Precious Moments

These are two moments that have happened recently that I don't ever want to forget. I really do believe children recognize God and God's spirit  even though they are so young and have yet to truly learn who God is in this life.

I had the opportunity to take Aben to the Brigham City Temple open house with my parents. There was a long wait and it was a long tour. Beautiful, but difficult for children. Aben was extremely anxious and wanted to get down and walk around. We had to pass him around constantly to try to keep him happy. He was very squirmy but we were all trying to enjoy the beauty around us. The tour was coming to an end and we went into the Celestial room. I was holding Aben at the moment and the minute we walked into the Celestial room Aben instantly stopped trying to squirm out of my arms. He looked up and all around and you could tell he was in awe. He looked at the chandelier and said, "Wow", and he kept saying it was he looked around the room. I know he could feel the Spirit in that room and he recognized the feeling.

Aben has a book with pictures of Christ with the words to the song "If the Spirit Stood Beside Me". Aben loves reading books and this is one I like to read to him and sing the song to before bedtime. I always point to Jesus and tell him who it is. Aben can now say "Jesus" and it is the cutest thing ever. At church, when he gets fussy, sometimes we walk around and point out the pictures of Jesus in the hallways. He will repeat the name "Jesus" after we tell him who it is. But one Sunday, after Sacrament meeting we walked out of the chapel and there was the picture of Chirst, one that Aben hasn't seen. Aben saw it and pointed and said "Jesus". He recognized the Savior.

I love these precious moments! What a testament they are of the light of Christ and the innocence of children. I love being a mom and the opportunity I have of being a part of these wonderful experiences.

15 months: "New" Tricks!

So the last time I updated all the things Aben has learned to do was 10 months. So much has changed since then! Aben has grown up into a little boy...he is definitely not my little baby anymore :(.

Since 10 months Aben's "new" tricks are:

• Says "ma ma, da da, uh oh, ouch, ow, ya, no, hat, hot, up, out, bath, ball, num num, cheese, socks, shoes, na na (for banana)".
• Knows what dogs, monkeys, lions, and cats say
• Signs milk, more
• Walks all over the place (started this at 13 months)
• Still loves climbing up and down the stairs, and absolutely loves throwing things down the stairs
• Loves putting lids on and off of containers
• Rides in a front facing car seat! This has made our lives on rides so much more enjoyable!
• Dances with his arms in the air and stomps his feet
• Loves being chased
• Loves teasing! He now sticks his finger up his nose to tease us. He also started refusing to say "ma ma" because he thinks it's funny to call me "da da". 
• He still loves food, but is definitely more picky. He also loves feeding himself. He doesn't like us to really help...which can make things difficult sometimes because he isn't too coordinated with forks and spoons just yet.
• Loves being read books
• Is finally starting to go to sleep on his own for naps. 
• Spins/walks in circles
• Loves playing by himself in the mornings
• Wakes up signing milk and saying "na na". He loves a cup of warm milk and a banana for breakfast.

I love my goofy, handsome boy!

10 Of My Favorite Things

10 Things I love.....

1. When Aben dances: he shakes his booty, picks up his feet and stomps them back down, and moves his arms all around.
2. How Aben moves his eyebrows when he is drinking: especially chocolate milk and yummy juice!
3. When he eats something he likes he says "MMMM!" and gets really happy.
4. Loves bath time! And has figured out how to climb up on the shelf in the bathtub...slightly dangerous but really cute.
5. How he laughs when he's thrown in the air.
6. How he starts to breath really fast and move as fast as he can when we tell him we're going to get him and start to chase him.
7. Loves being scared by mom or dad.
8. Pokes his head around you to look you in the face to say "hello".
9. Randomly sprawls out on the floor and cuddles his blankey.
10. Sean has worked so hard at teaching Aben this new trick, and I have to admit, I absolutely love it. Aben now on cue will do an 'evil' chuckle...."Ha, Ha, Ha". Of course, it doesn't sound evil when Aben does it but rather absolutely hilarious and adorable. Oh how I love my boy!  

There are a million other things I absolutely love about this boy but these are some of my 'favorites', if you can have favorites. Aben has been such a joy in our lives. It's hard to remember what life was like before kids. When I do think back, it just seems like it must have been so dull! (I love you Sean! ;) ). No, I do love my alone time with my hubby, but children really do bring true joy into your life! 

Happy Birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! I can't believe my baby is already ONE! He's grown up so much which I love to see, but it sure makes me miss my newborn boy.

We started off the day swimming at our complex pool. Aben loves the water! He was a little cold so he didn't last as long as he usually does, but he still had so much fun!

We then invited over our family and some close friends to open presents.

Aben loved ripping the wrapping paper off...but once the paper was off I think his cousins were just as excited or even more excited to play with the new toys :)

Aben was so excited to see his new big ball! I wish we could have gotten a picture of his face, but the minute he saw it he opened his arms up and made his big "wow" face! He just couldn't wait to hold it!

For his birthday "party", we decided to do a mickey mouse theme. I was pretty happy with the cupcakes I made. I even dared to make my own marshmallow fondant in three colors! I think they turned out pretty cute!

Aben was a little hesitant at first to eat his cupcake. I think he was wondering why in the world everyone was staring silently at him, and trying to figure out how he was going to put such a big thing in his mouth! Once I broke some bites apart for him he decided he liked it and dug right in, no longer caring about us all watching him eat his first chocolate cupcake! 

We sure do have a happy, handsome one year old!

9 and 10 months!

I missed posting Aben's 9 and 10 month update so I am going to do them both together. I have promised myself that I will be better about posting because I do this not only to keep everyone updated, but to always remember the cute new things he learns. I've found that it is already easy to forget when Aben started doing new things and it's hard to separate out the months.

During that past 2 1/2 months, Aben has grown and changed so much!

• He is crawling and is already getting too fast!
• Pulls himself up to a standing position
• Starting to "walk" around while using the furniture as support
• Loving all the new foods he gets to eat now: cheese, egg yolks, yogurt, and of course still loving all the fruits, veggies, and meats.
• Clapping, which is the cutest thing ever! We say "yay" and clap, and he will drop whatever toy he has in his hands and starts to clap with us.
• Loves it when we stick out our tongue at him, and then he follows and sticks out his thinking it is the funniest thing ever
• Still laughing all the time :)
• Finally sleeping through the night. Sean and I decided that we couldn't take going in and rocking him back to sleep in the middle of the night anymore, and that it was definitely time for him to sleep through the night on his own. We built up our courage and let him cry through the night and learn to fall back to sleep on his own. It was the worst three nights ever and I had to play games on my phone or talk to Sean to keep myself from bursting into tears or breaking down and getting Aben out of his crib. But it was worth it. Aben is doing so much better now and is even finally starting to fall asleep on his own for his naps!
• Saying "ma ma" and "num num"
• Loves his bath time!

He is still his skinny little self, but super healthy which we are so grateful for. He is around 55-60% for height, but only 20% for weight :). I honestly don't know how he isn't a complete chub with all the food that he eats. He must have the Great-Grandma Taylor genes. Here are some of my favorite recent pics:

Aben loved Easter! He saw the "num nums" in his basket and got so excited after that!

 He figured out where the Cheerios came from and was the happiest boy in the world after his discovery! I looked down and he had a whole handful and shoved the entire thing in his mouth and then gave me a big smile afterwards. Cutest thing ever!

Moving and Graduation!

So it's been quite a while since I posted anything. Life has been crazy lately and extra time has been hard to find. In the last couple months Sean and I have officially moved out of Provo! While Provo was good while it lasted, it feels so great to move away. We only moved about 30 minutes north to South Jordan, but it has a whole different feel. I feel more like a family and definitely more grown up. It just feels like we are off on our own adventure now and I love it. I have also started working. I got a job on the Med/Surg floor of Pioneer Valley Hospital in West Valley City. It isn't my dream job but I am liking the med/surg unit a lot more than I expected. It's a lot better being the nurse then the nursing student on a unit like that. I am terrified everyday I go to work that I am going to mess something up, and generally I do, but thankfully it hasn't been anything important. I find that I'm nervous the whole day and tend to stumble over my words more often than not. I have also learned first hand why nurses don't always enjoy calling the doctor. :) I have enjoyed being able to contribute financially to our family, but I miss my time with my boys.

Another great event was Sean's graduation. He was the most handsome graduate there and I am so proud of him! Aben was super tired and therefore very cranky when Sean's graduation started and refused to go to sleep. Finally he fell asleep after I walked around in the hallway for 30 minutes or more, missing most of it, but gratefully he fell asleep in time for me to be there when they read Sean's name.

Day at the park!

It has finally been nice outside so we were able to go to the park for the first time! I 'd like to think that Aben liked it....but....there were definitely some things that he did not enjoy.

I was so excited to take Aben down the

slide, but he wasn't so thrilled.

He may look happy here, but he wasn't by the time we got to the bottom. We'll have to try again later I guess. He did like the park though. We sat him on the grass to see what he would do. He didn't really know what to think about it.

He would hold one leg off the ground to keep from touching the grass,

but he warmed up to it.:)

He did like the swing. At first he started to freak out, but he started to really like it after a couple pushes.

Isn't he just the most handsome boy ever!

I think we're going to be going to the park more often now. :)

This past month...

It feels like so much has happened from February 1st to March 1st. February was by far the most stressful month for me. I would wake up, love on my baby, try to get some studying for the NCLEX in, put my baby to bed, study some more until my handsome hubby would get home from work and go to bed. And this routine would repeat and repeat everyday. It felt like the more practice questions I did for the NCLEX the worse I got and it felt like my test day would never come. Well, it did and it was awful. I was actually able to fall asleep the night before, but I woke up about every 45 min-1 hour anxious and sick to my stomach. Thursday morning finally came and I got to the testing center only to find out I was too early and it wasn't even open yet. So to calm my nerves I had to just sit outside the door until I could finally go and sign in. (Let me just say, having to sit still and wait is the WORST way to calm your nerves). The test finally started and I think there was only one question I actually knew the answer to. I kept praying I would only get 75 questions, but as the test went on, I was terrified the test would actually shut off at 75 questions. I just knew there was no way I could have passed because I guessed on all of the questions, and just maybe, if I got some more questions I may have a chance of passing. Well, the test turned off at 75 questions. I called my husband to come pick me up and as soon as I got into the car I just started crying. I felt so awful about how I did and was so upset. The next day and a half was just as bad or worse. I couldn't wait any longer to find out if I passed and I was constantly sick to my stomach. Friday night at 11:45, I checked the DOPL website and found my name listed as having an active nursing license! Again, I started crying, but this time for relief an joy :). After 4 1/2 years of college, much studying, and even more stress, I have my nursing license! Now I just have to get hired :).

The next great event of this month was Aben turing 8 months old! I keep saying how I can't believe Aben is wearing 6-9 month clothes because they just look so big. But then I realize that that is about right since he is 8 months old :(. My boy just keeps getting bigger and I'm going to have to come to terms with that eventually I guess. But with all the growing, he is also learning so much and I love it! He is getting stronger and closer to crawling. He laughs and smiles freely. He babbles all the time like he is having a conversation with you. He now reaches for his mommy when he wants her! (I love it!) One of the cutest things he does quite frequently and deliberately now is plays peek-a-boo. He started doing this about a month ago, but it was hit or miss and I usually had to instigate it. Now he will hide his face and then look up at us until we say "peek-a-boo!". He is such a sweet boy and also so happy. We are so blessed to have such a good baby and we love him more every single day!

8 months old!

7 months!

Aben is now 7 months old! This year has gone by so fast, I can't believe it. He is trying so hard to crawl. He reaches, and reaches on his tummy for toys out of reach. He uses his toes and legs to try to get closer. He just wants to start moving! Some new things he does:

• Staring to play peek-a-boo on his own
• Eats everything in his sight. He loves apples and blueberries, oatmeal, and sweet potatoes, but will eat anything and everything I give him. He is such a good eater. The minute he swallows, his mouth is wide open and he is grunting waiting for the next bite!
• Likes having his mommy and daddy brush his teeth, but always wants a turn to brush his own teeth too!
• Finally goes to sleep on his own! This has been the trial since school got out, but he is doing so good now.

Some of our favorite pictures of 2012 so far:
If you look close you can see his two bottom teeth :)

Aben's new favorite toy to play in :)

Aben loves his new blankey that his Grammy and Grandpa Taylor gave him! He loves playing with the silky edges.

All in just ONE week!

It's amazing how much a baby can learn in just one week! One week, Sean and I were trying to force Aben to roll onto his tummy from his back, but he would always refuse! He hated being on his stomach. The next week, he suddenly started rolling onto his stomach all the time! It's like a light bulb went on and he realized there were so many more toys he could get to if he simply rolled over :). Once he finally rolled over, Sean and I started to talk about how he still seemed to be far from sitting on his own. Aben was doing okay sitting up, but would constantly tip side-to-side if one of us wasn't sitting right behind him. But of course, the very next day, I decided to give it another try and sat Aben up, and what do you know....

He was suddenly a pro!

Aben now loves to sit up and play. It is definitely his preferred position to play in and he does so good. He hardly ever tips over- if he does, it's usually because he is trying to get a toy that is just a little too far away. I love how curious and persistent Aben is. Now that he's sitting up, I can tell he is ready to be able to crawl all over the place. He just wants to be able to get to everything he can see! What a joy he is!

(P.S. Even though I graduated from BYU, I am a definite Utes fan...and what can I say...Aben looks pretty awesome in his Utes outfit!)

Already 6 months old!

My baby boy is already 6 months old! He has grown so much! He's gone from learning how to breastfeed, to scarfing down solids as fast as he can get them. He is such a joy and I can't picture life without him. While I love the stage he is in right now, I miss the precious newborn stage. I miss how little he use to be and how he could fit on my chest completely stretched out. I miss how little his clothes used to be! He was a beautiful newborn, but he somehow gets more handsome every day. Turning 6 months old made me realize how fast time goes and how quickly things change. I just had to go back and look at my favorite pictures of Aben.

Aben's first day home

Aben's first bath. You can tell he already loves his daddy and how much his daddy loves him!

Aben at 10 days old

Aben at 2 weeks old

Aben's baby blessing at 1 1/2 months old

Almost 2 months-I just love how his dimples are starting to show more!

Aben 2 1/2 months old and getting so big!

Aben at 5 months old!

Aben at Christmas

My little boy is growing up! With starting solids and getting new teeth, he just seems so big to me now. I love how happy he is-just look at our Christmas picture! I love how he now plays with us and interacts so much more. It's so fun to watch him play with his toys and talk while he is playing. I love how he is learning to make new sounds and how excited he gets when he discovers something new. I love how he looks back at you when you are holding him to make sure you're still there and give you a sweet smile. I love how he laughs all the time. His laugh is the best sound in the whole world! I love his big lips and his big smile! He definitely got that handsome feature from his daddy. I love how he is starting to squeal when he gets excited, especially when he sees his solid food. While I love how he has grown, I sure miss my little newborn. But what a joy each new days is. What I love most of all is the time I now have to spend with my boy!