Things I Love

Every day I realize there are new things that I love about my life, especially my little boy. Here are some of my favorite things:

• The way Jake smiles and stretches when I wake him up.
• When I'm feeding Jake, he puts his under-side arm in between my arm and my side. While he's eating, he rubs my side and it's so sweet. With his other arm, he rubs it back and forth across my chest until he finds the perfect place to grab onto my shirt. He'll hold my shirt and try to pull it toward his face. Granted, these things only happen when he's calmly eating, which isn't every time. But, when he's calm, especially with his dreamfeed at night, it is pretty much the sweetest thing ever. 
• Jake is a master manipulator. When he's going to sleep for naps he usually cries. He just doesn't really like going down for them, but he's getting better at it. I'll let him cry for a few minutes before going in to check on him. I sssh him and sometimes give him his pacifier and about 75% of the time, he'll look up at me with these tired eyes and give a big, sweet smile. It makes me want to get him out of his crib and just squeeze him instead of making him sleep. Manipulator. It's a good thing that mommy knows that he has to take naps or else he'll be a crank. 
• How there are new and exciting things that Jake discovers every day. Yesterday, it was his feet. I put him in his bouncy chair while I was taking a shower, hoping he would fall back asleep. Instead he stared at his feet while kicking them around. He also tried to bend down to grab his feet. It was a good thing he was strapped in or else he would have easily been on the floor. 
• When he cuddles up to me and/or Bryce when we hold him. 
• Our grey cat, Will, sleeps in the baby's room while he's napping. He'll curl up on the recliner, on a blanket next to the crib, or in the baby's bouncy chair. If the baby starts crying, Will comes to find me to make sure I know Jake's upset. 
• I LOVE nap times. Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with Jake when he's awake, it is one of my favorite things. But, when he takes a good nap (which is getting to be more and more often) and I can actually get things done (like the laundry or dishes) or waste some time catching up on my TV shows and pinning on Pinterest, it is the best. Being a mom has this way of making you feel completely inhuman and definitely not like your previous "pre-mom" self. Having this little bit of time to be human again and not just a mom makes me feel more normal and like myself again. 
• Weight Watchers. I love it. It is the only diet that I know of that is readily approved for nursing moms because its not really a "diet". It is more about eating well, which I should be doing anyway. But with WW, there is a points value associated with every food and depending on your height, gender, and the fact that I'm nursing, I'm given a certain amount of points to eat for the day and then a number of cheat points for the week. Just having points associated with food makes it encouraging to eat fruits, veggies, and lean meat and discourages against eating junk. I'm one week in and I've lost those last 5 stubborn pounds of pregnancy weight and 4.5" total from my various body measurements.
• I really love dressing Jake up. I am a girly girl. If I have a girl next time, you can guarantee she will have matching bows for every outfit and she will probably wear cute, frilly dresses every day. But, I had a boy first (which I have always wanted) which means that I have to dress him up in cute boy clothes. He wears plaid button downs, striped thermal onesies, jeans, matching shoes, and so on. There are such cute boy clothes out there and you better believe I love dressing my boy up every day. Some days he just wears pajamas all day, but if we go out you better believe he's dressed up. 
• Holidays. I am so excited for the holiday season. I got my Halloween decorations out the other day and can't wait for Thanksgiving and especially Christmas. Fall and the holiday season is my favorite time of the year and it will be even more exciting to experience it with a baby.

Pack-n-Play

We now own all of the "big" (aka most expensive) items from our baby registry (except the pump I registered for, but I'm thinking that's one gift I will need to get myself). We have the crib, changing table, and mattress for the baby's room (I will be sure to post some pictures one day when they're all put together). This past weekend we got the Jeep stroller, which Bryce and my dad just loved when it was all put together, and ordered the carseat and pack-n-play. They came in via UPS on Tuesday and I couldn't wait to get them out and put together. The pack-n-play didn't take much putting together, but I did assemble all the parts onto it including the mobile, bassinet, and changing tray. It took about 2 minutes once it was all put together for this to happen: 

I didn't even have enough time to find my phone to take a picture to send to my mom before he just had to jump inside. Unfortunately for us, Harry found the pack-n-play to be amazing. He spends pretty much all of his kitty sleep time (which is like 16 hours a day) in there. This is what I found a few hours after putting it all together:

Both kitties finding the pack-n-play the perfect resting spot. Harry particularly likes the little cave space under the changing tray. When I got up this morning, this little face perked out from the cave to greet me: 

What, oh what are we going to do when the baby comes? Hopefully I can put the baby in there and the cats will just run away and want nothing to do with him until they realize this little play pen belongs to the baby, not to them. I think we're going to put the pack-n-play in our room for the baby to sleep in until he moves into his crib. After that, we will keep it downstairs in the living room for a diaper changing place as well as a nap place/play place when mom and dad are downstairs and need to put him somewhere and keep an eye on him. I'm glad we went with this one, its got everything you could possibly need, was well priced, and got great reviews. 

SevenSlings

A few weeks ago, Kileen told me about an offer for a free baby sling (still had to pay shipping) from SevenSlings.com. I don't think I'll be much of a toting-baby-around-in-a-sling mommy, but I figured if all I had to pay was $11.95 (shipping) I might as well try it out. If anything, I could figure out how it's made and make more for myself or for friends. (Just a side note--why does it cost $12 to ship a light-as-air piece of fabric about 20 miles? I got mine in the mail yesterday to see that it came from Lehi, Utah, which is literally 15 minutes away. The $40 sling was free, so I guess its ok.) The fabric is nice and seems sturdy, so I am happy with my purchase. 

I was looking through the booklet to see how to wear it and once I had it on I thought, "I wonder how heavy it will feel once a baby is in here". Then I looked down to see my sweet William laying on the floor near my feet. He weighs about 9 pounds, which is (hopefully) a little more than a newborn, so I bent down, picked him up, and put his sweet little kitty booty in the sling. Bryce thought this was funny, so he took a few pictures.

This first picture was right after I got him in, so he doesn't look very happy about it. After a few minutes, he just kinda settled in and laid there like this: 

It wasn't until I started walking around with him in there that he wanted out. The sling, with 9ish pounds of cat in it, was actually quite comfortable. I can see myself walking around the house, with the baby in it, while I do chores and such. For all of you who are dying to get one too, go to the website and enter promo code "heart". (I know, how lucky am I that I got another promo code for one in my inbox yesterday?) I'm not sure how long the promo will last since it was for Valentine's Day, but when I got on there earlier today to test it out, it was still working. Happy slinging!

Silly Dog

Watch this video. I know it is COMPLETELY childish, but I could not stop laughing when I saw it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WttfqFnah0U

Now I want to get one and see what the cats would do....

Tutu

I brought home some new fabric for making headband/hair clip/pin flowers last weekend. I got some tulle this time. I cut out a few strips from the white tulle, dropped it on the ground, and then left the room for a minute to get a glass of water. I came back and found this:

Now, everyone thinks my sweet cat is a girl upon meeting him. He's really pretty and has BIG green eyes, plus, he prances instead of walking....so I don't blame anyone who thinks he's a girl. So, of course when I see him wrapped up in the tulle, I ask my pretty little kitty if he wants mommy to make him a tutu. He immediately flipped over and gave me this look:

Yes, that is some serious stink eye I am getting from my little boy. I guess he's sick of being called a girl.

100

This is my 100th post!! So I would like to take the time to tell you 100 things I love/am grateful for.

1. Husband
2. My Mom
3. My Dad
4. In-laws
5. 2 Best Friends
6. Music
7. School
8. A Job (that I LOVE)
9. Sister
10. Brothers- and Sisters-in-law
11. The Gospel
12. My Cats
13. Health
14. The Temple
15. The Savior
16. All of my music friends that help grad school be bearable
17. My Teachers
18. Scholarships
19. Government Grants
20. A nice house to live in
21. Clothes on my back
22. Food on my table
23. Shoes on my feet
24. The Bible
25. The Book of Mormon
26. Living Prophets today
27. The gym
28. Hugs
29. Kisses
30. Unconditional Love
31. Crafts
32. A creative mind
33. Missed opportunities that help lead to better opportunities
34. Utah's love for community theater (which has allowed me 2 operatic roles outside of school this summer)
35. Opera
36. The Armed Forces that keep our country safe
37. Freedom
38. Christmas
39. Friendly neighbors (finally!)
40. 2 Cars, even though Bryce and I mostly share just 1
41. The Internet
42. Halloween
43. Setting Goals
44. Making Lists
45. Airplanes (even though my recent experiences with flying/purchasing tickets may have made me feel otherwise)
46. 4th of July 
47. Decorating
48. Teapots
49. TV--specifically some of my favorite TV shows, including:
50. Friends
51. Gossip Girl
52. Grey's Anatomy
53. and Anything on Bravo
54. Ikea (especially since we are still poor college students)
55. Bubble Baths
56. Massages
57. Manicures/Pedicures (and a mother-in-law who loves to get them when she visits)
58. Air conditioning during the hot summer months
59. Snow
60. That I can help others be better at something
61. Blogging/Reading others' blogs
62. Easter 
63. Chocolate
64. Thanksgiving
65. Movie marathons curled up on the couch
66. TV season marathons with Jess
67. Shopping
68. Hope/Planning for the future
69. Traveling 
70. Having to get up really early for something exciting
71. Staying up way too late
72. Talking on the phone to people I can't see often
73. Curiosity (especially from my cats)
74. Hobbies
75. Reconnecting with long lost friends
76. Facebook
77. A washer and dryer in my house
78. Watching sports on TV
79. Going to a baseball game
80. Babies (no experience with my own yet, but one day)
81. Being a girl
82. Lace, Ruffles, and Pearls
83. Video games to keep my husband occupied when I need to get something done
84. Having a really clean house (it doesn't happen often, but it feels so good when it does)
85. Generosity of others
86. Camping
87. Finding new craft ideas online
88. Playing games
89. InStyle magazine that comes in the mail once a month 
90. The Ensign
91. Real Simple magazine that also comes in the mail once a month
92. The Classical Singer website and all of the useful information it contains (including auditions)
93. A computer
94. Houston (which Bryce and I both miss terribly, although I don't know if we'll be saying that after we go home for 2 weeks in August)
95. Dreams
96. Funny Stories
97. Celebrity Gossip
98. Dancing
99. My iPod 
100. Sleep

Kitties

I was cleaning house today, so I put all of the cat toys under their little hut in the living room downstairs. I went upstairs and cleaned the bathroom. I came back downstairs to find this:

Will was under the hut.... hoarding ALL the toys. Then I looked across the room to find this: 

Harry was staring at Will and all the toys. Notice in the picture of Will, he's giving Harry the stink eye. These boys are so hilarious.

A Nightmare Realized

So one of our worst nightmares was realized yesterday. I woke up and was getting ready for school. I was going about my normal routine: woke up, took a shower, went downstairs to get breakfast, and went back upstairs to blow dry my hair and put my makeup on. I realized when I was about to leave that I hadn't seen Harry all morning. He wasn't laying on the downstairs couch like he is every morning when I go down to get breakfast. I started to look in his normal spots and couldn't find him. Then I realized that I hadn't seen him since before I left for Opera Scenes the night before. I went up to Bryce (who had just pressed snooze on his alarm) and told him that I thought Harry was gone. We went around the house calling his name and sure enough, no response. So, we ran outside and each went a different way calling his name. About a half an hour passed and we had no luck. I went back in the house and called for Harry with no luck. Then, just as I went back outside I heard Bryce calling for me to get some treats. He had found Harry. Harry was about 12 townhouses down from ours underneath their bay window. The poor baby had been outside in the cold all night. It was an awful experience. It was not a great way to start my day. I also had graduate school auditions yesterday. They went well. All of my scores are high enough to qualify me for the program, so now the vocal faculty just needs to make their decision. I should know something by the middle of March. Last night was also my final performance of my solo roles in Opera Scenes. It went well. At least the day wasn't a total disaster.

Our little boy

We have had Will now for a little over a year. I was looking through some pictures that I have and found this one:

He is laying on top of our couch. I don't think I've ever put this picture up anywhere, but I have no idea why, because it is so cute. I just had to show everyone my cute little boy. Hopefuly I spelled everything right... Will is sitting in front of me blocking most of my view of the computer right now.

Hilarious

The other day, Bryce and I were looking through this cat breeds book that we got when we were in Illinois and decided to look on this adoption website that we found to see what they had near us. So we are looking at all the different cat breeds one by one and we get to Sphynx (for anyone who doesn't know, this is a hairless cat) and we see there is an adult one for adoption in Provo. So we click on the agency's name (since we had not seen any others in Provo) to look at their website. On it, they have a list of adoptable pets (mostly dogs). So we are scrolling through looking at all the cuties when we came across this little gem:These adorable little Chihuahuas (I secretly want one) are brother and sister and yes, the little boy's name is Beaner. That is awesome and that is all I have to say. :)

Will

Our second little boy is Will. We adopted him after we moved up to Utah. When we lived in Baton Rouge, we cat-sat for Bryce's friend Zack for about 6 months or so. Harry grew up with another cat around, so when we moved to Utah and gave Chino (Zack's cat) back, Harry was depressed. Bryce and I decided we'd look for another kitten so that Harry could have a buddy again. We went to several shelters in the area and ended up back at the first one we visited for our little boy, Will. Here he is just after coming home from the Vet's office (this was not his favorite trip, if you know what I mean). We were worried a little about the cats getting along, especially since Will was so small when we got him. They kept their distance for a few days, but before we knew it they were best friends. They are so cute when they play and especially when they sleep together.
Will is so fun and playful. He is definately a mama's boy. He always follows me around and tries to sleep on my head. Most mornings I wake up with my pillow hi-jacked. His favorite time is when I get ready for bed because that means I will use the bathroom sink. As soon as I go into the bathroom he lays down in the sink and refuses to get out until I turn the water on and flood him out. Then he will stand on the edge of the sink and bat at the water and lick his paws.
We love our little boys. They are so cute and keep us on our toes.

Harry

Bryce and I have adopted two cats. Harry is our first little boy. We, I mean, I adopted him about a month before we got married. Bryce had gone to Las Vegas for his brother Dru's wedding. We had talked about getting a cat because we both love animals and a dog would be too much to take care of with us both in school and working. I was bored with Bryce out of town and all the wedding plans finished so I decided to go to the animal shelter to just take a look at the kittens they had. I saw Harry there and asked the lady to let him out. He walked around a little and I sat on the ground to play with him. Next thing I knew, he climbed up onto my knee and just sat there. As the lady talked about adoption, he just curled up and went to sleep on my knee. After that I decided I couldn't leave him there, so even with Bryce not there to make the decision I adopted him. this is Harry just a week or so after we got him:He was so awkward and scrawny when we got him, I don't know why I thought he was cute. But, he has grown up so well and is such a pretty kitty. I love this next picture. He looks like he's in a cloud. (It's just our down comforter on the couch.
This is my favorite picture of my little boy. He is so cute and has grown up to be one of the best looking cats I've ever seen. He is still very playful and loves attention, especially from his Dad.
Since neither Bryce nor I had ever had a cat before, we weren't quite sure how to raise him, so we treated him basically like a dog. He plays fetch, comes when you call his name and responds to words when you ask him a question, like "do you want some food?". He is so cute and I wouldn't give him up for the world.