Christmas

This year Christmas was so much fun for our little family. We had so much fun together just enjoying Weston and each other and I truly am so thankful for the love that was in our home during this season. To start of our little Christmas fun we went to our family Christmas party on Christmas Eve and had so much fun with family. We ate really yummy Cafe Rio style burritos which I LOVED and Weston enjoyed walking around begging for desert and cookies from anyone who would give him some (there is a reason I gave him a toothbrush in his stocking this year). After the party we went and looked at lights listening to Christmas music and Weston loved it. They were so pretty and I can't wait for the day when I can have a place to call home to decorate for the Christmas season. We then came home and opened our Christmas pajamas up and watched Frosty the Snowman while Weston refused to go to bed because he was having too much fun. I figured it was Christmas Eve so he giggled and squealed till 10:30 that night.

Come 7 am we all went into the living room and had fun opening our gifts. Too bad Weston wanted nothing to do with his gifts. He seriously just sat there and looked at them as I opened them for him,lol. I think the staying up till 10:30 made him a little confused at why he was up opening up presents instead of sleeping in his warm comfy crib. He was spoiled though and he now is obsessed with all his new toys and books! I was spoiled with books, candles, socks, a beautiful willow tree figurine, scrap booking items, lotions, and a spice rack. I got Ryan his ultra comfy desk chair and some shirts while Weston got me the Polar Express book and Ryan a movie to watch with him. Ryan and I then gave each other our traditional Christmas letters to each other which was by far my favorite gift. Once we finished opening our gifts we went to Ryan's parents house and had French toast for breakfast. It was so much fun! The rest of the day we just enjoyed family and our new toys!

So the past couple of nights before Christmas Weston was so NOT on Santa's nice list because he kept mom and dad up all night long just not wanting to sleep. We later realized he got 4 teeth within a week and then we felt bad for saying he was on the "naughty list". Overall, this smile is the real reason Weston was on Santa's nice list this year. Once he starts to smile it is an automatic decision.
Weston only wanted to play with Ryan's stocking stuffers which was candy, candy and more candy!

Playing with his new keys and remote control.


Christmas Eve night with our Christmas pajamas!

Here is a video of one of Weston's favorite things to do. Oh so fun!

Walking

This has been the look on Weston's face for the past week. His top two teeth are coming through and he spends his day climbing up my legs begging me to hold him. Of course I do it cause I can't resist a moment that he allows me to snuggle with him!
When he is not begging for me to hold him he is walking! Last night he refused to crawl and ever since then it has been walking all over the place. As Ryan stated last night "our lives are never going to be the same" with a grin on his face. I second that one!

I can't get over how much he has grown. My mom didn't lie when he said tha time will fly with him. I just wish he would be my little baby forever....oh well, I guess that is why baby number two will someday have to come and entertain our crazy family! As for now, this one is keeping us more than entertained and busy... ask me how we are going to do multiple children and I just shake my head and laugh. seriously?! there is a reason I have nicknamed my child "hurricane weston";).

Weston's First Birthday

So today is the day that I have been so excited about for so long. It is Weston's first birthday and it is very bitter sweet because my baby has suddenly become a toddler who is no longer considered my tiny baby boy. However, I was looking forward to this day until last night when my birthday boy woke up with a temperature of a 103.6 and wanted nothing to do but scream. We had taken him to the doctor earlier in the day who informed us that it was only viral and it just had to take it's course and there was nothing we could do....great. So the doctor asked me if I was giving him any medicine to help reduce his fever which I was. However, I learned last night that my "baby" weighs a whopping 23 pounds and needs a high dose than what I was giving him. Yes, I know Weston is a good eater...but 23 pounds! Jeesh, I hope he slows down once he masters this walking business. So last night I gave him his high dose, which was not working so at 2 in the morning I decided to give him a luke warm bath to help his fever go down. Well, Weston wanted nothing to do with it and I am surprised he didn't wake up the entire apartment complex with his high pitched screaming. Last night I think we all got a max of 3 hours of sleep between rocking, baths, and just trying to get our little boy comfortable. His fever is now at 101 which still stinks but is a lot better than what it was. I feel so bad and to be honest he has been miserable all day long. Thank goodness he doesn't understand its his birthday cause I would feel that much worse. So his birthday will consist of lots of cuddling, Baby Einstein, reading books, and just hanging with mom on the couch.:(

The good news is we celebrated his birthday last Thursday with family so my mom could be at his party before she leaves. We had such a fun time, and Weston was clueless what was going on but he still had fun and I am SO THANKFUL that we got to experience a birthday party. Here are some pictures of the party.

Right before his party he decided to take 10 steps to grammy and me! I was so proud of him!

I made a caterpillar cupcake cake that was so fun and everyone loved. I decided to have fun and tie dyed the cupcakes which were a lot of fun.

Everyone started to sing Happy Birthday to Weston and he had no idea why everyone was looking at him, let along singing to him. However, he loves attention and had fun being the center of it.

Weston is going through a stage right now where he is terrified of certain toys and sounds. Gramma Poffenberger has a Santa Clause that laughs and Weston is just scared to death of. As he was eating his cake she turned it on, and this is the reaction he gave when he heard the toy.

Once the toy was turned off he continued stuffing his face with his yummy cake.


He had so many presents and didn't have a clue what to do with them. He wanted nothing to do with unwrapping them so his cousins helped him and had just as much fun as he did.

He loves the Lego's and wheelbarrow that my mom gave him. Let's just say this kid has so many toys and Christmas is right around the corner. Half the time he just wants to play with items that aren't even toys so sometimes I wonder why we even try entertaining him with toys,lol. I think it is time to start rotating toys and putting some away;) Overall, it was a fun night and thanks everyone who made it special!!!

1 year old and wiser too.....

So I am officially a quarter of a century old. When I say it that way I feel a lot older than 25, but then I think about it and I really am not as old as I think. Saying goodbye to 24 was kinda sad because this year has by far been the best year of my life. Becoming a mom brought so much purpose to who I am as a person, and this has been a year of a lot of learning and discovery. I have never worried, doubted myself, cried, been more sleep deprived, and more frustrated than in my 24th year. However, I have never felt more joy, peace, and satisfaction than in my 24th year. I have laughed harder and smiled more than ever this year and felt a quiet confidence that I never knew I had until this year. I learned what it means to trust myself as a mother and to love my child unconditionally and expect nothing in return other than a happy baby. I have learned the power of forgiveness and patience in a marriage. We have grown so much as a couple this year and it has been rough at times with the adjustment of a newborn, but it has also brought us so much more closer together. I have gained a new more powerful love for Ryan this year as I see him love our son and it has blown all my expectations out of the water of what I imagined it would be:). As you can tell, this year has been a roller coaster ride in many sorts but I can say without a doubt in my mind that I wouldn't trade a second of it for the world! I became a mom this year and that is by far the best gift I could ever have been given.

I remember last year for my birthday I was told by my doctor that I could go off my medicine to stop my contractions and go off of bed rest. I had made it to 36 weeks so Weston was no longer in danger of being in the NICU so I was free to get up and move around. Of course I was still nervous of him coming at 36 weeks, so me being the worry wart that I was, I still kept it easy and tried not to do anything strenuous. However, that only worked 3 days until he came but I still say that he was my best late birthday present ever. That was then....this year was a little different:)!

2 days before my birthday, my mom bought me my favorite food ever, lobster, and Ryan and I enjoyed every single bite of it. No, I wasn't in Maine eating it like I always did but it was so worth it in every other way. I then had some cheesecake which was heavenly as always! So that was my official birthday dinner even though it wasn't on my actual birthday.

My actual birthday Ryan took my out to Azteca for some wonderful Mexican food that I really enjoyed. We then went shopping around the mall and just enjoyed a quiet evening to ourselves. Weston and Ryan then surprised me with .......

DAY AT THE SPA!!!!

I am so excited for this because I love to pamper myself and this past year I haven't gotten to because I am so focused on Weston and helping Ryan through school. The day consists of a massage and facial so I am so excited to just sit back and go to some tropical beach in my mind and relax for a nice afternoon. So yes, this is a much need present that I am so thankful for!

Weston having fun with the lobster that he was at first very hesitant to get near.


Oh how I LOVE lobster!

Overall, it was a wonderful day and I am so thankful for everyone in my life who made my day special.

Christmas Time

The day after Thanksgiving this year I went fully into Christmas mode and have not stopped since. The Christmas music is playing at full blast all the time in our apartment, goodies have already been cooking in the kitchen, I hung up all the decorations, started lighting my yummy scented Christmas candles, already finished my shopping, and I just am happy for this Christmas season. Last year, Ryan and I hardly celebrated because Weston was just born and we were so caught up in taking care of a newborn that the other great parts of the season kinda flew by us. Yes, it sounds horrible but we are totally making up for it this year.

This year we got a fake tree at Target for $20 (this is all we could manage for afford) and it is perfect for our little apartment. And yes that is a santa hat on top of the tree. I cannot justify buying a tree topper that is the same amount as the tree. The joys of living frugally because we are poor college students:).
Weston having fun with Aunt Lindsay!

We took my mom and sister to Coeur d'Alene to see the lights and they were so pretty. It was FREEZING and Weston wasn't as crazy about the lights as we were and just wanted to get inside to dethaw his poor cheeks. He get's the hatred of cold weather from his mom;).

The family!

Some of the pretty lights of the boardwalk.

Turkey Day

This year we had such a wonderful time for Thanksgiving with our family. My mom and sister came out to visit us and Weston is having SO MUCH fun being spoiled. He has been basking in all the attention and lets just say I no longer have a child who can put himself to sleep on his own. My mom wants to rock him every night and since she lives across the country I cannot refuse that special moment for her. All I can say is in a week I will be in misery as I retraining him to put himself back down on his own. It's worth it though to see him enjoy my mom so much!

Weston loves my sister's cell phone since I no longer let him use mine. As you can tell her is amazed at all the buttons and sounds it makes. To bad he won't play with his toy cell phone...it has to be the real thing,lol.
A family picture that we took quickly.

Weston loved the food. He ate everything on the table and loved making a mess. There is a reason why I call him my "chunky monkey":).

Weston loved watching Grampa cut the turkey. If it is something he has never seen before he will be up front and center within 2 seconds.

Loving his rocking horse at Gramma and Grampa's house.

Keeping an 11 month old busy

Ever since it has started to get cold and Weston and I are stuck in the house I have been trying so hard to keep him entertained for more than 5 minutes. He is so busy which means his attention span is about 30 seconds with each activity that he does. We have a great routine but sometimes playing with the same toys and reading the same books can get boring for both me and Weston ( I wonder why his new activity is unrolling the toilet paper roll in all of our bathrooms). So today I decided that I would plop some whipped cream in front of him and see what he would do with it.

As you can see, at first he wasn't sure what was in front of him and wanted nothing but the camera I was using to take pictures of him...go figure on that one,lol.

After I put the camera away and gave him a second to explore the whipped cream he went crazy and discovered how good it tasted.

And then I gave him a spatula and the squeals and giggles started to appear.


It was totally worth it! Between the whipped cream craziness and bath I entertained him for 45 minutes! Seriously, that is an accomplishment for me right now:)!

Electronics

Weston is obsessed with electronics. Here is a list of his new "toys".

1. The Phone- Every time I call someone he sees the phone and zooms over to me so he can get a hold of the phone and communicate to whoever I am talking to by pressing as many buttons as he can.

2. The Remote-Whenever he sees a remote he gravitates to it and manages to change every channel on the tv while we scurry to grab the remote from him. Once this happens he will zoom to the tv and press the buttons on the tv to either turn it on and off, or raise to volume to as loud as it will go. As this is happening he is grinning from ear to ear and Ryan and I are trying are hardest not to lose our minds,lol.

3. The Computer- He loves to computer and whenever I am on it he tries to climb on my lap so he can go crazy with the keyboard. However, that is no longer happening since we got a new computer and he doesn't seem to like that rule.

4. The Camera- This is his new "toy" and Ryan and I are standing firm in not letting him have anything to do with this new discovery. As you may notice a lot of my pictures of Weston are up close. This is due to the fact that he is crawling towards me trying to get a hold of the camera and I am trying as fast as I can to take a picture before he has a breakdown when I pull it away from him.

Here is a picture I wanted to take of his new haircut. As you can see it is up close and you can see the smile on his face that is anticipating the joy of grabbing his favorite new toy.

Now here is the after picture when Mommy took away the camera and he did not get his "toy". He acts like the world is coming to and end. My angel as discovered what a temper tantrum is and he knows how to throw a big one,lol.

Oh on the haircut. He was so amazing. Ryan got the buzzer out and we were positive that he would freak out so I had a sucker ready and everything. However, he sat there perfectly still and played with his matchbox car. Everyone once in a while he would look up at the razor with a puzzled look on his face but would go right back to playing with his car. At least we didn't have a breakdown in that situation.

Mickey Mouse

The reason why I am so in love with this little boy:)

He just is getting more and more fun as the days go by!

The Cowardly Lion

To begin Halloween Ryan and I decided to go buy a computer at Best Buy which was random but we needed it so bad. Hopefuly this computer will last us a while and Ryan will be able to get through school without issues that we have had with our current lap top. I then decided to make dinner in a pumpkin which was so much fun. I have done this in the past and decided to make it a tradition for every Halloween. Weston and Ryan both loved it and I was so glad to see them so happy. Next, we forced Weston into his lion costume which he hated and wanted nothing to do with. However, Ryan and I wanted to give him the experience of trick or treating and forced our poor boy out into the cold Halloween night. I know, such horrible parents we are,lol.
So we only took him to 5 houses which were family and at each house he screamed at the top of his lungs when they would give him candy. We got tons of candy for just 5 houses but Weston didn't want anything to do with it. Ryan stated he was just in character and roaring at everyone and I just called him the cowardly lion. He was SO CUTE though and everyone who saw him just smiled and gushed over just how cute a lion he was (even though he bawled as they freely gave him handfuls of chocolate). To say the least, Ryan is thrilled because he has a bucket full of candy waiting for him when he gets home every night.

At the end of the "trick or treating" episode we went to a party with family and had a fun time with them. Once Weston was out of his costume he was all smiles and flirting with everyone in sight. To say the least, he stayed up till 10:30 that night laughing and giggling untill I switched into mommy mode and forced him to sleep against his will. Overall, we had fun and I am so glad we did it :)!

10 months

Weston turned 10 months this past month and is growing more and more as the days for by. Here are a few of the things he loves to do.

Eating

Weston is obsessed with food. He loves real people food and will have nothing to do with baby food. There are times he shocks me because he eats more than me during some meals. Where does it all go? I wish he could tell me because he can pack it down and not a gain a pound,lol.

Crawling

Weston has finally mastered crawling and is everywhere. He loves getting into everything he is not suppose to and his favorite activity right now is turning the tv on and off. It is cute at times but last night Ryan was trying to watch the World Series and Weston was constantly turning it on and off. As you may guess, Ryan didn't think it was that cute during that moment;).

Jumping in the Crib

Weston can finally put himself to sleep on his own. We have tried to cry it out method a kazzilion times but we can say that this time it worked and we are so happy. For a while during nap time he would either be screaming at the top of his lungs for me to come save him or would just give up and jump on his mattress for 40 minutes at a time giggling and laughing. What is worse? I would take the jumping of course but then it is horrible when I have a crabby boy who played during his nap instead of slept. However, these days have past and he is now a champion at sleeping at night and learning to take longer naps during the day.

Pat-a-cake

Weston loves to play pat-a-cake and it is the cutest thing in the entire world. He claps his hands when he is excited and I love every minute of it!

Talking

Ever since Weston had tubes put in his ears he has begun talking so much better. He talks all the time and Ryan says he is going to take after his Grammy Marshall which is so true. He can say "dada" which is slowly turning into "dadde", "rara", "baba", "yaya" and any other gibish that comes out of his mouth. he still can't say "mama" yet which is driving me crazy,lol. I will be patient though because I know it will be worth it when it happens!

Pumpkin Patch

We went to Green Bluff and picked out some pumpkins for Halloween this year and tried some yummy kettle corn. We had issues with taking pictures of Weston because he was so distracted with all the people around him that he would never look at us while we were taking pictures of him. But we did manage a few.

Fall Happenings

Yes I am guilty of neglecting this blog and honestly forgetting it even existed. I then got to thinking that this is a great way of recording what has been happening in my life because I cannot seem to master other ways of recording such a scrapbooking or journal writing. So this is how I will do it and I will be able to show my family just how much fun we are having in our lives. So here is a recap of what we have been doing this fall.

Train Ride

Ryan and I decided to enjoy the beautiful fall leaves by taking Weston on a train ride in the country a few hours from Spokane. It was so freezing that day but Weston was such a great sport and had so much fun looking out the window at all the pretty leaves!