hello again

Wow, it sure has been a while since I posted on here! SO much has happened since April.
Here's a quick recap on what's happened over our summer:

I ran my first 5k. I ran the Teton Dam 5k in June and am so glad I did. It was nice to be in a regular running habit. Next year I'm going to try to run the 10k.

Kyler learned to crawl AND walk. He now walks around like he owns the place and we couldn't imagine him being any cuter!

Kyler is finally cutting his teeth. Around 10 months his two front top and bottom teeth showed up just under his gums, but by his first birthday they still hadn't cut through. This last week we noticed one of his top and one of his bottom teeth have finally cut through. It will be nice once he finally has some teeth to chew up some food.

Stacey moved in with us. She was going a little stir crazy at home after graduation and since she wasn't finding a job anywhere in Colorado, she decided to move up to Rexburg early and look for a job here. We converted our formal dining room into a third bedroom with some sheets for a wall and door and she landed a job at Kiwi Loco, thanks to some great connections there!

Kyle finished his time as manager at Kiwi Loco. We are so grateful for the blessing and opportunity that Kiwi was for our family, but we were SO glad when Kyle's last day came. Before he was done he was in charge of putting together the float for the the Rexburg 4th of July Parade and we all were in the parade.

Kyle got a teaching job. After submitting dozens of applications and a handful of interviews, Kyle was offered a 3rd grade position at Kennedy Elementary here in Rexburg. Never thought we'd be locals in Rexburg after we finished school but it looks like we'll be here for at least another few years. He is so excited for this job. We've been busy getting his classroom all set up and ready for the students who come on Wednesday!

We went to the Allred family reunion in Heber, Utah. We had lots of fun jet skiing on the lake, visiting park city, playing at cherry hill water park and spending lots of time with our family.

We found out we're expecting baby number 2 who is due February 3rd. Kyler and this baby will be just under 18 months and although the thought just about makes me hyperventilate most days, we are excited that our family is growing.

Kyler turned one. We survived a whole year with him and we can't even imagine our lives without him. We had a small party with a few friends and family. He absolutely loved his smash cake and we had fun celebrating both his and Kyle's birthday.

I graduated college. I absolutely loved my internship working with the elderly, but I was very excited when graduation day came! Even with getting married and having a baby I still graduated right on schedule AND graduated magna cum laude! I was pretty excited about that one. I couldn't have done it with out the help and support of my wonderful hubby.

It's been a very fun and busy summer for us and we have had so much fun. Now we jump into the new adventure of Kyle's first year teaching. Hopefully now that I don't have school anymore I'll be able to stay up on this blog, although I think the exciting events will slow down a little in our lives.

How do they grow so fast?

Holy hannah, it has been a couple of crazy months around our house! Kyler boy has been growing so much. He is now oozing with personality and it has been so much fun watching him learn new tricks and skills and see his personality develop. I never posted his 6 or 7 month pictures, so here's the pictures from the last 3 months.

He is moving like crazy which has made taking pictures with his monthly sign a little difficult because he always wants to just play with the paper.

Exhibit A:

He is one determined little army crawler. He will crawl over our legs just to get to the laptop or ipad. It is so fun watching him move, but now he is into everything!! We have some major baby proofing to do around our house. The last few days he's started getting up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth so I can't imagine it will be long before he figures out how to crawl for real. He's also started standing by himself on the couch. I can't believe my baby is growing so fast!

He still puts EVERYTHING in his mouth and the last few days he's been chewing on the table whenever I feed him baby food.

So he usually looks like this by the end of a meal.

He has been such a good eater though. He loves everything we give him, even all his veggies! (He does not get that from me!!) 

Lately he's been making the same cheerio face that he made when he was a newborn. 

It melted my heart then and it melts my heart now! The other day I started laughing at something he was doing and he started laughing back at me, it was seriously adorable. 

Now that Rexburg finally has decent weather again we have been busting out the stroller a lot! Kyler and I have been going on a lot of walks enjoying the sunshine! Occasionally Kyle gets to join us and I love spending that time with my boys. 

I started my 10th and final semester this week!! It is my 7th semester in a row now in 2 years and I am so excited for graduation to come. I only have two classes and an internship. I got an internship working for Eastern Idaho Public Health. They have a program called Fit and Fall Proof Program which helps improve fitness for older adults in order to help prevent falls and reduce injuries that occur from falling. So I will be teaching fitness classes at senior and community centers in Rigby, Ririe, Idaho Falls, and Rexburg. I am so excited! I hated working with the elderly when I was in high school, but now I love interacting with them. I team teach the classes with two other people and we start next week.

Janae and Reggie (Kyle's sister and brother-in-law) had their baby this week!!! He is so tiny and precious. Kyle and I have been reminiscing about when Kyler was first born since they had their baby. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. I guess we just kept waking up day after day doing the same thing day after day and now I have an 8 month old! I was telling Kyle how I love how tiny and sweet newborns are, but I love this stage so much more. Seeing Janae just starting out as a new momma makes me realize how much I love where I am at. I love that Kyler sleeps through the night, I love that it doesn't feel like I'm preparing for battle just to take Kyler to the store, and I love that I get rewarded with smiles, giggles, and love from Kyler in return for playing with him, feeding him, and loving him. I feel comfortable and confident in my role as a mother and I'm grateful to be in this stage of the mommahood. This stage has its own struggles and I know that eventually I'll be back at the start with future children, but right now I am trying to enjoy where I'm at and spending as much time loving this sweet boy as possible!

How do they grow so fast!

A Sleeping Miracle

Check out this handsome fellow.

I know, I know. This picture is a liiiittle bit late considering he will be 6 months tomorrow!! (Seriously can't believe it!) But we've been a little busy around here. We moved into our new apartment just a few days before we went to Colorado for Christmas (which we had such a fun Christmas break!). I went back to school for my LAST full time semester!! If I wasn't a mom, this semester would probably actually be pretty easy. But alas, being a full time mom and a full time student is difficult, no matter how easy the semester is. With the way my classes are scheduled Kyle can only work night shifts on Tuesdays and Thursdays so in between my morning class and afternoon class on those days I bust out as much homework as I possibly can so that when I am home, I can be the best mommy possible. Occasionally I have to do one or two assignments at home, but I can usually get a lot done on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I was telling Kyle that I should have done this my entire college career because it is SO nice to not always be worrying about homework when I am home. I also only have one class on Friday mornings which ends at 8:45, so I basically have a 3 day weekend every week...which is pretty awesome! I miss my boys when I am gone, but it has been so good for Kyle and Kyler to spend some time together. Kyle has been such a great help as I finish up school!  

As for this little guy, he is getting SO big and SO much fun! He is sitting up by himself really well. The only problem is he wants to move so bad that when he's sitting he'll sometimes try to reach for something to far and tip over. He is so wiggly and always wants to move around. He wants to crawl so bad, but every time we put him on his tummy he just rolls right over to his back. Silly kid. 

He is loving rice cereal and we just started giving him green beans....mmmm! He still isn't sure if he likes them or not, but he'll usually eat a few bites. Since he is such a wiggler, by the end of a meal there is usually rice cereal and green beans all over his face, arms, legs, the table, his bumbo, and me! 

Remember when I mentioned something on this blog about how Kyler was a pretty decent sleeper? I must have jinxed us because for the last 3 months or so he has been an AWFUL sleeper! It started just before Thanksgiving break. I think he had a growth spurt so he woke up more at night. Then we traveled for Thanksgiving which threw everything off. I thought when we got home things would get back to normal, but  then we got home and he got a cold that lasted for about 3 weeks. Then we moved, traveled again for Christmas, and then I started school. All the while he got worse and worse at sleeping. I figured maybe once things settled down and we got into a routine with me going back to school it would get better but over the last 3 weeks or so it got miserable! At the beginning of this week we had two nights in a row where he only slept in his car seat and swing for an hour or two at a time. Kyle and I were exhausted, frustrated, and dying to figure out what we could do. 

We've been pretty against the cry it out method thanks to my many classes talking about how that leaves a baby feeling abandoned and yada yada yada. So Kyler has been pretty darn spoiled because of my fears of him turning into a juvy junky if I let him cry for too long. Not to mention that I've heard horror stories of babies crying for 3 or 4 hours before finally falling asleep. But after two nights of BEYOND MISERY I was willing to try just about anything! So we decided we would give him 30 minutes to cry in his bed before we went to go get him. I was worried he would cry for hours, but after 25 minutes he fell asleep! And then he only woke up twice that night to eat!! Last night he only cried for about 10 minutes then only woke up around 4:30 to eat and went back to sleep until 8!!!! ANNNND he just woke up from a TWO HOUR nap in which there was ZERO crying involved!! PEOPLE!!! THIS IS A MIRACLE!!!! 

I've always loved him when he wasn't sleeping, but he really is so much cuter when both he and I get some good sleep!! 

Learning New Tricks

Check out how big this handsome dude is getting!!

Height: Kyler stayed pretty consistent in the 56% for his height.

Weight: He dropped from the 35% all the way down to the 10% in his weight, but he had a stomach bug the week of his appointment so the doctor didn't seem too concerned.

I can't believe we've survived four months already! He has become so much fun the last month. He has learned all sorts of fun, new tricks.

He has found his voice, which I think is adorable!

He also loves to roll over. He usually only rolls from his back to his tummy, but occasionally he'll  roll from his tummy to his back. He absolutely loves to move. Whenever I lay him down on his back his lifts his legs up and down which either turns him in a circle or scoots him downward. 

I originally put him on the play mat with his feet where his head is and he just wiggled himself around in a circle.

He has also learned the inch worm! I have a super cute video of him inch worming along, but for some reason blogger won't let me upload it. So a picture will have to do.

I promise we didn't just lay him down like this, he got himself in that position on his own! He pulls his knees up under himself and then pushes himself forward, but then his arms stay in the same place and he just gets stuck and frustrated. I think as soon as he figures out how to lift himself up on his arms he is going to be a crawling machine!

Anything and everything goes right to his mouth these days. He loves sucking on his hand and tries so hard to fit his whole fist in his mouth.

He also loves to look at that adorable baby he sees in the mirror.

He's started to grab a lot more and he loves to grab this little white receiving blanket.

And he has discovered how to play with his toys. Most of them go right to his mouth, but at least he is playing with them!

This last month has been my favorite of all four months of Kyler's short lifetime so far. The first three months as a new mom were pretty tough for me. As any mother could probably confirm, motherhood is a big adjustment. And I was not only trying to adjust to being a new mom, but I was also doing school and Kyle was gone 60-70 hours a week and when he was home he had so much to do for teaching. But in the last month I feel like I'm finally getting the hang of this whole mom thing. I know what works well for both Kyler and I. I've become more confident in who I am as a mother and I feel less overwhelmed by all the demands that come with being a mom. This next semester I am going back to school full time and I'm sure that will bring a whole other wave of struggles and adjustments, but for right now I am loving where I am at with my small, sweet family.