Happy Easter!

Easter was so much fun! We went down to Grandma Linda's and Daddy's and hung out with everyone! Aunt Lacee and Uncle Daryl were there with little KeKe and we had a blast! After a nice relaxing day at Linda's we headed to James' dad's house to see Grandpa Dan, Amy and Gabby! Mathew ran around like a wild animal and had so much fun playing with Grandpa! James' family is so wonderful! We're really lucky. We still have a TON of candy and I'm trying desperately not to eat it so if you live by me or I'm going to see you soon PLEASE help us eat it :)

Mr. Naughty Pants

You're looking at the busiest kid on the universe! Mathew is 2 going on 5! He thinks he's so big and can do anything he wants! We've reached the point where naps are few and far between, the "No's" and "I DO IT", "stop it", and "QUITE" are the most common words in his vocabulary! I never realized how challenging this stage was! I heard all the "terrible two" stories and figured I would have Mathew in check and there's no way that will be me....HA in my dreams! I will say, for as many rough challenging days we have there are a number of really good days where he's as loving as ever! It makes me forget about the hard days all together!

I have to admit I'm incredibly jealous of the energy this kid has! Mathew runs around the house all day long!

The Thursday before Easter Mathew came down with a virus that turned into Croupe. We had a big day planned Sunday so I really wanted him to rest and get better. Saturday I put Mathew down for a nap, of course he had a movie going and was very quiet so I thought he was sleeping...About an hour after I put him down I hear him cry, it was a different cry so I wasn't sure what the heck was going on. I walked in his room to check on him and find his leg is STUCK between the bars in his crib! Of course I totally panic and call James, what am I supposed to do?!?!?!? I remember the full house episode where DJ is babysitting and the kid got his head stuck in the staircase, but butter is SO not going to do the trick here. I ran downstairs and grabbed my tool box and tried to pry the bars apart so I could push his leg out, I don't know how the heck he got his chunky leg in there but his knee was stuck and wasn't about to go anywhere! The whole time this is happening James is on speaker, Mathew's crying, I'm crying James is wondering what the hell is going on...so I make the decision to just break the bar off...I snapped the bar as much as I could and pushed Mathews leg out. Mathew had a couple scratches and bruises around his knee but he was out YAY!

So after Mathew and I settle down from the main event, Mathew lays on my bed and falls asleep, reality sets in and I'm like "oh no, now where is Mathew going to sleep?!?!" He's not ready for a toddler bed, how the hell do I even make this crib into a toddler bed??? Well luckily I found some pictures of the crib online and figured out how to change make the crib into a toddler bed. I was really worried he would fall out of the bed the first night or get up and get into trouble in the middle of the night but he didn't at all! He did great! I went out and bought a safety rail a couple days later and it's been wonderful! He LOVES being able to get in out of bed by his self, and to celebrate I got him a Cars pillow!!! I never realized how fast kids grow up! I can't believe he was ever a baby! It's a lot of fun though and I wouldn't trade it for the world!

Best Birthday Ever

This year I turned the sad age of 27 yuck! I did have reason to celebrate though....My dad, brother Mike and his cute girlfriend Bre came up to see us!!! We had so much fun while they were here! It was great to have a house with lots of room too.

I had only met Bre once, the last time I was in Salt Lake, and I thought I liked her then! She is so awesome! My brother and her have such a sweet relationship, they're perfect for each other (no pressure Mike, but you MUST marry this girl!) Mathew had so much fun playing with them it was great! Mathew would go around the house yelling "Mike!" all day long!

We did so much stuff while they were here! We drove up to Blaine, WA to pick up one of Mike's friends who he met in Slovenia on his mission who now lives in Canada. We also did the Seattle Underground Tour and had some fun on the Ferry's. I love my family SO much I wish I could see them more....I can't wait until the next trip XOXO!

New Camera

So a couple months back my camera totally broke :( I knew my family was coming in town so I was in a rush to get a new one. After doing some research and asking around I found the most amazing camera EVER! The only thing I wish it did is shoot video, but with everything else it can do I can live with that!

I ended up purchasing a Canon Rebel, click here to see it's awesomeness! Here are a few great pictures I've taken with it! This camera makes me feel talented at photography, can't complain about that!

Mom

This post is extremely difficult for me to write, in fact as we speak my hands are shaking. As a lot of you may have noticed, I can blab all day about Mathew, about being a mom, the things I'm doing in my life but I don't open up about the fact that I lost my mom 5 years ago to Leukemia. I am not a writer and as I mentioned this is difficult to write so I might jump around a bit!

I recently had a very close friend lose her mother, and as we were talking on the phone I tried desperately to find comforting words to say and search for ways to bring her a sense of peace. After we got off the phone it made me realize I don't share my feelings about my mother often and maybe just maybe someone will come across this post who is going through a similar situation and I can help them in some way.

Okay, here I go. I was 22 when I lost my mother. Although we knew she was sick and Leukemia would ultimately take her away from us, we didn't realize how quickly it would actually happen.

After she was diagnosed we knew it was going to be about a ten year battle, but unfortunately her fight ended five short years later. This is something that has always been hard for me to deal with...not enough time. I will always cherish the time I had with her, but because I didn't realize the seriousness of her disease I never took advantage of that time.

My mom was so sweet, and really funny! She was really talented when it came to arts and crafts. Although I didn't inherit that gene from her I'm still hoping for it to come! My mom was a bit of a "ditz" per-say, and it used to really hurt me when I heard people say comments about her or poke fun. Now I realize that's what I love most about her, she didn't care what people said or thought! Although she had this funny side to her she was always the one I could go to for advice, in fact some of the best advice I've ever received was from her.

As soon as my mom found out she was sick, she would always mention how she wanted me to help her cook and clean and how one day I would be on my own and need to know these things....Of course at my age I brushed it off "yeah okay mom, tomorrow let's do that". Today I wish I was the cook she was and really just wish I had the same drive she had! If my mom wanted to do something it didn't matter her age, it didn't matter how busy her schedule was SHE DID IT!

It has been a really long journey these past five years. I have always had a tough skin when it came to losing my mom. I never wanted anyone to see how bad it truly hurts, how it may have effected my life etc. This is the hardest thing by far I have ever been through. The worst thing I ever did was bottle up these feelings. For about two weeks after she passed I would drag myself out of bed, go to work, go straight home and lay in bed and cry. I pushed my friends away, only because they had no idea what I was going through. Nothing they could do or say made me feel better, they had never been here before. I have had the same handful of friends all my life and we remain as close as ever! Because they've stuck by me through all my craziness I love them more today then ever before!

Shortly after my mom died my dad announced he was engaged to a long time family friend Chris. Let me just quickly say, I have grown to love Chris SO much, and we have all accepted and welcomed her to our family :) But after we heard this news so quickly after my mom passed it devastated my brothers and I. How could this really be happening?!?!? Can we please have time to grieve here? We were all still young and of course still trying to deal with everything so we didn't make it the easiest for my dad and Chris and it was a long time before the tension was lifted. I'm not going to get to in to detail here because It doesn't matter anymore! Chris makes my dad so happy, she's really funny, and she loves and has a deep respect for my mother. She is also very sweet with Mathew and Kale! We just really love her!

The most difficult part of being without my mom these last five years has been becoming a mother myself. As soon as I discovered I was pregnant I panicked! She is not here to help me through this, she can't answer my questions! She's not here to tell me her stories. I really need her right now! Luckily I found comfort in talking to cousins and James' Mom Linda. Without them I would have been a wreck!

Most of all now it's difficult knowing my son and future children will never know her.

New Years Eve this year It hit me harder than ever. Why do I have to go through the rest of my life without her? My children will never get to spend time with her and will never know how truly wonderful she was. IT'S NOT FARE! I had a bit of a break down. But a good one, like I said I bottle up my feeling so much, I needed a good cry! Now I'm comfortable enough to share my story, and my difficult journey! That's a good thing right!

One good thing to know is I only have good memories of my mom. When I think of her it's never memories of her when she was sick or during the last stages of her life. It's the beautiful, healthy mom! I often dream of her and they're always fun dreams of us hanging out, or dreams where she thinks I'm crazy for thinking she's passed she's right here! This is especially wonderful, when Mathew first started talking about 7 months ago he pointed to a picture of my parents and pointed to my dad and said "bampa" then I asked Mathew "where's grandma?" and he pointed at my mom. Could have been a coincidence yes, but I'd like to think it's because he really does know of her! I wanted to share some good stories too here :)

The most important advice I can give to anyone going through the loss of a parent or anyone special in your life is:

-Cherish every second you spent with them.

-Remember all the great and wonderful times.

-Each day gets easier and easier.

-After the loss take whatever time necessary to heal, don't push your feelings aside thinking you're fine! It will kick your ass later!

-Start a journal, write down all your feelings GET THINGS OFF YOUR CHEST

-Stop asking the "what if 's", "whys", "should haves" etc, it will drive you mad.

-Know you're not alone! Accept all the love and support around you.

-Most of all, life is short! Don't take it for granted!

I love you mom. I hope I can be as great a mom your were to us kids.

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Baby No More

This week we celebrated Mathews 2nd Birthday. I just CANNOT believe how fast he's grown up and that yes indeed he is now a boy! Lately whenever I see baby pictures of Mathew it just shocks me how fast time has gone by and how quickly you forget things. I used to always ask my friend Wendee questions when I was pregnant and "how do I do this?" questions after Mathew was born and I gave her so much crap for not remembering certain things! Here I am two years later and I hardly recognize the cute little baby photos hanging on my wall!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures I recently ran across.

For Mathews birthday we kept it really low key. We went down to James and Lindas house, Aunt Lacee and Uncle Daryl came over with Keagan. We had a nice dinner, opened presents and ate yummy cake! Mathew is obsessed with Thomas right now so the Thomas Train and Thomas book and Pajamas were a hit! Mathew was really shy when we were singing happy birthday to him, it was really sweet! After the birthday song was over he put his head up and blew out 2 out of 3 candles! It was so much fun just hanging out with everyone! Keagan is growing up right before our eyes! He was SO close to crawling when we saw him Saturday and a few days later he was off and crawling all over the place!!! Mathew calls him "KeKe". It's so cute and sadly I think it will stick with him forever! That's okay, when Keagan starts talking I'm sure he'll come up with a dosie for Mathew!
Mathew had such a fun time with everyone and LOVED all his presents! He's been having so much fun with all the cars and the remote controlled dump truck! Mom has fun with his toys too :) What can I say, it's a new age these toys are awesome!!!!

Zoo

A few weeks ago Mathew and I ventured down to Tacoma to spend time with his dad and we decided to go check out the zoo! This was Mathews first time there, except one other time in my belly! James, Linda, Mathew and I had a great time. We went to the Point Defiance Zoo, I don't know if it was the time of year we went or what but there wasn't a lot going on....Next time we will have to check out the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle!
Mathew had so much fun running around, looking at all the fishies and sharks AND going on his first carousel ride! It's so fun to see children make connections when seeing animals, cars, characters etc! This is such a fun stage!

Christmas 2009

This Christmas was so much fun! Mathew is old enough to really interact with family and figure out toys and play, play, play! Christmas eve was spent with James' dad's side of the family so we all headed to Port Orchard to Great Grandma and Grandpa Woods house. This year the weather was much better, there was no snow on the ground and it was actually sunny all day! I have to admit I do love snow on Christmas, but with the mess it caused last year it was really nice to be able to drive places worry free!

Once we arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's all the family was there and after a few minutes Mathew was off playing and saying hello to everyone! He LOVES LOVES LOVES babies so little Keagan was his buddy all night! Any time he cried Mathew was all over it seeing if he could lend a helping hand! When it came time for opening presents I was hoping this year Mathew would be more into actually ripping off the paper and seeing his gifts...nope. He still wants nothing to do with opening the presents but he doesn't hesitate to play with whatever toy is inside! Mathew got his first Craftsman Chainsaw, books, clothes, a remote control car and much more! Mommy got some much needed drawer organizers-THANKS DAN AND AMY! They work really well!!!! We all got many wonderful things and are so so so grateful for everything! We are really lucky to be apart of such a wonderful loving family! Here are some pictures of our wonderful evening!


We then headed to James' mom's house so we could spend Christmas with Grandma Linda, Daddy, Uncle Daryl, Aunt Lacee and baby Keagan. Linda has a nice hot tub so of course I had to take advantage of that while I was there, ahhhhh it felt so nice! Christmas morning Linda made her yummy breakfast! It's become a tradition, three years in a row and it just keeps getting better! I was really excited for Christmas morning, James and I stayed up to put together a tricycle my dad got for Mathew! It was sitting by the tree all shiny Christmas morning and of course Mathew saw it right away and had to hop on! His legs are too short to reach the pedals but James pushed him around the living room and he was happy as could be! About half way through the morning Keagan got pooped and fell asleep on the couch , he's such a handsome baby boy!

This year any large bag lying around or box was much more amusing than any toy! It's funny what will entertain a two year old, if we would have known this we could have saved a lot of money on gifts lol! Mathew got lots and lots of toys from Grandma Linda! He got a really cool roller coaster, a little pretend (almost real) cat, a little doggie, a cell phone, and more! The roller coaster is so awesome! I've never even seen one of these, it's really sturdy and safe! After a few times going down with help he was doing it on his own! Towards the end he was even going down with no hands!

This Christmas we were so incredibly blessed! I couldn't ask for a a better family! I'm so grateful for everyone in our lives! I wish my family in Utah were closer so we could have seen them too. We've been lucky enough to see everyone throughout this entire holiday season and for that I am one happy girl! We hope you all had a wonderful Merry Christmas too!

Almost Two and On The Move

I am absolutely amazed at how much Mathew has grown and blossomed into a little boy! I knew all along that he would grow fast but it seams like literally overnight he went from a baby to a boy! He can pretty much repeat anything you ask him to, so PLEASE watch the language around him :) I've been working on that myself lol! He tries to sing the alphabet, walk up and down stairs alone, and be your helper any which way he can. He also absolutely LOVES animals, which is great! James told me even when the cats would hiss or scratch at him about five minutes later he wanted to love them. He also loves babies. It's amazing how in the middle of a meltdown mentioning a baby or an animal gets him to cheer right up! His new favorite thing to do is grab a blanket and a book and climb on the couch and "read". He wants to do it himself so if you try to help he says "no"!

It's pretty crazy seeing how much he's grown and developed in the last couple years! He has the funniest personality and I can't wait to see what the future holds!

Our First Home

Yay I finally did it, I bought my first house! It took FOREVER to get the approval etc. so just as I expected everything would be finalized right around my vacation to Utah. Well as always, everything always works out and as we arrived from Salt Lake it was time to start packing! James was really sweet and took Mathew the whole weekend so I could get packed and moved without any interruptions. Mathew had such a great time with his daddy and grandma Linda! He got to visit grandpa Dad too and they all have cats so needless to say Mathew was in heaven! Here are some pictures his dad snapped while they were together! Mathew had an obsession with hanging out on the bathroom counter turning the faucet on and off.

It was really nice having Mathew with his dad during the move but after one day without him I couldn't wait to see him! The move went great! I was out of the apartment and back at home unpacking Saturday afternoon and had about two days to get unpacked! After hours and hours of unpacking I was finally done after work Monday evening and I couldn't be happier!


I finally have a backyard! I can't wait until spring when Mathew can run outside and play! He's just loving all the room here can't get enough of all the cupboards and closets he can get into!

Utah Adventure!

Mathew and I got to go to Salt Lake again for Thanksgiving and we really had a blast! As soon as we got there we had to help my dad get ready for a Christensen family get together. We all managed to find each other on Facebook and decided there was no better time to try to make this happen! My mom's side of the family is HUGE so there was a lot of family to prepare for! Many of cousins and aunts and uncles made it and DOH me forgot to take pictures :( Hopefully we can do it again and I will remember to snap some photos! It was so wonderful to catch up with everyone and see all the new kids and babies.
We also got to spend a lot of time with my brothers and sister in law and my nephew Kale! I can't believe how much Kale has grown! He is still such a cuddler and I took advantage of that!!!

Mathew had so much fun with his Uncles. Everyone that see's Mathew mentions he looks just like my younger brother Mike. I can totally see this, it's really crazy!

We had a great time visiting friends! My friend Michelle has an adorable little girl Isabelle and we've already decided Mathew and her are going to get married.

Unfortunatly I didn't get to see all my friends and family BUT I really tried and I hope none of you hate me :) Here are a couple other pics of our trip! We can't wait to come back! Thanks Dad and Chris for everything, we miss and love you all a ton!!!

Trick or Treat Nemo Style

This year Mathew dressed up as Nemo! This was also the first year he got to actually go out and trick or treat! He was so adorable walking up to all the houses with Hunter, Natalie's son, and Savannah Molly's little girl. He tried to walk into houses and once we left half way between the next house he would yell "thanks!". It was really cute. We only made it one street and that was just fine with me!