The One With My Tough Husband

Rick had a fabulous day this week. In fact, he said it just might have been the best day of his life. I am assuming that meant it was the third best day of his life (the day he married me, and the day Paige was born being before that, of course).

Why did he have such a great day, you ask? Well, you see, he works for the police department in the Metro Gang Unit, and they issued him a badge. We still don't know why they gave it to him, but he's not complaining! In the first 48 hours, he only took it off to sleep. He was so funny about it. He even wore it to his mom's house to show it off to her.

This is him being tough...


This is the badge up close... don't ask my why I didn't use my nicer camera to take a non-blurry picture.

The One Where I've Been At It Again!

Yay! I've missed crafting so much since I finished Paige's nursery. I wanted to keep making things, but just couldn't find anything I needed or that caught my eye. I was blog hopping as I usually do, and found this cute idea. I have a niece that is getting baptized soon, so I thought it would be the perfect gift for her.



I had a few speed bumps along the way and had to change a few things to make it work with the book I bought (I bought a hard cover book, not the flimsy ones, so it took more paper), but I made it work. I still feel like it's missing a little bit, so I might play around with it a tad bit more, but as for now I think it's alright. Sorry for the bad pictures... I don't know why I didn't use my nicer camera this time...



And for my next project....
I saw these cute shoes on this blog, and thought, "I can do that!".

We have 3 weddings coming up in our family in the next couple of months, so I think I will make at least one pair for the weddings. The problem is... what style should I make for her?! I need you to comment and tell me which style (not necessarily the fabric) that you like... including the picture above.

Button shoes

Ruffle Shoes

Mary Janes with flowers

Ballerina slippers

I'm excited to see what you think!

The One With A Few Of My Favorite Things

These are a few of my favorite things (about Paige...) :)

• When she smiles at me (nothing makes me happier than seeing her smile... I can't wait for her to start giggling)
  

• When she doesn't puke after eating :)
• When she sleeps really well... especially at night (she's been doing really well at night - knock on wood!)
  
• When she falls asleep in my arms or on my chest

• When she makes her cute baby noises, especially when she's talking to me
• When she farts when she stretches or sneezes

• That she is so tiny
  
• That she looks so much like her dad

She really is such a great baby. She hardly cries, and usually lets me know what she wants. I've been so lucky to have the ideal pregnancy, delivery & baby! I love being a mom, there's absolutely nothing like it!!

The One With A Day In My Life

Paige has acid reflux pretty bad. We've tried several things to help it. She has good days and bad days with it. She usually seems over all to be getting better, and then this happens...

I'd say this isn't a good day for her reflux. This was less than half of it too! She got it all over her and the chair we were in. The poor girl.

The One With All That Growing!

I decided to try to take a couple of pictures of Paige this week, and when I did, I ran across some pictures I took of her when she was one week old that I had forgotten about. I hadn't even edited them. She hated getting her pictures taken that day, but we still got a couple of good ones.





9 weeks old...



Her aunts wanted to paint her nails... it was too cute. We'll probably do it again for her blessing and for the three family weddings in the next few months.



Oh how she has changed in between those two photo shoots. She went from the 5th percentile in height to the 90th percentile, not to mention she has started to fill out more. She almost has rolls on her legs... almost...

She hasn't grown on the charts much for weight, though. She now weighs 9 lbs 8 oz and is 23 inches long! She loves her baths, laying on her changing table in the mornings after getting a fresh new diaper on, and usually will sleep at least 5 hours, for one or two stretches in the night. We're working on the second! That makes me a happy camper for sure!

The One Where Money Isn't Everything

Disclaimer: I had a realization over the weekend, and had to get it off my chest. The "small amount of money" I talk about is referred to as the money I use on necessities.

Rick and I have always been on a strict budget. He's really great with money, so we've been able to pay off credit card debt, save money for our down payment on our condo, pay off multiple hospital bills (after changing insurances 3 times in the past year, so that means 3 deductibles that we have met...), and manage our money well enough so I can stay at home (so far...) with Paige, and he can quit one of his 3 jobs (even though he took on another third job, but it's less hours and he can work from home, we're so happy about it!). We started our marriage out with a pretty strict budget, but it seems like it's gotten smaller and smaller.

I'm not telling you this so you feel bad for us, by any means, if anything I am telling you this so that you will feel happy for us. I'm not saying we're broke, I just came to the realization over the weekend at how little we have been living off of every month. I was kind of shocked about it, hence the need to blog about it. We have it set up so that I get a very small amount of money twice a month, and I use that money for groceries, diapers, my gas, and anything else Paige or I need. Rick, of course takes care of everything else. I have been clipping coupons, and planning our meals so that we can pinch every penny.

Isn't it great how God blesses us with what we need and when we need it? Although I have never ever lived off such a small amount of money (not even for myself, when I was living with my parents and didn't need very much, let alone had to cover a husband and a baby), I have never been happier. I feel like the past year has been the happiest of my life. Sometimes I think we get caught up in thinking that we need money for this and that and everything so we can enjoy ourselves, but I think that it's important not to stress about money too much, but to still live within your means. I've been on both sides of the fence, and think that the little extra effort and will power it takes to manage money a little better is so worth it. Like I said, I have never been happier.

The One With Our Spring Tradition

Every year, we have 2 Utes traditions in our family. In the fall, we always go to the Red Blue game, where they have former players from the U and the Y play a flag football game. In the spring, we always go to the Red White game, which is kind of a scrimmage. That game was today. I was super nervous to take Paige in the heat and the sun, but she was so great the whole time. She slept until the very end, so we just kept her in her car seat in the shade, so it worked perfectly.

Here's our first Utes Family Picture


Daddy and daughter.
Her onsie says Utes Fan Since Birth.
Too cute.


Touchdown!!! :)




She is 2 months old now! How crazy is that? Time sure flies.

The One With The Cute Pictures

For some reason I haven't been able to upload pictures on here lately, and I have been very busy, so please excuse this late post.

My friend Carlye took some pictures for us when Paige was 2 weeks old. (I think that was when it was...) She did such a great job, we love the pictures!! Here are a few of my favorites.


















This one was just one I took on my cell a week or so ago... She finally held still while smiling, so we could get a picture. I told her to smile for daddy, so she did! When I see her smile it makes me the happiest person!!