-Happy Birthday My Love-

Today marks 365 days that I have been holding our precious bundle of boy in my arms. Today I feel excited for what our future holds and a little tearful to think that 1 year has already flown bye! I feel as though he was born yesterday and we still have a whole lifetime before he turns ONE.. or maybe that’s just wishful thinking. I do realize the importance of living in every single second though. The first year is so full of firsts.. First smile, first laugh, first teeth, first time crawling, first steps, first word, first cold, first cough, first poopy diaper, first time peeing all over dad and the changing table (nope, didn’t avoid that first). I have no doubt this next year will hold many more firsts, and seconds, successes and fails. But as I said, living in the moment.

My Dad - Grandpa Comerford - holding his first grand baby<3

My Dearest Eli,

We have spent one year with you. It is hard for me to think that one year is already over and in the rearview mirror. God has taught me so much through you. First it’s crazy to me that he can use a little boy to teach so much to a few adults. I first learned what it was like to wake up 8 times throughout the night to change dirty diapers and nurse you until the still-dark-early morning hours. Most people think it is crazy that you could sleep so little and hold a crying baby for hours and still be so happy the next day (on 3 hours of sleep) and still love that baby so much. If it is crazy, then I may be the craziest of them all. When you finally started sleeping through the night there was a HUGE part of me that was scared – is he still breathing? Is he alive? But there was an even bigger part of me that was sad – because like I said, crazy as it sounds, I LOVED rocking in the chair looking at you and falling more in love with you at 2AM. It is a love that I think only a parent can understand, and I pray every person gets the chance to feel that feeling. When you started sleeping in your crib in your own room, well don’t even get me started on that because it basically broke your mama’s heart. At 3 ½ months I felt like my little boy was becoming an adult sleeping on his own “on the other side of the world from me.” Then you got teeth, that added 2 more years to your appearance, and you started crawling, that added 5 years to my appearance ;) Now here you are starting to walk, starting to talk, signing words (please, more, thank you), crawling on the fireplace, crawling out of the shopping cart, winking at people, changing by the second. Every day, every step, every second, I learn more about being YOUR mama. I’m not sure why exactly God chose me to be your mama, but I know he knew exactly the kind of son I needed - The kind that smiles at me in the morning and has me melting into a puddle of joy and tears , the kind that makes me bust up laughing just watching you eat eggs, the kind that teaches me patience (clearly God knew I needed to work on that and a little boy would be my perfect teacher), the kind of boy that teaches me to let go and put it in God’s hands every day. You are quite the little explorer and it scares me to death.. Why you think it is a good idea to stand up on the stairs, crawl out of shopping carts, sit on the fireplace, and eat rocks is beyond me, but I think I am a better person and more forgiving/ understanding because of it. There is a saying, Eli, that when you give birth to your child it is like your heart has been taken from you and is walking around outside of your body. That statement has never been more true. You laugh, I laugh. You cry, I cry. I have learned more about love than I could possibly write down - loving you, loving your daddy, loving God, loving other people. That is the beautiful thing about children they love you no matter what your flaws or beliefs look like, and you are not any different in that area. You are such a lover. Only a child can cruise through Costco winking and laughing at EVERY SINGLE person that walks bye.

Eli, you are such a special person in my life and everybody’s life. You always light up the room. I never thought a little baby could have such an effect on so many people, but you certainly have. I pray that this next year I can continue to learn more from you and about being the “perfect” mama for YOU. I love you Elijah Paul Frink. Happy Birthday my sweet sweet blessing.

Love, Your Mama

crazy-hectic-fun-exhausting days

Today I am realizing how quickly life is flying bye. 

As I wind down my college career, it feels like yesterday that I graduated from high school, loaded all my belongings into my car and headed to Nebraska with my boyfriend. However, as I sit here and look at my calendar, it has been 5 years.

As Jason and I search for a house to BUY, I can't help but remember back to my first time hunting for an apartment to move into with Brittany. Ready for all the excitement that Fort Collins and CSU held instore for us. While that also feels like it was only moments ago, it turns out it was actually 4 years ago. 

Here I am looking forward to this new adventure of owning a home, starting a business, growing as a mother and wife and I have to remember back to my last huge adventure and step into faith I took. 3 years ago, Jason and I packed our belongings into 2 suitecases and jumped on a plane to Australia to have our lives transformed. 

On the 14th of May we celebrate our wedding anniversary.. How has it already been 2 years since we flew to Hawaii, tied the knot, and began this incredible journey of being Husband and Wife? But then when I think of everything that we have been through since we got married it feels like I have been with this amazing man forever! Well, I guess it has been 7 1/2 years..<3

Now, sitting on my couch watching my precious sleeping baby I can't help but get a little teary-eyed thinking that I have been holding him in my arms for 6 months already! It feels like its been about 1 month. But I know that's not possible because of how much my baby  has changed since he was born. 

This little hunk of 6 month old cuteness is:

• 18 lbs
• 27.5 inches
• Sitting on his own
• Has 2 teeth
• Loves eating solids - butternut squash, bananas and teething wafers
• Can get his tummy off the ground, just hasn't quite figured out leg + arm movement = crawling
• Doesn't sleep through the night anymore (wait I said he is a baby, not a newborn right?)
• Flirts with every lady he comes across (Mommy's friends, ladies in the store, ladies at the Dr., ladies at church) Quite the charmer!
• Loves his daddy so so much.. (teary-eyed again)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   

Clearly, there are a lot of developments in all of our lives right now. Sometimes in the craziness it is hard to find time to spend with God, it is hard think clearly, and it is hard to find balance. This morning as I was feeling completely overwhelmed with what has to happen in the next 2 weeks so I can graduate, a song came on my pandora station. 

After all you are constant
After all you are only good
After all you are sovereign
Not for a moment will You forsake me
Not for a moment will You forsake me.

I am encouraged this morning by God's faithufulness, God's grace and God's goodness. He is constant in our joy, journeys, trials, and crazy-hectic-fun-exhausting lives.

3 months going on 1 year!

As I write this, Eli is napping in his crib, by himself for the first time ever. Maybe I'm behind the times, maybe I'm ahead.. I'm not really sure. But I felt like it was time to transition him to his crib and also start him on a daily napping schedule. To date Eli falls asleep when Eli wants to through out the day. In my arms, on the couch, in his beanbag, in the carseat, basically where ever is convenient and comfortable. There really isn't a problem with this other than that I get nothing done because I'm too busy staring at his precious little self <3 Seriously.. I can't get over how much I LOVE this baby! I also can't get over how quickly this little man of mine is growing up. Time has flown by and crawled at a snails pace all at the same time.

love these boys

New in the world of Mr. Eli this month:
>> Enjoys sitting in his bumbo
>> LOVES sucking his hands
>> Loves to blow bubbles
>> Has realized that his tongue is fun to play with
>> Has moved on into 6-9 month clothes (I'm pretty sure he never even wore half of his 3-6 month outfits)
>> Roles tummy to back all the time, and has done back to tummy once
>> He wants to chew on EVERYTHING... hands, clothes, toys, towels, pacifiers, etc
>> Attended is first college class/potluck
>> Loves to try to stand up when we are helping him
>> Is "talking" a ton, and on the verge of belly laughs!
>> Weighs 14 lbs 9.5 oz

It is amazing to see how quickly he changes and grows over night! I feel like every morning I wake up to a new baby. This whole being a Mom job, is by far my  favorite one, but it doesn't come without it's stressful moments, and overwhelming times. It is amazing how much stress our society puts on mothers these days. I was talking with friends about how you can't even leave your child in the car for 1 minute while you run to put a movie in Redbox otherwise child services or the police will be informed of your failure to "parent" properly.. We are constantly told that we are not doing something right whether it is the age we chose to move our babies from the bassinet to the crib or letting the baby sleep in the swing. I receive so much encouragement from other Mamas that are going through the same thing, and older people who I'm sure completely parented us wrong according to current standards (our parents made us sleep on our tummy or side? What were they thinking??). It is so important to not base how you are doing on society's standards. You don't have to eat organic vegetarian all the time to be healthy. You can actually go against the flow, and maybe your children will turn out fine just like all of us did. I think we focus on things that in the grand scheme are so minor, but forget to focus on what may have a huge affect in the future. How do we love our spouse, family or friends? How do we treat people when we disagree with them? Do we encourage or tear down people who are doing something "wrong"?

Sometimes I feel like I am SO different from everybody I go to school with, and it can feel exciting and strange at the same time.. I am one of 2 people married in a group of about 100 students I sit in class with. I am the ONLY one with a child,  and I have had people say "I would drop out of I was married and had a kid." However I am encouraged that Jesus didn't give up and quite because he was "different". He was the strange one because of what he said and did, how he loved people unconditionally, and trusted even when times were confusing and tough. Going to class and being a mom is HARD WORK! But trusting that God holds me, my future, and my family in his hands gives me strength and encouragement to keep pressing on.

Lemonade from lemons

The last 2 weeks have been one hit after another with our cars! We had the oil changed on our cars and an inspection done. Turns out Jason's car needs all sorts of things done with his brakes. We kind of had an idea, but I guess were trying to not think about it. We luckily were blessed by my parents with their car to drive while they are in Hawaii. We had no idea just how grateful we would be for that car! We parked Jason's car and were planning on driving the Expedition and Subaru for a while (untill we sell Jason's car). Wednesday night Jason was driving back from Greeley where he works and the subaru started smoking from the hood! After having to get it towed and getting it checked out, we found out that the radiator had cracked. $475 was the quote given to us by the repair shop to replace the radiator and hoses... WHAT?!?! I did a little research and found out a new radiator only cost $130... Really car repair shop?? $345 for an hour worth of labor? Crazy right? So we bought a tow strap, hooked the car up to the Expedition and hauled it across town in 15 degree temps on icy roads to a friends house. Luckily it was dark so we didn't see any of the nasty looks people were giving us as they passed our little rig going 15 mph :/ We made it safely and left the car to be dealt with the next day. On our drive back we passed a bunch of guys trying to push their truck out of the snow that had gotten plowed up around it. Considering that we had a big vehicle and a tow strap we decided to turn around and pull them out. 5 minutes later we were all on our way in our warm unstuck cars! The next day Jason and our friend opened up my car and did surgery on the radiator. Now we have 2 functioning cars again!
Feeling a little stressed with the big expense of having to fix my car, and driving across town on icy roads with a car in tow was immediately washed away after pulling the truck out of the snow. And a repair that was going to be $475 ended up costing way less thanks to the help of some great friends! Making lemonade out of lemons is very important to remember. We are constantly presented with situations that can put us in a funk, but looking for the positive side of it really helps big things seem quite a bit smaller. And it sure was fun playing Super Man/ Super Woman with my husband for a few minutes:)

Back to the grindstone..

What a busy and exciting few weeks it has been! Eli is almost 12 weeks old! Where has the time gone? I feel like yesterday my water broke! A few exciting things have been happening with our happy little baby though. First of all, I finally cleaned out his drawers that had 0-3 month outfits in them and we are officially in to 3-6 month clothes.. HE IS NOT EVEN 3 MONTHS OLD YET! I think it is mainly due to his length though.. This munchkin is going to be as tall as his daddy before we know it. Speaking of being tall, he is almost too tall for his bassinet.. Most people move their babies into the crib because it is that time.. Time to get their room back and teach their baby about living in their own room and own bed, however that will not be our excuse. We will be moving Eli to his crib in the next few weeks because his feet are kicking one end and his head is squashed up against the other end of his cozy little bassinet. (not sure how I feel about all of that quite yet:[)

Eli loves stories at bedtime. His favorite part is looking at the pictures. 

Saturday morning walks with some Mama friends:)

<3 tummy time <3

Last week Jason and I had our first date night without baby. He spent a few hours with some of his favorite people, Tom, Jess, and baby Skyler. Sounds like he was a very happy baby, and Jason and I enjoyed a meal that we didn't have to inhale because Eli needed to be fed the moment it was served:) But, after 2 1/2 hours away, I was ready to cuddle my little man again.

such a strong little guy!

E officially rolled tummy to back by himself 2 times the other night! I could not be more proud! He seemed to enjoy it too:) I started classes on Tuesday so Eli is getting to know some babysitters and seems to be doing well. He is constantly flashing smiles at them! I think this is one of those things that is harder on me than him. I count the seconds till the end of class so I can rush home and see my handsome little man. 112 days tilll graduation and I could not be more excited.

I LOVE this baby so much!

He loves frog legs apparently..

Got Mama's baby blues:)

Jason has started a new job as a Credit Analyst and he is really enjoying it! Unfortunately that means driving to Greeley every day and not getting to see him during lunch break, but we are so incredibly grateful for the ways God provides.

Sitting up like a big man! Where has my baby gone?

Our church has been doing 21 days of prayer and fasting, but since I figured I should continue to feed myself so I can feed Eli, I fasted social media for 21 days. We are coming to the end of that on Sunday. It is interesting to see how consumed and addicted I have become to Facebook and Instagram. It's like a normal part of my day, so to completely cut myself off from that for 3 weeks was hard. But it made me realize the importance of living in the moment and focusing on my life and my family. While I don't think either of those are necessarily bad, it is good to look at the amount of time you spend on them. I have felt like I had so much more time to be present with Jason and Eli and to spend with God. Filling empty moments with devotions or prayer rather than pictures and drama. Anyway, I am looking forward to seeing what is going on in people's lives now, and I can't wait to see everybody else's babies again! But also planning on minimizing the time I spend on social media.

2013... Lessons in Loss, Life and Love

 Our year in pictures

I'm PREGNANT!!! 6 weeks!

This pooch is going to be a big brother!

Spent Easter with this kid and my Frink family:)

9 weeks! 

First time seeing our baby BOY!!

Jason got baptized:)

Family reunion in May with our YWAM family!

Then off to GA for a week with my sister and brother-in-law

37 weeks.. and I continue to grow..

40 weeks... and keep growing...

Finally 1 week and 5 days late he decided to arrive:)

5 days old headed to church

The love of our life!

Our final birthing class with all of the babies

Jason graduates!!

Another birthday in the books.. Hello 23!

Lookin cute on Christmas Eve

Christmas with my family

This year was packed with blessings and lessons. We lost a very important family member and gained one. We are looking forward to all that 2014 has for us:) Happy New Year!!

---> 2 months<----

Well friends, I am officially 2 months old. Yes, time is flying! And I am LOVING it! Every day it seems like I learn something new, meet someone new, and make mommy and daddy smile just a little more. In my first 2 months of life outside I have traveled to Westcliffe 2 times for Thanksgiving and Christmas.. Thanksgiving was good and all, but Christmas was AWESOME! Everybody wanted to hold me and talk to me and smile and me, and Mommy even took me sledding! SO FUN! What has month two meant for me?

Happy New Year!!

• I stayed awake till 11:45pm on New Years Eve.. ALMOST rang in the new year with mom and dad but I figured sleep was a better use of my time.
• I have learned to sleep through the night : 10pm-7am every night! Mommy is totally sold, Daddy says it is God's way of convincing them to have more babies and that the rest will probably not sleep through the night.. First child;)
• I am holding my head up like a pro!
• I took my first round of shots like a champ! Cried for about 1 minute and then got over it:) 
• I'm now weighing in at a whopping 14 lbs and 23 inches! Almost sumo wrestler status. 
• I smile ALL the time and Mommy is totally melting because of it! Seriously, going to be a puddle soon if I keep it up. 
• Still sporting the blue eyes and Mom is convinced they are going to stay blue! Looks like I have Moms eyes and Dads charm. 
• LIGHTS LIGHTS and more LIGHTS.. I can't get enough. They are totally mesmerizing. 

That sums up my life right now. It's pretty cool being a baby.. Everybody loves me and wants to hold me! I'm not looking forward to Mom going back to school in 2 weeks because it means I have to hang out with a baby sitter, but atleast it's only for a few hours each day. Until then I'm going to keep making Mom melt and Dad proud. 

Keep it real!