I figure Zayden will be the star of this page and along with some fun ways to teach at home, fun crafty things I have been able to make, and of course sharing my superb recipes! :) What can be better than to keep track of everything I hold dear!?
Just as an update to begin the blog, our little family moved from Montana to Illinois last August right after Zayden was born on July 30. Justin was starting graduate school in the middle of August so we had to book it halfway across the U.S. He is in the Technical Systems Management Program studying Agricultural Engineering. He got two assistanceships which
completely covered his tuition and gave us a monthly stipend to live off of. It's not much but we have been able to attend grad school without taking out any student loans! Of that fact, we are quite proud and it reminds that these few years that we are still in school will not last forever and it's just a passing point in our lives. We have hope for easier years in the future! Justin is enjoying his time here at the University. It was very different attending a school other than BYU-Idaho. "Brother so and so" keeps sliding off the tip of my tongue when I ask about a professor and Justin still has to remind me that it is "Doctor so and so". Justin really enjoys his professors and the other students in his program. Something that surprised us was the percentage of students who are from India or Asia. Justin is considered a minority here because he is Caucasian. That was strange to see. Justin has built a few things since we moved here. He built a charcoal grill and an enormous shelf in our office to put our sterilite bins of storage since our house is so small and we struggle finding room for everything we brought. Before we moved from the farm, Justin built a storage shed and we left behind a lot of things but when we moved here, and realized how small our apartment was we decided we need to bring more stuff back to the farm and leave it in our shed!As for me, I have had to readjust my entire way of life being a new mom and a wife to a grad student! Growing up, I always knew that I wanted to be a mom. I looked forward to having my own children and not needing to work. Just being able to enjoy my family and making my house a home. However, your entire life you attend school, then graduate high school and get a job to put yourself through college. You work through college, possibly get married, keep working
to pay your big girl bills. Now, I went to college to be a teacher, I got a job at an elementary school working as the school secretary. So school was going to be a very important part of my life. And then, ZAYDEN! Keep in mind, I am not complaining, just explaining. Zayden came along and changed my world! We moved to a completely different part of the U.S. and went from having family next door to having the nearest family 2 hours away! I was not attending school, and I was not working! Everything I had been programmed to do and do well, I was not doing anymore. My old life had changed overnight! At first, I was really enjoying not doing anything but staying home and healing from a C-Section and loving my little boy, and trying to catch up on sleep. But then as he got older and a little less high maintenance, I really wanted to go back to work or attend school and get my masters. I had to do a lot of soul searching and thinking about what was really more important to me and my family. I guess this is where my first test of motherhood began. I couldn't think of only myself anymore. I had to think of Justin and Zayden and what would be best for our family. I knew that if I went to work and had to use a baby sitter, I would regret every minute I left Zayden with a sitter and those moments that I could never get back with him. I would miss his milestones and achievements. I didn't want that. I also didn't want to be so exhausted from trying to be a mom away from home and try to make a little extra income that I couldn't take care of Justin. It's not like he needs constant supervision or watched over every second, but I wanted to make him a lunch for the day, and make dinner in the evenings and keep things simpler for him since he was providing for our family and taking difficult courses. I had to make a choice and I knew Justin would support me in my decision, so I chose to be a full time stay-at-home mom and stick you my decision. I knew there would be days (especially when I went shopping at JoAnn's or Hobby Lobby to fulfill my crafting and sewing desires) and wanted a little extra money for those wants and not needs. There was going to be days where Zayden would exhaust me and I would want a break and go to work for a few hours, but I knew that I was going to need to stick by my decision. And know that the Lord had His hand is helping me realize what was most important to me. So here I am, a stay-at-home mommy!I have a great group of girlfriends here and we constantly have craft days and get together to go walking. We have book clubs, cooking clubs, any all sorts of activities that fulfill my itch to get out of the house!Zayden is doing great! Almost 6 1/2 months old! He is sitting up by himself, eating baby foods, drinking out of a sippy cup all by himself, and finally-sleeping through the night! He really is a joy right now. He is teething and has been doing fairly well, you
can tell he just wants that itch gone! He's not much of a drool-er, but does chew on his fingers quite often! He is talker, and definitely makes boy noises! He has started buzzing his lips together and is proud of that. He is growing his full head of hair! He had a lot of hair at birth, lost it, and is finally growing it back. His eye color is coming in! It looks like he has my eye shape, but Justin's eye color. Blue with flecks of green. Beautiful! He's got his momma's big smile and can light up a room and make everyone in it smile back at him. He's quite the little charmer. He's momma's little casanova!Well, I think I've taken more than enough room on this blog for the first post. Most posts, will not be this long, I just had to update! :) Who has ever known me not to be long winded!? Look for future posts and fun experiments!
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