Well, Canden is officially 9 months old and I cannot believe it. I am not sure why I have been such a slacker on the blog end of things. No excuses. I have to start doing better.
Canden -- is truly my little buddy. He is the funnest thing ever. He is seriously the most smiley thing to everyone else. His hair is getting crazy long but we love it and refuse to cut it. Currently the only thing missing in his hair is pigtails cuz it is so long . . . ha ha. We won't do that to him though although its rather tempting. We took him to the doctor this week for his Well Baby and everything was great. His Stats this go around:
Weight: 18 lbs 2 oz Height: 27" Head: 17.5"
(**This is my favorite face Canden pulls!)
He is short and rather plump and we love him. We also set up his consult to see the Urologist for his surgery he will have in 3 months. As time is etching near to that I am getting a bit nervous for him and me. I am not sure how I will cope with him going under General Anesthesia especially for something that should have never happened. SO frustrating. For those who don't understand what I am talking about . . he has to have a surgery at 12 months and get RE-circumsized (pretty much) because the doctor who performed it--- did it WRONG and everything grew back and closed off. Pretty much there is a tiny hole that he can pee out of but no where for his little jewel to go if it wants to grow. TMI-- sorry but that's what happened and now he has to have surgery to correct it. . . and yes we are so pissed and frustrated that he will have to go through it and hope that there isn't any permanent damage. ANYWAYS, so last week Cory's sisters were up for a visit. It was so nice having some time away from home. The kids played well and had a great time and we got to some what relax with just the babies. Parker and Canden had it out a few times--- tackling each other and Parker going after Canden's hair. It was cute. Kind of funny how they already have the urge to attack each other.
So at NINE Months Old- Little Canden is crawling, almost walking (around furniture), has FINALLY broke one tooth (bottom right), says "mama, dadda, hi, baba", he LOVES Araleigh's Kitchen -- he goes straight to it every time he goes into the toy room, he is OBSESSED with bath time
--whenever a bathroom
door opens-- he speed crawls to get in there! He now eats table food --- loves spaghetti, cheese, fruit and well he will eat anything usually. He LOVES loves loves his sister. He beams whenever she comes into the room. Araleigh on the other hand-- has found that she is annoyed by her brother ALREADY. I frequently hear her yell at him "QUIT FOLLOWING ME" because he will follow her everywhere. He loves her and its so precious. Funny that at 3 years old she is already annoyed like a teenager. And the most amazing part of Canden currently-- he is not a picky eater. He will eat rocks, markers, old hard macaroni, pennies--- pretty much anything and EVERYTHING. His favorite though-- is paper. Last week he choked on paper-- I didn't realize it til half of it was gone. Little Stink. He truly makes me smile daily and has become my little pick me up. When I am struggling (which is pretty much daily for some reason lately) I look at him and he beams me a smile. For that split second my troubles are gone. Araleigh has this gift too. Her and I are really butting heads lately-- mostly because she is becoming a almost 4 year old that wants to do what she wants when she wants and has major attitude about it. Frankly. . . she is me. So we fight. But there are days when out of no where I will be hiding away trying not to break down and she will find me, lay her head on me and say "mom, I really wuv you." Those are my tender mercies lately.
Araleigh got to bring home Goldie, their preschool pet for the weekend two weeks ago. She LOVED sleeping on him. It was cute. It was a fun thing they do: they get to bring the dog home and they send home a journal that we write down the fun things that the kids did with him over the weekend. It was fun to let her enjoy it and help me write in the journal. She is getting so big. She can now spell and write her name. Its really cute. Her hair is getting ridiculously long . . . . but we love it. We get all source of crazy and paranoid if we hear of any scissor or Razor incidents (right Lacey and Jan?).
Things have been a bit crazy here . . . with Cory gone constantly (meaning no less that 2-3 weeks at a time it seems) and Araleigh having school and cheer I feel like I am running a lot. But it keeps me busy and my mind somewhat distant from the stresses that are happening in our life right now. For some reason I have had a lot of people concerned especially my family - - - but I think I am just having a break down of some sort. I will pull through it though. Things for my family are so up in the air and unstable at this point and with Cory gone for long stretches at a time it has become wearing on me. I have come to a point in my life that I have questioned what and who I have become and am really trying to figure out how to better myself and become a better mom. For some reason I think I just have the weight of the world on me right now and I am not sure how to get over the hump. I know that Satan is working on me hard these days-- trying to kick me when I am down but I am prevailing and truly reaching for my Faith to pull me out. Cory gets so upset when I write things down and put it out there-- but I have found it a way of coping. Talking it out and hearing from others that they aren't perfect or their situation is trying too. It helps me know I am not alone. It's been a year now from when we moved out of our house and I am trying to figure out how to move on. I believe we are going to put it for sale here in a while and I am hoping we can be over it and move on without that stress of whether we have renters. . . which thankfully we have been blessed to have good renters in it the whole time. Part of the uneasiness is the unknown of where we will be this summer. Cory wants to move us to Oregon, maybe Washington and with so much unstability I just am so overwhelmed by it. I cannot fathom pulling Araleigh out of her incredible preschool and cheer program she is in right now. . . and on top of that moving from my family-- who is the only support I have had while Cory has been traveling for weeks at a time. We had the opportunity to finally go to the Temple this weekend. Let me just say--- it was so needed and so rejuvenating for me. It's almost as if right when you enter-- pure peace comes to you and for me--- that hour or so was a breath of air. I truly need to try and go more and have no excuse not to since its just up the hill. . .(besides absent husbands and no babysitters that is!) But I did have a good experience and actually had some feelings that came to me that were unexpected. I truly do love the Temple and all of the experiences I have had there. Honestly, I can say that most of my big testimony builders have come through the Temple. It's simply amazing to go and do the Lords work and feel simply peace and love inside the Temple . . whether your a mess outside of it or not. I love our Gospel .. it truly has just given me the Hope I needed to get through our tough times.
I am so amazed by the Ensign articles this month. ALL were inspiring to me. There was one specific quote that hit me hard by Russell M. Ballard it stated:
"a mother's nurturing love arouses in children, from their earliest days on earth, an awakening of the memories of love and goodness they experience in their premortal existence."
This made me really ponder on how close these babies are to Heavenly Father and how thin the veil is. I always believed that that is why babies can't talk and why they say they are seeing angels when they smile. I believe that. I think that the veil is so thin that they remember still many things. That also got me pondering on those children out there who have been neglected and abused. At that moment it made sense to me how even as a baby--- who was abused or neglected for a time can be so damaged and emotional/mentally unstable because of it. Coming from a place of pure love and happiness and then coming to earth only expecting the same thing--- yet getting the opposite . . . I can see the shock and cruelty that would have on a child and can understand now how it would have lasting affects. I am just so grateful that I have my children and that I can be in the home to see them through and MAKE sure that they are loved and kissed on and that they can KNOW they are loved. This has made me expand our horizons on the issues of the world and all those motherless babies and children in the countries that are in chaos right now. How I wish that we could place every one of them into loving homes so they can be kissed, fed and loved everyday as my children are. I hope one day that we can do that to help someone.
One more quote that I just loved --- especially in my situation was about Quieting your fears with Faith in the Lord. President Boyd K. Packer stated:
"If you are helpless, He is not. If you are lost, He is not. If you don't know what to do next, He does. It would take a Miracle, you say? Well, if it takes a miracle, then why not?"
Well, there are my thoughts for the day I guess. I had a lot more pictures to post but am too tired from a headache . . so I will be getting more on here cuz I have some good ones! I also am going to try and catch up on Scrapbook pages so who knows how long I will be!
der, I mean PELVIC thrusts ... WE DID ENDURE AND SURVIVE. haha. Seriously, after SEVEN years of not doing ANY kind of dance or cheer and two children (hence the running to the bathroom)--- I cannot BELIEVE how much I have forgot how to move my body. There is no motion in this ocean any longer my friends. haha. But I am glad to say that there are about 80% that look the same way. But wow, I have never shook my "thang" so much in my life. But it really is fun-- even if I do look like noob. Crazy how a little shimmy and shake of the tush and chest can make one sweat like a banchee!
