February craziness

February has been a crazy month for us. Seems like life is on fast forward in the Sayre home. Both Cory and I are working now, and we both switch off taking care of Joslyn and the house work on our days off, plus Cory is doing school, and I'm in young womans. So we are constantly busy.. so February decided to through so much busy things at us like, super bowl sunday, valentines day and Presidents day. ha ha

Well Super Bowl Sunday was not a very good memory for us. Brom was very ill and had had two operations because he swallowed one of Joslyn's binky. We were hoping he would turn around and get better even though he was septic. Well as we were driving to Blackfoot to do the whole super bowl fun at my bro. and sis.-in-law's place, we get a call from one of the vets. she said that Brom was getting worse fast, and that now would be a time to say good bye and put him down so he wouldn't suffer any more. So we quickly turned around and stayed with Brom till his last breath.

next was Valentines Day... that was def. a pick me up holiday that Cory and I needed. We both had been feeling down because of the death of Brom. Cory and I got each other presents, but I thinkwe both were more excited watching Joslyn open her presents from us. Cory got her a purple bouncy ball, and i got her a book that reads to her as she turns the pages. My friend and I made an amazing romantic dinner for our hubbys. We made a copy cat chicken madeira from the cheese cake factory, then we did choc. fondue for dessert dipping strawberries, oreos, and marshmallows in the choc. it was all delicious!

Presidents Day so far has been busy with getting income taxes finished off, errands, shoveling more snow, visiting teachers, and getting my house ready for the week. Lets just say my house has been neglected when cory stays home with joslyn. but hey he takes really good care of Joslyn so I can't complain. So maybe I'll be able to catch some shopping before the stores close. But I had to do something fun with joslyn so we built a fort and read books together, and played with our baby dolls! ha ha.. I love this stage... now I just need to figure out how to make her talk. I hope everyone else's February is a lot slower paced and fun than mine has, but I wouldn't trade this moment for anything. I love how close our family is growing with this new stage of our lives.

I'll love you forever

I couldn't help but think of one of my favorite books as a child I'll Love you Forever by Robert Munsch as I caught Joslyn unraveling our toilet paper in the bathroom. I don't know why but she really likes to explore and play in that room. I could get upset but I can't help but laugh and think how cute she is.

Well this has been a pretty emotional month for me. Okay not really, but kind of. This month has been the weaning month. I just didn't taper off like most people because Joslyn just liked nursing and so I just kept at it. But when I would ask how often my friends nursed at 10 months or 11 months old I was nursing much more than they were. Then the holidays came and I did not want to have to deal with her not nursing while traveling on a plane and being in a different house for a couple of weeks. So January became the month. Nursing for 13 months isn't so bad right?!

Well I decided to take one nursing session out at a time and leave the night time nursing to be the last one. Well Joslyn handled it like a pro until I took out the morning time. I did it on a Sunday which wasn't fun. Cory was at work and she was cranky... plus at that time she wasn't liking vitamin D milk too well. But as I pushed the milk she did great. TONIGHT is the first time we put her down with out nursing. I mean we have put her down before for the night with out nursing because of going on a date and the babysitter didn't have the goods, but I would always nurse her once I got back.

Last night I wanted it to be her last good nursing time.. even though she didn't realize it and wouldn't ever remember. But she fell asleep because I had to go pick up Cory from work. the Car always puts her to sleep. So once we got home I woke her up and let her nurse as long as she wants. Truth be told I did it for me.

When I first started to nurse I couldn't understand when my mom would ask me "Don't you just love nursing?" When I first started to nurse it was painful. I couldn't understand why anyone nursed their kids. I seriously would have quit if I didn't have a great husband and a mom to cheer me on. but after two 1/2 months of painful nursing it slowly started to be okay. So then a couple of months it was easy to nurse and then teeth came in and then it hurt again, or the one nigh that Joslyn decided to get nipple confusion because of me working and giving her a bottle. I got huge that night because she wouldn't nurse and it hurt. But now that I've gone through it all I'm glad I didn't quit. If I would have quit I wouldn't get to experience the learning process between a mom and child, or the special moments when you catch a cute side smile while nursing, or when they are just soo anxious to nurse just for comfort and only you can do that. I like to feel needed and to care for someone and Joslyn let me do that this past year and hopefully for a long time.

I know Cory felt a little left out in the beginning and wanted to be able to put Joslyn down for the night but couldn't really because well he didn't have what I have. So tonight I asked him if he wanted to do the honor. I didn't have to ask him twice. He is such a great dad and I hate to admit it but there is no way I could do this on my own or without him. I rely on him way too much. But we said prayers as a family and then Dad tucked Joslyn in her crib. I took a picture to remember that Jan. 16th was the first day of her starting her big girl stage.

Joslyn I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, As long as I'm living my baby you'll be.

One year Mark!

So I know I already posted about Joslyn's 1st Birthday. But we did celebrate it early and we weren't able to go in for her one year doc appointment till this week. But Josie officially turned one while we were in Oklahoma. I wanted to do something special for her so I made rice Krispy treats and stuck a candle in it for her and sang her Happy Birthday on her true day at night Because she was born in the evening.

It was a really weird Christmas for me this year.. I was surrounded by all of my family and Cory was still in Idaho because he had to work Christmas day but that didn't bother me as much as I could help but reflect on last Christmas when our whole focus was on getting ready for our baby girl. We brought her home on Christmas Eve and no present or christmas decoration could make me happier than to be with my little baby! I still can't believe she is one. I thought that it would be so much easier once she turned that magical number but all of a sudden I feel like there is a lot of pressure on me getting pregnant again. I mean I want a family and I want Joslyn to have siblings but I still feel like I just had her, but if I don't get pregnant soon than I could mess up the whole two years spacing, and I don't want to be still getting pregnant in my thirties. I want to be able to have fun by then with my kids rather than taking the back seat all the time. sooo... thanks a whole lot for turning one Joslyn. j.k... no I'm excited but scared. Growing up is full of decisions and responsibility and it's scary.

Well here are Joslyns' one year check up- we changed Doctors. We were going to the Pediactric Center, and we like them ( we really like Dr. Olson) but we just felt like maybe going to our friend Dr. Fackrell. So he did Josie's 1 yr. check up and here it goes:

• Head circumference: 17 inches (25th percentile)
• Weight: 17 pounds (3rd percentile)
• Lenghth: 28 1/2 inches (25th percentile)

Dr. Fackrell was really nice and Cory was really nice but I could help but cry after the appointment. One mainly because shots seem to hurt more for a one year old, and the other is the concern still with her weight. I can't help but feel like I'm failing as a parent and that is why my daughter isn't as chunky as she ought to be. We are weaning her off of nursing and onto vitamin D milk. At first she hated it, and she didn't even care for chocolate milk or warm milk like what was suggested. I just had to keep pushing milk, and she prefers it plain and cold. So hopefully with her taking whole milk this will help her gain the appropriate weight and dr.'s and husbands won't be looking at me like "why isn't she bigger?"

but this is what Joslyn has been up to:

• she has a total of 6 teeth that have cut through (4 on top, 2 on bottom)
• she likes to crawl with this extra wiggle her her hips and shaking her head - very dramatic
• she pulls her self up and walks only with walker, while holding onto a finger, but never by herself.
• she still has a thing for playing with q-tips and tampons
• she loves to wear fake pearls and have mom pretend to put make up on her
• she loves to dance like nobodies business
• she screeches all the time
• her hair finally fits in pig tails- sooo cute!
• she can wave good bye, direct music by waving her arms in the air when music is playing, say milk in sign language, and clap her hands when you say patty cake.
• she will give kisses when you ask, but she will also deny you... she is very selective on who she kisses.
• we let her play with crayons only when she has a binky in she so doesn't eat it.

there are probably tons more that she can do, but I can't remember them all. I hope everyday that I am teaching her what she needs and that I'm not slacking. I am so grateful that I get to stay home with her. I know it is a struggle for us and we can't have whatever we want anymore but have to budget now but it is such a blessing to be a stay at home mom and I take it seriously. I love you Joslyn with all my heart!

Joslyn's Early Birthday Party

let me explain... My daughter was born on December 22nd... enough explanation right?! Well there is more. So Cory and I are leaving at different times to fly to Oklahoma for the Holidays. This year we are going to spend time with my family. But due to Cory's work schedule and that my mom begged for me to stay for a long time to help her get ready for last minute christmas stuff Cory won't be around on the 22nd when Josie officially turns one. Well because my nature is to please everyone and I feel bad no matter what i do, I wanted to at least celebrate Josie's birth in Idaho so her father can witness the whole opening presents and digging into the cake. SO on December 9th we did a little family get together for Josie's early owl Birthday party.

You see this whole year we kind of did an owl theme for Joslyn, and so we got her a charm to make an owl bracelet (thanks mom), she dressed up as a owl for halloween, I made her an owl beanie to keep her warm, so naturally we had to do an owl birthday. My friend Jen knows how to digital scrapbook and she made jose a cute invitation that I was able to send out to everyone... I attempted making an owl cake and cory frosted the owl cupcakes. we made Josie a birthday owl banner, and owl gift bags for her cousins, and she had a blast.

I want to thank everyone who came to her party. I know its more for me than anything else, but I appreciate all the love and support from everyone. I just love this little girl of mine! enjoy the pictures....

I am Thankful!

Now that I am serving in the YW I get to teach and listen to other lessons that are amazing. Last week was on optimism. After the wonderful lesson that our president gave I decided to be more optimistic and complain less... lets just say that on day 1 I failed that new goal. I had a self-pity moment that lasted about 2 in a half days. Eventually I got through this week and I was able to get last minute items done for Joslyn's early 1 year birthday party (I will post about her party soon).

I'm trying to prepare for this Sunday's lesson for my girls and it's on Gratitude and Appreciation. Perfect.... I failed last weeks lesson so maybe round two I can be better. Well I cam across a wonderful poem from sugardoodle.net and the poem was talking about my house and pathetic trials, but is how I ought to be thinking more. I hope you all enjoy it, it really lifted me spirit up!

Lord, thank you for this sink of dirty dishes;

We have plenty of food to eat.

Thank you for this pile of dirty, stinky laundry;

We have plenty of nice clothes to wear.

And I would like to thank you, Lord, for those unmade beds;

They were so warm and comfortable last night.

I know that many have no bed.

My thanks to you, Lord, for this bathroom,

Complete with all the splattered mirrors, soggy, grimy towels and dirty lavatory;

They are so convenient.

Thank you for this finger-smudged refrigerator that needs defrosting so badly;

It has served us faithfully for many years.

It is full of cold drinks and enough leftovers for two or three meals.

Thank you, Lord, for this oven that absolutely must be cleaned today.

It has baked so many things over the years.

The whole family is grateful for that tall grass that needs mowing,

The lawn that needs raking;

We all enjoy the yard.

Thank you, Lord, even for that slamming screen door.

My kids are healthy and able to run and play.

Lord, the presence of all these chores awaiting me says

You have richly blessed my family.

I shall do them cheerfully and I shall do them gratefully.