First official day of nursery!

It's official! Jack has reached the age of nursery at church! Rocky has been taking him in and staying with him the last 3 months or so, but yesterday, because Jack reached 18 months, Daddy got to leave and go to his own Sunday school! I asked him how church was, and he said, "awesome!, I learned something again!"  And apparently Jack had a great time too. They said he only cried when they sang, "I'm a child of God". I sing that when he goes to sleep, so I guess he has association problems! Anyways, it's kind of crazy, to think he's in nursery! Another milestone has been reached. :) A first of many!

Big Spring Family Aquatica Center

  

We had a fun Saturday at a water park in Big Spring. It's about a 45 minute drive from where we are in Midland, but we thought it was worth it! $5 bucks for us and Jack was free. It had 2 big slides, a lazy river and then a kids water area with little mini water slides that Jack loved. He was a little skeptical of the water at first, but then enjoyed it. He was shivering pretty good by the time we got out. A warm towel, sitting in Mom's lap took care of that! After we left, we found yummy burgers at a local joint in Big Spring, called Al's and Son Bar B Q. And just to squeeze in as much fun as we could we quickly checked out the Sibley nature center here in Midland, but it was getting to hot. I foresee a future saturday activity in the works! Very fun Saturday, and now I'm super proud of myself because I blogged about it using the iPad! This iPad may just make blogging pretty easy for me!  Maybe this will be my new way to do it...I just know life is full of too many fun memories that are zooming by, and I want to remember them! 

My new version of blogging...copying and pasting my facebook statuses to be saved for family history's sake...APRIL 2013

4/7/2013- What a great talk! ("The Hope of God's Light" by Elder Uchtdorf) Inspired words. Recently, I have felt darkness in my life. Only with the help of my Savior, have I felt the hope of light once more. Love General Conference! Love knowing that living Apostles of The Lord walk the earth in these latter days!



4/10/2013- In honor of National Siblings Day, One of the last photos taken of all 7 original Reynard siblings. We love and miss you every day Rob!


4/13/2013-Watching Toy Story for the first time. I love my tv watchin' son!

4/15/2013- I love simple Gospel truths! And the ability to have them at my finger tips. I feel grateful to have the knowledge that this life is not the end. And Im not always good at it, but I have hope that Heavenly Father and my Savior will make things right in the end!

 
4/16/2013- .My son all the sudden thinks he's a dare devil! I'm seeing a trend...I seem to post pictures that he is looking at the tv! For the record, he has already spent time playing in his new reorganized room and looking at books. so, no judging!

4/17/2013- Four maintenance visits later, we have a new a/c! Not looking forward to seeing what are bill is, after having it run hours on end, maintaining 80*. Thankfully we're not hot natured people!

4/24/2013- My heart is filled with sooooooo much gratitude for the family I have! I love all of my siblings, the knowledge I get to live with them forever, the precious memories of the past and the happiness and good memories that are to be had in the future with them! Love you guys!


4/29/2013- My little lion cub! Tootin' my own horn a bit...Thought the lion and bunny masks I made for the playschool group I hosted this morning turned out pretty cute! And I was pretty impressed with myself that I had 5 toddlers under 2, and a 7 week old hanging out with me for 2 hours and all went well!

My new version of blogging...copying and pasting my facebook statuses to be saved for family history's sake... MAY 2013

5/1/2013- Jeffrey R. Holland is pretty much awesome! I just love listening to him. I know he is a true Apostle of The Lord. I hate the sadness and the emotional roller coaster I have been on. But, find comfort in knowing my Savior knows how I feel. I thankfully haven't walked His walk, but He has walked my walk. All of our walks! So, I'm pretty sure it's wise to follow Him! He already knows the path and which way I need to go.

5/1/2013- Jack has been on the patio outside over an hour! Who knew 2 ice chests, a broom, some sand and buckets could be so entertaining?

5/5/2013-Aren't we having fun!? Yea for colds! And to add to it, a little hand, foot, mouth disease. Think we will be quarantined for a few days. but hopefully the steroid shot and antibiotics will kick in for me, and jacks can all be resolved with these over the counter drugs! Thank goodness for medicine!





5/5/2013- Dark with the blinds closed this afternoon, but couldn't resist a quick shot of my two favorite boys in life!

5/6/2013- I woke up at 9:30, thinking, "I'm feeling semi refreshed and Jack has slept in late!", only to come to the living room to see him in his high chair with a finished breakfast on his tray watching Disney! Apparently, Daddy got him all set up before he went to work at 8:15, and didn't tell me! I feel a little bit like a bad Mom that I didn't realize he was a awake, but I guess it all worked out in the end!

The Birth Story

Well, it's been over a year since I have blogged, almost two, yikes! And I think it's time to admit, I'm not a blogger. I'm not even a journaler anymore. Sad. :( But, I want to remember this day, so before it gets any foggier then it is, here I go!

We were scheduled to go in on Tuesday, November 22nd at 8am for an induction. We all started stirring around 6:45am. That is, my parents, Rocky and I. My parents came in for the delivery. Surprisingly, I slept pretty good that night. I know it was the priesthood blessing Rocky gave me that night before bed. Before that I was a nervous wreck. I barfed Monday morning, barely ate any lunch, and any time I started thinking about giving birth, having a baby, changing my life, the urge to barf would come back on. But, after that blessing, I felt completely calm, and at ease.  I still had moments of a queezy stomach, or "what is this whole mess going to entail!?" But, I had the reassurance that My Heavenly Father loved me, had a hand in what was going to happen, and that everything was going to be ok. I'm so thankful for priesthood blessings! So, I slept really well that night. Before bed, I enjoyed a nice long bubble bath, washed my hair, shaved my legs, contemplated that that would possibly be the last uninterrupted bath I would take in a long time..spent some last minute quality time with Rocky and enjoyed one last night of uninterrupted sleep. I'm still trying to get that back. :) When morning came, I got ready, and we left for the hospital. My parents followed us there. From that point on, it actually went really fast. I was expecting a much more drawn out process. But no, arrrived. Told them my name, my Labor and Delivery nurse met me, showed us to my room, I put my gown on, got in the bed and the dr was in the room in less than 10 minutes, maybe 8:30am? And out in 5 minutes! Crazy to think for 9 months, I prayed and prayed for my little guy to stay put, and the sac of water to remain in tact and in less than 5 minutes, with a small little prick, the ball would start rolling to get the little guy to come out! By 8:45am, the IV with pitocin was started and my cute  nurse said, "you might start feeling the contractions anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour from now. You just let me know when you want an epidural. " 9am...ok ouch...this is like the contractions I had last week, that little bit of false labor...this is doable! 9:15..ok, double ouch!! Where is the nurse? I need something, feeling a little too much pain...she comes in, and I hear, "The anesthesiologist just went into a c-section and has 3 other women in line ahead of you. It will be about an hour."  Que the lady in the next room over screaming out in pain and my nurse says, "don't be alarmed, she is just about to give birth naturally." 9:30..I. cant. do. this! What the H was I thinking!? I NEED something, anything! And the nurse offers the beloved cock tail. I am not a drinker. Never had a sip of alcohol in my life. nothing. nada zilch. That was the most amazing feeling when those drugs entered my system! I was sitting up in the bed and all I remember is saying "good night" and falling back. From there, I will admit, everything was a bit hazy. I kind of wish I would have waited it out, apparently the doc came in with the epidural pretty quickly. Maybe 10:30? But I only remember bits and pieces. Things like saying, "these drugs are better then street drugs!" (note* never had street drugs!) "That lady next door is crazy!" I was offered a popsicle, which I accepted like a little kid, "oh, I get a pa-sicle!", and then I remember when the anesthesiologist came in, telling my nurse, "lets pretend I haven't had any drugs! Let's keep it a secret!" My husband tells me to this day, oh how he wishes he would have video taped the whole event. Swears he could black mail me with it. What he forgets is that I'm so blunt to began with that he can't tell any surprises. :)

think I stopped writing because my baby woke me up....well, I never got back to it, fast forward to 2013 and I have a toddler! He is happily playing in the porch in his sand right now. :)

So the nurse came in about noonish and said that I was ready to go, I just remember thinking,
"ok, so this crazy cocktail drug must wear off! I'm about to meet my baby!" I think I pushed for a solid hour then they gave me a little break and then pushed for another hour and the doc came in and with one little snip, and two pushes, Jack Reece Whiting was born! He weighed 7lbs 9oz. and 20 1/2 inches long.

 

Ruby

So, I always have all these plans of laying things out in a nice neat organized way. In any of my journals, I always give a quick history of myself and whats been going on in life in the beginning of it, what if someone later in life goes to read them, picks up my 3rd journal before my first? This way it's ok to read out of order. But anyways, when I started this blog I kind of wanted to do the same thing, go through each month of our marriage from the beginning, but I'm over it. Time to pick up with now and get started or I will miss out on the now. Life is coming at us fast. We love it, but I don't want to miss it as it's passing us by. So time to dig in. I guess one thing in particular that has made life speed by is our fun dog Ruby. Ruby is a Vizsla, known for their energetic temperament, she keeps things fun. We got her just 3 days after moving in to our brand NEW home. Yes, I am a wonderful wife to let a puppy do it's training on my, i mean ours ;) brand NEW carpet. I must say I am glad we are mostly out of the accidents in the house faze. Since we got her, she has only gone #2 in the house twice and the other, um... let's just say enough. :) But, I am happy to report she now very rarely has accidents in the house and typically just prances by the back door when she needs to go out. Unfortunately she doesn't like staying out. She always wants to be right by our sides and gets worried about missing out otherwise. Some fun things we have gone through with Ruby thus far...

Going to the potty in her crate, and us coming home to it and having to clean it. (sometimes twice a day)

Probably TMI..but her eating her feces. Finally grown out of after feeding her pineapple juice. The Vet prescribed meds didn't work, but the pineapple juice did. Thank goodness!

Deemodex mange. All dogs have the deemodex mite, her immune system just wasn't strong enough to keep hers at bay, so two medicated shampooed baths later, I'm happy to report it's gone. :)

I said fun things, right?

Well, she is fun to cuddle with on the couch, and play fetch with. She knew how to fetch at 8 weeks. She is fun to watch run and play. She really likes bubbles. It's funny to watch her jump up and try to attack them. She loves playing with Boomer, Rocky's parents dog. And she loves both sets of our parents. Which I am thankful for. Rocky's parents have been gracious enough to "babysit" her a time or two, or three or four. ;) And my parents have become the day sitters. Because I work, she is crated in the day and I let her out a lunch. But sometimes I want to go out to lunch, so not enough time to let her out and go to lunch, so my parents often come over and do that for me. All in all she has been a fun part of our lives. I can say if it were just my choice in the beginning, we probably wouldn't have a Dog, but through my Sweet Husband's coaxing, I did give in. And now can't imagine life with out her!

New Things in Life: The House

Rocky will probably be shocked to know I am even blogging. I have a confession to make. I love stalking all of your blogs, and sometimes do it for hours, but when it comes to blogging myself... not so good at it! But, I'm determined, (for today anyways) to be better. Not so much for your sakes, but for mine, because, as Rocky posted last, there are so many new and exciting things in our life! And, I will delve into that now, beginning with the house.

Ok, for the last ten minutes, I have rewritten this paragraph about 6 times. Trying to think, where did it all begin, or what should I start with, and thats just too much work! I'll just share the many ideas that rambled through our heads beginning shortly after we got married, leading up to the home we live in now.

Option A: Purchase some family land from Rocky's parents(his parents and much of his extended family live in Boerne on 300 acres) and buy a trailer, live in that and lot's and lot's of money and eventually build out there. --This didn't work out because we found that many of the trailers we liked were just almost just as expensive as some homes, so, why not just build the home? Which brings us to...

Option B: Purchase some family land next to Rocky's parents (his parents, and much of his extended family live in Boerne on 300 acres) and build a Tilson home. The floor plan was actually "The Marion". We traveled to Bryan, Tx and actually walked thru and video taped it and talked with the people at Tilson several times. If anyone knows my Husband, you know he does not make any decision with out hours and hours of very thorough research and thought. -- This didn't work because knowing we were building on family land, whatever home we built would be permanent, and both being first time home buyers, we weren't sure the things we were going to like in a home vs. not, or even how big our family will be and also, could we get/ afford a home that we could grow comfortably in for the rest of our lives? So then Rocky got in his head what about a garage apartment? Which brings us to...

Option C: family land...build a garage apartment as cheaply as we could. We were going to model it after our own apartment, live in it for 5 years, or so, basically see how cheap we could build it and have it paid off. By then, we would know more of what we actually wanted in a home after we "lived a little" and could build it and also have this great garage apt that if need be our parents could live in, or some one could rent out eventually. We actually loved this idea. Probably the most. Rocky did some research and we got it priced and then went back to option B and decided who cares, build the Tilson, and we would be just fine in it forever. And then, a NORMAL thought came into our head, what if we just bought a home? Which brings us to...

Option D: Buying a home!!! I have great connections with an awesome Realtor... actually my sister! If you ever need one, let me know and I can give you her info. She's great! Anyways, we looked at 3 or 4 houses and we actually found one! It was older, and honestly needed some work, but the idea appealed to Rocky to renovate it, and we eventually convinced ourselves that it would be romantic to be painting at midnight and building this house back up together. So we put a contract on it. And thankfully, due to some roof damage complications, it fell through. We were a little sad, because that meant back to the drawing board, but my sister said she would go back through and pull houses again for us and by some miracle, a home came up in this cute little neighborhood in Boerne. Which brings us to our final choice and decision.

This is the home we looked at buying.

In the Realtors MLS system, typically, never do you find a listing for a home that's not been built or that is being sold by a builder, but our miracle is that ours was. It was an experiment actually by KB, they were in the process of building several spec homes, in which they had a team put together several different homes with finishes they thought would sell the best and fit those homes the best. Which normally the buyers go and choose all of there own finishes. So, we quickly walked through the model and hurried and put a contract on the house, not knowing any of the finishes. Well...it just so happens that every last finish, down to the door knobs are what we would have chosen. And we now are living the American dream in this darling house in Boerne!

Rocky and I say it all the time, but we know we are so blessed. We are thankful for these blessings and that we have the opportunity to have a roof over our heads. We know there are many less fortuate than us and that we need to keep trying everyday to be worthy of these blessings the Lord gives us. Well, I know that was long and drawn out, but that was more for me to remember the journey we went through to buy our home then for you. :)