The Rays of Sunshine

 Earlier this week I posted that we were going to try to get Derek to sleep in his own crib. Unfortunately that didn't work at all. The first night we attempted to try it, we put him to bed, like we do every night, and he cried and coughed so much, that he thew up, everywhere. It was horrible. I felt so bad for him. There was no way I was going to make him cry for not being in my bed so,  he slept in my bed that night. Once again the next night, after praying and praying that it would not be terrible, we put him to bed, and the same thing happened, he coughed so much he threw up again, but not as bad as the night before. So we decided that until he felt better and was not coughing so much, we would wait. To me I seemed like a blessing, and God's way of telling me, now is not the time. The sleeping hasn't gotten any better, and I find myself stressing out about this more and more, and wondering what I need to do next, and I find myself crying a

Christmas Time  The biggest day of the year is finally here. I have been so excited for Christmas this year for Derek, and the family. That time has finally come and it was awesome. Derek had an awesome Christmas. This time last year, I was holding him and opening his presents for him, but this year he was able to do some of it, until he lost interest, or wanted to play with the toy that he just opened. It was such a joy this year for all of us. I remember when I was  a little kid and Christmas was the biggest day of the year with Santa and family time, and then as I got older I didn't get as excited for Christmas. Now that I am a parent, all the excitement and many more emotions have come back. Not only do I enjoy it so much more, but the realization that I am now someone's "Santa" was an awesome feeling. I know as Derek gets older I will be able to share with him the Christmas story of the birth of Jesus, and the real meaning of Christmas. We will be able to s

Well, here we go again. I have decided that is it time once again to try to transition Derek out of our bed into the crib. I know that it is time, and it has to be done, so I thought the best time to do this was while I was on Christmas Break, so if we had a rough night, I could take a nap in the day time. So tonight we will start. Pray for me, Derek and Ricky, and that this is a smooth transition, and I have the strength to be strong, and not to cave and pick him up and put him in the bed. He has already woke up once, it 8:40, but he went back to sleep on his own. Lets hope it works this time!

Derek is now 16 months old, and I am ashamed to say that I have been slacking on the picture taking, the note taking, and all the awesome stuff he has been doing as he is getting older. Is it because I don't care anymore, absolutely not. We are living life, and having fun, and I have just let the "blog" side of it go to the back burner. Even though I would like to be done with the every month update, I feel like I need to keep it up, at least till he is 2. Who knows, by then this "dry spell" may pass, and I will be back on my game. We do have the holidays coming up really soon and that is my favorite time to take pictures, so I am sure it will pick up. So for now, here is my little boy at 16 months old. Currently everything is "Mamma", we are trying to get him to say more words, but nothing has stuck just yet, other than "yeah", and that is my mistake, and I am trying to correct it with "yes". We celebrated his second Hall

How do I teach my children the ways of Christ and teach them all the things that they need to know when I am not sure how myself? As a parent do you ever have those questions, I know I sure do! Let me explain, I know Christ as my Lord and Savior, he died on the cross for my sins, so that I could receive salvation and one day rejoice in heaven with Him, my father! Growing up, we always attended church, every Sunday, as Catholics, I did all that you were  "supposed to" in the catholic faith. I was Baptized at age 12, my choice and lead by God.  Then I received my first communion, then conformation! All those are happy, wonderful moments of my life that I will never regret. I am glad that I grew up in that faith. As a young adult, I was ok with this, it was all I had known! Once I moved to college, I was able to see what all was out there in the line of faith! Now I am proud to say I have found so much faith in GOD through trials, struggles, and searching. However tha

WOW can you believe that Derek is 15 Months old? Bye Bye curls, I am really sad to see them go, but they had to. His hair was to messy and wild. Also I was really afraid if we cut them, they wouldn't come back. He sleeps in the bed with me every night, the only difference is I am ok with it. He is only little once, and there will a time when he will not want to snuggle and cuddle with me anymore. He has also learned how to get up without using anything, and he no longer says bath time. There for a while, everything was bath time, now when it is bath time, he says Mamma, and I guess that is fitting since I am the one to bathe him. Although he doesn't get into bath time anytime any more, he is ready to get out 2 minutes after I put him in the tub.  Every month, for some reason, the pictures are getting harder and harder to take. My child will not stay still for them any more. I am thinking that I need to come up with a new way of taking pictures of him ever mont

Bottle free! We started it August 30th and it has been a success and we are proud to say we are bottle free! Yay! That was not as hard as I thought it would be!  Sleep, that's another thing all to its self! I don't know if he will ever sleep through the night! It is defiantly not as bad as it used to be, but we still have had some really rough nights!  I am ready to move his crib back to his room so we can have our room back but I don't know how rough that will be! Since I am not ready to do that, I have finally just given in and put him in the bed with me. The bummer part is that Ricky has to sleep on the couch. Once again I know it is not idea, but what are you going to do? Oh the curls, I love my sons curly hair. I think they are so cute, but I know it is about time for him to get a haircut, and I will be sad to see the curls go away, and hopefully they will come back. For the longest time Derek said bathtime, clear as day, well he will not do it any

This is a first for me, and I am very nervous about doing this, but I have come to realize that blogging is a passion of mine, and that I am here for a reason. There are some times that I am stepping out on a limb (faith) and I know that not matter what GOD has ALWAYS got my back, even on the toughest days. So today, I am hoping to join up with other bloggers, readers, and friends to share ONE BIG TRUTH.  This is a way to share something that God has taught you, reveled to you, or guided you through and you are now stronger for it. The goal is to do this in 2 pictures.  Everyone has had a moment, where you knew God was there, and it all worked out because of his grace. Now is the time to link up! You can also share your pictures on instagram or twitter with the hashtag #onebigtruth. Read more on Courtney's blog HERE: http://courtneydefeo.com/share-your-onebigtruth Here is my #onebigtruth More often than not, I tend to take hold of things, and expect God t

Boy, has it been a rough 2 weeks. It feels like the month of September has been a blur. Up until a few weeks ago, everything has been going really well, Derek has been walking, almost, talking in his "own" words, and we have been bottle free for 2 weeks now. However the sleep schedule has been a different story. Now we have always had a hard time with Derek sleeping, he rarely sleeps through the night since we have brought him home, it almost feels like we have a newborn again, only this time he is big enough to kick, SCREAM, and run you into another room. Not to mention make you extremely exchusted, and want to cry every night with him because he will not sleep, and feel like the worst mom ever. We were doing good, we would put him to bed, he would cry, then he would go to sleep. Wake up at some point in the middle of the night, I would turn on his soother, move to the living room, and he would go back to sleep with in 30 minutes. Ricky and I would either go back to the

We have passed the 1 year mark with our little guy, and he continues to amaze me, impress me, and I love him more and more each day. When I look at him, my heart swells with joy, and love. He is a constant reminder of how blessed we are to have him! Earlier this month, we went to the Dr. for his 1 year check-up and can you believe that Derek now weights 22lbs! Well this was also the day for his shots, and it isn't any fun for me or him, so I had a treat waiting for him. As soon as the shoots were done, and he is screaming, I would be too if it was me, I pull out a sucker. He loved it. This was the first time I have ever given Derek a sucker. He enjoyed it so much, that he almost he it gone by the time we made it to the car. So once I get him in his car seat, I had to take it away from him, I couldn't risk a piece of it to breaking off, and him choking on it while I was driving down the road, so of course he cried, but a minute or so later he was over it! Derek is lear

5 years ago I took a big step in my life, and  married the love of my life. We have been married 5 yeas, and been together for 8 years. Boy time really does fly when you are having so much fun! WOW, In 5 years, we have graduated college, moved back to our hometown, made many memories together AND became parents. Its been an awesome journey, and we are just getting started. For our Anniversary, we decided that we wanted to go away for the weekend, but being the person I am, I didn't want to go to far away from Derek, since we weren't taking him with us, so we decided to go to Hot Springs. We decided to stay at the Arlington, have a nice dinner, some drinks, and GET A FULL NIGHT OF SLEEP! For dinner that evening, Ricky made us reservations at the resturant called Central Park Fusion, and let me tell you, that was an amazing place to eat. The food was wonderful, and beautiful to look at. See what I mean, here are our plates of food....   See what I mean, a

When they say A Baby Changes Everything, They were not kidding. We have had one year with our Handsome man! He has changed my life in so many ways, and made me realize how much I love being a mom! PARENTING: Not what I expected, AT ALL. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE IT, but there are so many things to having a child, that people could tell you about all day long, but until you are a parent yourself, you don't get it! As we approach the birthday of Derek, It has really got me thinking about the past year, so here is a recap of the best of the best of Year 1 with Derek, and being a New Mom: 1) It is the BEST job in the whole wide world.You instantly gain this love for this person you have never meet, then all of a sudden, he is here and your heart grows twice its size, just to hold all the love you have for this human. 2) It is the HARDEST job in the whole wide world. WOW, I never realized how much worry, stress, and sleep depervation comes with a newborn. Someone sh

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Derek's Birthday party was a success. I can't believe I am a parent of a 1 year old. I have to say I was a little nervous about the party and how Derek was going to react to it all, but he did really well. This day was a great day, and I feel so blessed to have the amazing family I have, and all the friends that came to share in this very special day with us. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I will let the pictures do the talking: They say you are supposed to make a wish, but all my wishes have come true! His awesome birthday cake! He was really excited about getting to open his presents. He really enjoyed his birthday cake He was even willing to share with his grandpa! My blessing, I am one proud Mamma.