well hello there

Wow. Well this is weird. I feel like I've run into an old friend...like we have so much history but it's a bit weird because I have no idea where to start.

So err, hi. 

Here I am, awkwardly blogging again. Can I promise myself to commit to this blog? HA...no. But I feel the need to be around.

Lots has gone on since I last blogged so here is a quick update on us :)

Tony...my adoring husband is busy busy (as always) teaching high school physics and science full time. He loves teaching, specifically physics...it is after all what he loves most after God and his family ;) I joke...(kind of) ...When not being the 'cool new science teacher' he is planning, grading, researching, thinking thinking thinking..and balancing his little family quite beautifully these days. He's got oh so much on his plate, but I can assuredly say that he is blessed and that sharing his passion for math and science is most definitely where God wants Tony to be.

Desmond...my little man. Suddenly my ringlet-haired angel baby boy is like a full on preschooler (minus the going to preschool part, that starts in September) and it breaks my heart yet makes me giddy all at the same time! He says the funniest things and has the wildest imagination...not to mention the wildest little spirit. He is all boy with his bug catching, dirt digging, fire fighting, police patroling, constant climbing, spider obsessed little personality...it is incredibly out of my realm of childhood, mothering and experiences (having grown up with only girl sisters and cousins) but I'm learning to let go and let him be the little person that God has designed him to be! And really, it's quite fun once I get passed the worms and what not. ...Oh, but all that is for another post on another day :) We are so thankful to say that Desmond has not had one seizure since being hospitalized last June. He is still on a small daily dose of seizure medication and his neurologist is nearly positive that his epilepsy is one he will grow out of very soon. That is the best outcome we could have ever prayed for. SO THANKFUL. 

And then there is me...Between coaching and being a mom I've stayed pretty much constantly busy but in only the best ways possible. I just wrapped up a packed cheer season at my alma mater and I absolutely loved my first season coaching here. I could go on and on but truly, I've found my niche and I am so excited for the coming season and every single one there after. Motherhood has been a whirlwind but when is it not? Or maybe I'm the only one flying by the seat of my pants ;) Three years old hasn't been easy, much harder than two some days (cough-most days-cough) ...I fully understand the meaning of 'threenager' and I've found that an earlier bedtime is key when it comes to keeping mine and Tony's sanity :) I'm always learning more about myself and my son as I venture through this whole parenting thing...it's scary, terrifying and the biggest gift of my LIFE! .....and that's why we've decided to have another one. Ya know, a baby. You all know since the only people who read this blog are family and FB friends..but that's right, we are growing another human and it's so awesome. I mean, the first trimester was awesome and miserable..second trimester has been awesome and STARVING-all-the-time. I enjoy pregnancy (so far..knock on wood!) and I am absolutely fascinated with this little person and who he or she is! EEEK!

So that is it. Us in the quickest recap before bed I could come up with. I've got a lot on my heart lately and I find typing it all out therapeutic in a way...it's strictly selfish you see :) I have ideas of blogging about mothering a son, cloth diapering, summer plans, home buying/renting, pregnancy and so on...so run away now  and never turn back before you get too bored! ha. 

Thanks for reading friends. Be posting again soon! 

Black Friday 2009

then & now

Three years ago today I woke up with this overwhelming feeling to take a pregnancy test. Tony was still asleep when I took it, I didnt see the need in waking him if it turned out to be negative. So I did it..I peed on that little stick and in those moments where I was waiting for the lines to appear or not appear I just knew...I was sitting there just staring straight at the bathtub, then I paced around the hall...and there it was just sitting on the counte about five feet away.. and somehow I just knew..I knew the second my eyes caught glimpse of that stick my life would be forever changed. It's as if my body knew I was pregnant but my brain was catching up. I did look and the emotions of it all came so fast that I just sat there totally blank, unable to think..All I could think was that I needed to tell Tony.. You probably know the story, I woke him with the phrase "I've got something to show you"...and held the test in front of his face. The utter SHOCK on his face was hilarious. We then ventured into a conversation of "Oh God" over and over...some moments of sheer joy and other ramblings of 'dear God what did we do'...haha...then a few weeks later on December 9th we saw Desmond's heartbeat via ultrasound. He was only like 24 days old..but he had a heart beat you guys! How amazing is that? I was only 6 weeks along and suddenly it was all SO real. He may have been the size of a grain of rice at that point but he was my baby, my child and my heart experienced that 'overflowing' thing better and bigger and more full than I had ever known. Now my son is two and half...he is SO full of personality, funny, sweet, he has the best hair of anyone I know! He is smart, the biggest sense of adventure, he is compassionate and so loving. Who could believe that that little grain of rice would become this amazing child whom my heart sings for every single day. Praise God for the miracle of LIFE, I sure am today. I will never forget that day three years ago.

Happy 2nd Birthday Baby Bear!

Goodbye For a While...

Well friends, I am officially taking a break from my blog. I feel like I am able to capture this point in our lives most effectively with Instagram...a couple pictures a day can sum up things lately- a whole blog post would be over doing it frankly. We've gotten to a pretty steady pace these days and I like it, although it doesnt make for a crazy exciting blog :) I of course will be back!...I plan to blog about many things in the future such as..pregnancy (not for a while though!),home buying, gardening, new babies, preschool, raising a family and whatever else life brings along.

You Can Find Me Here From Now On...

• Instagram: MrsAbbott_
• If you do not have Instagram you can see my photos HERE
• Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/growoldwithme/
• Email: Mrs.Abbott88@yahoo.com
• Close friends and family connect with me on Facebook

♥ Becky

weekly instagram dump

Desmond's first petting zoo experience, balloon fishing pole, dinner as a fam, new produce section at Target, BBQ with friends and so on..that sums up our week, or Desmond's week at least :) ps: cotton candy is like crack for toddlers...BEWARE.

late night ramblings

I'm unable to sleep so I thought I'd spill my brain here...I may ramble and bore you, just a heads up ;)

Tony and I just watched the Mr. Universe special by Jim Gaffigan tonight and my throat is actually scratched from laughing so hard. I'm not a fan of most stand up comedians...they're either just too dirty or they try to hard. Jim Gaffigan talks about stuff I can relate to...sometimes so much so it's creepy! This whole segment on McDonald's is spot on..he also talked about putting kids to bed (I wish I could find that segment on youtube!)  and I nearly wet my pants. He's obviously a real person and that's what makes it hilarious. You can watch this whole thing on Netflix instant streaming...it's worth the entire hour, take my word for it!

We've got a friend's wedding coming up next month up in Portland. It will be our first night away from Des and I'm so nervous. My parents will do a great job with him but I keep thinking of how empty I will feel driving up there with no Des in the back seat..or going to bed without kissing him goodnight. I wonder if it's too early to do this..but then I wonder if it will be like the teenage years before I don't feel this way when away from our son. So we just gotta do it. It will mean a lot to Tony to go and it would be good for us to have some 'us' time..I'm sure I'm not the only mom who has ever felt like this though..how have you coped with leaving your child for a night? I know, there are worse things ...but I'm a wuss and obviously very attached to this child of mine. Hopefully it will be fine, I am still scared though :/

I counted today and I know 14 people who are pregnant, majority of them are friends and a few acquaintances. Is there something in the water? ;) You all know where I stand at this point with baby #2...I'm enjoying baby #1 too much at the moment. Maybe it's a bit personal but there was a point recently where I thought I could be pregnant because things were off...well it just so happened that I was just really late and for probably the first time in my life I was actually relieved to NOT be pregnant. Not just because our lives are stressful at the time being..with Tony starting the masters program this month and trying to get ourselves established etc etc. but it was mainly because I didn't want another baby right now. I write those words and I'm shocked by them, it's so not me...but this is where I am at in my life and it feels right, it feels liberating. Sometimes I feel like I write posts about this topic because I'm trying to convince myself..but I'm coming to realize I post about it because I love feeling FREE to not be envious, rushed, sad or anxious...or any of those 'not pregnant' feelings women get. I hope anyone who ever reads this blog knows that, as selfish as this sounds, this blog is for me. I don't write here to get followers or make my way to 'the most popular mom blog' list. What I mean is...this is a place for me to sort out my thoughts, get my feelings out in the open, figure stuff out..and it ends up becoming a way of remembering my life. I love that, whether it be the good times or the struggles. So on a topic that is so very dear to my heart...pregnancy, childbearing, babies, family and so on...this is where I am and I so very much so want to remember this. This is different for me and that's important and worth noting. There will be more children, there's no doubt about that. My heart does long to grow my family but I am surprised that I am actually content and happy with not doing so at the moment. So, I am praying we can put it off a year...or two :)

goodnight ♥

Weve had a great weekend so far. Last night we went out to dinner with friends, my mom watched Desmond so we made a double date out of it. It's so great to catch up and reminisce on old times...there was lots of laughing involved to say the least, I havent laughed like that in a long time..it's so refreshing...it is so easy to go back to the people and friends you once were even when separated by growing up, work, parenthood etc. At least it is that way if you are good enough friends...and thankfully in this case the 3 of us are :) Today Des and I hung out and cleaned up a bit and tonight we went and had dessert with Tony's family. Des was so sweet with his cousin Ireland, giving her hugs just because, without even being asked..his sweet personality is just blossoming and I could freak out it's just so cute. He is so lovable but what mother doesnt feel that way! Im often just in awe of this boy.. Tomorrow we will take Des to the park or something and then we are seeing a movie in the evening. I cant wait! We love going to the movies and it makes us nostalgic because the movie theater is where Tony and I met. A friend of mine introduced me to Tony and Bryce (the friend I was speaking of above) nearly 9 years ago..we all went and saw Along Came Polly. I really liked Tony from the get go, I thought he was such a funny, cool guy ;) I even wrote in my diary about it LOL. And about a month later he asked me to be his girlfriend on March 21st 2004...and you know the rest of the story ;) So basically...we like going to the movies! It's where our little story began. (*Edit: decided to do dinner and the part instead of a movie) I will blog more soon, Ive been kind of blah lately with my blog so I apologize! More interesting stuff is to come soon. Promise! Here are some pictures from the last couple days...

off to dinner

my favorite pizza in the whole world!

cousins coloring

Grammie with her bud Des

The Abbott men :)

Nine of pride

Desmond over the last year ♥

Instagram Dump..

Some recent photos :)

just swingin with a pinecone

the kids who made the cut for my cheer team! Varsity top and JV on the bottom. Practice starts this Wednesday!!

my husband's reading material

cousins on the run to find some pinecones

I get in a picture every once and a while :)

he was on a nap strike

child spacing

Ive been praying and reading and thinking a lot lately. Im starting to really feel that I want Desmond and our next baby to be at least 3 years apart. I figure this is something to write about since everyone is blogging about being pregnant...Im going to blog about not being pregnant :) and how much I like it. haha just kidding. Honestly, I loved being pregnant and I know Tony and I are meant to have at least 2 more children together. So I am excited too. But..working the coaching job I have now is hard enough with one child, I cant imagine two children..or three! AH! It's scary just to think about. My hope is that by at least 3 years in between then Des will be out of diapers, more independent but as I type that I think...ehh..maybe 4 years lol. or five..because then Des will be in preschool by that point. The thought of waiting that long before broke my heart...but it doesnt anymore. It's weird. Usually when I watch 'A Baby Story' on TLC I get nostalgic and want another one and blah blah blah..but not lately. Almost every episode I ever see anymore is about a mother having her second or third and it shows the sadness from being separated from their other children and having to give less time to the etc. And the thought of that breaks my heart! I guess Im just not ready to share my 'Desmond time' with another child. Is that selfish? I dont know. But it's definitely where I am. And as Ive said before..I love my job, and I need the time and energy to put everything into that over these next couple years...obviously with God and my family coming first. I write about this often, one because it helps me come to terms with exactly what I am feeling and what I want. And I think it's to encourage other moms who might be in the same boat. The pressure to have more children is insane, but for me..when I really think about what my heart wants..what is smart for our family..what Desmond needs...that's when the real honest answers come out and I need to hold true to those ♥

21 Months Old!!!

Weight: Des is in the 99th percentile at 33 lbs! :)

Length: He is now in the 95th percentile for height measuring at 35 1/2 inches tall! Holy Moly!

Eats: favorite foods are milk, strawberries and graham crackers. He doesnt eat as much as he used to...his appetite has leveled out a little I think..for now anyways ;)

 

Sleeps: 12ish hours a night, usually about a 2 hour nap during the day.

Likes: the outdoors! Now that it's nice all he wants to do is play outside! We spend pretty much all day at the park or in the yard. He also is so interested in bugs and planes right now. If he sees a bug he will watch and study it for the longest time! It's so cute. He is also crazy for planes, he will stop whatever he is doing and just stand and watch it in the sky! And of course he loves Yo Gabba Gabba and dancing to big band music :) He's a pretty awesome kid if you ask me!

Dislikes: Umm..not being outside? lol. That's pretty much a nightmare in Desmond's world. Riding in his carseat..we made the mistake of letting him play in the front seat with Tony while I ran into a store once. Now that's ALL he ever wants to do.

Milestones: Desmond is talking SO much now. He says full sentences. He actually said "I dont want it, I want to go!" the other day! He says Thank You and God Bless you on his own! He also says 'I want out' 'mommy I want it' among many other phrases. He can name so much stuff now and he understands most questions we ask him, his vocabulary has taken a huge leap. One big milestone..Des got his first stitches this week :( he broke a piece of glass and tried to pick it up before I could get to him. It was only two stitches on his index finger but the whole process was really sad. Surprisingly he didnt even cry when he got cut, he only cried when we had to hold him down for the stitches..once he was done and we let him down he just walked out of the room totally happy...he wanted to go find the fishies :) The entire stitching I felt like God was calmly telling me ...oh Becky, this is just the first of many. lol..I dont doubt Desmond is going to be one wild adventurous boy with many bumps, bruises, stitches and hopefully not many boken bones to prove it! He has been such a champ about the stitches, he hasnt been bothered by it at all. We just say 'let me see your owie finger' and he very patiently lets us clean it and put bandaids on. He is just the greatest and I love him. He is the sweetest little boy..completely full of personality, funny, loving and my ENTIRE heart. I thank God for my precious gift every single day ♥

Our weekend in pictures...

ice cream date with my favorites :)

Spring thunderstorm...LOVE it! I hope we have more soon!

protesting naptime like a champ...good think he's cute!

love them

cousins at the park

coffee in Jville on Sunday afternoon

swings at the park with Coco

Our weekend in pictures...

Des made a friend at the park :)