Thursday, July 19, 2012

Changing Locations

I've changed blog addresses permanently. I am now blogging at healthyandhappybringhursts.blogspot.com.
I will be blogging family updates and also health/food insights. Thanks!

Monday, February 6, 2012

14 months


Afton-

Where to start? Where to start? You have such a personality now I can't begin to explain all the cute and funny things you do. But I will try.
Your favorite word is No. You repeat it back to me every time I say it. I highly doubt you actually know what it means which is good. You can also say mama and dadda when you feel like it, which isn't that ofton. So "No" is pretty much your only word now.
If you want to communicate however, you have gotten VERY good at screaming. You want food? SCREAM. You have a poopy diaper? SCREAM. You are tired? SCREAM. Can't drink your smoothie because a piece of something is stuck in your straw? SCREAM. I think you catch my drift...
You love to crawl in Oliver's bed when he's laying in it because it annoys him and he jumps out. Then you crawl out and he thinks it's safe again, but no, here you come again. Repeat 10 times.
If you could you would eat oranges, bananas or fruit smoothies every morning for breakfast. Oh wait. That's right. You can, so you do. Spoiled rotten you are.
You still eat almost everything we put in front of you, even vegetables. I am VERY grateful for this. You have a special fondness for teddy grahams and healthy fruit snacks though. Thank you Target for those.
You sleep great now. Usually 12 hours a night. But when you are ready to be out of your crib the whole house, no wait the whole neighborhood knows it. Remember the screaming I mentioned earlier?
You know have 6 teeth and weigh around 19 lbs probably. Still a little peanut though.
You can wave bye-bye and give high fives. You raise you hands high in the hair when you want someone to hold you. Even complete strangers. Let's work on that...
You still work with me every week. The one week I didn't take you with me everyone kept asking where you were and were very sad I didn't bring you.
You just got a bigger car seat and can enjoy sitting forward in the car for a change.
I don't think you can any longer be considered a crawler. You are pretty much walking everywhere now. And you don't even have to have your hands above your head to balance anymore. Now you can safely have them by your side. You are still pretty slow though and get easily distracted by dirt or well just about anything on the ground or eye level.
You are definitely a social butterfly. You get that from your dad. You love being around people, especially your grandparents and aunts and uncles. As long as there are 3 or more people you are good. But you also love your alone time with mom during the day.
Mornings are the best because we get up and you watch some T.V. while mom makes you a smoothie. Then we drink our smoothies together and cuddle on the couch. Then you proceed to take apart your toy chest and scatter toys around the living room. Then you get sleepy and it's nap time.
I honestly would be happy every day of my life doing just that. Although your tantrums and screaming wear on my nerves at times your silly smile or sweet laugh make it all better. Your cute little baby Buddha belly and your pierced ears make my heart melt. And the fact that you LOVE to rub food in your hair or throw carrots on the floor for Oliver to eat make you endearing.
Thank you for always reminding me that I can be better tomorrow and that I can continue to improve myself so that I can be a better mom and example to you. Heavenly Father definitely knew what he was doing when he decided to send us you. You have my determination and stubbornness and your dad's silliness.
We love you so much Afton from an oyster farm(as your dad would say)! Don't ask.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

We're Baaaack


....and as cute as ever. Don't worry about that. Cuter, if possible. Yep, it's possible (See above).

So we got a lovely virus on our poor computer and due to limited funds were not able to fix it for about, oh, three months. So I have some catching up to do. And catch up I will. I've missed my creative outlet and my place to brag shamelessly about my baby.
Hope you have as much fun reading as I do writing three month's worth of Afton. Can't wait :-)

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Prison

I feel like the older Afton gets, the less I document the little things she does every day. The first week I wrote down and took pictures of everything and as time went on and Afton grew older, I slowly stopped. Not altogether mind you. We got her crawling and standing, you know, the important stuff.
But the little things have definitely been forgotten more often than not.
And I don't want that to happen. The little funny things she does everyday remind me how much I love her and how the last year has been the best of my life.

So to remind me of her disdain for baby gates, I give you: Afton and Oliver in prison.
Baby-gate prison that is.
Compared to her normal cries of anger and pouting this little reach through the bars is nothing. Usually I listen to at least 5-10 minutes of crying while I am prepping dinner.
And let's face it, Oliver is her partner in crime for everything nowadays. So it's only fitting he be in prison with her too right?
Oliver also gets mad when he gets stuck on the other side as well. But his anger is more because he can't get to his food and water and less because he wants me to hold him.
And when Afton does manage to escape "prison" she's a magnet for Oliver's dog food (the whole reason for the prison in the first place).
Ahhh free at last.
In this case jail is completely necessary. We can't have cheeks full of dog food all the time now can we? Hopefully she will forgive me one day?

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

We like to be comfortable

I have always been a sweat pants kind of girl. I LOVE to dress up and go out but the minute I hit my doorway I am out of the uncomfortable clothes and into the stretchy pants. That's what I call them :-) You know sweats, yoga pants, any kind of stretch material pants really.
Then when I got pregnant I practically lived in them. It was a good thing I had a job at the time that didn't require me to dress up because I am pretty sure stretchy pants are about as casual as you can get.
And post pregnancy it took me a good 6 months to feel good in regular clothes again.
And lets be honest, even now my favorite non-yoga pants are a pair of "stretchy" jeans. I think you get my drift.
So it's really only normal that my daughter be comfortable as well right?
And don't worry she is learning well I promise.
Most days she is wearing her stretchy jeggings from Target. I am already thinking I should go and but the next size up just in case they stop carrying them. Other days she can be found wearing a cute onesie with some even cuter leggings.
She can crawl around, flop on Oliver and then I can lay her down for a nap and know she's comfortable. I love baby jeans don't get me wrong. But I always feel like they are digging into her cute pudgy stomach or that she won't be comfortable in them when I put her down for a nap. And let's be honest I already do enough clothes changes for the both of us, I don't need to add in more wardrobe changes for my daughter.
Future offspring beware. If you want to wear skirts and/or jeans everyday that's great but just know that our house is a "stretchy" pants kind of house.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Perfection

No one is perfect.
We are human.
We can't do everything.

It seems that many days I have to keep repeating these statements to myself.
I love to get things done. Maybe I should say I like to accomplish things.
Now this doesn't mean that I always have the motivation to get things done or the time or energy or desire.
At the beginning of the week it seems like I have a huge to do list and I just KNOW that this week I will get EVERYTHING done.
It never happens.

Last week I decided to just start small and write out a few goals:
1) Be home for my visiting teacher to come (sometimes I forget...woops).
2) Make my visiting teaching appointments
3) Work out (Yoga and Pilates at home) 4 times this week
4) Cook dinner EVERY night

Only four things.
I only completed one thing completely and that was be home for my visiting teaching appointment. Ha.
Again, I was disappointed. I didn't feel like I got anything done that week.
I made one visiting teaching appointment for Saturday and then she canceled 1 hour before. Bummer.
I only worked out once, maybe twice can't remember.
And I only cooked about 1/2 the week.

But then I thought about it and I realized... it's ok.
I TRIED to make my visiting teaching appointments.
I worked out twice, that's better than not at all. And At least I am thinking about keeping my body healthy right?
And I cooked four nights out of seven. I'm pretty sure there are a lot of people that eat out four nights a week and at least we don't do that. (hardly ever)
Also Chad was gone last week a lot because he was helping his dad tile their floors. So I was somewhat of a single parent last week.

There are always projects and fun things I want to do. I have had the material to make a new pencil skirt for about 2 months now. Still not done.
I want to scrapbook and read more. Those have both been lacking lately.
I try to clean my floors (hardwood) at least once a week. Sometimes it's a week and a half before they are clean again.
But you know what? That perfect woman is just not me. Sometimes I would rather lay on the couch and watch TV than clean my floors.
Sometimes I would rather bake some banana muffins than sew my new pencil skirt.
But most of the time, my excuse is that I am taking care of Afton. And what a good excuse it is.
I feed her 3 nutritious meals a day (even if mine aren't). I give her a bath and change her diapers. I clean up after her and I make sure she has toys to play with and that she isn't pulling Oliver's ears too often or climbing up the stairs.
I play with her and make her laugh. I put her down for naps and rock her before bed.
I nurse her and love her.
And somedays I would much rather watch her laugh at Oliver or play with a box of unopened safety pins and marvel at the sound they make than do anything else.
So I am completely OK with the fact that I am not perfect. I am going to start giving myself more credit for the great mom, wife and human being that I know I am. I will stop comparing myself to other women (or at least try) and feeling somehow not good enough when they get so much accomplished and I feel like I don't. And I will be happy with a blog that is all about Afton with a few occasional tidbits about me.

Because right now a Mom is who I am and I feel VERY happy and blessed by that fact.Someday I will be perfect, but not today.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Bones and Biscuits

I bought Afton some teething biscuits this week.
Turns out Oliver thought these teething biscuits smelled pretty good and really wanted to try them. And Afton was only too willing to share. So to remedy the situation I pulled out a bone for Oliver. And I THOUGHT this solved the problem. Guess not...
Afton: "Hmm that looks pretty good..."
Afton: "Maybe I'll just try a little." (Don't worry mom intervened before it reached her mouth.)
Afton:"If I can't try your bone Oliver, wanna try some of my biscuit?"
Oliver:"Maybe just a little."
Ahh the joys of mother hood and pet ownership. Although sometimes it can be a little overwhelming having a dog and a baby to take care of during the day, especially when Oliver has to pee right when Oliver needs a diaper change and one is whining at the door and one is crying on the floor, I still wouldn't change it.
They are starting to interact more everyday and Afton just loves him. Oliver tries very hard to love Afton but sometimes the ear pulling is a little much for him. But he loves to make her laugh by running by her really fast and licking her face just as he passes. This is becoming a daily occurrence and I just love hearing Afton's little laugh.
So good news Oliver, looks like you'll be in this family for the long haul. Meaning many more babies pulling your ears and many more teething biscuits to share.