2012: A Year in Review

I know I posted about a billion things this year, but I want to go through the highlights in one post for journaling purposes.

In mid January I finished my last online BYU class to complete my bachelors degree.

At the end of January I applied for a job at Great Clips and got it. I got to work with two of my friends from hair school and a bunch of other great girls.

On February 3rd, Shad and I found out we were pregnant.

On February 27th we had our first ultrasound and saw Tavvin and his tiny heartbeat for the first time.

In March we celebrated my 23rd birthday by telling our families we were pregnant.

In Spring sometime Shad and I took a trip to St. George to enjoy some warmer weather for a few days. My tummy was just starting to poke out.

On May 24th we welcomed our new beautiful baby niece, Jaidyn, and found out Tavvin was a boy on the very same day.

In June, Shad took a trip with his business partner to Florida. They were given the retreat as a reward for making the company so much mula. Go Shad! (but next time take me)

We went to Blanding for both July 4th and 24th. On the first trip, my brothers joined and enjoyed some fun classic Blanding activities. On the second, the family threw me a baby shower.

We also learned in July that Shad's parents were moving up North, woohoo! (Well, bittersweet, we love Blanding too!)

In August my family threw me a baby shower. I also received my diploma in the mail, a college grad at last!

In mid-September I finished up my last week at Great Clips because I decided later on not to go back to work.

By the end of September we had basically finished the baby nursery that we started in April. It was nice to have accomplished something that we put so much work into!

September 29th Tavvin was born.

Mid-October my brother proposed to his girlfriend, Alex. We can't wait to make her an official member of the family!

October 22 Shad turned 27. We can't believe how old he's getting ;)

November-December we enjoyed a lot of Holiday fun with family while learning how to be parents (not saying we've gotten close to figuring it out or anything, but at least we're all still alive)!

We didn't do any big vacations or go on any crazy adventures this year, but I carried around a baby for 10 months and got him here successfully (and Shad endured it all with me). I have to say that's one of the coolest and craziest things I've ever done. We had a great year and grew a lot in our marriage. I'm happy to see what 2013 has to bring.

3 Months

Tavvin turned 3 months on the 29th! Time flies. Isn't it crazy how fast babies grow? A year ago he was smaller than a pea and when I weighed him this morning he was 13 lbs. 

He smiles more and more the older he gets and I love it. I can't wait to hear him laugh. 

He's now able to reach out and grab things he sees (before it was just luck if he happened to grab onto something).

He's good at holding his head up to sit in the bumbo now and likes to be in it so he can see what everyone is doing. He's most chill when there's a lot going on and he can just sit and watch it all.

I pulled out some books this past week (he got some new ones for Christmas) and he was actually interested in them. I had a lot of fun reading them to him over and over.

I also pulled out a rattle and he was loving it until he wacked himself in the head a few times, then he started to cry haha.

He loves to have "conversations" with us. He'll make eye contact and wait for you to talk then he coo's or snorts in response. It's so cute.

We have bath time together (is that weird?) and I think it's so fun because he loves to be in the water. He just flails all his limbs and splashes like crazy. He can be entertained in the bath for so long and all he does is sit there and splash haha. 

Love him to pieces! I'm glad I'm starting to forget how terrible pregnancy and labor was, because I guess I want to have a few more of these kiddos eventually!

A few pics from this past month:

Ah, he makes the funniest faces. He cracks me up! Love him.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We spent a whole week at my family's house this year and enjoyed every minute. I wore myself right out and am now paying for it with a cold. We had so much fun with Tav at his first Christmas (although he's too young to even know what's going on haha). I think he may have had the most presents under the tree. 

Over our break we ate lots of delicious food, I got to cook lots of delicious food, we reminisced about fun childhood memories with my brothers and grandparents, we went and saw the Hobbit (sadly I didn't love it!), and we just enjoyed a lot of quality time with family.

 (Pretending Tavvin can actually open a present)

 Love his facial expression here

 Bella got a new sweater and some dental treats. That girl has the worst breath!

 Cute Shad

Tavvin with all his cousins on the Steed side: Mia, Christian, & Mason

Our little family on Christmas Eve

Cookie Train

I love traditions! Especially when they involve fall/winter holidays, family, and yummy things. So the Webb cookie train is definitely a favorite! The cookie train is exactly what it sounds like, a train made of cookies. It's like gingerbread houses only a train. The Webbs do it every year and it's a lot of fun. This year I made a present car and Shad made a train station. I felt pretty proud, even though now I'm just realizing how random a present car is? (I guess not more random than the teepee we made one year). 

 You wouldn't know it from looking at them, but those presents took forever!

 Shad gets pretty serious about cookie train perfection

A snow remover to clear the tracks by Lant, Haven's classic Engine with Santa inside, my present car, Amanda's coal car, Stacey's animal car, Chris's caboose, Shad's train station, and Joe's helicopter (gotta represent Chris's new job!).

Tavvin's Blessing

Shad had the opportunity to bless our little guy a few weeks ago. He did an amazing job and may have made me tear up a bit! We were so happy to have our family and some friends there. We are lucky to be surrounded by so much love. 

A long-time family friend from my home ward made Tav a tux for his blessing and it is SO cute. I re-dressed him up in it today so I could get some better pictures (there was too much going on on blessing day). 

My mom totally snuck a picture of Tavvin during church and I was like Mom! You can't do that! But... I'm totally glad I have the pictures now, so thanks mom!

 With great grandma Squires

 Great grams and gramps Squires and grandma Linda

 The whole fam 

 See isn't that tux adorable?? Check out the tails! I love it.

I'm so blessed and thankful to have the power of the Priesthood in my home!

Blessed

We had the amazing opportunity of hearing from an Apostle of the Lord in Stake Conference today: Richard G. Scott. 

I thoroughly enjoyed stake conference today. I learned about missionary work and finding peace and joy, among other things. Elder Scott's address was the icing on the cake. 

We tried to get to the stake center early, but even fifteen minutes early we were in the way back just in front of the stage. Even from that distance, Elder Scott looked angelic up on the stand. He exuded light.

When I first saw him standing up there, I was overwhelmed with a feeling of truth; that this man is a true Apostle of God. Immediately after, I was overwhelmed with gratitude that the Lord blesses me with personal revelation to continually strengthen my testimony. 

Elder Scott shared a lot of things and spoke mainly of the importance of temple work. He said one thing that touched me especially and I wish I had written it down word-for-word, but I'll share what he said essentially. He said that he and the rest of the twelve and the presidency have had such special experiences with the Lord that he knows of a surety that Jesus lives and loves us individually. This brought the spirit into my heart so strongly and just added to my own testimony of the Savior. 

I am so thankful that I was born to parents who are faithful members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints who taught me how to follow my Savior. I hope I can always try harder to be like Him.

I just wanted to share my thoughts and feelings today because my religion is so important to me. It is the reason I am here and we all are here. Sometimes I need to take a step back from every day life and remember the things that are most important.

I know that Elder Scott is a true Apostle of God.

2 Months

So.. On Tavvin's actual 2 month date I took him to his Dr. appt. in the morning, drove to Ogden right after, and was busy the rest of the day so I missed out on a classic '2 month photo'. Oh well, here's one of him at 2 months and 5 days. 

He's in the 30th percentile for weight, 65th for head circumference, and 91st for height/length. So for now we've got a tall skinny guy. I'm assuming it changes over time (and with the way he loves to eat I'm just waiting for the weight to shoot up). 

Some updates (mostly for me to remember in the future)

He smiles all the time now, but especially right after he eats. That's when he's the happiest. 

We're still nursing some, but mostly he just eats a bottle of pumped milk and/or formula because demand has exceeded supply unfortunately. He eats about 4 ounces every three hours or so.

He still eats almost every three hours during the night, but he's gotten better at sleeping in between feedings. One night he went a 6 hour stretch and we were so excited. Funny, I used to think six hours of consecutive sleep was hardly anything...

We've officially graduated out of newborn size clothes and are wearing 0-3 month/3 month. 

He really likes his jungle play mat thing and just stares at the toy cat in the middle while swinging his arms crazily into the toys. It's pretty entertaining. 

It's getting more and more fun to hang with him every day as his temperament evens out and he becomes more alert and interactive (not that he wasn't fun before!). I just love lovin' on him and spending cold winter days cuddling with him :). 

Thankful for Friends

I've been going up to Ogden every week or two since Tav got here so grandma can get some quality time with her new grandbaby. Last visit I was lucky enough to see two of my best friend Jac and Chelsea! I absolutely love these two girls and have been friends with them since middle school. It's fun to keep up, even though it's harder now that we're not tied together by school and location anymore. Thanks girls for being so good to me and being part of my life!

Us girls with a distressed Tav. Not looking my best very often these days! Oh well.

(Please notice Tavvin's new Van's from grandma. LOVE them. I just discovered that I have shoes that fit him and I'm scrambling to have him wear them before they get too small! He's getting big so fast!)

Just Life Lately

I've gone candid picture crazy because I don't want to miss a moment of Tavvin's life! (New mom syndrome?) Here are some photos of his cute little face. We love doing everything we can to get a little smile out of him. He's got one dimple and it's so cute. We also love his face when we help him stand up (in the green and white striped outfit). It's also fun to give him baths because he absolutely loves them. Ok, I'll admit it, we're just totally obsessed with our kid haha.

 He's starting to really like a binki, but he can't hold it in by himself for very long and that makes things kind of difficult.

 See the dimple? :)

 Out doing some Christmas shopping. He was soo good at the busy loud mall, fewf!

 I opened this jungle gym thing this week and he's starting to love it. He has discovered that he has hands and he'll sit there and swing his arms into the toys and stare at the toy cat above his face, it's pretty funny.

He sleeps best when he's snuggling with a warm somebody. Spoiled little guy.

Thankful

I know we just went through this with Halloween but... I LOVE Thanksgiving! Haha. It's my second favorite holiday. Of course it's because it involves two of my very favorite things, cooking and eating! We switch off Christmas and Thanksgiving between Shad's and my family every year, and this year we were with his family for Thanksgiving. We would normally go to Blanding, but his parents just moved up here and we were able to do dinner at their new house. It was one of the best Thanksgiving dinners Shad and I have ever eaten, yum! We especially loved our sister-in-law Amanda's sweet potato casserole, so good. 

I always try to count my blessings year round, but of course during this holiday you think even harder about all you have. We are truly blessed to have such amazing families. We love spending time with both Shad's and my family, and they bless us so much in so many different ways. I can't help but think about what it would be like to not have family to spend time with during this time of year. I don't even want to imagine! I truly am thankful for all I have and the beautiful life I have been given. I don't know what I ever did to deserve it. 

Sorry to everyone and everything else, but this guy is who I'm most thankful this Thanksgiving. He's just my buddy and I love spending my days snuggling and kissing him :)

I really hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Nursery Projects: Photos

Remember these photo frames/plaques that I made?

Well I finally got around to putting some pictures on them!

Cute, eh?

These past two months we've just been doing a lot of adjusting to this new being a parent thing, so I haven't had a lot of time for blogging. Picture's from Tav's blessing and a few other fun things to come as soon as I find the time! We sure love this guy!  (even if we don't sleep or get out much anymore :) ).

Happy Halloween

Today is my favorite holiday. Yes, Halloween, not Christmas or my birthday like everyone else. The weird thing is that I've never even liked candy that much. I just love the fall, dressing up, and all the fun spooky stuff that goes along with Halloween. I love the movie "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and have since I was little. As a kid I LOVED school on Halloween. We always paraded our costumes through all the classrooms and then had a Halloween party with fun crafts and yummy treats. I also thought it was so fun to go trick-or-treating with my friends. We had certain houses we always had to 'hit' that had the best treats, so fun. I've been too busy with baby to get very into the holiday this year, but I did manage to put him in a festive size-too-big onesie that we happened to have. Enjoy your Halloween!

1 Month

Guess who is 1 month today? Wow, time has flown by already! Tavvin barely fits into his newborn onesies these days. Also, turns out this parenting thing is pretty hard. I'm guessing all the moms were reading my posts complaining about being pregnant and rolling their eyes. Ya, I don't think that was the hard part anymore, haha. I'm also guessing that all the moms of 2+ kids are still rolling their eyes because that must be darn near impossible! I'm just going to be grateful that I still have enough free time to do things like write blog posts :) (even if it does mean I'm neglecting laundry, cleaning, getting ready, paying bills, and grocery shopping..).

Tav has gotten SO big! I shouldn't really be surprised, he eats a TON! Some things he's been up to this first month of life:

He's starting to be a lot more alert and less sleepy. AND last night he actually went right to sleep and stayed asleep after every single feeding. This is huge you guys. He might actually be figuring out the difference between night and day, yes! Unfortunately, he still gets hungry at least every three hours, yikes in the mommy sleep department. 

Speaking of hungry, we're still trying to get this nursing thing down. He won't take without a shield, he usually nurses for a LONG time, and then is still hungry for a bottle. I've tried a whole bunch of different options, which mostly includes resorting to pumping and using a bottle, but haven't settled on a routine yet. Hopefully we can figure this out...

Tav is a major snorter. Yes, he snorts. Most often when he's upset and especially when he's trying to get some food. He definitely knows when he's hungry and he wants it NOW. I've also heard him purr in his sleep a few times (ya, like cats do), it's so cute. 

He's most happy when eating or sleeping. He doesn't have colic, but he isn't very often content to just sit and be awake. When he's fussy he always likes to be bounced up and down, so that's what saves me when he can't calm down. And it gives me a nice arm workout. 

He's also learned to really like baths as long as he stays really warm the whole time. This makes for a fun activity we can do with him. He just gets wide eyed and looks around so curiously haha. 

He's a major arm-flailor (I know, that's a made up word). His arms are always out of control and it's usually Shad's #1 goal to try and swaddle him and keep his arms in for more than ten seconds. 

He's learning to enjoy his binki more and more. This is a major help when I'm trying to get him to sooth himself and sleep. The only issue is with keeping it in his mouth...

We just love him to pieces and I snuggle and smooch him every chance I get. Love this 1 month old!

Heading to church for the first time

Cry face. So sad but so cute!

Look at that little pout

Yawn

First bath at home. Before he liked it so much..