Grateful

I've been feeling very grateful for so many things in my life recently. I am blessed in so many ways it is unbelievable. Kyle and I were just talking about how lucky our lives have been.

I'm grateful for my life all and all the things that I have in it. I'm grateful that my husband has a good, reliable job (especially in this ecomony). I'm grateful that he chose a career path that is relaible and will always provide for us. I'm grateful that we've learned how to live within our means and never to ask for too much or anything we can't handle.

I'm grateful for the opportunity we have to look for a house and create a home for our new family. That is one of my dreams and I cannot believe that it will come true soon.

I'm so grateful for my family. Although they probably don't know it, they mean the world to me. I love my brothers. I'm especially grateful for those who have helped keep us all together through these rough times we've been having with our parents divorcing. I love my husband's family and the example they are to me.

I'm so grateful for people you can depend and count on. There is nothing like someone you can count on; who does what they say they'll do, who is on time. I'm grateful for people who don't assume or make fast judgments, especially about my religion. I appreciate people who aren't afraid to ask questions.

I'm grateful for my beliefs. I have a real testimony of my Savior. I know that he has gone through every emotional and physical trial I've gone through. That has been such a comfort to me at times. I'm grateful for the Gospel. I know it is true. There isn't one ounce of me that could ever deny it. How could you deny something that gives you so much hope and faith.

I'm grateful beyond belief for my husband. Things have changed so much since we've had the baby, but I know he loves me and will always love me. I'm grateful that he is a good daddy. I'm grateful that he is making so many of my dreams possible. I'm grateful that he has been so supportive and helpful lately.

Last but not least, I'm so grateful for the blessing that God has most recently given me: my little Leon. I love being his mommy. He is such a miracle. I love our afternoon naps. I love his serious faces. I love the way he streches out after he has been asleep. I love everything about him.

The House Hunt

So yeah, the house we went and looked at was really cool but it needed about $30,000 worth of renovations and tons and tons of time to do it all. Normally I would be up to renovating a house, but right now I think it is very unrealistic! It was fun to go look at it and think about all the things we could have done.

After thinking about it and talking to our realtor we decided that we want to buy a house that is move in ready and that only will need a little work. Right now, with the baby and Kyle studying and taking acturial exams it is just more pratical for us to do it this way. We are going to take our time to find the right one. I can't wait to move into a house but I'm willing to wait until we find the one that will work for us. This is what we (well I) want:

• 3 to 4 bedrooms
• 2 baths
• Preferably a house with a little bit of character
• a nice neighborhood, a mature neighborhood
• Harrison or McCutcheon school district
• a nice yard but one that doesn't need a ton of work to keep it up
• a garage for Kyle
• and most importantly: something that can be a HOME

I always have anxiety about house hunting. It is exciting but buying a house is such a huge deal. It is a lot of money to be spending. We want to do it wisely. I pray that we'll find something that we'll love.

I've already posted this photo but in black&white, but I also love it in color. It is one of my favorites.

Today was Leo's two week check up (but he is actually almost three weeks). When he was born, he weighed 7 lbs 9 oucnes. Today he weighed 9lbs 1.3 ounces! I can't believe he has gained almost two whole pounds! And I was worried that he wasn't getting enough to eat! The doc was really happy about how he is doing so I guess we have nothing to really worry about.

I love being a mom. It is so fun. However, I do wish that more sleep was apart of it. I'm really tired today. Leon didn't sleep very well which of course means the same for me. He likes to wake up everytime I put him in his cradle. Oh well, we'll work it out. Honestly, it doesn't bother me all that much right now. Sometimes it is hard but I didn't expect it to be easy.

Kyle and I are going to go look at a house tonight. We orginally weren't going to start looking until the end of March/beginnning of April, but this house is in floreclosure and may go off the market soon. Kyle really loves it. He has actually gone and walked around it. From the photos, I also think it looks really cool. However, I have my doubts. I've always wanted to buy a house and fix it up, but now with a little baby to take care of I wonder if I would have the time and energy to put into it. I am going to be open minded though because I really don't know what condition it is in. It is in a great location and in a great neighborhood where the houses are selling for a lot more. It is fun to dream about what all we could do but I'm also trying to be realistic about everything. But like I said, I'm going to stay open minded...I'm also house hungry, so that helps too.

How Things Are Going:

I can't tell you how many times I've tried to write this post in the last three days. It seems like everytime I have two free hands something has to come up and occupy them. Hopefully, they'll be free this time for just enough time.

I know the moment I write this I'll probably be jinxed but here I go anyway. Last night was great. Leon is finally getting adjusted to what is night and what is day. He woke up only twice to eat and he actually fell back asleep pretty quickly after eating. Usually he is wide awake after eating and it takes another hour just to get him to sleep again. The night before he woke up at 1:30am to eat and didn't fall back to sleep until about 6:00am.

Leo is such a little sweetie. He is a very good baby. I mean, he has his moments of course but I'm not going to complain. He is already growing so much. I'm interested to see how much weight he's gained at his Doctor's appointment on Thrusday. He starting to use his body alot more. He likes to stretch out and move his arms around when ever we lie him down. It is so cute. I also love his sweet eyes. I could stare into them all day. He likes to stare contently into mine when he is in a good mood. He has all sorts of facial expressions. My favorite are when he is looking around with such curiosity, when he has his serious face, and when he raises his eyebrows. They all make me smile.

I'm doing good. I just took the tape off my incesion last night...that really sucked. Everything is healing up really well, though. Dr. Madura did a great job fixing me all up. I'm feeling pretty good. I've been able to get by just by taking a couple of doses of ibprofen a day. It is hard to take it easy though. I've been trying really hard. I want to get my house back to how it normally is. I want to get on the floor and play with Leon. I really would love to get out of the house and go shopping or something, but I know I shouldn't because of my recovery and because it is cold and flu season. I don't want my little guy getting sick this early.

well, i'd write more, but i'm now typing with only one hand. the little guy just woke up

Two Weeks!

My Valentine's Day

I must say I didn't think that this Valentine's Day would be all that special. We have a new little baby and are trying to save up for a house, so therefore we can't do the traditional valentine's day routine of going out to a nice dinner or something like that. And I must say, having Kyle gone most of the morning and afternoon helping my aunt and cousin move totally stunk. However, this valentine's day has been special in it's own way. This morning, before Kyle left, he gave me a small box of chocolates and a card. This is what he wrote in the card:

"Kelly, I love you so much! I can't believe I've got you for all eternity. Leon and I are so lucky. Love, Kyle."

When Kyle got home this afternoon, he took Leon from me so I could get dressed, do my hair, put on some makeup, and feel like myself again. I was soooo looking forward to that after spending two weeks in my pj's and comfy clothes. He took Leon and I out to Pot Belly's. It was so nice to go there because for the majority of the time we were the only ones in the restuarant. While we were eating, Kyle just stopped and said (something along these lines):

"You look really good, Kelly. You look like the old Kelly. I've missed that Kelly. You look beautiful."

That was by far the best thing he could have said or done for me today. I needed to hear that soooo bad, especially after the day that I had. I'm so grateful for my husband. He is the love of my life. I'm the lucky one.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have time to post some more photos of our little munchkin. I took some really cute ones of him sleeping. I'm hoping to write more about him and his sweet personality.

Sweet Little Leon

To see more from Leo's first 9 days here

on this earth then click here.