Day 07 - A picture of your most treasured things.

The Things I Treasure Most

I changed the topic of this post from item to things because my kids aren't items of mine. However, they are a part of my life that I treasure most. They have taught me so much about myself, both good and bad. They teach me that there is always something better in life to look forward to and that tomorrow is always worth getting excited for, no matter how hard today was. Both of them are huge blessings to me in ways that I can't fully describe. I am so grateful the Lord has given me Riann and Colby and that he trusts me enough to raise his children. I know I have LOTS to work on as a mom but I'm grateful that the Lord has also provided a way for me to learn from my mistakes and get better as I go. I know I'll never be a perfect mother but with each smile I get and each moment I have to cuddle and kiss my babies I know that it will be fun and worth the eternity I have to work on perfection.

More Easter

This will be a quick one. I got the rest of our Easter pictures up and wanted to add them.

I still haven't gotten into the knack of gift buying because we have such fantastic Grandparents and they are so wonderful and making sure the kids have great treats during the holidays. We decided to keep things simple and low key this year and we added a few things to their gift but for the most part the Grandparents got Riann and Colby these wonderful gifts.

On the left is Colby's gift, the middle is Paul and mine, and on the right is Riann's.
On the top is the layout and how Riann and Paul found them in the morning.

We decided last minute to hide a few Easter eggs
around the house for Riann to find in the morning.

Riann breaking into her Easter basket and FINALLY getting to eat the chocolate
bunny she had been waiting for 3 LONG weeks to have.
Colby just had fun watching.

Taking family pictures after church.
(I think it would have gone over MUCH better had we done it before church.)

Riann in the 4 beautiful Easter dresses she got from her
Grandma and Grandpa Vreeken and from Big Jim and Grandma Cheri.

We had a very simple but fantastic Easter. Hope you all did too!!!

New Baby Food

modernhomemodernbaby.com

We have been working with Colby for the last two months on eating cereal and drinking from a bottle. We haven't made any progress on the bottle (this kid can't figure out how to suck on a bottle or a pacifier for the life of him) but we're slowly making progress on the food. He really struggles eating off of a spoon and HATES cereal so I've been trying to find other options for feeding him. In an effort to find different things he liked it seems like I was just creating a bigger distaste for food, especially when he was being spoon fed. I got to the point where I would feed him with a syringe because he had such a hard time with a spoon. He would do okay with the first tablespoon but then when the cereal taste set in he'd get very upset with me. I kept trying to figure out different options with the syringe but I didn't know how I was going to keep doing this when it was time to move onto baby foods that were thicker.

A while back my mom had mentioned that she had seen a family friend feed her new baby food from pouches at a baby shower she had gone to. She though it was the coolest thing, seeing how things have changed since she was feeding little ones. I didn't really think twice about it because I had never seen anything like that and I was so frustrated with how things were going I just didn't want to waist anymore money on food. After getting advice from friends I had been working with Colby on different table foods like carrots, peas and bananas and he did well with them but he couldn't get the knack for chewing or picking them up like I hoped.

In the Easter package my mom sent for both kids she included the Gerber Yogurt Melts for Colby. I was happy to have some on hand because Riann LOVED them and I thought maybe when Colby was a little older he'd like them too. After looking at the package of yogurt melts a million times I thought to myself, "Colby already knows how to chew and swallow his freeze dried Antacid pill - why couldn't he eat these if they were broken up?" So after asking Paul what he thought, we tried them out. Colby was a little unsure of them at the beginning but after a few bites he really seemed to enjoy them. After making progress on those, the conversation I had with my mom about the baby food pouches came back to mind. I thought maybe I should look into them more thinking, "Colby hasn't been a "traditional" kid from the beginning so maybe I should start looking into less traditional ways to feed him". I had looked at the few stores we have here in Rexburg and didn't have any luck. After talking to the friend of mine who my mom had mentioned in our conversation I found that these pouches were sold at Target. Sadly our only Target is in Idaho Falls which is 30 minutes from Rexburg. I had gotten super anxious to try these and I couldn't get them out of my mind. I ended up needing to do a run to Sam's club and using that as my excuse I packed up the kids as soon as Paul had the car home and we set off.

Last night we tried one of the new pouches and it was so happy with the results. They aren't anything amazing in terms of taste. They have odd "flavor" combinations but in general they are just like any other kind of baby food. Colby wasn't sure of the taste at first and he wont eat a ton at each setting but I can lay him in my arms and squeeze a tiny amount of food into his mouth at a time. He has such a hard time eating sitting up because he can't get the food back past the tip of his tongue and so feeding him this way seems to help him eat, swallow and enjoy his food. It's also a lot cleaner for a kid like him because we can keep his hands out of the way and we don't have to scoop up everything he accidentally spits out as he's trying to tongue/swallow his food.

What I love about these too is I don't have to empty them into a bowl and worry about them spoiling before I can get back to it. I just have to warm the pouch up in a cup of warm water, screw off the lid and serve. Then when Colby's done I can put the lid back on and keep the rest in the fridge. We are also able to feel him more often each day with these because he has an easier time eating. With the cereals and other baby foods it was such a pain to set up a meal that I never wanted to do it more than once because I never wanted him dressed when he ate he was so messy. I think I'll be buying a lot more as long as he continues to like this method and as long as he keeps eating. This has been a great change in our routine and so far it has been a great product!!!

Fun in the Sun and Happy Easter

What a beautiful Easter weekend!!! And as far as we know Sunday should be even better than today!!!

The last week or two have been a little hard on us, especially Riann, because it's been fairly nice outside, with a little wind, but it's been C-O-L-D. Too cold to take the kiddos out even dressed in warm clothes, well, with what warm clothes we have left in the house... :-/

Each morning this last week Riann has woken up and come into the living room and checked the trees. When she sees that they aren't moving or barely moving she immediately comes to Paul or I and says, "It's not windy, can we go outside to play today?!" It has been so hard to tell her no. She has been a great sport about it though. She's had mild cabin fever but she's really been great with understanding why we can't get out. I'm excited for the change in weather that will hopefully be coming soon though. Colby seems to like being out side just as much as the rest of us, which is wonderful because Riann HATED being outside her first 6 months. I'm glad he's pretty relaxed about that.

Last night when we checked the weather report for this weekend we were excited to see that we were going to possibly get temps up in the 50's today and we just couldn't stay inside. We had originally planned to just participate in the Easter egg hunt down the street but as we were coordinating times with a few of our friends and found that one family was already at the park and another one of our friends were on the way to meet them. Once we learned that we dropped everything we were doing and rushed out the door. It was a fantastic day!! It was so much fun to have Paul with us at the park this time. Riann loved playing with him and just having him around all day long and I have to admit I was a little excited to spend the extra time outside of the house with him too.

Riann at the park.

Family trip down the slide.

Colby at the park.

After our fun park adventure we rushed to do a few errands and then booked it over to the Egg Hunt. We cut it close but we were lucky that we weren't the only other ones arriving right on the dot. When we got there we were directed to the young children's section, for kids age 0-3. We waited for about 5 minutes, got the rules on the event, and the kids were set lose. Riann did a lot better this year but she didn't go as crazy and I was kind of hoping she would. As I was watching her collect eggs I slowly realized that she was only collecting pink eggs. I don't know when she started liking pink but today seemed to be a big day for pink. After a little coaxing she decided to pick up a few other colors and some of the other treats that were sitting down on the grass. I was hoping to post a video so you could see it all but I wont load :-(. Maybe I'll get it up on YouTube and get a link to it later. The most important thing was that Riann really seemed to have a lot of fun. I think she was tired and not feeling too well but over all I think she had good day too.

At the Easter Egg Hunt.

We had a great day today and I'm so grateful for this season. As a family we need to spend more time studying the life of the Savior and learning the true lessons of Easter. I am so grateful for the Lord's sacrifice and what it means for my life. I know that he rose from the tomb on the 3rd day and at that time he granted me the chance to truly be forgiven.

I'm grateful for the Savior who died so that I could live again. I hope that we can all take a little time to reflect in this blessing and what it means for our lives.

Happy Easter Everyone!!

60 Day Challenge and Life Updates

So I had to take a break from the challenge because I got the flu and we were traveling. We had to go to SLC for Colby's surgery follow up appointment and we didn't take our computer. We had to cut the trip short due to the flu and so we decided to not worry about the extra space. Colby's appointment went really well though. We we ere approved to move him into his own room and he is now sleeping in our office. It's been a hard transition for me, just like it was with Riann, but I think we're all sleeping a little better now. I still have the monitor on so I can her him while I fall asleep and so I can respond faster if he wakes up in the night, which he still does on occasion, but he has been doing much better at going down the first time and staying down for a few hours, instead of it taking 3 or 4 tries to get him down and hoping that he doesn't wake up when we crawl in bed. That has taken a TON of stress off of me. If we could only get him to sleep a full 10-12 hours I would be one happy Momma.

We also learned at our appointment that he's healing really well and that everything is working out like it should. We have to go back to Primary's for one more sleep study and if he passes that (assuming he'll actually complete it without screaming his head off) we'll be able to take him off oxygen while he sleeps. I'm excited for that and hope that we are able to start moving forward like normal but a little scared of not having the back up just in case. I know everything will workout just like it's meant to though and regardless we'll all be okay.

Now onto the 60 Day Challenge. I've decided that this is going to be more 60 things about me than a daily challenge. During the time I had my break I decided that I was pushing myself too hard to get on the computer once a day to post something and I needed to take a step back from Facebook and stuff like that because I was checking it too often. My goal now is to not check it more than once a day and only on the day's that I'm working. Because I'm working on managing that, I'll be away from all computers more often so I'll keep posting my updates but probably not on a daily basis. If I have time I'll try to do a post but if family/home needs me then that comes first. It's not like anyone is counting on me to post every day but I want to say something about it so I can commit to my new priorities and be accountable to everyone as well as myself. When it's in writing it's "more official".

Anywho, I'll be adding more posts today from our Easter Egg hunt and a few more pictures from the park. It's been a beautiful day and we've had a great time enjoying it!!

Day 06 - A picture of a person you'd love to trade places with for a day.

Image from www.kollewin.com

Trading Places

I would LOVE to trade places with this lady for a day, only I'd be sleeping in my picture. The last few months (especially the last few days) have been SO stressful and overwhelming that I would give anything for a few hours to myself laying wrapped up in warm towels getting a massage. I've gotten a few massages back in the day due to insurance claims and things like that but I would love to do a full day at a spa and not have to worry about anything else but being in that moment and relaxing... Maybe one day I'll take myself out on a date and actually do it.

Maybe one day...

Come Spring Come!!!!

I'm taking a small break from my 60 Day Challenge to post about the beautiful weather we had for almost a full day and a half a few weeks ago. It was still a little chilly but we were able to get out and go to the park with our friends, the Smaellie's. It was a lot of fun to get out and enjoy the weather at the park. It has been a sad little joke in that it has been raining and snowing since our day at the park but we were grateful for the time outside and for the fresh air. It was fun to watch Riann out with her friends and getting a chance to get her energy out away from the small house we live in.

Although it's been snowing a lot here lately its still been pretty. I'm very excited for spring to get here. It's been a good winter but it's time to move on. I do love the mild spring weather out here and I can't wait to start going on our nightly walks. There have been a few times I've almost bundled up the kiddos to go for a walk but the wind gets so bad out here that it would just be too hard to keep Colby warm and both kids safe.

Here are some pictures of our outing...

It was a great day and we can't wait for everything we will get to do this summer. It's just going to get more and more fun!!!

Day 05 - A picture of your favorite memory.

One of my Favorite Memories

There were WAY too many memories to pick but I decided on this one. Paul and I decided when we got married that we would do a smaller, simple, honeymoon at his aunt and uncle's beautiful cabin in Montana and then spend a little more money a few months later to do something bigger. Six months later in late August 2005 we were able to go to Oahu Hawaii for our unofficial honeymoon and both of our birthdays.

We had a great time while we were there. Paul had lived in Hawaii for a few months after he graduated high school and he fell in love with so many different parts of Hawaii. When we went back together he was very excited to show me a lot of the things he had gotten to do before. This specific adventure was not something he had done before but it was a chance for us to do something fun together. The ride that we went on took us up into the hills of Oahu where they filmed parts of Jurassic Park, Mighty Joe Young, and LOST. It was really fun to get up there and see these landmarks up close. After getting sucked into LOST later in the series we went back and looked at a lot of our Hawaii pictures and found that we visited a lot of the locations where they did a good amount of filming of the show. When we were in Hawaii we also spent some time at Waikiki where the LOST trailers were kept while the cast was on set/taping. That was cool, we just hadn't started watching the show yet.

This trip was a lot of fun for me because it's been one of the only trips I've taken where I've been in control of what we've done. I've been lucky to be able to travel with family and while I've always been able to add my two cents on what we should do, my ideas have always been put up to a vote against the majority. It's always been fun, regardless of what trip we were on but this was our trip and because we worked so hard to go it was a lot more fun and more memorable because we choose everything we wanted to do.

Day 04 - A picture of your night.

My Night

Unfortunately I'm not a very cool person and this is what I did on this lovely Friday night. As most of you know I work from home. I've been lucky enough to work from home for just over a year now and even though I don't love my job, like I wish I did, I know that I am VERY blessed to have this opportunity.

I have my own little corner in the kitchen that keeps me tucked away but in the action at the same time. That way I can keep an eye on Riann or help make dinner if needed. Some nights are hard but other nights are pretty laid back. Thankfully tonight wasn't too difficult.

Day 03 - A picture of the cast from your favorite show.

Image from tvdownload.info

America's Funniest Home

There are very few shows I make time for on TV right now. It's partly because of my work schedule and partly because I don't like watching shows week to week just to be let down when the full story isn't revealed (watching LOST killed me after we got caught up on seasons 1-4 before staring season 5). My lack of patience and pure dislike of being "left out" of the loop create poor TV show loyalty.

However, AFV is the one show that I make time for. It's one of my favorite things about Sunday. I try to plan dinner a little early so that preparing dinner doesn't get in the way of me watching. I'm not all that good at scheduling it quite right but I still get to watch the majority of the show. If I'm being honest, when we are invited to a friends house for Sunday dinner I'm always a little bummed because I know we're going to miss the show.

The funny thing about my AFV obsession is that the show is only REALLY good when it's watched on Sunday. Out here it plays Monday through Friday at 10am and I just don't have the patience to watch it then. I think it's partly because it's tradition to watch it on Sunday and partly because no one else isn't making time for the show either. I'm so grateful that Paul has given in and will sit and watch it with me (he was a little resistant when we first got married) and actually enjoy it. Now Riann will even sit and watch it with us too. She doesn't focus for the whole hour but she does seem to enjoy a lot of the clips she catches in between playing with her toys.

I love watching the show because I get to do it with family and because those watching it with me are always laughing. It's a great way to end a Sunday, even if you're actually laughing at someone else's pain.

Day 02 - A picture of you and the person you have been close with for the longest.

My Mom

I wouldn't say that my mom and I have been close FOREVER but over the last 8-10 years I've felt like we've found a relationship that was hidden behind the expected child/parent drama. I know I was tough on my mom growing up and there were times that I'm pretty sure she didn't like me but she always loved me. I guess that can be expected from most relationships like ours but I'm really grateful she stuck it out with me.

My mom has really helped me develop as a mother and she has taught me to care for other people in a whole new way. I'm also incredibly grateful for the love she has for my children. As I've seen with some of my friends grandparents they can be present in their grandchild's life but not really "be there". That is not my mom. She works as hard as she can to be involved although they are 800 miles away. She is a great support to me and teaches me new things every day.

Although she probably doesn't know it my mom has helped me through a lot. I know that she thinks there were a lot of times that she wasn't getting through to me when I was a pain to be around but she did. My mother has always been a good example of right and wrong and through the experiences she has had in her own life I have learned how to better mine.

I'm grateful for her friendship and for the love that she so selflessly offers me. I'm excited to make my way back home so that we can be closer and spend more time together, instead of over the phone.

I love you mom!!!

Day 01 - A picture of yourself with fifteen facts.

(I know it was probably supposed to be a picture of just me but I don't have any of those anymore...)

My 15 Facts

1. I prefer to drive without the radio on. Unfortunately for Paul, I find that music is just noise and a quite car is where I find the most peace. That being said, I do enjoy a great beat and a fun song. I love dancing although I can't keep rhythm and really don't have any moves.

2.When no one's around I like to pretend I can sing opera. I am a Child of God and High on a Mountain Top are two of my favorite songs.

3. I'm a commit-a-phoebe. I struggle with plans and have to be reassured often that things will be okay. I'm good at spur of the moment ideas but often freak out once a plan is made. Don't even ask me how I got married...

4. I miss throwing (track) and playing volleyball and sometime wish I would have tried harder in high school to be better. I remember one throw AFTER a meet, while frustrated that I didn't do better, that was my best and farthest throw and I really think if I could have gone to state had I had that kind of focus the whole time.

5. I water down my juice on purpose and my favorite drink at a fast food restaurant is water with a "splash" of lemonade. I'm always grateful when they pair up the water with the lemonade so I can sneak it in.

6. I get WAY too wrapped up in love stories and chick flicks. I love reading and watching them, even the super cheesy ones, but always get depressed when they're over because I know it will never happen to me.

7. I have two specific reoccurring dreams and they scare the heck out of me. One is about tornado's and the other is that I'm not actually married to Paul but someone else who I haven't seen in years. In my marriage dream I'm always engaged to Paul when I find out that I'm already married to this other person but I can't ever remember getting married and when I go to fix it we can never find him. The small details in both dreams change often but the theme and the basic idea... and the feeling I have when I wake up... is always the same.

8. I'm a self-diagnosed hypochondriac. Paul is always rolling his eyes at me because I'm worried about some new kind of sickness.

9. My favorite holidays are the 4th of July, Halloween and Thanksgiving. My least favorite holiday is Christmas but as my family is growing and getting older I'm finding a new joy in that season that is pushing out the bad memories.

10. I'm chronically late. It doesn't matter how well I plan it is almost a guarantee that I'll be at least 5 minutes late to any given event and if I pray to be somewhere on time, I'll be at least 30 minutes late.

11. I swore up and down that I would never had a girl and now that the Lord has laughed at my determination and has given me Riann, I would NEVER give her back. I always said that I wanted all boys but now I'm praying that the Lord blesses me with another girl somewhere down the line.

12. Even thought I get SOOOO sick, I love being pregnant and feel great it my last trimester. My body is showing signs of giving up before I do but I do hope to be pregnant at least one more time before all is said and done.

13. I love driving fast. I've gotten in trouble with speeding multiple times... I've had five speeding tickets on my record at one time, two of which I got on the same day. I love feeling the car "get up and go" and hearing the engine purr. When people used to ask me why I had so many tickets I would answer, "I'm training for NASCAR".

14. I devote too much time to television. I have very few "releases" and love just vegging in front of the TV. I'm working on fixing this and try to turn it off when I catch myself doing it but could probably put a little more effort into it.

15. I love swimming but hate being in a swimsuit. That being said I'll rarely turn down a chance to hang out by a pool or a lake. I have a hard time not getting in the water, even if it's just dipping my feet.

60 Day Photo Challenge

I'm going to do it. I'm finally going to commit myself to this. I don't know how I'm going to do it as I don't get on the computer on a daily basis, although I do facebook more than regularly, I'm going to try to at least post one photo a day. I think this would be fun to do on facebook as well as our blog. Let's see if I can actually do it.

Here's the challenge:

Day 01 - A picture of yourself with fifteen facts.
Day 02 - A picture of you and the person you have been close with for the longest.
Day 03 - A picture of the cast from your favorite show.
Day 04 - A picture of your night.
Day 05 - A picture of your favorite memory.
Day 06 - A picture of a person you'd love to trade places with for a day.
Day 07 - A picture of your most treasured item.
Day 08 - A picture that makes you laugh.
Day 09 - A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most.
Day 10 - A picture of the person you do the most messed up things with.
Day 11 - A picture of something you hate.
Day 12 - A picture of something you love.
Day 13 - A picture of your favorite band or artist.
Day 14 - A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without.
Day 15 - A picture of something you want to do before you die.
Day 16 - A picture of someone who inspires you.
Day 17 - A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently.
Day 18 - A picture of your biggest insecurity.
Day 19 - A picture of you when you were little.
Day 20 - A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel.
Day 21 - A picture of something you wish you could forget.
Day 22 - A picture of something you wish you were better at.
Day 23 - A picture of your favorite book.
Day 24 - A picture of something you wish you could change.
Day 25 - A picture of your day.
Day 26 - A picture of something that means a lot to you.
Day 27 - A picture of yourself and a family member.
Day 28 - A picture of something you're afraid of.
Day 29 - A picture that can always make you smile.
Day 30 - A picture of someone you miss.
Day 31 - A picture of a tradition you have.
Day 32 - A picture of a crazy night.
Day 33 - A picture of the house you grew up in.
Day 34 - A picture of your currently most played CD.
Day 35 - A picture of your favorite place to eat.
Day 36 - A picture of your ‘other half'.
Day 37 - A picture of the people you spend most of your time with.
Day 38 - A picture of the best part of your day.
Day 39 - A picture of your favorite movie.
Day 40 - A picture of your favorite Disney character.
Day 41 - A picture of your pet.
Day 42 - A picture of your dream house.
Day 43 - A picture of something you can’t function without.
Day 44 - A picture of someone you’re told you look like.
Day 45 - A picture of your room.
Day 46 - A picture of where you wish you were right now.
Day 47 - A picture of your favorite place to shop.
Day 48 - A picture of your favorite actress/actor.
Day 49 - A picture of where you live.
Day 50 - A picture of your most frequented place.
Day 51 - A picture of your dream car.
Day 52 - A picture of your favorite sport.
Day 53 - A picture of someone you think is hot.
Day 54 - A picture of the one thing you would bring if you were stranded on a deserted island.
Day 55 - A picture of the last movie you saw in theaters.
Day 56 - A picture of something that makes you happy.
Day 57 - A picture of your favorite holiday.
Day 58 - A picture of your favorite animal.
Day 59 - A picture of a random item that you own.
Day 60 - A picture of something you’re excited about.

Wish me luck!!