Alaina

On December 27th 2012 we welcomed little Alaina Kalei into our family. I went into the hospital on Thursday morning and just 8 hours and a few short pushes later we had a sweet little 6.12 lb baby in our arms.

She is very calm and has a sweet spirit about her. She's like a sweet dream that I never wake-up from.

Jeremiah has been such a good big brother. He loves to hold his sister and giver her kisses.

When Alaina cries at night, Jeremiah will call out to her from his crib and say, "ok, Laina..ok" to let her know that it's ok.

Time

I never realized how special and valuable time is; it comes and it goes so quickly, passing by without return. (I often wish that I could push a pause button and just linger in a moment for a while.) 

Being in Utah with my family gave me the desire to live more happily and participate in as much as I can while I can. Because I'm pregnant I often feel too tired to want to play or be with Jeremiah. But, I know that if I sacrifice my comfort for the time I can spend with Jeremiah I will never regret it.  I might say to myself in the the future, "I wish I had spent more time doing things with Jeremiah." But, I will NEVER say, "I wish I hadn't spent so much time doing things with Jeremiah." I think most of you agree that you would say something similar. So, Let's spend more time with our loved ones and use our time to do wonderful things! We can never get our time back.

Days Go By

Jeremiah has loved the wonderful weather. We spend most of our time outside now days. Today, Chris spent his time cutting down some of the large trees in his parents backyard. When Jeremiah saw his daddy in trees he immediately wanted to be in a tree as well. So, I stuck him in the smallest tree in the yard and he was as happy as a clam! 

Here's a picture of Jeremiah the Monkey!

I am the new Beehive advisor in the ward and have enjoyed spending time with the young women. Yesterday, we had our "New Beginnings" program to introduce the Young Women program to the upcoming new Beehives. It was a beautiful night centered around our theme: "Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the Nations." - D&C 115:5

I was lucky enough to get assigned to decorations for the night. So, I made some posters and built a  6' tall night house that lit up brighter every time one of the girls finished talking about a value. Everything turned out really well and I was proud of myself for pulling it all together when I didn't think 

I could.

Here are the posters I made. If you would like the Large files to print just send me an email and I can get them to you. I printed them 24"x37" at Office Depot and they looked awesome! 

Most Handsome Guy In The World

This is a movie of Jeremiah kissing himself in the mirror. He did this in our hotel for about a half hour. I only caught the end of it but, it's  pretty cute!

Sweet Moments

Every day of my life is full of sweet little moments. One of my sweet little moments of today happened when Chris came home during lunch and literally swept me off my feet. With a handsome smile on his face he took me in his arms and began dancing with me in the living room. Only seconds later, we felt tugging at our legs. Apparently, Jeremiah didn't want to miss out on all the fun. So, the three of us slow danced around the living room together while we listened to Brett Raymond. 

Another sweet moment took place when I took Jeremiah out for a walk. He laughed as he did his "waddle run" down the sidewalk, throwing leaves up in the air. He turned back to look at me, gave me a big smile and then waited for me to catch up with him so I could see a pretty leaf he found. He pointed at the leaf and said, "huh?". I never know what "huh?" means so I just told him that the leaf was red. He looked at me, said, "ehhhdah" and then clapped his hands.

What would life be without the people I love most? As I think back on all of the "sweet moments" in my life I am unable to say that a single one of them didn't include someone that I loved ,whether, in spirit, thought or physical presence.

I am so blessed by each person in my life. All contribute to my happiness and "sweet moments".

This Halloween we dressed up as characters from "How to Train Your Dragon". Chris and I were vikings and Jeremiah was a baby dragon. Jeremiah loves his costume; both times that we've let Jeremiah wear his dragon costume he's ran around the house "RAWR"ing. It's pretty cute!

We enjoyed a fun Saturday at Great Grandma Christensen's home where we paraded around the block and had lots of fun treats. I think we were all sick to our stomaches by the time we left. 

Tonight we will be spending time with G&G Brown. Jeremiah's uncles are excited to take him trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. After tonight I'm sure our stomaches will be turned into petrified candy!

Pumpkin Love

♥

Every time I've taken Jeremiah to the store he has grabbed at and cried for the pumpkins outside. I always felt like I was in a hurry or didn't want to spend more time in the busy parking lot but, yesterday I decided to let him have a little fun. We sat outside the local Smith's store for about a half an hour so that Jeremiah could play with (pound on) the pumpkins before grocery shopping. When it was time to go into the store Jeremiah wasn't going to come without bringing a pumpkin with him. So, he happily sat in the cart with his pumpkin while I shopped for and bought the items I came for. As I put him in his car seat he threw a bit of a fit as usual but as soon as I set his little pumpkin down beside him he giggled and clapped his hands. I don't know what it is about his little pumpkin...maybe, he loves it because it's orange or because it makes a cool sound and feels funny but, more than likely he loves it because everyone else he sees has one. Since we've been home I think he's been without his pumpkin only to sleep. Today, I told him that he could only play with the pumpkin outside and I set it on the porch but, now he walks to the door and pounds on it every hour. Who knew that an .80¢ pumpkin would be more fun than a $20 truck?

Oh...if only pumpkins could be bought year round!

Personality

♥

Jeremiah has been developing quite the little personality. It's been interesting to watch him interact with other people, especially, other children. Jeremiah now sings, dances (squats and waves his hands in the air), claps, screams, talks and gets into mischief more than ever before. If you're looking for a fun time just hang out with Jeremiah for a few hours.

After about an hour into Stake Conference today, Jeremiah decided that he had had enough. So, Chris took him out in the hall to play. Jeremiah was in baby heaven! Chris said that as soon as he set Jeremiah down he ran over to the first kid he saw and said, "HUH?!!" about 1in from the kids face. When the boy didn't respond he went to the next child and did the same thing. Jeremiah continued to do this to ever child he saw. We knew that he had finally found a worthy friend when he stopped to play with a little boy and then began sucking on his head. But, that didn't last long. As soon as Jeremiah heard a little boy crying he walked over and put the toy that the boy was playing with into the boy's mouth. HA!

I'm going to need to teach Jeremiah about personal space!

Goals

After I had Jeremiah I kind of lost myself a little bit. I felt like I stopped progressing in a way and that I was stuck in a land of "sleepless baby-ness". A few months ago I decided I would take my life back and started setting weekly and monthly goals for myself in order to become a better me, a better mom, wife and woman of God. This month my goal is to write in my journal every day as well as continuing my past goals (reading scriptures every day alone and with Chris and Jeremiah, praying daily, reading my patriarchal blessing weekly and exercising 3 times a week).

It's so easy to get caught up in the unimportant things in life. I think too much about my hair, my clothes, what my future home will look like, making everyone in the ward cookies, picking up all of Jeremiah's toys every 15 minutes etc.  As I listened to General Conference this past weekend I was reminded of the important things. I think it's time I spend more thinking about and doing better things. No!.. the best things. Setting goals to do not just good things but the best things, I believe, will bring me closer to the Lord and greater happiness.

Setting, working on and achieving goals has brought me so much happiness. It's a skill that I learned as a Young Woman and I am so grateful that it was taught to me.

These are a few things I have learned about setting goals:
1. Set small goals in order to achieve greater ones
2. Repent and Start each day new (don't let a day of "failure" get you down)
3. Write your goals down and make a plan
4. Make your goals positive (state them in a positive way). Rather than say "I will not be the fat me that I am" say, "I will eat 3 servings of my favorite vegetables every day."
5. Don't overwhelm yourself and set too many goals at once.
6. Reward yourself with good things that are not contrary to your goals
7. Pray for help and guidance
8. Report to (or brag to) a spouse, realative or friend. Ask them for suggestions and help.
9. Read your scriptures, the ensign and conference talks. They will motivate you and even help you see examples of others reaching their goals.
10. Tell yourself every morning that you are wonderful and that you can accomplish anything you want to with the help of the Lord.


If you haven't been setting goals lately, I challenge you to do so. Come on this adventure with me and become a better you. If you can't think of goals I'll give you a list of a few of the goals that I would like to meet.

Read to Jeremiah 2 hours a day everyday
Go outside for a walk just to enjoy the day 2 times a week
Take 1 picture a day of something that made me smile
Tell my husband that I love him in a new/different/special way everyday
Finish the Book of Mormon 2 times a year
Write missionary letters every fast sunday
Re-memorize all of the scripture masteries


IF I CAN DO IT SO CAN YOU!!!!! You are AMAZING!

The Joy of having a Boy

Jeremiah makes me SO happy. I know I say this all the time but, he really does!!!
He is now waddling all around the house and picking things up and carrying them with him wherever he goes. I showed him that he could put things in a little purse that I had so that he could carry that around instead of an arm full of stuff. He loved that idea! But, soon it wasn't enough. He has now found one of my decorative baskets and fills it up to the brim. However, the basket gets too heavy for him to carry around. HA...so he just sits on the ground and stares at it perplexingly.

Jeremiah has also become quite the little climber. He pulls his bumbo seat off of a dining room chair and uses it to climb onto the chair and then uses the chair to climb onto the table. He has tried climbing on top of, into, and out of everything in our home. Yesterday, I heard him screaming and found him stuck in his toy bin. Apparently, he can climb in but can't climb out.

He loves pushing around a toy fire engine that I found him at the DI. The engine has a hole in it for legos but he fills it with everything he can think of and pushes it around. I think he found that this was easier than trying to carry a big basket full of toys. We also know that if there is anything missing in our house it's either in Jeremiah's toy bin or in his fire engine. In a single day I found: my keys, chris's measuring tape, a cup, a cell phone, one of our decorative monkey's from Africa and one of my necklaces inside of his fire engine.

This afternoon, after Chris's career fair, Jeremiah and I walked around and gathered candy from the baby admiring ladies at career booths. On our way home I gave him a sucker with a wrapper on it thinking that he would just play with it. Evidently, he gnawed on the sucker long enough to get the wrapper off. Since he was so clever we just let him have the sucker. :) Lucky Kid!

Thank You

This morning on my way home from driving Chris to his meeting I stopped to let a girl cross the street. The girl happily smiled, waved and mouthed a "thank you" as she crossed. I was so touched by this small gesture of appreciation. I didn't realize that a simple "thank you" could change or set the mood for the day.

In 2003 Elder Oaks gave a talk called "Give Thanks in All Things." In his talk Elder Oaks outlines some of the things that we should be grateful for and why it's important that we give thanks.
As I read this talk I realized that showing gratitude not only lifts the receiver but also blesses the life of the giver. When I give thanks to others and to God I am more positive and see potential/present problems in a brighter light. It's often hard to be grateful for our trials especially while we are in the middle of them. However, Elder Oaks assures us that we will be blessed as we search for things to be thankful for and show our gratitude for those things.

I challenge each of you today to thank at least 5 people ,including God, for something. As you make yourself more aware of the good that you are being blessed with it will become more easy for you to see them each day. You will find that there are so many things to be thankful for that you wont know how to give thanks for all of them. HOW GREAT IS THAT?!?

Some of the things I am grateful for today are: the nice weather, the food in my refrigerator, my husband, my baby boy, dish sponges, my ability to hear and see, work, and the internet.

This morning Jeremiah was crawling around with a flavored stick that he got from the doctor's office. I thought that this picture might make you smile and hopefully make you grateful for children, laughter, humor, smiles, wealth enough to have a device that has internet capabilities and your ability to see this picture that has traveled through space so that you can view it miles and miles away.   :)

I want to tell you all that I am so thankful for you and for all that you do. My life is beautiful because you are a part of it!!!

Elder Oaks "Give Thanks in All Things" 2003

One step at a time

Jeremiah has been eagerly trying to walk for the past two months now. It's been incredible to watch him go from sitting to standing, standing to walking along the couch and finally walking along the couch to walking. I love watching him concentrate on and try new things. He has a curiosity and spunk that I admire. Every day is a new adventure with Jeremiah; every day we learn something new together! I am so glad that I can tag along with such a great boy and experience the world through his incredible eyes.

Here is a video of Jeremiah learning to walk.

Back in the Swing of Things

It's been over 2 weeks since we've returned from China and we are still trying to kick our life back into gear. It's been tough getting back onto a normal schedule again.
Jeremiah has finally seemed to let go of his fear of us leaving him again; he now lets us enter another room without shrieks of terror. If there's one thing I've learned about babies it's been how forgiving they are. I can bonk his head, accidentally leave him in his crib for an hour after he's woken up from a nap, or forget to change his poopy diaper and he still loves me and greets me with a big "I love you mommy"-smile. There is something to be learned from these babes. They are truly a sweet little gift and they have so much to teach us.

Shortly after we had been home we realized that our house was not very "baby-proof". Our apartment floors were falling apart and since we have such an interesting landlord (bless his heart) there was no way we would ever get it fixed unless we did it ourselves.
So, here's what we did the week after we got home. TADA!!!
Now Jeremiah can cruise all he wants and I don't have to worry about what nasty pieces of old flooring he can put in his mouth.

Before                                                                             After

Chris recently celebrated his 28th Birthday. Boy am I glad he was born! Where would I be without him?
We had a simple stay at home celebration which was all he wanted after his hard day's work. But, that didn't sit well with my family so, we celebrated a tad bit more with them later in the week.

Jeremiah is cruisin' around all over the place now. He goes from room to room faster than I can turn around to see where he's going. He now stands up and walks from one piece of furniture to the next. Every once and a while he'll get daring and let go for a few seconds but then slowly lowers himself to the ground and realizes that for now he can get around faster by crawling. He babbles non-stop and tells us all kinds of stories...if only we could understand them. One of his new favorite things to do is hold onto the front of the entertainment center and dance (stomp) and sing (Bah bah La La Ba Wa) with whatever is playing on the TV. Jeremiah has developed such a sweet relationship with Chris. Whenever Chris gets home from work or comes through the front door Jeremiah jets straight toward him greeting him with smiles, giggles and high pitches squeels. Daddy then usually spends about an hour tickling and playing with Jeremiah. They are so fun to watch.

Here is a picture of happy Jeremiah just after I watched him finish eating a potato bug. He puts whatever he can find into his mouth and locks it shut whenever I try to take things out of it.

Jeremiah also enjoys the taste of fresh soil...mmm...Yummy!

Some Firsts

Memorial Day weekend was a big one for Jeremiah! We went to ID to visit Chris's sister Sarah and her cute new husband Chris Moyes. (yes...there are now 3 Chris' in the Christensen Family. And that doesn't include the Christinas) We were worried that Baby Jeremiah was going to be a terror in the car but, it turns out he is the most amazing traveler in the world!!! We couldn't have had a better or more beautiful drive.


When we arrived in Rexburg we were starved. We must have been complaining because Sarah and Chris took us to a place where they serve more food than I've ever seen. They took us to BIG JUDS! Big Juds  has 1 lb, 2 lb, and 5 lb hamburgers; they are probably as big as a regular sized dinner plate and stacked about 5-6 inches high. Jeremiah couldn't take his eyes off of everyone's food; his drooled as he watched us eat. So, we decided he could have a fry to gnaw on....he was in heaven!


The next morning we packed up and made a special trip to some Lava Hot Springs so that Jeremiah could play in the water. What a blast! Seriously, we couldn't have had more fun. Later in the day we decided that it had been far too long since we've been on a camping trip and made a decision to risk taking our 6 month old son. Jeremiah did great during the day but, night time was little rough. He doesn't sleep well when he's outside of his crib. We woke up to rain and after a few hours of hiding out in our tents we decided to bail and go back to the  Moyes' adorable apartment. It was so nice to just hang out, watch movies, eat, talk, and take a breather.

This trip introduced a lot of new things into our babies life. He had his first experience camping, first experience swimming, first time traveling for more than 2 hours in a car and first tastes of frenchfries, ice-cream, and gatorade.

I am so amazed at how aware Jeremiah is. He seems to comprehend things easily and can impressively read/pick-up on emotions. He has been so fun and interesting to watch grow and learn.
                                                               

 WE LOVE YOU!

Blessings

We were truly hoping that teaching seminary was the right job for us. But, we have felt very strongly lately that the Lord would have us serve in some other capacity.
Through a turn of many recent events, we have decided to stay in Provo for the next couple months. I will be trying to finish schooling and Chris will be working/studying hard for the GMAT and a set of 6 long tests to enter into the financial world.
Chris is extremely talented and with his background in math, he understands much more than most of the business and economic majors at BYU and has consistently outscored almost all of them in the upper level financial classes he has taken. We have high hopes and have truly felt that this is the right direction for us to head.
Jeremiah continually brings us Joy! He is such a happy baby. He can't seem to stay still and is always trying to move; he is truly "bigger than his body gives him credit for." He sits up unsupported and scoots around the room. (We think he will be crawling very very soon!)
I am still trying to lose my last 14 or so pounds of baby weight....man it's a nightmare! But, slowly it has been coming off. If anyone has some helpful tips I would greatly appreciate the help!!! :D

To all of those mamma's out there....remember that it took 9 months to gain it, so it should take at least 9 months to loose it!!!

PS - my Mother's day was WONDERFUL!!!! I love being a mamma'!

WE DID IT!

Life

Chris and I have been sharing one laptop for over the past year now. I'm not just trying to come up with excuses for why I never post...but, it has definitely been a struggle to post while sharing a computer with a man who's busy with school, work, and getting espn updates. :)
Just two days ago Chris found a way to get internet to our OLD pc desktop. So, now I will have no excuse for not posting more often.

Our lives are wonderful and BUSY! Jeremiah is just over 4 months old now and keeps us on our toes. He smiles, laughs, rolls over, plays with toys, and is almost sitting on his own. He loves attention and lets you know when he isn't getting enough.
Chris is finishing up school here in about a week. He is extremely excited to graduate and move on to the next best thing. He is still teaching seminary at Lehi and loves it. He has had a rough semester with these new kids, but he loves them and wants them to love the scriptures. We will find out whether or not Chris will be hired full time by the end of next week. ( I'll keep you posted)
I have been busy trying to keep up with Jeremiah. He is so fun but, such a handful! Our days are composed of ongoing cycles in the pattern of eating, playing, and sleeping. I can't wait until he starts to have longer periods between eating times!!!!!

Some new things about Jeremiah
- Loves his bouncer! He still hasn't figured out how to jump very well, but he enjoys sucking on the edge of the seat.
- Loves watching Daddy play basketball!
- Just ate his first solid food!
- Chews on EVERYTHING!
- Pulls his covers over his face when he sleeps.