The Best 6 Months of My Life

I have a 6 month old. And these past few months have been the best of my life. Heavenly Father sent me the best gift He has to offer--one of His precious children. It's like Christmas everyday because I get to wake up to him every single morning. 
Here's what I've learned over the past 6 months:

-Each hour of sleep at night is like little nugget of gold.                                             -Having a child is truly like forever watching your heart walk around outside your body. 
-Our marriage has been tested more than ever, but whenever we overcome a challenge of parenthood, it becomes that much stronger.  

-I have learned how to be grateful to God everyday. He has sent me the most perfect little child of His to make my life more full, joyful, and meaningful on a daily basis.     -Babies are this crazy mix of resilient and fragile. 
-Don't freak out about every little thing--because with all the things involved with having and raising a child some things just aren't going to work out. i.e. breast feeding, playing mozart all day, scheduled nap times, etc. 

-I've become that much more of a control freak--but, hey, one of us has to be organized. 
-I truly understand now when they say, "Suck as much of it in now as you can, because they grow up way too fast."

-I have a newfound respect and empathy for stay-at-home moms. You absolutely love your job and wouldn't have it any other way, but sometimes you feel worthless when it's all you can do to change out of your pajama pants every day and take your kid to the park. I also now know why you chop off all of your hair.
-People you would never think of go crazy over babies. Especially family members. 
-Children are absolutely a gift from our Heavenly Father. There's no way a simple sperm and egg could create my little boy's infectious personality, quick smile and giggle, and insane curiosity. 

-Parenthood was designed by God to make us understand how much He perfectly loves, knows, and cares about us. Also, to force us into humility. 
-Focusing on the needs of someone else, as opposed to dwelling on my own, has been the healthiest change of my life. 
-Adam is an incredible man, father, and husband. I couldn't have gotten a more loving, giving, patient or extraordinary companion. He teaches me so much every day. 
-I am apparently hilarious. 
-I would rather buy $50 worth of baby clothes than $100 worth of heels. 
-We are encouraged to have regular date nights for a very wise purpose. 
-One big, drooley, gummy smile from Jude can easily outweigh one full hour of fussiness. 
-I've learned that being a mother is definitely underrated and I can't wait to do it again and again and again!
Here's Jude when he first met daddy. 

Photobooth

I love this knew wedding-photo-booth trend to take pictures of the bride and groom's guests--especially since everyone gets to dress up and let loose! That's way more fun to look back on than 100 people giving you the same generic grin, and at our friend Leah Green's reception, we took these few. Jude thought we were trying to feed him a mustache...and I almost stole that priceless viking hat for him. Haha it was almost made for him!--don't you think?

Over the Week

hmmm...it's been awhile. 
Whatever, I'm a busy woman these days. Since Tuesday, I've done 3 shifts at my new job AND we went to Newport Beach over the weekend to visit my sister-in-law and her little ones and cheer Hudson on at his first soccer game. It's been a busy week, but for some reason, busy always makes me feel productive--even though I've been popping lots of pills. LOTS of pills--for my darling patients. Come on: the closest I've come to abusing any kind of substance was, while distracted by Greys Anatomy, I almost downed half a bag of chocolate chips. If that makes me a user then I'm fully onboard--because it was totally worth it. 
WOW.
--to prevent further tarnishing of my someone squeaky clean reputation, I'll just spit out what we've been up to :
I'm training for my job and so I've had lots of shifts in a row. I miss my little boy, and for some reason, every new day I see him he looks different. A resident at my job thought I looked like a grody bar skank when for "Pirate Day" I put on one of those nylon tattoo arm sleeves. Over the weekend, we went and saw the University of Utah girl's soccer team play Oregon. We paid $10 for a hotdog and soft pretzel. You could totally tell which side was rooting for Utah, not only by the red shirts, but also by the sea of screaming children and babies. Jude has started grabbing our food. Newport Beach is a quaint little beach town that smells like salty fish..but still, charming. Jude's standing up on things now. Jude turned 6 months yesterday. Jude has two little razor teeth growing on the bottom. Jude likes to bite with said razor teeth. 

#1 goalie. GO Hudson! 

Knit hat that automatically made him
look like a cancer patient. 

Jude and Nana!

After the game, we went to the Pig 'n Pancake for brunch.

Believe it or not, we posed for this one.
That's raw talent right there. See that, Tyra, see that? 

Back at home, Jude's been enjoying swinging on the ottoman...

Parking it under the exercise saucer...

and demolishing any book or magazine we carelessly
put in low places. 

As if you hadn't had enough of us, here's a video of us being bad parents to a child desperately in need of a nap.

Did you miss me (us)?
I missed you too, loves.


p.s. It's TOTALLY fall here in the Northwest. This morning, I woke up to cloudy skies and cool rain. I immediately put on a sweatshirt and snuggled up to the Today show and a hot mug of Pero. And so my favorite season in the world begins...

The Last of the Visit

My mom just left this morning--the house is so quiet and feels like we're missing someone. Jude misses his grandma already. Here's the rest of the pics from our fun time together. It was so sad to say goodbye this morning--as we never know when we'll see each other next--but I am so grateful for the time she was able to spend with us and Jude. 
Last night we went to THE crepe place in Portland. On the left: pear, walnut, and brie crepe. On the right: banana, nutella, almonds and whipped cream crepe. HEAVEN. Simply heaven. 

"Demolished."

Jude slept the whole time. So from like 5-7:30pm. He didn't go
to bed till like 10 last night. 

We hit up some VooDoo for mom to bring back to
the other siblings. 

I think it's a ghost voodoo doll. not sure. 

They cuddled lots before Jude went to bed. 

Oh, and guess what??

Jude finally got his hair cut! I'm not going to lie, I get very
teary-eyed about this. All of his newborn hair is gone!

Doesn't he just look like a little boy now??? It's alright. Don't cry. 

Temple Day

Yesterday morning, my mom and Adam and I went to the Portland LDS temple together. It was such a precious experience to go with my mom again--we hadn't gone together since right before our wedding and the sweet spirit bore testimony of the eternal nature of families. 

Afterwards, we went and got sushi. I swear, by now 30% of my body must be just sushi. 

And that was just her's! No it wasn't, I lied. 

To end the day, we all took naps, made a peanut butter cup cake, and watched some absolutely ridiculous scary movie mom recommended--after which I vowed never to take a movie recommendation from her again. 

My Momma

My mom is here! She arrived Wednesday night and we've been having such a great time together. Whenever she comes she's always such a big help--making meals, taking Jude in the morning so we can get an extra hour or two of sleep--she's amazing. Get this: she arrived with two huge suitcases. I was like, "Ok....ur gunna be here for 6 days...but sure, why not?.." She then opened the biggest one to show all the stuff she brought for me and Jude. SO MUCH STUFF--lots and lots of clothes for Jude, all of my stuff from my old room, 2 canisters of Pero, zucchini bread, pear sauce, and so much more. Gotta love my momma. 
Today, we took a walk around downtown Vancouver and slurped down some yummy Starbucks frozen frappuccinos - mine double chocolety, her's salted carmel chocolate. They were gooood. 
Also, Mom's been wanting to get me going on canning, so we stopped by a local grocery outlet and got a sweet deal on some cheap produce. We will be canning apples and pears and making some raspberry freezer jam! 
Jude loves his grandma, and got a huge smile on his face when she first arrived--and hasn't stopped smiling since. 

"Hey Ju-Ju, you want some?"

"Here ya go!"

He loves to swing around

This brand of foods is from our grocery store back in PA! 

For some reason he kept dodging her kisses. 

Tonight, we're headed over to the cheap theater to go see Super 8. Rest of America: Was it good? We're also making a peanut butter cake. When mom comes there's always an indecent consumption of carbs. Wouldn't have it any other way.