A Conversation

When I was working (I know its only been a week) everyday when I picked Carter up form the babysitter's as we drove home I would ask him about his day, what he did, who he saw. The conversations were usually lead by me, with lots of "yesh" responses from Carter. Lisa watches Carter on Thursdays, and because she isn't a "biological" grandparent, she has asked to continue watching Carter on Thursdays even when I'm home so she can still see him. I thought it sounded wonderful--a guaranteed 3 hours to myself every Thursday, to do whatever I needed/wanted? Yes, Please!

Driving home today, I started asking Carter some of the normal questions...and I asked him, "Who did you see today at Lisa's?" Without missing a beat he said, "Jesus!" I chuckled, and said, "You saw Jesus? That's fun!" I was caught off guard by his response...I was expecting him to say Kasen, Chad, or even Lisa...but he didn't. He said Jesus.

and I've been thinking about that ever since.

How grateful I am, to have Lisa watch Carter. That he can been in a warm, loving enviroment; where he can feel the Spirit, and maybe even the presence of his Savior. How blessed I am to be the mother of such a spiritually wise 19 month old little boy. Who reminds me every day how much the Jesus Christ loves me. Who wants me to sing "Jesus Beam" over and over.Carter truly is a sunbeam of love from my Heavenly Father. I love him so much. I am indebted to Lisa, Carrie, and my Dad for watching him week in and week out the last year and a half. Teaching him and loving him and being there for him while I was away at work. I look forward to being able to spend more time with my little boy. I hope he will know and feel of my love for him, and the love of the Lord. I hope I can teach him well. I worry so much about the responsibility of guiding his sweet spirit in this world of turmoil. Sometimes I feel as if he's teaching me...

Kissy Face

Tonight I asked Carter for a kissy face and he gave me this:



Is he trying to be seductive or what?!

This picture has had me laughing all night long!

Oh and I may have opened a box of Samoas...pretty sure they aren't going to last until Shawn gets home. Sorry buddy-they're my favorite too.

Tonight is the first Sunday in about five years that I am not dreading going to work in the morning. Weird.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

we interupt normal programming to bring you this special announcement:

"I am extremely pleased to announce the promotion of Shawn Brock to Manager – Compliance & Remediation. Please join me in congratulating Shawn on his promotion and wishing him continued success."

Shawn got a Promotion! He applied for a Manager position and he got it! Party at our house! I'm so proud of him. He is such a hard worker. He will be super busy (it's already showing and this is week one). He will have so many different adventures, and gain wonderful experience. He is going to India the end of the month for a week and a half (Heaven help me). I might be jealous...How could he possibly go to India without me? Someone obviously did not think this through! Oh and Shawn gets to go to San Diego for a week in March. I might be going out to join him for a few days without Carter. The details are getting worked out on that front. Anyway!

The winds of change are blowing through our lives right now. We are so excited and overwhelmed with Shawn's promotion. It came at a good time. We feel so blessed!

I am a quitter.

It's official. I'm a quitter. I am quitting my job to be a full time stay at home mom! My last day is March 2nd. I'm excited and nervous! I'm also in disbelief. I can't believe I'm actually doing this! I hope I'm not an epic failure as a mom... Hopefully I'll be able to adjust quickly. And hopefully we will be able to stick to "the budget" cuz there is no going back now! Carter's sitters have been so good. I know they love him so much. I think they are the reason he is such a smart polite little boy. Its hard to believe they have been watching him every week for over a year and a half. It is definitely time for me to come home! I can't wait for all the fun adventures Carter and I will get to have together. Although I'll miss working, I have wanted to stay home since before Carter was born and it is finally happening... Here's to the future!

Wish me luck!

P.S. If any of you have tips for this soon to be stay at home mom-I'd love to hear them!

1.5 Years of Baby Bliss

Last Friday, January 13, Carter turned 18 months old. This officially marks one and a half years of baby bliss. Hahaha. We love him so much! Unfortunately, I am one of those bad moms...who doesn't take a lot of pictures, who didn't get newborn or one year old pictures done. I also haven't written those sweet letters, or blogged most of his little life. I do have a smattering of iphone photos though. That's gotta count for something, right?

Dear Carter,

I love you so much! "I love you as the moon loves each shining star. I love all that you will be, and everything you are." Carter you are so much fun right now. Everyday you bring a smile to my face. You are full of life and energy and curiosity. In the last 2 weeks your speech has exploded! You repeat almost every word we say. You've started pairing words together. Some of your most common phrases are, "daddy byebye, are you?, ice juice, need snack and watch tv" I'm not super proud of the last one, but we don't watch a lot of tv, I think you mostly like the excuse to snuggle with Mom and Dad. We all sit on the couch under the "bb" and snuggle. You suck your thumb and hold my/your/anyones hair like a mad fiend when you're tired or upset. Everyone thinks it's cute, but I worry its going to haunt me in the near future.

You absolutely LOVE music and dance with your whole soul. We have dance parties every day...and you will dance to any type of music...even MoTab on Sundays. You are constantly asking me for "moosic". I must say, you have some good moves. I have no idea where you learned them, because your father and I can. not. dance. You can keep a beat way better than I can, which is kind of embarrassing, but I have the feeling you might be a drummer one day. Matt Weinberg let you play his drum set on New Year's Eve, and you picked up the sticks without anyone showing you and were a complete natural. Anyway. My favorite moves are when you gallop (?) around trying to jump, but you can't get both feet off the ground. You also reach your left arm over your head and lift your left leg. You look like you might tip over, but you never do, and it is absolutely hilarious.You also like it when we sing songs. You often ask me to sing "Spider" "Popcorn" and "Birdie" over and over and over.

You are doing so much right now. I could write pages. You're still not a good eater, and you're a complete light weight. You look so skinny. You won't drink milk at all, unless you're drinking for your bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios (which you insist on doing all by yourself). You are a master with a fork/spoon, but surprisingly favor your left hand. It's probably becuase you only suck your right thumb. I'll be interested to see if this lefty behavior continues as you get older. You love to help around the house. You'll help me move the laundry from the washer to the dryer. You'll unload the silverware from the dishwasher. And when I wipe up your highchair tray, you often take it away and say "wash" and start wiping up the tray yourself.

Your favorite toy right now are your dominos, or "mominos". You love money. We showed you how to use your piggy bank, and now you say "money? money?" as you walk around the house looking for coins. You can't get enough. (You are your father's son) Your favorite item of clothing are your "booties," your blue snow boots. You often wear your boots in just a diaper, and you couldn't be cuter. You love orange juice, and would drink it all day if we let you. Shawn and I are consistently amazed at how smart you are. You do wood puzzles and put the pieces in the right place without blinking. You love to sing the ABC's...but that's about all you sing "abcs" You're starting to count, you refuse to say "one", but can say "two, three, four". You love saying prayers, folding your arms and saying Amen! You're also getting very good at recognizing Jesus. You are turning into a little boy right before my eyes and I can't even believe it.

Everyone who knows you loves you. All of your babysitters care about you so much. I wish I didn't have to work in the mornings. It breaks my heart knowing every morning you ask for Mommy, and I am not there. Thank you for being such a sweet, adorable little boy. You really have been a dream. Dad calls you a domestic terrorist, but he doesn't mean it. You make my world spin round. I can't imagine life without you. It doesn't even feel like it has been 18 months since you were born, and yet it feels like you have always been a part of our family. You are such a wise spirit. You are my little lion. Thank you for loving me with your whole heart. Your kisses melt mine. I love you Carter Paul, always and forever.

Love Always,

Your Momma.

Ode to Shawn Paul

This post was rolling around in my head all night last night...I couldn't even sleep!

Shawn is ambitious. He is one of the most ambitious people that I know. When he wants something, he finds a way to make it happen. It's one of the things I love about him. And in part, it contributed to our getting married. I would consider Shawn's can-do, go get-em attitude to be one of his best traits. As soon as he decides there is something he wants, there is already a plan in action to accomplish it. It's incredible! I might be a little bit jealous, because I, on the other hand, am a thinker. I sit, and think, and think and never do anything about it. I have so many plans in my head...that don't get any further than that. But this is not about me (except that it really is about me), it is about Shawn. Back to my ambitious husband that I love. I know that we will always be well taken care of and provided for. I know that he will always make sure our life continues to get better and better. And I know that he will always get new Patagonia coats. I'm pretty sure he won't stop until he has one of everything, and I'm pretty sure they'll keep coming out with new coats. There are lots of things I don't know...but this I know for sure: Shawn's Patagonia collection will continue to grow.

Anyway. Many wonderful things grow out of Shawn's ambition. I love him so much, and he works so hard for our family. But sometimes, it's hard on me. Because sometimes it means he works late, or takes business trips, or has conference calls at midnight with people halfway across the world. Sometimes it means Carter and I eat dinner without him. Sometimes it means I get 30 minutes out of 24 hours to really be with him... Which means sometimes I miss him terribly. Like I did last night. Tuesdays are always long. Shawn goes straight from work to Young Mens, and then sometimes (like last night) he goes straight back to work from his home office. Sometimes Carter and I just go into his office and sit there, just to be close to Daddy, because we love him so much. Carter says is name all day, waiting for Shawn to come home. Thankfully, it's not like this all the time. Thankfully, Shawn spends lots of time with us and we have so much fun when we do. But sometimes, just sometimes I miss him so much.

That's really what this post is about...me. missing him.

It snowed! (Finally!)

We woke up to 4 inches of snow and it was still coming down!



We ate breakfast and then put Carter in his brand new snow suit to go play.



It didn't last long, but it was fun!