Monday, May 31, 2010

Laramieville

We had the best little trip to Laramie for Erica's graduation. It was short but great. And we saw almost all the faerber family in 5 days. ah!

IMG_0782
sunrise @ the airport

IMG_0787
James, chels and tobin met us in Denver and droves us to Laramie. he is a doll!
IMG_0840
meeting all the family! auntie erica
IMG_0835
tio rob drove down and even withstood the sick seriously pukey baby! sorry rob.
IMG_0813
nana
IMG_0849
and papa!
IMG_0838

And we all survived a very long....graduation ceremony! congrats erica we are so proud.
IMG_0829

IMG_0825

IMG_0810
the whole gang.
IMG_0807
in between the ceremonies we shopped, celebrated mother's day together! which i am not sure we have done that since we all lived at home, ate good food and hung out a lot at the fabulous and interesting hotel. Chris even got some wyo gear to help him survive for years and saw a few friends. We had a great trip with family but missed the millers and the rest of bartletts.

Thanks everyone for traveling and making the time. It was fabulous! We are so grateful for family even though we all live so far apart.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

temple time

IMG_0742

capo and i enjoyed some time at the sacred grove and outside the palmyra temple while chris served with the youth. it was a beautiful hot spring day it was a little too humid of a day for early spring. we enjoyed it despite the heat.

IMG_0762
sweet baby face!

IMG_0753

IMG_0745

IMG_0752
After a very long walk we had a girls camp meeting with Syracuse. We will be joining them for camp again which has been a really fun combo. We are lucky to have a beautiful camp right on Seneca Lake. And a great camp director!

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Mothers

"There is no one perfect way to be a good mother. Each situation is unique. Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities, and certainly different children...What matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and, in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else." ~Elder M. Russell Ballard

For years I never celebrated Mother's Day and even dreading thinking about the approach of Mother's Day because I did not have children of my own. I realized several years ago the value of mothering is not determined by whether you have your own. I was a mother in many different situations. And being a women made me divinely created to be a mother.

This year however I really thought that I would feel different or suddenly I would feel like I had arrived and could legitimately celebrate with a baby. I am still the same person with the same struggles and faults. Don't get me wrong, having baby capo has taught me a lot. I feel the love of my Heavenly Father for this little guy unlike anything before. I have more patience. I have learned charity for others through the experiences we are having and am still learning to rely on the spirit. But I was striving for those things before.

So Happy (official) Mother's Day; not only to me but to all those women who are teaching, encouraging, guiding and leading others to Christ and to do the right things. I am so grateful for my own mother and the sacrifices she has made and still makes for me. I have been blessed with great examples of motherhood and womenhood.

Monday, May 10, 2010

4 months

Baby turned 4 months; and we are still celebrating every little minute and milestone he has.

He rolled over for the first time from his tummy to his back. Even though it was mostly head momentum that carried the roll.

He is still sleeping well and spitting up well. I got more shots, tried a new yucky formula, still takes antacids for spitup and now weighs a grand total of 12 lbs exactly!

Capo is smiling, giggling and reaching and holding toys. He completed an ASQ for the doctor.
IMG_0556

He went on his first airplane ride; to none other than Laramie Wyoming. He also had is first cold! Yuck-croup. And had a few weeks of no sleep. We are still trying to recover from that.

We moved visits to westfall to join case management and are getting settled with a new worker, new visit schedule and new location. So far so good!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

new tricks

IMG_0727
The Capo can roll from his tummy to his back-we are still working on back to tummy.

IMG_0699
And he loves this new play gym that is totally ugly but hey I do not think he cares one bit! He will sit and giggle with this toy for hours. He wants so badly to get those rings into his mouth. With the mirror he loves to make faces and laugh. He can hold toys and sometimes gets them to his mouth.
IMG_0700

the projectile vomit has covered our house and our furniture. plus the smell of baby has taken over! But this little guy is just happy and we love it.
IMG_0734

And his daddy loves him! so cute you 2 are...
IMG_0723

sleep....

apparently we thought baby capo looked really cute sleeping this month because we have taken more pictures that way than anything else.

IMG_0768

so funny!

IMG_0779

IMG_0740

IMG_0691

IMG_0771

IMG_0846

IMG_0883

IMG_0875

IMG_0935
it is a gift to sleep like this any time and any place...through youth dances, in noisy resturants, on grandma's lap which would be the best place! it is a gift that apparently chris enjoys as well...sleeping any where and any time.

so cute.

some things....

some things I just don't want to remember forever or document for posterity but time will fade those feelings and I would be sad if I did not capture the reality of our life right now. And I am not complaining or feeling bad for us. I am just feeling so many emotions all at once; so many highs but also some really low lows.

How could we complain with this little guy around!

IMG_0674
Capo is the sweetest baby! And I love every second we have together. He is growing and healthy! He brings laughter, smiles and so much love into our home. And those cheeks are so fun to kiss and squeeze. He giggles more, sleeps really well and amazes me at how much he can do now.

There is that other side though...that I wish were simpler!

We have a new worker now with a new schedule not only for visits but for work and daycare. I have to kinda start over with what we were getting used to. I thought I really thrived on change but this is really hard to keep adjusting. And sometimes the change is really last minute.
IMG_0673
Visits with birth mom have been really difficult lately. I am not sure where the line is and when to jump in and when to just let her figure it out on her own. I feel like Capo is ours though, we know him best and it kills me to see him struggle as well as birth mom. I guess there is no easy solution any more and my fear is that this will just get more complicated the longer we go. There are so many factors and things change so quickly.

We pray and fast that we can react in the right way and reach out in love and with the spirit to do what everyone needs. There are a lot of emotions involved. And the biggest struggle is to have charity for a person that in the end I want to either fail (only because that would be an out not that I wish her harm) or to have her realize that we could offer something that she might not be able to in the end. Again no easy solution there! But if charity seeketh not her own then I really need to change my attitude towards her. Again so many highs and lows even within the same situation.

I wish that sometimes I could just stop and enjoy this time. It is not really how I planned to spend my first few months with our newborn. We are busier then ever! ...work is crazy for both of us with more demands. Doctors visits are a whole other story- with there own set of hopes and devastation's. I cannot seem to find time to workout anymore or work in the yard now that it is spring. Even housework that I actually enjoy is so hard to keep up with. Church responsibilities are never ending. Camp meetings, Super Saturday-March service, April at the Auditorium theater. Unit Conferences, Leadership Training Meeting, etc. Which were all great but so time consuming. We just seem to keep adding things. That is the challenge though to balance it all. Pick and choose!

The baby is finally over his yucky green spit up but now I am dying of a head cold. And I am just so physically tired.
IMG_0698
So sweet!

Wow...it really sounds like I am complaining a lot.

Again with all of these things I am happy, busy and doing things that I love and care about. All of these things keep me focused on what is important, good and fulfilling. They give me opportunities to stretch and grow; to experience things I never thought I would do. To love others that I never thought I could and do things that I never imagined that I could. I am grateful, happy, feel at peace and am loving the life that we have together. The good things definitely out weigh the bad and one day this will all be behind us and only a slit memory!

PLUS.....we leave for WYO in exactly 29 hours!