Baby

I have a sleeping baby on my lap and I'm scared to move for fear that he will wake up. As of late I've been doing good with making sure naptime with mommy is not a regular thing, and I really think it's helping him fall asleep better. Before he would only sleep with me and while some days, snuggling with Tommy is nice, I need to make sure he can be on his own. It's hard to put him down and walk away to let him sleep when I really just want to cuddle with him, but it's much worse when I am trying to get things done and he just won't let me put him down. So for his sake, and mine, I'm trying to let go.
It's a little sad because I know this little baby snuggly time only lasts for so long and I want to just soak it all up but the child is just too clingy, and if I don't change things it's not going to get any better. I motivate myself by thinking of the wussy, push over kids I've met that need their mom to do EVERYTHING. It is good motivation, trust me!

That being said, things have been going pretty well, but for the past few days at around 2pm almost every day, child just screams and screams for no apparent reason. It's starting to really take it's toll on me. He's not tired, hungry, or dirty, and I'm pretty sure he's not teething. He just gets unhappy. Which is really sad for me because usually he is cheerful and giggly and smiley. The only solution to this apparent tantrum (not sure what else to call it) is the car. So I grab him, stick him in the car seat and all of a sudden he's okay. On Wednesday we went to Target, he did cry a little once we were in the store but I gave him a toy to play with and he seemed content after that. Yesterday, we got lunch and met Jack at work. I just needed to be around other people, who can actually talk. I don't know why Tommy si going through this, but I hope he gets passed it soon.

He is good playing on his own for a little while but then needs to be held. I guess as long as he's alright on his own for a little bit each day it's okay, I can't expect him to be just fine playing by himself all day long, nobody wants that.

I'm really happy because I got the promotion I wanted at work :) It's only an extra $2 an hour (really like $1 since I get a shift differential) but it's still a raise, and it's nice because I get to do more stuff. That's the main appeal of the position to me, even if the pay rate was the same, I'd still be happy I got the position.

Today is one of my most favorite days- Friday. Although it's not really the weekend for me (I work on Saturday), I get paid, and Jack gets home from work early. This makes me very happy . Today I'm going to try to go to the temple when he gets off work, which will be nice because I haven't been in awhile but the last time I was there I had a really good experience. I've always had difficulty with praying and getting answers to feel what decision is right and stuff like that, but I've gotten better at it and I've realized I think much more clearly and the answer is much more apparent to me when I'm in the temple.

Anyways, that about sums it all up for now. I'll leave you with some pictures of Tommy that Laurel took the other day:

Love

I love...

cheesy, happy, smiling with your eyes closed pictures

the beach on a hot summer day

getting into your car on a cool spring day to feel the warm heat trapped in your car

smiles from my baby

Tommy's laugh as I smother him in kisses

the thoughtful things my husband does for me

cartwheels barefoot in the grass

happy music and the people who make it come to life, like Ryan Adams, Rufus Wainwright, and more

seeing ordinary people go out of their way to do something kind for someone else

Fridays :D aka Payday

snuggling with my lovies

simple pleasures, and that little things can make such a big difference

And today Tommy fell off the couch, it was awful. This is not something I love, this is something that makes me very sad. So to figure out how hurt he was, I threw myself off the couch... it hurt... a lot. My neck still hurts :( Only a mom, right?

Budget

So I know I haven't posted in forevers but time has just flown by!

One thing that is new, among a list of many many new things, is that I am now in charge of mine and Jack's budget. (yay!) We started this in January and so far so good. Basically, we use Jack's paycheck to do all the bills and groceries, and my paycheck for our extras. We each have our own credit cards so we set how much money we are each going to spend and that's that.

It's so nice to buy whatever I want without thinking Jack is going to wonder why I spent my money on it. And it's so nice to have Jack buy whatever he wants without getting upset at him for wasting all his money on eating out. We both stick to our budgets, and as long as it is within our budget, we buy whatever we want!

Of course there are some occasional bumps, like Jack needing new brake something or others (rotors maybe?) in his truck. That cost us like $300 but since we budgeted to have extra money each month just in case, we were able to take care of it. I'm really excited with how things are going and letting our savings slowly but surely add up.

In other good news, we finished our taxes and I'm so glad we used Turbo Tax! It was super easy, we didn't have to pay an accountant (waste of money in my opinion) and we're getting an awesome refund- thanks to having a baby :) Well my dad thinks we should be getting more than the amount we're getting, but it's the most Jack or I have ever gotten on a tax return so we're excited. Now we're just trying to decide if we should use the money towards our car payment (I don't want to, a new kitchen (I totally want to), or an addition on the house.

Only problem is if we do an addition on the house we really need to make sure we have enough money to do it and get some good estimates. I don't know if our little bonus this month is going to cover it- in fact, I'm pretty sure it won't so we'll see what we decide.

In other other news, I turned 22 on the 3rd. Happy Belated Birthday to me, yay! It really wasn't that exciting, I don't really few older or anything, but my parents gave me some money to buy some new clothes and my sister Karen gave me the make-up I've been wanting, and my sister Elizabeth paid for me to get a new hair-cut. So it was kind of a makeover birthday which is just what a new mom wants :) I'm feeling pretty good. And although I haven't really been working out much lately, I have dropped to below 130 pounds so I am officially below my pregnancy weight. Woot!