wedding. After the best man's speech at the reception, my dad went up to the microphone, unprompted, & starting talking about how proud he was of both my brother & I. To make a long story short, he mentioned how he realized how much he missed in our lives & how proud he was of the both of us. It was really kind of a neat moment, especially since I had cousins & other family members there who were not too pleased about seeing my dad since he decided not to come to my wedding the year before. (That's another long story for another day.) Since then, my dad has joined Facebook, which, despite how lame it might sound, has helped us stay in touch better.

My Mom

Name: Burnita, or "Bonnie"

Birthday: 15 October 1959

Bio: Lives with her sister in Westerville, OH. Absolutely loves suspense & horror films. Former model.

My mom is, by far, the most fabulous person I have ever known. She was only 2.5 years older than I am now when she had to start raising 2 children on her own. I know that this couldn't have been easy for her, but what I remember most was how she worked 2 or 3 jobs at a time, took classes to earn her degree & still found time to attend many of our band concerts & sporting events. I still have this hilarious (& very sweet) image in my head from our high school marching band days of my mom sitting in the bleachers at a nighttime football game with her big ol' tote bag full of H&R Block homework because I asked her to attend this particular game. And even though she had a lot of homework to do & could have feasibly told us no, she came anyway. She always put us first & did everything with a big smile on her face. If I could even be half as good of a mother to James as she was to us, I will consider myself extremely fortunate.

Day 2 :: First Love

2011-02-11T09:16:00.002-07:00

Josh Miller.

Josh was my high school boyfriend for a year and a half (which is a pretty long time when you're in high school, honestly).

I met Josh when my family joined the Church. Since I met him when I was 15 & you are asked to wait until you are 16 to begin dating, we didn't start "going out" (as the young folk like to call it) until 6 months after we met. Our first real date was when he asked me to go to a Homecoming dance. Since we went to different high schools, I didn't know anyone there except for the two other girls from church that went to high school with him as well. I actually kind of liked it that way, though. It felt like I could start fresh with new friends.

Story Break! There was this one time when my mom picked my brother & me up from an activity at the church building & she offered to give Josh a ride home, too. For whatever reason, she asked us if we wanted to go to Pizza Hut & said that Josh could come with us, too. (Hooray for pizza!) When we got there & were seated, there was this guy who worked there who came up to our table, claiming that he knew me from somewhere. I had no idea who he was (& I've always been really good at remembering people) & I told him so. He came back again later, still talking to me & swearing that he knew me from somewhere. Well, apparently this exchange made everyone think that he was hitting on me. (I just thought he was being a weirdo.) The next time he came back to our table & started talking to me, Josh nonchalantly put his arm around my shoulders. He just kind of got this slightly embarrassed look on his face, finished what he was saying & left. And he didn't come back over. Everyone thought it was hilarious because I guess having Josh hang out with my family made him look like my brother rather than my boyfriend. I felt a little sheepish because I'd never had a guy outwardly hit on me before. And it made Josh feel pretty awesome to have someone flirt with his girlfriend right in front of him. Um... anyway, good story. Story Break Over!

Anyway, the rest of this story is kind of a bummer. We were nearing the end of our senior year when Josh started to ask me if I would wait for him when he went on his mission. I didn't tell him no, but 17-year-old me couldn't tell him yes, either. We stopped dating three months before graduation. Josh actually stopped going to church shortly after that because of a falling out that he had with his family & consequently never went on his mission. See? Bummer.

On the bright side, I met one of my best friends, Diana, because of dating Josh. She is his oldest sister & we still remain good friends to this day. Hooray for happiness! :)

Day 1 :: Introduce Yourself

2011-02-10T06:00:00.012-07:00

Birth Name: Tiffany Marie Atwell

Birthday: 10 July 1981

Hometown: Tiro, Ohio (population 281)

Schooling: Buckeye Central High School in New Washington, Ohio; Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah

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My Family

I met my husband, David James Tertipes, in July of 2007 while living in Provo. We became pals instantly and our mutual friends quickly dubbed us as "that couple". You know, the couple that parades around as "just friends" when everyone else in the world knows better. That was us. And, luckily for David, I could only handle that for eight months. We started "officially" dating in March of 2008. David proposed to me 3.5 months later, on my 27th birthday. We got married on 20 September 2008 in Columbus, Ohio. We decided to start our own little family a couple of years later and our first son, James Anthony Tertipes, was born on 20 November 2010. He gives us more joy than we could have ever possibly hoped for!

My Faith

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or more commonly referred to as Mormon. I joined the Church in March of 1997, when I was 15 years old. Since then, I have strived to live my life by the principles and teachings of Jesus Christ. I know that I am far from perfect, but I have faith that through the atoning sacrifice of my Savior, that I will one day, along with my husband and child(ren), return to live with my Father in Heaven. The knowledge that I have of who I am and why I am here gives me strength and purpose as I journey through life.

My Passion

I am one of the fortunate few who gets to take their passion and make a living out of it. For me, that is my photography. I love all sorts of photography, but I have a real love for studio portraiture. I am currently on maternity leave from Fotogenix, the portrait studio I have worked at since June of 2005, and I hope to be returning to work (very part time) within the next couple of weeks. I also volunteer as a staff photographer for the online magazine Mormon Artist. I do this because I get to meet fabulous new people and hone different photography skills that I otherwise might be less motivated to work on.

My Politics

It would sound too non-committal or politically apathetic to label myself as middle of the road or moderate, but I guess that's as close as I can get. I like to be well informed. I like to listen to all sides of the discussion and then I form my opinions accordingly. Political and social extremism really bother me. I feel like people like Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly have nothing better to do than bully people for not agreeing with their political ideology. I also feel very strongly about voting. Growing up in a swing state will do that to you. However, I find voting in Utah to be very depressing. No matter how you vote, the Republicans are always going to win (unless you are Jim Matheson), and that's just plain sad. I think that every place can do with some diverse thinking to help get the job done more effectively.

My One True Love

British entertainment.

I know, I know. I love those geeky sci-fi shows like Doctor Who and Torchwood. The best part about it is the comedians. Britian, by far, has the most hilarious comedians I have ever heard. (Most American comedians are crass and just not funny. Except Brian Regan. We connect.) David and I watch hilarious panel shows such as QI and Mock the Week. I also love watching their sketch comedy shows such as A Bit of Fry and Laurie, The Catherine Tate Show and That Mitchell and Webb Look. I like to watch some of their stand-up shows on You Tube as well. My favorite actor, for as long as I can remember, has always been Colin Firth. And I am dying to visit London one day. I think I might have been British in another life.

30 Day Blog Challenge

2011-02-09T09:52:00.003-07:00

I stole this from the blog of my dear friend, Amanda, and I thought it was a great idea; especially since I've been at a loss for interesting things to write about lately. And if you want to join me, please do! I'd love to read this on your blog as well!

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Day 01 - Introduce Yourself

Day 02 - Your First Love

Day 03 - Your Parents

Day 04 - What You Ate Today

Day 05 - Your Definition Of Love

Day 06 - Your Day

Day 07 - Your Best Friend

Day 08 - A Moment

Day 09 - Your Beliefs

Day 10 - What You Wore Today

Day 11 - Your Siblings

Day 12 - What's In Your Bag

Day 13 - This Week

Day 14 - What You Wore Today

Day 15 - Your First Kiss

Day 16 - Your Dreams

Day 17 - Your Favorite Birthday

Day 18 - Your Favorite Memory

Day 19 - Something You Regret

Day 20 - This Month

Day 21 - Another Moment

Day 22 - Something That Upsets You

Day 23 - Something That Makes You Feel Better

Day 24 - Something That Makes You Cry

Day 25 - A First

Day 26 - Your Fears

Day 27 - Your Favorite Place

Day 28 - Something That You Miss

Day 29 - Your Aspirations

Day 30 - One Last Moment

Fabulous Photo Shoot 2

2011-02-07T23:04:00.005-07:00

Here is another shoot that I did for the magazine last Friday for Kym Mellen, a theatre professor at BYU. Just thought I'd share a few images from this session, too. :)

PS - I promise I'll have something real to blog about soon.

Fabulous Photo Shoot

2011-01-22T23:57:00.003-07:00

As some of you may already know, I occasionally volunteer to do photo shoots of interviewees for an online magazine called Mormon Artist. After a long break due to being very pregnant & having a baby, I finally volunteered to do another photo shoot for them, which I did this afternoon.

This photo shoot was of the well-known & much-loved LDS songwriter and composer Janice Kapp Perry, who, consequently, is probably the nicest person on the entire planet. We had so much fun doing these pictures! We chatted about everything from our children to her love for super sharp pencils. At the end of it all, she thanked me for the good time that we had & gave me two of her CDs -- one was for James "to enjoy when he gets older" of children's songs & the other one, her newest release, was for me for volunteering to do this for her. It was a really wonderful gesture! She also took my phone number so that she could contact me if she should want to use any of my pictures for anything in the future. I have to admit, that part made me feel pretty fabulous. :)

As far as the pictures themselves, I am pretty pleased with the way that they turned out. One of the main reasons that I like to volunteer for Mormon Artist is because I love having the opportunity to improve aspects of my photography that I don't get to focus on while working at the studio. One thing I really want to improve on is using natural light indoors & that's what this shoot was all about. I knew it would be, so I did a little extra research before going because I wanted to do a really good job. Like I said, I'm pleased with how they turned out, so I must share a few of my favorites with you!

Our Fat Boy!

2011-01-21T11:25:00.002-07:00

James had his two month checkup today. And, of course, he got weighed.

Drumroll... ... ... ... ... ... ... 9 lbs 8.5 oz!

Okay, so I know that most babies his age weigh much more than that, but for James, we're doing awesome! He's in the 10th percentile for weight, which despite sounding super low, is better than the 5th percentile he was in last time. He also got measured & is 23.25 inches long, going from being in the 10th percentile for length to the 60th! Super! I'm pretty sure that this is why he still looks so skinny. He's starting to move up into his 0-3 month size onesies, but his skinny little belly can't handle 0-3 month size pants yet, so he's still wearing newborn pants.

He also had his two month vaccinations today. Poor guy! I've never heard a baby scream in pain like that & it made me want to cry for him. He did fall asleep on the way home, so I was able to stop by the store to pick up some baby Tylenol just in case he gets a fever. He's still sleeping it off. And to top that off, he also has a little cough. :(

However, as a bonus, he does have a Tweety Bird bandaid on one thigh and an Iron Man bandaid on the other. :)

James' Two Month Pictures

2011-01-20T23:41:00.000-07:00

I know that I have already posted these on Facebook for all to see, but here are James' two month portraits for your viewing pleasure!

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Our little Buckeye.

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In his blessing outfit.

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Still has big ol' feet.

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His eyes look handsome here!

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Sooo sleepy...

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Snuggling with Lenny the Lamb.

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My little man is getting so big! I love him!

Bad Mom Days

2011-01-19T21:49:00.006-07:00

I'm sure that nearly everyone has had a "bad mom day" now & then.

I haven't had very many of these days, but they've happened. I'm not sure why, though. I mean, my little dude is only two months old. How badly can you screw up with a two month old? It's not like he'll remember your new-parent idiocy & hold it against you for the rest of his childhood.

There was one day last week where I had an insanely hard day with him. All he seemed to want to do was cry, not sleep & be held. I broke down into tears no fewer than three times that day & never managed to get dressed.

Then there are days like today. James was a complete angel. He took great naps, stayed happy in his swing all through my shower and through washing dishes, he took on tummy time like a champ three different times & was just all around pleasant.

It's days like today that make the "bad mom days" seem so much less scary. Obviously I'm not completely screwing up this kid. Not yet, anyway. :)

Smiles & Such

2011-01-17T19:48:00.006-07:00

I've been trying for quite some time to capture James' cute little grin & I think I finally did it! Hooray!

Cutest boy on the planet. That's all I have to say. :)

James' Baby Blessing

2011-01-16T15:35:00.002-07:00

Today was James' baby blessing at church. It was a really wonderful experience. Since we don't have any family in the area that could share this day with us, we invited a few close friends to come & participate in James' blessing. David also invited to other elders who are currently serving with him in his Elder's Quorum Presidency to take part. Afterward, we had a lunch at our apartment to celebrate.

Here, you can see James & his daddy. James is sporting his super attractive sweater-cape made by his Grandma Atwell. It wasn't made specifically for this occasion, but we felt like it fit, so we decided to deck him out all fancy-like.

Today must have been pretty exhausting for the both of them, seeing as how they are both completely out right now -- one right next to me & one snuggled right up against me.

I love my boys.

Wubbanub

2011-01-12T11:02:00.002-07:00

I need one of these!

If I have to keep holding that stinkin' pacifier in his mouth much longer, I think I'll go nuts. Seriously.

I'm on a mission.

Brand New Stuff

2011-01-04T11:41:00.009-07:00

It's a brand new year with our brand new family and little James is constantly doing brand new stuff.

He started smiling more regularly. It hasn't been a whole lot, but for the past week, I've caught him smiling at least once a day. It isn't prompted by anything yet -- it completely happens at random -- but it's still pretty stinkin' cute. I've been trying to get a picture or video of his cute little grin to share, but since they're so random & fleeting, I still have yet to capture it!

He keeps growing like a good little boy, too! We graduated out of premie diapers last week & into the newborn size. At 5.5 weeks, he finally grew out of premies? Someone has a skinny little bum. (No joke.) His little white newborn size onesies are starting to get a little snug, so I'm sure he'll be out of those soon, too. (The rest of his newborn size clothing fits just great, though!) I guess I'm just getting excited about this since we've been doing everything possible to make sure that he gains the right amount of weight considering that he didn't gain any for his first two weeks of life. It's a little sad, too. My baby boy is getting bigger!

A couple of weeks ago, we also noticed that James had what looked like baby acne. After a few days, I called his pediatrician's office & talked to a nurse. I described what his face looked like & she assured me that it was just baby acne & that it would go away all on its own. Then I took him in to get weighed the following week. (He gained a whole pound in two weeks! Woo!) His face had gotten worse & it started to look like he was having some sort of allergic reaction. His skin was getting redder, the bumps were getting closer together, it started traveling down his neck & his brow line started looking dry & crusty. She had me see one of the other pediatricians in the office (as his doctor wasn't in) & he told me that it was a common newborn rash that isn't harmful & would go away by the time he's about 3 months old. So no biggie. He just looks like a little crust ball. :) It's actually started to get better already, so I'm sure he'll be fine.

We had a nice three day weekend together this past weekend. Now that I don't work on Saturdays (& David hasn't for quite some time), we were able to spend all day Saturday, Sunday & yesterday together as a family.

School started back up for BYU today. David only has classes on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays, so he doesn't technically start classes until tomorrow. However, he works all day on Tuesdays & Thursdays, so he started his new job today. Well, it's sort of a new job. His previous job position is relocating to Salt Lake & will no longer be a student position, so BYU offered to transfer these affected employees to other on-campus jobs at their current pay rates so that they didn't all become unemployed due to the transition. David's new job is basically the same as his old one, but instead of doing technical support for Church employees & volunteers, he'll be doing the same thing for BYU students & faculty members. We're very grateful that he was able to keep his current pay rate. He had his previous position for three years. If BYU hadn't been generous in that way, David would have had to have taken a serious pay cut since he would have had to start from the bottom all over again.

Also, I know I mentioned this before, but we talked to our Bishop & decided to have James' baby blessing on Sunday, January 16th. Both David & I have this feeling about baby blessing outfits -- you know, the white silky formal ones (like this one). We're really not that into them. So we bought a little outfit for him yesterday at Wal-Mart. For $5. And it's blue, not white. It's a pretty basic, normal-looking baby outfit. We didn't want to spend $40-$50 on a not-so-attractive formal outfit that he will only wear for a couple of hours (if that). Anyway, we are pretty excited for this. We don't have any family members who can participate in his blessing, so we've invited some close friends to do so. This should be a really special event for our family.

Anyway, that was kind of a lot of "new stuff". I'm sure we've got more stuff, but I can't give you all the good stuff in one blog post. You'd stop reading my blog. Plus, I can't think of anything else right now. :)

Tertipes Family Christmas

2010-12-25T14:50:00.005-07:00

Merry Christmas! I just thought I would share a few pictures from our first Christmas together with our new little baby boy!

Our Christmas Tree

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Our first Christmas together with the three of us.

(Apparently, Christmas is very exhausting for James.)

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James is super excited about the contents of his stocking.

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I actually AM pretty excited about my stocking goodies. Please take note of the DMC CD that David got for me from Honk's (the dollar store). Heck yes!

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David's stocking loot, including Hannah Montana reusable baggies & New Moon luncheon napkins. Woot!

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Our gift from Chris & Heidi (David's brother & sister-in-law). You can see how tiny James is compared to his new outfit.

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My gift to David (& myself, to be honest). James doesn't seem too pleased about Glee. We'll have to work on that.

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James as a present!

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Merry Christmas to Mom & Dad!

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David playing with his new badge & gun.

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Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T20:13:00.004-07:00

So, I was kind of lazy about the whole Christmas card thing this year. Mostly, it was because of having James (since I would have had my Christmas cards all ready by Thanksgiving like I usually do) & because I wanted to send out birth announcements for James & didn't want to design two cards & pay to mail them both out the everyone.

So here it is. My lame attempt at a Christmas card.

Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

Super Fun Bath Time

2010-12-23T21:49:00.003-07:00

I thought it was about time I posted a video for you! We decided to take the video camera in while we were giving James a bath this evening. You'll notice that he gets chopped off at the chest quite a bit in order to keep the video PG. It's also in a few different clips since David stopped video taping in order to help me out a couple of times.

Note: Please forgive the fact that a) I'm in my bathrobe & b) the camera cord makes a cameo in the last section of the video.

Otherwise, enjoy! :)

2011 Reading List

2010-12-23T08:44:00.004-07:00

I guess you could consider this my New Year's resolution. I love books. I love owning books & I love reading books. I often buy books that I'd like to read & either start but not finish (for one reason or another) or I just won't get around to reading them at all. The latter tends to happen when I buy multiple books at the same time & only get around to reading one or two of them. Needless to say, I have a good number of books that I've never read (or read all the way through).

Additionally, I married into an equally large book collection. There are two nice things about David's book collection... 1) half of his books are in German, so I don't have to feel guilty about never having read them and 2) his books are completely different from mine, so we have quite the diverse library. Actually, when we got married, we only had three books in common -- The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Atlas Shrugged & Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. (We kept both Shakespeare books & gave HP7 to David's mom. Atlas Shrugged is still up for grabs if anybody wants it.)

Anyway, back to my original point. Since I'm going to be spending so much more time at home now, rather than wasting it away by watching something on TV or playing around on the computer, I've decided to give myself a reading list for the upcoming year.

I chose 27 different books that I've either never read, never read all the way through or have read but I feel I need to read again (for whatever reason). And I should have just under two weeks to read each book. I'm sure I won't need that much time for most of them, but some of them are thicker than others, so I think this should even out well enough. And I have plenty more books that I could add to the list if I should finish earlier than expected.

I also wanted to make sure that my selections were well-rounded, so I broke up my choices into four categories: 1) religious books, 2) self-help or motivational books, 3) literature and 4) stuff I want to read just for fun or entertainment.

I also posted my reading list into my sidebar so that you can follow along in my reading adventure, if you'd like. I'm sure I'll also make occasional blog posts about what I'm reading or how my goal is progressing. I'm actually quite excited about this. So excited, in fact, that I'm going to start now rather than wait until January 1st, because who knows what will happen to my motivation by then if I don't start while I feel the burning desire to do so.

So, without further ado, here is my reading list for the upcoming year. I put a few notes in about why I chose to read certain selections as well, in case you are interested!

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2011 Reading List

Religious

* Believing Christ :: Stephen E Robinson

* A Marvelous Work and a Wonder :: LeGrand Richards

* Jesus the Christ :: James E Talmage

* The Great Apostasy :: James E Talmage

* The Holy Temple :: Boyd K Packer

* Standing for Something :: Gordon B Hinckley

* Yearning for the Living God :: F Enzio Busche

Self-Help

* The Nursing Mother’s Companion :: Kathleen Huggins

* Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child :: Marc Weissbluth

* Babyproofing Your Marriage :: Stacie Cockrell, Cathy O’Neill & Julia Stone

(^I've already read this one, but it was at the beginning of my pregnancy, so I feel like I could do with a refresher now that I actually have a use for this information.)

* The One Minute Manager :: Caitlin Friedman & Kimberly Yorio

(^I've read parts of this.)

* The Secret :: Rhonda Byrne

(^I've already read this one too, but I remember feeling incredible once I finished it, so it got a place on the list!)

* Finding the Love of Your Life :: Neil Clark Warren

(^Also read this, but it was waaaaay back in the day. It was actually a book I had to buy for one of my lower level Marriage & Family classes at BYU. I thought it would be fun to revisit after all this time.)

Literature

* The Hobbit :: J R R Tolkien

(^Never read any of Tolkien's work, but I've heard good things about this book, so I thought I'd give it a try. This was one of David's.)

* The Picture of Dorian Gray :: Oscar Wilde

* Little Women :: Louisa May Alcott

(^David had to buy this book for one of his classes this semester & I've always wanted to read it.)

* The Purgatorio :: Dante Alighieri

* The Paradiso :: Dante Alighieri

* Hamlet :: William Shakespeare

(^I've read some of Shakespeare's work, but not this one. This will be an adventure, I'm sure!)

Just for Fun

* The Host :: Stephenie Meyer

* Leven Thumps and the Whispered Secret :: Obert Skye

* Leven Thumps and the Eyes of the Want :: Obert Skye

* The Dark is Rising Series :: Susan Cooper

- Over Sea, Under Stone

- The Dark is Rising

- Greenwitch

- The Grey King

- Silver on the Tree

Not Being Lazy

2010-12-22T16:35:00.002-07:00

Aside from learning how to best care for my new baby boy, my newest goal is to figure out how to not feel like I'm being completely lazy all day long.

Obviously, I'm not just refusing to be productive. Taking care of James is a lot of work, as I knew it would be, but I'm starting to feel like my butt is glued down for most of the day. And James has just started getting into this phase where he is only content for about five minutes before he starts to screech. And when I say screech, I mean it. We have affectionately dubbed his screech "the pterodactyl scream". And that's exactly what he sounds like if he doesn't immediately get his cuddles. Or his food. He can hang out in a dirty diaper for a little while (without us knowing, of course... we don't just let our child wallow in his own filth), but once he gets sick of it, out comes the pterodactyl. And since he needs to eat every three hours at this point & it usually takes 45 minutes to an hour to nurse him, I rarely have time to shower or grab food or pee. I actually just realized today that I hadn't had a shower since Saturday. Gross. (And yes, I did get time to shower today!)

Anyway, I'm trying to make it a goal to accomplish something... anything... during the day. I wasn't too successful today. I did hang up a little bit of laundry, but that's it. The rest of my time was spent sitting on my butt watching 24 & messing around on Facebook. But I guess since I was nursing or soothing this little guy the whole time, I wasn't actually quite as lazy as this makes me sound.

Boy, my butt is numb.

Family Pictures

2010-12-21T18:39:00.007-07:00

Hooray! We finally had our first set of family pictures taken! We went to Fotogenix to have them done & one of my coworkers, Selena, took them for us. And I must say, she did a most fabulous job! I'm really happy with them.

And since David's mom was staying with us at the time, we decided to have a few done with her in them as well.

Three Generations

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James & Grandma

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This one is my favorite. :)

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While we were at it, I had Selena take some photos of James to mark his one month birthday (if you can call it a birthday). I love, love, LOVE these!

And here is James with his Pooh hat & blanket that he got from his Great-Grandma Tertipes.

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He is the most handsome little guy & makes for some good wall decorations in our apartment. :)

One Month Old

2010-12-20T17:55:00.000-07:00

I can't believe our little guy is one month old today!

He's developing his own little personality already. (See picture for example of attitude.) He also gets lots of attention whenever we go out in public. People are always coming up to me & telling me how tiny he is, how adorable he is or how he looks like a "little man". Or they'll comment on how fabulous his hair is. And, of course, they are completely correct. My mommy ego gets quite the boost. :)

He made it through his first three-hour church block yesterday & was quite the champ about it. We'll be blessing him next month; hopefully on January 16th.

We also had our first family pictures & James' one month pictures taken last Friday by a gal that I work with. I'll post them as soon as they are ready. James did a very good job posing & looking super handsome!

We love our little guy!

My Funny Little Man

2010-12-02T21:31:00.002-07:00

I love taking pictures of my little guy! (As if you couldn't tell by now.) He's just so stinkin' adorable. And tiny. And he won't stay this tiny for very long, so I've got to document, right?

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This picture slays me. It looks like he's singin' a song.

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Just the sweetest face there ever was.

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Crazy-faced kid.

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This kid has some seriously long toes. We refer to them as his "finger toes".

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James's Newborn Pictures

2010-11-29T14:16:00.003-07:00

Last night, I went to the studio with my mom & David so that I could take some newborn pictures of James. I just thought I would share them with you. :)

Thank Heavens for Grandmas

2010-11-28T12:20:00.002-07:00

I absolutely love my mom! It's been so wonderful to have her here these past couple of days. I didn't realize how nice the extra help would be until I actually got it. :)

She has helped us with cooking & cleaning & taking James so that we can take naps. She has also chauffeured me around town so that I can get a few errands accomplished (since I can't drive again yet). And it's been nice that David has been home for the holiday weekend, meaning that while my mom plays chauffeur to me, David can stay home with James since I don't plan to take him out into public during this cold season if I don't have to.

My mom will be here until Saturday. After that, David's mom plans on coming out to stay with us for two weeks. We are really blessed to have such giving families.

Thank heavens for grandmas. :)

First Night Home

2010-11-24T13:31:00.002-07:00

Last night was the night. Our first night home. In many ways, it was nice. We got home at about 1:30pm, so we had plenty of time to settle in. James slept most of the day away, which naturally meant that he did just the opposite come nighttime.

David & I tried to go to bed at about 9:30pm, which is normally pretty early for us. Of course, rather than anyone getting any sleep, James decided that he wanted to eat, then cuddle, then eat, then cuddle, then eat... you get it. This lasted pretty much all night. Any time we put him down, he protested. Loudly. At about 3am, David decided to fix this cuddling demand by letting him cuddle on us. It made me a little nervous because I didn't want him to roll off or get squished or something, but as soon as David brought him to bed, he knocked right out. After about an hour, I put him back down. And, of course, he again protested. We repeated the cuddling two more times before morning came. And naturally, that's when I fed him, changed him & he went right to sleep. Crazy kid.

So overall, I think I got about 2 hours of disjointed sleep. And now? He's sleeping on our bed & has been for most of the day. We've got to reverse this pattern. :)

It's been a joy to have him in our home, though. And all of our friends & neighbors have been very generous to us as well. Last night, our neighbors Jeff & Jackie Crane brought us a delicious dinner of taco soup & cornbread muffins. Later that night, we were contacted by two more of our neighbors to see if they could bring by dinner for tonight & Friday night. Today, yet another person called to make sure that we had dinners taken care of for the week. It's been really wonderful to know that so many people care & were thinking about us.

And to top everything off, both of our mothers are coming out to spend time with us & to help us take care of James in the coming weeks. We are really excited to see them & even more excited to know that decent sleep might be in our future!

Our Little Champ

2010-11-22T20:05:00.002-07:00

James has been quite the little "champ", as I like to call him. He's only been around for two and a half days & has been doing so well. So far, he's been a pretty good sleeper. I've had to wake him up to eat a few times. We're also just starting to get the hang of this whole nursing business. We had to use a little bit of formula to keep his blood sugar up, but he's been doing great & I think we're both starting to get much more comfortable with his feedings. He also doesn't fuss too much unless you are messing with him (as in trying to change him or re-swaddle him or something). And he absolutely loves to snuggle!

His personality so far is pretty mellow, but he makes the most hilarious facial expressions; many of which make him look exactly like his daddy!

A lot of the medical personnel that we've had help from can't seem to tell us enough just how adorable he is (& I'm sure they've seen their fair share of less-than-adorable babies).

He is truly a blessing to have around. I know that things will change as he grows & that he may not always be easy, but I'm going to enjoy this now while I've got it.

James is Finally Here!

2010-11-20T21:08:00.005-07:00

4:50am :: Wake up to get ready for our trip to the hospital.

5:45am :: Arrive at the hospital & get all checked in.

6:30am :: Nurse arrives & gets everything set up for Dr Parker.

7:00am :: Dr Parker arrives & they notify the anesthesiologist that I will need an epidural for the version.

7:45am :: The anesthesiologist attempts to give me an epidural four times before "succeeding", at which point, the epidural only works on the right half of my body.

8:00am :: Dr Parker attempts to turn the baby three times. Incredibly painful without a fully working epidural, but manageable. Instead of turning at all, the baby decides just to bury himself deeper & not move at all.

9:00am :: Dr Parker decides that we need to go ahead with the c-section, but that we need to decide on how to make sure that I'm pain-free since the epidural didn't take fully. The anesthesiologist was weary of doing a spinal since he hadn't been able to succeed with the epidural & there was always the option of putting me to sleep (which nobody wanted). He decided to try giving me a spinal & succeeded on his first attempt. (Hooray!)

9:31am :: Baby James came out perfectly beautiful & very squeaky (not screamy).

9:45am :: They whisk James & David away to give James a bath & do a few other things with him while they sewed me back up.

11:45am :: I finally get to see my baby boy again!

* * *

Here are some pictures!

Right before leaving for the hospital - 38 weeks, 4 days

Brand new & covered in gunk.

James Anthony Tertipes - 6 pounds, 6 ounces - 19 inches long

Goopy-eyed, but stinkin' cute. And check out his daddy's handsome chin.

Chillin'...

Lookin' like a stud.

First bath.

All clean!

Relaxing from a rough day...

The beginnings of an FBI file.

Mom & Baby.

Dad & Baby.

My Week of Insanity

2010-11-19T20:16:00.002-07:00

This week, instead of going by in a normal fashion, decided that it was going to be crazy. Just for the fun of it. And here's how it went down:

Monday :: Actually, pretty normal-ish. Went to work all day. That's about it.

Tuesday :: Day off from work. Had 38 week checkup. Blood pressure was super high & a couple other factors made the doctor think that I might have to have this baby before Saturday. Ordered me to cut out all heavy physical activity (including photography). Ordered a couple of lab tests & decided that we were good to go. Phew. Had to call work to tell them that they had to rearrange the schedule to find a different photographer for my last few days.

Wednesday :: Woke up with a slight sore throat. Went to work at 10am as usual. Since I couldn't shoot, my manager sent my home by 2pm (instead of 7pm). Had a whole day to run errands. Sore throat got worse & congestion hit, along with a major headache. No sleep that night.

Thursday :: Woke up at 5:15am & couldn't fall asleep due to yucky sickness. At 6:15am, ate some cereal & took a hot shower in hopes of falling back asleep. Woke up again at 8am & called the clinic to make sure the sickness wasn't connected to Tuesday's abnormal findings. We both called off of work, got checked out & all was fine. No temp, no bacteria, just sinus yuckiness. Took a 3.5 hour nap. Felt a little better. Home teachers came by. Went to Los Hermanos for dinner & went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1. Went to bed at 3am. (Yikes!)

Friday :: Went to work all day for the last time. Hooray! Went to a ward Thanksgiving dinner. Now, we're laying in bed watching Avatar: The Last Airbender. Next up: Throw a few last minute things into the hospital bag, get some shut-eye & get up bright and early to be at the hospital at 5:45am.

What a week! It feels like it was crazier than it sounds when I write it out, but I'm so glad that we're finally here! Tomorrow is the big day & I will certainly post pictures & other fabulousness when I get the chance. :)

My Last Saturday

2010-11-13T20:49:00.002-07:00

I have been waiting for this day for a looooooong time.

Today was my last Saturday working full time at my job! And I cannot tell you how happy I am that this day is finally over. Not that I usually wish all of my days away, but photographing appointments back-to-back has become quite the chore these last few weeks. And since Saturdays are usually pretty busy days, that just makes it that much tougher. Last Saturday, I was incredibly sore from all of the shoots that I had; so much so that I couldn't get out of bed on Sunday for half of the day. I was pretty booked today, but my lovely coworker, Selena, took a couple of my appointments in the middle of the day since her outdoor schedule had a large afternoon gap. That, combined with the fact that I knew that this would be my last Saturday, were the only reasons I made it through the day!

Bonus: I still managed to clean a little when I got home! My wonderful husband had done all of the dishes & cleaned the stove, so I proceeded to finish cleaning the rest of the kitchen, including the cupboards.

Time to get a snack & lay in bed watching some sort of chick flick until David gets home from the theatre. Sounds like a plan to me.

Nine Days & Counting

2010-11-11T09:23:00.003-07:00

You had to know that I couldn't just sit here and not be counting the days, right?

Okay, well, as exciting as it is, we are still trying to make the most of each day that we have & enjoy ourselves while still preparing for the happy little change that is soon to come.

Last Tuesday, after finding out our date, I made it our goal that we will get our house in order & get our "to-do" list stuff accomplished this week. As in by Saturday. That's kind of a big task around here since we are always so busy, but it's certainly doable. Tuesday evening, we tackled our living room (leaving out only my two sewing projects) & put together a couple of last minute things in the nursery. Last night, we were both pretty exhausted, but we managed to hang the curtains in the nursery (making it 100% complete!) & I gave David a very-much-needed haircut. Tonight, I'm hoping to either tackle my sewing projects or possibly the bathroom, just depending on what kind of mood I'm in. David will be at the theatre tonight, tomorrow, Saturday & Monday nights, so I'm going to try to get as much done as I can while he's gone. And, of course, since he'll have Saturday during the day to do some things while I'm at work, he'll get a little "to-do" list of his own of things I didn't feel like doing myself. It works out in the end. :)

Next week, the only thing we really have planned is to go to the midnight showing of Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows (Part 1). We bought our tickets a while ago, hoping that if we went as soon as we possibly could that we could still see it at the movie theater before the baby arrived. And then, of course, we will be going out on Friday night. I was able to get off at 5pm (the same time as David) so that we could go out to dinner together, after which we imagine that we'll go home & finish packing for the hospital & then turn in nice & early since we have to get up at 4:30am on Saturday morning to get to the hospital by 5:30am.

In the meantime, I'll still be working full-time & David will continue with his regular school & work schedules. I'm hoping that this will help to not have time drag on during this next week & a half. :)

Finally!

2010-11-09T11:19:00.002-07:00

All right. Here it is. The final word on what's going on with our little guy.

So I had my 37 week appointment today with my regular doctor, Dr Parker. Just as I suspected, our little boy was still breech, so he presented us with a whole bunch of options as far as what we could do to make sure that he was born safe. Since Dr Parker has been delivering babies well before I was born, he let us know that he'd "seen it all & done it all" & that we could take whichever course we wanted, but let us know the risks & benefits to all of it. When it was all said & done, we decided that we would schedule a day to be admitted into the hospital to see if Dr Parker could get the baby to flip around. I really want to avoid a c-section & this was the best way to try to eliminate that possibility. If he's successful (which has about a 50-60% success rate in first time mothers), then they would go straight ahead with an induction that day. If he's unable to get him to turn around, then they would proceed with the c-section. The nice thing about scheduling this is that they are going to hook me up & get everything ready as if they are going to do a c-section so that if it comes to it, they are already completely prepared for surgery.

And the date that we go in? November 20. That's in 11 days! So crazy! We are really excited, but now that we have a definite date that he's going to come, it makes everything much more real & in-your-face. I have a lot of preparing to do!

That date ends up working out perfectly with my work as well as with when my mom was already scheduled to come out to visit us & with David's work / school schedules. It's nice to not have to worry about the surprise of it all & knowing how things will work out (to a small degree).

We are super excited to meet our little boy so soon! And we can't wait to tell you all about it when he gets here! :)

Date Night

2010-11-05T23:36:00.002-06:00

Tonight, David & I went to a BYU hockey game. His German class got together with a couple of other classes & got a good deal on tickets -- as in only $1 per ticket. :)

Conveniently, we were playing the University of Utah. It was a pretty intense game, as most rival games are. And awesomely enough, we won 4-3. And while we were there, we realized that we actually knew the team captain, as he & his wife used to be in our ward. (And we didn't even know he played hockey at all!)

It was pretty fun. Well, other than the part where a girl in the crowd got pegged in the ear by a stray puck. But we had a really good time, despite the cold & traffic & construction.

Time for sleep now.

Insomnia

2010-11-04T05:00:00.003-06:00

...and a little bit of middle-of-the-night heartburn, just for fun. :)

It's not like I don't think that getting up at 3:30am for no apparent reason isn't simply the coolest thing on the planet, but I kinda had my heart set on some sleep. Especially since I worked over 11 hours yesterday, shot six rather exhausting sessions & had a baby head stuck in my ribs the entire time, just for added comfort.

I'm kind of jealous of David right now. Not only because he's asleep & I'm not, but because he can seriously sleep through anything. I mean it. My big, achy pregnant self needs a lot of help these days rolling over in bed & I've been using him as my human lever to make things easier on me (since I know he won't wake up). I will literally grab onto his opposite shoulder & use that to hoist myself over onto my opposite hip. Or, if I'm already facing that way & want to go the other way, I just put my arm against his ribs & push off that way. And he never wakes up. Guess we're both kind of lucky like that. :)

Okay. Here I go attempting to get back to sleep after an hour & a half of lovely awakedness. Good night. Maybe.

Baby News Update

2010-11-02T18:52:00.002-06:00

I had my 36 week doctor's appointment today. I had to schedule it with a different doctor, Dr Young, as my regular doctor, Dr Parker, was gone this week. (There are four physicians in this practice, so this sometimes happens & it's not a big deal.) I saw Dr Young for my 34 week appointment as well for the same reason. Both doctors are pretty nice & know their stuff, so I wasn't worried about it.

Last week, before my 35 week appointment with Dr Parker, I had a Non-Stress Test (NST) done because I hadn't noticed as much movement in the couple of weeks prior. While I was having the test done, Dr Parker came in & visited me to make sure everything was going well because he had an emergency with one of his other patients & needed to leave right before seeing me. (It was pretty good of him to stop by for a minute to check on me, considering he had to leave in such a hurry.) He told me that he'd planned on checking a few things during this appointment, but that I'd have to wait until next week since he wouldn't be able to do it right then. Among those things was checking the baby's position. The baby has been breech during my entire pregnancy & they wanted to make sure he'd turned around before I became full term (at 37 weeks) so that I could deliver him.

Back to today's appointment with Dr Young: I told Dr Young what Dr Parker & I had discussed the week before so that he could check me for the things that Dr Parker planned on checking me for last week. Everything looked pretty normal. At first, when we were talking about the baby's position, he mentioned how it wasn't really something that we needed to worry about until next week (when I became full term), but he did a quick ultrasound in the room to check his position & he was still breech. He told me that I should go home & put a bag of frozen peas on my belly where his head is to get him to flip around. He told me that Dr Parker would check me again next week & see if the baby was still breech. If he is still breech, Dr Parker would then schedule me a day to go to the hospital so that he could do an external cephalic version, where he would manually try to turn the baby around. If that works, they would induce me right then. If it doesn't work, they would do a c-section at that time. Dr Young told me that they usually do this around 38-39 weeks.

Bottom line: Either this little guy flips over in the next week or we will have to schedule his birthday. I'm not opposed to knowing when I'll be having this baby (because I certainly love to be prepared for big things like this), but I really really do not want to have a c-section. I'm hoping that if we do end up having to schedule it that Dr Parker will be able to turn him around.

Hopefully, I'll have more news about this after my appointment next Tuesday morning!

This Mormon Madhouse

Four More Days

Bank Holidays + Fotogenix = Mega Disasters

Crybaby

Happy New Year!

So Much To Do

Our Sort of Biggish News

New Birthday Toy

The Sweetest Thing

James' 1 Year Portraits

James' First Birthday Party

On My Own Two Feet

Happy Halloween!

Motherhood Is Hard Enough As It Is...

James' 11 Month Portraits

Videos! Videos! Videos!

James' 10 Month Portraits

James' 9 Month Portraits

Watermelon Monster

Graduation

Dinner in the Park

Lack of Blogging, Too Much Excitement

Nom Nom Nom...

Escape Artist

Babyproofing

More Awesome Video of James

James' 8 Month Portraits

You Can Never Have Too Much...

Free the Leash Kids?

Silly Little Boy

Mr Messy

Microaggressions

Crawling Around

New Decade, New Goals, New Blog

Moving This Blog...

James's New Pool

Late Bloomer?

Getting So Big

Continuous Sleep!

Who Wants Free Money?

Crawling

Back to School, Back to School...

Memorial Day Adventures

Bad Mommy

Sick Boy

Super Duper Update

Day 20 :: This Month

Day 19 :: Something You Regret

Zander

Day 18 :: Your Favorite Memory

Day 17 :: Your Favorite Birthday

Day 16 :: Your Dreams

Day 15 :: Your First Kiss

Why I'm Awesome Today

Day 14 :: What You Wore Today

Day 13 :: This Week

James' Three Month Pictures

Day 12 :: What's In Your Bag?

Three Months Old

Day 11 :: Your Siblings

Day 10 :: What You Wore Today

Day 9 :: Your Beliefs

How I live my faith

Why I am a Mormon

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a ward/stake/branch?

Are all Mormons required to serve a mission?

How can we stop the spread and influence of pornography?

James' New Trick

Day 8 :: A Moment

Day 7 :: Your Best Friend

Day 6 :: Your Day

Day 5 :: Your Definition of Love

Day 4 :: What You Ate Today

Day 3 :: Your Parents

Day 2 :: First Love

Day 1 :: Introduce Yourself

30 Day Blog Challenge

Fabulous Photo Shoot 2

Fabulous Photo Shoot