Recent Goings On

 Well this is the first time in probably FOREVER that I've done a decent blog post.

But I have a good excuse I think.

A student teaching mother and wife, whilst pregnant.

'Nuff said.

It's been rough to say the least, but I won't go into it otherwise we would be here for hours...or you would just give up on reading this and exit out of your browser swiftly.

SO

Let us talk about the fun and good things that have taken place in the last forever shall we?

While student teaching has been a struggle I will finally be done (and when I mean done I mean done and graduated freaking college) in 5 weeks officially :)

Lets just take a moment to soak that one in...

....

:)

Devon is still chugging along at school and just trying to balance everything, but he's doing mighty well in school so hey that's good!

And our sweet little Jackson who has been putting up with so much this semester is 2 years old as of a few weeks ago!

Seriously where does the time go??

So life is just hectic, busy, and extremely stressful right now for everyone involved (including my sister who has graciously been watching Jackson every day while I teach and while Devon is in school. Bless her.)

I haven't been able to take very many pictures in the last few months what with just being flat out lazy when I get home every day, but I have managed to take a few of the important events.

So for your viewing pleasure...

Jackson's second birthday!

We started off the day with eggs, toast, and chocolate milk. Proceeded by Church, and then playing on his bed with Aunt Marissa, Uncle Joe, and all of his balloons

Then it was time for presents and since Grandmas and Grandpas couldn't physically be there for the event we brought them in virtually!

Funny story about this shark. Aunt Marissa gave him her shark to play with, and he never wanted to return it. So Grandma got him his very own "Bruce". Here, I think he is judging it to see if it's good enough.

Aaaand my favorite picture of all time :)

And now to finish up the day, a beyond terrible photograph of him and his cake. Mom was tired by that point and had no interest in fixing settings and what not.

Oops.

Such a fun day that he won't remember haha :)

Then the other day I went into the doctor because I'd been having serious pains on my left side. Since I have a cyst on my left side I figured I'd better go get it checked out. 

Well lucky for me, the doctors couldn't find any documentation of my previous ultra sound where they found the cyst.

So the Doctor comes in and asks, "Would you mind finding out what you're having today so we can take a better look at the cyst?"

Uh...

NOT ONE BIT! LETS DO THIS!

And since our little one is apparently not shy at all, and willing to show off naughty bits at the drop of a hat we were able to find out right away.

IT'S A GIRL!

(Seriously the kid was so happy to be outside with the promise of going to the park, that we pretty much had to force him not to smile to get the picture I wanted for the announcement. He didn't care what I stuck in front of him or put on his head!...dad did though...)

We are just absolutely elated to meet her!

Later though. You just keep on cookin' darlin till your due date!

When Your Kid Swallows Vicks...

Yep.

Here I am blogging after what seems like forever.

Jackson swallowed a bit of Vicks vapor rub tonight and so I am up freaking out and have time to blog.

(I wouldn't be freaking out if the poison control lady wouldn't have told me what could happen to him if he had swallowed more...just so I am aware. Thanks lady.)

Life in the Thiel household has been relatively crazy as of late.

Other than swallowing toxic chemicals

The seven week break is over now and Devon is back in school. 

Between school, work, and his church calling I think I've seen him for 5 hours collectively this week. 

Real Cool.

However it has been fun to play full time mommy!

I am still working a bit, but not near as much and although sometimes it seems like monotonous work I am really enjoying myself.

I've found that I really have to keep myself and Jackson busy during the day in order to stay sane.

So today we went to the Apple Orchard on campus to pick some apples.

We didn't come home with any however because they were mostly all bruised or had worms in them

Yuck

But Jackson loved picking up all the little red "balls" and putting them in the bag or throwing them.

Kids.

Speaking of kids

***Side Note***

As I was getting ready today I heard nothing going on out in the living room.

Nothing is never good.

Then I hear a little voice say "mmm" mmmm!" Repeatedly and I'm like....

Oh no what is he eating.

I walk out to find the little man with my oreo mcflurry cup from the night before and oreo/melted nasty ice cream all over his cute little face.

From the trash.

Oi.

Back to the orchard.

We asked Aunt Marissa to tag along with us because he pretty much adores her.

And I am pretty fond of her as well.

Especially since her and Joe live so close to us now!
Like 5 apartments down from us

And as much as he loves his Aunt he loves his new uncle even more I'm pretty sure.

So far Joe has been the first family name he's been able to say other than Mom and Dad.

But in all of his other uncles and aunts defense Joe is a pretty easy name to say haha

Always showing off that gut and that infamous outie

:)

In the midst of all these photos

(Sorry...but I am a photographer)

Can I just say that I am IN LOVE WITH FALL!?

I mean winter bites the big one out here

Which is unfortunate since it is 9 out of 12 months here

But for the possible 2 weeks of fall we get it is just LOVELY!

The Leaves are just starting to turn and I love being outside with my little guy just soaking it all in!

This picture cracks me up. Between his weird facial expression and the shadows from the trees he looks a bit like a small ape in my opinion.

A cute kinda freaky one.

Trying to go for the double grab

Between fall, and getting to hang out with this cool kid all day long life is pretty good.

We sure miss daddy while he's gone though, and can't wait for Saturdays when we get to see him for more than a few minutes.

But such is life as a college student I suppose.

Happy fall y'all!

The End!

Do you get it?

:)

The Making Of An Epic Father's Day Present.

Okay so it really wasn't "epic" so to speak, but I suck at gift giving so this was a pretty good one for me.

So i'ts like 4:30 in the morning and I am up with allergies and what not yet again.
(I never sleep....ever)

So I decided now's as good a time as any to document this father's day gift I did for my dad.

So my dad's an artist as you all may be aware.

I thought to myself, "I should have Jackson do a painting for my dad and photograph it and give it to him for father's day!"

It'll be great!

Growing up, my dad always took pictures of us when we'd paint when we were little soooo how about his first grandson?

Knowing full well that the little guy would eat most of it...

and he did.

I decided to do it anyway!

So. Here's my son. Eating paint.

And here he is being really proud about it.

I had him do two paintings (one for dad and one for us) and this is him being really excited about that.

What to call this masterpiece?

Evaluating his work

Aunt Marissa. Our little "helper"

It was bound to happen.

The aftermath in full effect.

For a little guy who despises grass, he did really well.

using a blanket was a last resort because...well...I had to get good pictures.

Memories In A Disposable Camera

First I have to take you waaaay back.

Well, not that far back but a few years ago to when Devon and I were just young and in love and dating.

Devon knew I liked photography so he decided that on some of our dates we would bring a disposable camera with us to document our time together.

From one of our first dates

From a date we went on to re-enact the night he proposed to me because we didn't bring a camera on the real night.

From a date we went on after we were engaged in Wisconsin

(Good thing we ended up getting married otherwise all those pictures would have just been trashed)

Recently, as we were spring cleaning, Devon found 2 more disposable cameras that were just about full.

Jackson got to one of them so a lot of the pictures were ruined and lost forever on that one.

Sad day.

But when we went to go get them developed my heart was just so full of love for my little family.

I had no idea what would be on them, and so to my surprise each little photograph envelope was like a timeline of our married life together.

It was such a sweet reminder for me of how quickly time passes, and how I really need to cherish each moment I have with my boys.

From our honeymoon in Mexico

When Jackson was a newbie to the world

From a date we had just after Jackson was born

And a few pictures form the last few weeks, as we were trying to sue the rest of the film

I love my boys :)

Single Mom Sunday

I despise Sundays.

I know I know they are supposed to be the day of rest...

The day of spiritual renewal, and enlightenment...

Not anymore!

Oi.

Devon got called to a bishopric (leaders over a ward in our church) in a single student ward (a group of members of our church that live near each other) on campus.

This means that I am alone with this kid

all day.

Which really isn't much different from any other day.

The whole taking care of him stuff just like I do every day is no big deal.

(Well minus the fact that for some reason Sundays are the days he decides he will only take two 30 minute naps....ugh)

It's the 3 hour church by myself with a teething baby that bites!

pun intended.

I spend my 3 hours of church going in and out of the different meetings with a fussy whiny baby until I eventually throw in the towel and just stay out in the foyer till it's over.
(Or if Devon gets done early he will bail me out) 

Now I don't write this to get praise or sympathy.

Please don't.

I write this because HOLY CRAP do I have SOOOO much respect for single mom's now.

Like seriously.

My goal on Sundays is just to endure until Devon gets home.

I can't imagine doing that everyday without getting a break at all.

Putting up with this cranky kid is no easy task

and he's not even bad!

(Trust me I have seen much much worse)

Seriously forget batman, superman, and captain America (well maybe not him he's easy on the eyes)

Single mom's should be considered superheros.

10 Months

Is this real life?

Is my tiny little 6 lb baby boy 10 months old?

The answer is yes.

Holy COWWWWW

I mean I am less than two months away from having a one year old.

Just crazy I tell you.

Crazy.

Well Jackson has done more this month than he has in a while.

He's getting so big and strong and my little mommy heart can't handle it!

In the early stages of his life I was so distraught thinking I was going to miss everything because I was going to school all morning and working all afternoon and evening.

And I did miss a lot of firsts.

It KILLED me.

I am SO thankful though that I have such a wonderful husband who has really helped our family so that I can stay home with him more now.

In the past few months I have been there for almost every wake up call and every prayer before bedtime, and it feels so good!

And I know it seems so silly but today he crawled for the first time, and I was there to see it!

I was so excited to be able to be there for that.

I even got a bit emotional because if you would have asked me 6 months ago if I thought I would see the first time he crawled I would have said absolutely not.

Goodness I just love being able to see this little guy and be a semi-stay at home mama :)

Here's what I am up to at 10 months:

-I weigh a whopping 21 lbs (could be a pound more...it was a few weeks ago that I was weighed)

-I am still extremely animated, and mommy and daddy are always impressed with my facial expressions

-My two front teeth broke through a few days ago, and my lower two are on their way!

-I pull myself up on EVERYTHING and sometimes I test my abilities and stand on my own

-I think kisses are silly and laugh a lot when daddy tries to make me give him one.

-Other than crawling my newest trick is squealing.

-I am still chubby as ever, but mommy says she likes me better that way.

-I am probably so chubby because I love ALL foods. I am NOT a picky eater at all.

-The bathroom is my favorite place to sneak off to when mommy and daddy aren't looking.

-I am VERY curious now, and want to get into everything I am not supposed to.

-I love the outdoors and can't wait until spring so I can be out in it more!!