Birthday Weekend

We had originally planned on going to San Diego for my birthday weekend, but since I quit my job, it didn't sound like a very financially smart decision. So we headed out to Logandale! Josh had taken Thursday and Friday off so it was a nice long weekend of relaxation and outdoors fun! This is basically a photo dump because the photos say it all. We had a blast and were so sad when it came time to go home :(.

Grandma and Grandpa Porter found this high chair at a yard sale, SCORE!

Everyone had fun taking their turn to feed the baby :)

For some reason Austin gets scared whenever Grandpa tries to hold him. That all changed the night he had some Veggies and yogurt on his lap! Austin was all over that!

Grandpa dipped the celery in the Greek yogurt and it was an instant success! He was devouring it!

Playing Grandma's piano and singing. I'm not kidding, he was actually singing! It was so cute!

This kid was in heaven. Grandma's house is like Disneyland!

We had a bonfire out in the backyard and roasted hot dogs/made s'mores.

passing along the baby

roasting our hot dogs

The weather was perfect!

This was Austin's first experience with fire, and once Grandpa got home from work, he got his first experience of listening to ghost stories too! It was so much fun :).

On Saturday we had our traditional family birthday party out at the Valley of Fire. We BBQ'd, talked, and went hiking. Actually, I was having so much fun talking that I skipped the hiking part. My parents took Austin and reported that he had a great time putting his feet in the soft red sand and trying to climb the rocks.

My sweet little sister.

My Momma worked hard to make this party perfect, and it really was!

Mid 70's and sunny! Only in Nevada!

Austin kept wanting to hug Uncle Brian. It was so sweet!

The three amigos

Great Grandpa Porter

My Uncle played a huge part in my childhood. He is only 11 years older than me so he was more like a big brother. I love him so much :).

Austin was mesmerized by Great Grandma Porter's hat.

two cuties

I love this man more than anything in the world!

playing games with Great Grandma Weigel.

So  many Grandma's, not enough time!

BBQ'ing it up!

My yummy birthday cake. When we went shopping for ingredients, my mom accidentally picked up candles that said 36 instead of 26. It's a good thing I caught it before she bought them! We got a good laugh out of it ;).

Immediately after we sang "Happy Birthday," Austin decided to grab the first piece of cake! I guess the red cup just wasn't doing it for him anymore. Little stinker!

Mmmm.... cake!

I have the greatest family and I feel so blessed and so loved. Thank you to everyone who came out to help celebrate! It was the best birthday weekend yet!

My 26th Birthday

My birthday this year was amazing. I quit my job a few days prior, which was the best present I could ever receive. That allowed me to spend my actual birthday at home hanging out with my little dude.

I got to use my new juicer to make my birthday breakfast! Pretty yummy :)

lazy day...

We couldn't wait for Daddy to get home so we could start the party!

Once Josh got home from work, we headed out to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner! That is my favorite restaurant. I have to practice self control when I am there or I would eat at least five baskets of bread! Austin did really well for a 7 month old. He even got to chew on his own little piece of bread which kept him entertained for a whole 10 minutes. Josh and I split our usual and then got a piece of cheesecake to go. We couldn't wait to put Austin to bed so we could dig into it!

MMmmmm

Red Velvet Cheesecake, my fav!

The night ended so perfectly. As I was rocking Austin to sleep, he sat up in my lap and gave me a big smooch on the lips and then laid his head on my shoulder and gave me a sweet little snuggle. I died. Then, because he had gotten such a good response the first time, he decided to make a little game out of it! He kept kissing me and hugging me over and over until my face was completely covered in baby slobber and I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. That was by far the best present I had gotten all day, even better than the cheesecake that was waiting for me downstairs ;).

Since this was my night, I chose to make a bed on the living room floor with Josh and cuddle under a blanket while we watched THE OFFICE reruns and ate cake.

 

Birthday #26 = Perfection! 

Precious Moments

Josh went to the Queen concert last night with my Step-Dad, which meant Austin and I were on our own. We read stories, ate baby food, and Austin used me as his jungle gym to climb  all over while I attempted to watch a movie. I'm not going to lie, I was excited when 8:00 rolled around and it was bed time! We did our tradition of putting on jammies, dimming the lights in his room, and nursing while I sang songs to him. Then it was time to put the sweet little guy to bed so Mom could get back to her movie! However, just like earlier this morning, I had forgotten that it was Daylight Savings Time :(.

 

He cried and cried and cried.

 

It went on for about 25 minutes during which I attempted to continue watching my movie and had gotten out the ice cream ;). But then I started hearing strange noises and decided to go check on him. Apparently, all that anger towards me sparked him to learn how to stand up in his bed! I was totally shocked as I stood there with him staring right back at me. He had tears rolling down his face and he was panting from crying so hard. So I gave in and decided to bring him back downstairs to join my little party.

 

He was much sweeter this time, now that he knew what was at stake. He kept trying to eat my ice cream so I put it away and got out a Greek yogurt instead. Then I put him on my lap and there we sat on the floor, sharing a yogurt and watching a movie.

 

I was in heaven. He just sat there (which never happens) and let me spoon feed him as he watched the TV. The yogurt actually tasted better than the ice cream so I owe him for the pound of extra fat he spared me from ;). 

 

It was a sweet Mommy moment. My baby is getting so big and I can't help feeling sad about it. But at the same time I am so in awe of his growth and the little personality he is developing. Josh and I lay in bed at night and laugh about all the silly things he did that day and talk about all the ways we have our work cut out for us in the future. Let's just say he has his Momma's stubborn side and his Daddy's sense of entitlement. Not a good combo...

 

Then his eyes started to droop and he wasn't as interested in the yogurt anymore. I scooped up my sweet little bundle and carried him up to bed. I sang and rocked him to sleep once more, but this time he didn't protest when I laid him down in his crib.

 

I love being a Mom! Nothing could be more rewarding than this!

 

This morning I went into his room to get him ready for the day and again, there he was, standing there waiting for me! Standing is his new trick and he has been doing it all morning. We struggle each day trying to keep him away from the electrical cords so I got smart this time and put a chair in the way. That was just fine with him! He used it as his prop for standing!

I love how tiny his little legs look!

Our "big boy"

Now we need to add lowering his crib mattress to the list so he doesn't fall out of the bed... If you could only see how long that list is getting!



I Did It!

Well, I did it! I quit my job! My last day was on Saturday and I turned in all my stuff today. It feels bittersweet because I had a love/hate relationship with my job, but in the end, I know we are making the right decision and I couldn't be more excited! I took Austin with me to the office to say goodbye to everyone and it felt a little awkward. I felt like I was betraying them by quitting and for some reason I just wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. I even forgot to ask about my last paycheck and had to turn around and go back!

 

Austin fell asleep in the car on the ride home which was nice because it gave me a chance to think. Basically what I came up with is this is going to be a big transition and I can't expect to feel 100% sure about anything right now. I just need to practice some faith and trust God as he leads us along this new road. A part of me feels sad that I am not going to be practicing nursing for a while because it is something that gives me purpose and it is something that I am good at and take pride in. I just don't want to feel like I am now insignificant and have nothing to show for all my hard work. I know that sounds terrible, but it is something I've been thinking about a lot.

 

Once we got home, I carried sleeping Austin up to his crib and then proceeded to put away all my nursing stuff.... uniforms, stethoscope, supplies I carried around with me to every hospital.... and then I got to working on my new life! I made a gym calendar to keep us motivated on staying fit, and I printed off a meal plan calendar for all the cooking I am now going to do! And with that sparked a light of excitement.

 

I am not going to be some ordinary house wife. No, I am going to be extraordinary!  

 

I'm sure my children will take advantage of all the hard work I will be doing, just like I took advantage of my own mother. But in the end, I will die knowing that I put aside my pride and did my best to raise those children in the best environment I could possibly make for them.

 

This isn't the end of my life as a nurse. I have many options I've been looking into for when my children grow up and I find myself with more spare time. This is just a little time out for Ashly-RN so that Ashly-Stay-at-Home MOM can take her full form!

 

Tonight is Monday night which means I will actually be home for family home evening! Time to get working on some treats and a lesson :).

Last day of work! Goodbye Nurse Ashly!

First day at home! Hello Momma Ashly!

 

Milestones: 7 Months Old

This little man is growing way too fast! His personality is coming out so strongly now and to our dismay, he is a little stubborn thing just like his parents :(.

At 7 Months:

-He now has two bottom teeth!

-He got his last set of shots for a while at 6 1/2 months. He only cried for a minute at the doctor's office but then had a breakdown that basically lasted all night once we got home.

-LOVES to roll around and army crawl. He still won't crawl normally and hasn't figured out how to pull himself up on things yet (yay!). Part of that is probably due to being spoiled. He knows that if he just lays there and cries, someone will come pick him up and take him wherever he wants to go! It is so hard to change his diaper and get him dressed nowadays because he won't sit still long enough to let you do it. This is especially difficult when you are trying to change his poopy diaper and he tries to roll over in the middle of it! We don't even use the changing table anymore because it is so dangerous. You never know when he is going to flip over and he does it so fast!

-He had his first play date with Emmett (10mos) down the street. His mom is my friend/visiting teacher and both are a lot of fun to hang out with! I had to leave for a couple hours for a job interview and I was sooooo worried about how he would handle being in a new house with new people but he actually did great and was all smiles when I came to pick him up! He lives a pretty sheltered life and the only people he is exposed to are family so at first he was super jumpy and would cry whenever Emmett screamed or made loud noises but after a while he got used to it and had a lot of fun :).

-Drum roll please!!! Austin now eats baby food! He still makes the funny faces and acts like he doesn't like it, but he opens his mouth and swallows it! I am so relieved because I was seriously starting to think I would be breast feeding this kid until he's 8 years old with how stubborn he was being about it! Note: he still won't eat the rice cereal though. It must be the texture.

Trying to get the Playstation. He is fascinated with anything he sees us using.

Daddy's boy

Having a little talk with Mom about having to get his shots today.

Loves to swing at the park!

Playing at the park with Grandma P. and Aunt Briana. He had a blast!

Austin's "tired eyes"

We can't get enough of that smile!

hanging out with Mom and Aunt Sadie.

Valentines Day 2014

Our Valentines Day was wonderful! Josh had to work, so I spent the morning with Austin and then my parents came over that afternoon to babysit and I headed off to get a massage! Josh spoiled me rotten this year. Along with the massage, he also bought me a massive box full of all sorts of European chocolate and a Keurig machine to make teas and hot cocoa :). Quickest way to my heart!

 

So happy!

After my relaxing massage, I headed over to the Mandalay Bay to check into the hotel. I was wanting so badly to get there early so I could take a bubble bath in the huge marble tub, but the stupid lady wouldn't let me check in without Josh since he was the one who booked everything so I had to sit in the casino for a while waiting for Josh to get off work.... grrrr. Of course that was the day he got asked to stay late and I ended up people watching for about 3 hours, but who's counting?

 

Once Josh showed up things went back to being perfect again. We walked around the casino checking out the different restaurants and finally settled on the buffet. It was perfect because I got my all you can eat sushi bar and Josh got his all you can eat meat and salmon bar. It was so nice and relaxing eating and talking about life without a little one demanding our attention. Don't worry Austin, I still missed you a lot and had to keep diverting my thoughts away from wondering what you were doing constantly.

Love birds wandering around the casino.

Josh and the cool statue of Lenin

 

 

The next day I woke up early (Austin has trained my brain to not believe in sleep anymore) and took my long awaited bubble bath! There was a TV in the bathroom so I watched the news while I soaked in the bubbles. Then Josh woke up and we decided to walk around the pools before check-out. Like a genius I had forgotten my swimsuit so we didn't get to jump in the hot tub like we had planned :(. We got Starbucks for breakfast and walked around the grounds for a couple hours. It was so beautiful and the weather was perfect!

The perfect morning!

Morning walk around the grounds.

Watching the swans swim around.

Sadly, next came check-out and I had to head to work while Josh headed home to tend the Bubba man. We had the perfect get-away but were also super excited to see our baby! My Step-Dad decided to put the child proof locks on our kitchen cabinets for us while we were gone, which was a wonderful surprise to come home to! Thanks Mom and Nate for making this all possible! We love you!