Things we are looking forward to in 2011!

There is a great video on LDS about not looking behind you but embracing the future that really inspired me.  Watch it here.

It got me thinking about how excited I am for this year because there is so much that could happen!

Here is a list of what changes and big events that are taking place this upcoming year:

-Kayden turns 1 in March!
-My sister gets home from her mission on April 20th! This is by far one of the things that I am looking forward to most.  Not seeing my twin sister for 18 months is as if I have been missing my right arm this whole time. Ok, that is exaggerating but really I have missed her like crazy!!
-Greg GRADUATES in May! We will have lived here for 2 years at that point, and that is totally crazy to me.  This place has become our home, and it will be sad to leave it. 
-My family is planning a big vacation in Moab at the end of May, and I can't wait for that either.  A whole week with my family in one of the best vacation spots in the country? I think so!
-Hopefully Greg will have a job or paid internship lined up before he is done with school! That would be great!
-Greg will turn 27 and I will turn 25 in September! Wow!
-Deagan will turn 4 in September as well!

Obviously it is almost impossible to plan ahead, but this is what we are expecting so far. It will be fun to look back at the end of 2011 and see all that we have done that year. 

I am definitely looking ahead this year; determined to become a better person in many different areas of my life.

Is 2010 really almost over!?

It is so crazy to think that this year is almost over.  I really feel like it just started, but at the same time feel like it has been a long year.  Our family has gone through lots of changes, and I feel like we are coming out of this year stronger; maybe more frazzled, but definitely wiser.

Here are a few highlights of this past year:

-We survived out first Syracuse winter! Everyone kept telling us how bad the winters are here, but last winter was bearable and seems to be so far this year as well.  The sun doesn't seem to shine much during the winter though and that is hard, so hopefully we will survive this winter as well!
-Kayden was born in March! Going from 1-2 kids has been hard but it has also been really great.  We love both of our little boys so much.  It is so much fun to see them both growing up and starting to play with one another. 
-Greg went to Israel over the month of July for school and I went home to visit my family while he was gone with the boys.  It was hard to be a way from Greg that long, but it was so fun to be with my family again.  I miss being near my family so much, and I don't see us moving any closer to them anytime soon. *sigh*
-Greg flew into Salt Lake from Israel and we drove all the way home in a car that my parents let us borrow.  That is the 2nd time that we have made that drive, so we tried to make this drive a little bit more interesting.  We stopped at several church history sites on the way back.  Who knows when we would have had an opportunity like that again, so we feel so blessed to have been able to do it. 
-August was a WAY tight month financially, and we managed to not eat out once the whole time! We don't eat out a lot to begin with, but we were so proud of ourselves for being able to be so frugal during that month. 
-Greg received a fellowship for learning Hindi and his whole 2nd year of schooling was paid for! Talk about a great blessing!!  Only 1 year of student loans to pay back and not 2!
-Greg's parents were so nice to us and helped us fly our whole family to Utah for Thanksgiving.  It was so great because Greg's whole family there, and who knows when that will happen again. We had such a lovely time!
-We spent Christmas on our own for the first time this year, and it has been nice to not have to travel during the holidays.  We have made a lot of memories as a family, and this will definitely be a Christmas to remember. 
-I explored 4 different hobbies this year, and I have decided that I am going to become a Personal Trainer! I love anything fitness and nutrition, and this is one way that I will be able to increase my knowledge in those areas.  When we have a little more money I hope to be able to take the test, but who knows when that will be!

We are ending this year unsure of where we will be this time next year.  We could be anywhere, and that is exciting and scary all at the same time.  Greg is done with school in May, and then we will go where the job takes us! We are excited for what is ahead for our family!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Christmas Present to My Mom

This is our first Christmas that we will be spending it by ourselves.  I miss my family so much during this time, and I hope they miss us too:)

Since we can't be together right now, I wanted to post these pictures for my mom to see.  Merry Christmas to my family and to all of yours as well!

What a wonderful season to reflect on the birth of our Savior.  He is the reason for the Season!

This is his favorite place to play; on the kids table.  More often than not there is food on this table and he has figured it out.  He loves to eat!

Gotta love those blue eyes!

"Don't take a picture of me!!"

It is so funny to me to watch him play because he seems so much older when he does.  He loves to play with whatever Deagan is playing with.  

Pretending to be Buzz Lightyear

We love having Daddy home!!!
This is how Deagan spends most of his time at home; in his underwear.  It makes going potty a lot easier for him that way!

Getting into the Christmas presents! He is excited for Christmas too!!

Watching Christmas movies on his horse that Santa brought early.

I told my mom I would get a picture of his two top teeth.  Notice how he is missing the top right one but has his right canine in instead.  It makes the cutest smile!!

I am so behind...

I feel like life is a circle sometimes; the boys create messes; I clean up messes, the boys create messes; I clean up messes.  This is my life; day after day after day.  While I do enjoy cleaning and organizing, it feels like a hopeless cause as of late and I find myself falling behind. 

But despite that, everyone is doing well and we are enjoying having Greg home while he is off of school.  It is going to be hard to have him back in school in a few weeks because I have gotten use to him being around all the time to help with the kids.  It is so nice to have help!

Here are some other news from the Nelson home:

-I got a job working at a local daycare for 2 hours/day.  The timing of the job opening up and getting the job strengthen my testimony that we are being watched over.  Money has been tight, and we really need this!  I kind of have anxiety about being away from the boys thought even though they will be with Greg while I am gone.  They are in good hands I know, but I just am not use to this idea of being away from them.  I also am kind of worried about finding time to workout now since I normally work out during the time that I am going to be gone.  I will make it work though!!

-We are staying here for the Holidays are trying to take advantage of the time off to do things as a family.  We went to "Lights on the Lake" last night but we did not come out with any good pictures because of the lighting.  It was pretty cool though! It was a 2 mile drive with a ton of lights off the side of the road.  The boys fell asleep on the drive over, but Deagan woke up towards the end and was able to see part of it.  It is nice to have the down time though and to just be together as a family.

-Greg is applying for jobs non stop and has a lead in one job.  We are trying to not get our hopes up but they are already up unfortunately.  We are so tired of being so poor!

-Both boys are doing well.  Deagan was sick over the weekend with croup, but seems to be doing better now.  It is just that time of year when sickness is just unavoidable it seems.  He was screened at his preschool for any developmental delays and they think he has some kind of sensory delay.  We have been through a lot of paperwork and interviews the last month and we find out the outcome of it all tomorrow.  I am glad that there are services that will allow him to get help if he needs it, but I have to admit I am kind of upset about it all.  No parent wants to think there is something wrong with their child.  So we will just see what happens tomorrow.

-Kayden is 9 months old now and it such a joy! We have been working on sleep training lately, and he seems to be doing much better with his naps and sleep altogether.  If you know me and my feelings with sleep you know what a big deal this is to me! Of course things always come up thought like sickness or teething that throw things off, but I am hoping we have this down though despite any hiccups.  He has 4 teeth; 2 bottom and 1 front tooth and 1 "vampire" tooth. (I don't know the real name for it. My dad would be ashamed:)) He has the cutest smile because of his 2 top teeth.  He is a great eater and will eat anything you put in front of him.  He crawls all the time and get into everything.  He knows how to climb stairs so we have to keep a gate up all the time now.  He is just changing too fast!

I will try to get pictures up soon but for now this is how life is going!

Record Snow and Cute Boys!

This past week we have been hit by record snow fall; a total of 4 feet!! Talk about crazy.  Life still went on here though because this area is use to snow fall like this.  I haven't had a chance to get out in the snow with the kids as much as I would have liked, but hopefully we will be able to get out sometime during this winter.  It is just hard to keep track of both boys in the snow when one is running around like crazy and the other is in my arms.  

Here is a picture of our backyard of the snow as of this morning.  It is hard to tell in this picture, but there is a ton of snow out there! 

This little one is just too darn cute for words.  He is a mover and wants to crawl everywhere and stand up against everything.  It makes bath time really hard because he just wants to hold on to your hands while you are washing him.  

He is also constantly babbling which is so fun to hear.  He is sprouting his 4th tooth now (his top right) so he has been pretty grumpy lately. Let's just hope that tooth pops out soon!

*And as a side note; Deagan is potty trained! :) I hear angels singing now! He has gone a whole week wearing "big boy" underwear and is doing great for the most part.  He does put his foot down from time to time saying that he does not want to go potty.  I think it is just hard for him because he is not use to having to stop playing to go potty.  I am so proud of him!

Big Brother and Holiday Adventures

He looks so happy right?:)

 One afternoon Kayden fell asleep on the way home from somewhere, so I brought him inside in his car seat and put him on his bedroom floor.  He woke up soon afterward, and for some reason I couldn't get to him right away so Deagan ran in to help him out.  I came in and Deagan told me he was trying to make him happy, so he gave him a bucket of toys. Such a good big brother! Kayden woke up really unhappy though, so there was nothing that Deagan could do make him happy.  He just wanted mom.

 Deagan likes to make forts him his room, and he wanted me to put Kayden in his fort.  Again, not Kayden's favorite idea.

 The next few are Deagan's attempts at taking pictures.  So abstract!

We are staying here for the Holidays, and my parents encouraged us to get out and do things as a family to make holiday memories that we will always remember.  I took the boys to a tree festival yesterday because I thought Deagan would like it.  He loves seeing all the trees outside with their lights on.  He thought it was the lamest thing ever though and wanted to leave as soon as we got there. But here is proof dad that we are creating holiday memories!

 

He looks so happy to be there doesn't he!

Patience please!

So thanks to the great advice of many of you wonderful people, potty training is going much better! Thank you! We have just made a rule that we wear underwear, and while there have been some accidents, I think he is understanding it better.  Whoo! It does making going out a lot harder though.  For instance, I really need to go to the grocery store, but I am afraid to take him because I don't know where the nearest bathroom is.  We will figure it out though and soon we will be pros I am sure.

I am having a hard time being patient with it all though, and I know I need to work on that.  I don't know how hard to push him.  There will be times when he is really willing to go and then other times he refuses. That is frustrating to say the least.

I am learning more and more about myself through being a mother, and one of the biggest things is that I don't have patience.  I really struggle, so I constantly pray for patience.  I just never realized that motherhood would be this hard, and I wonder if I am really cut out for this.  I know I am not given more than I can handle, but lately I feel myself being pushed so hard and I don't know how much more I can take.  I don't like feeling this way, and I just wish I was more patient and I guess that I wasn't so hard on myself.

We are surviving though, and we can do this.  I know we can.

False alarm

Well I guess he wasn't ready yet because he REFUSES to go potty on the toilet today.  He said he already did it yesterday as if only going potty for one day will hold us over. Silly boy!

I don't know how hard to push this.  Should I just make it a rule that he wears underwear instead? Or should I just keep waiting until he shows interest again?

Anyone else want to potty train my son?

Could it be???

The first thing Deagan told me this morning when he woke up was that he had to go potty.  Everyone said that when kids were ready to potty train they would let you know, and he let me know!

He had a few accidents through out the day, but did really well over all! He went #1 AND #2! After each time we would do a potty dance, and Deagan has a great time with that.  After he went #2, he was so excited and I was so excited too because he has been so afraid to do that in the potty so it was a huge deal!

I hope he wakes up just as excited tomorrow about this because my hopes are totally high right now about him being potty trained. He has to go to school tomorrow, so I am not sure how that is going to work out.

Anyway, this is a really boring post for anyone who is not me, but I have to record this!

Here is to hoping for a good day tomorrow!!!