Sweet Baby Nater Tot

This was supposed to be a picture of Nate in his bassinet for the last night... little did we know that the crib is HIGHLY difficult to put together without it's directions. Now we are awaiting the arrival of stated instructions and Nate is still in our room, in his bassinet.
Nate enjoys looking at his Daddy's hats on the wall... so from time to time we let him wear one of his Daddy's hats (usually the one that he is wearing in this photo... the Cubs hat)! It looks like Nate is throwing some sort of gang sign here!
Nate LOVES being in his sling and Dan thought that Nate was too cute sleeping in his sling with his head on my chest!
READING TIME WITH MOMMY! Nate and I enjoy reading together... even if Nate does often fall asleep during the second book. I think that we are reading one of my all time favorites, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" in this photo.

Guess Who!?!?!?

I was looking through some pictures the other day and realized how freakishly much these photos look like our sweet little Nate!!! I bet you cannot guess who they are of!

Ah Goo Ah Gaa

Caught In The Act

This video will probably only interest my family, but hey! Here is Nate caught in the act of sucking his thumb. He has learned how to get his hand to his mouth :)

Growing Up Too Fast

I went and saw Catie, Dave, and their sweet little boy today at the hospital. Baby Bennett is such a cute lite guy, he looks so much like Catie and has a head full of dark black hair! Bennett was 6 pounds 12 ounces at birth and I would have sworn he was the smallest little thing I have ever held. Man, how quick we forgot how little our babies really really. It is amazing to me, I know that Nate is growing and changing very rapidly, I can see it from week to week, but it thinking about how small he really was is insane. Nate was 6 pounds 5 ounces at birth, so Bennett has a few ounces on Nate! It is so hard for me to believe that my little boy is already 3 months old (12 weeks on Sunday)! I cannot believe how much he has grown and changed (then again, Dan and I have grown and changed in a different way since Nate was born)! I look back at the pictures of Nate the day he was born and it is so hard for me to imagine him like that. I mean, I know the pictures are of Nate, but they almost do not look like him to me. Nate is just about ready to start wearing his 3-6 month old clothes now! Not so much because he is too big for them, but because he is too long for them! Nate has gained weight very well over the past couple of months and has nearly doubled his birth weight already! YEAH FOR NATE!!! Oh, also, Nate has been sleeping for a solid 6 hours straight now at night :D Now if I could just fall asleep when he does, that would mean that I could get more than 3 hours of sleep in a row. Wish me luck!







<--- Nate's first picture... literally just the moment he landed on my chest... I was so happy and overwhelmed with love that I was BAWLING!












<--- Nate all cleaned up and swaddled. Just a few hours old!














<--- Mama's little cuddle buddy now :D Oh how he has grown up! Look at that cute little smile of his! He makes me so happy every time he smiles!

Here Fishy Fishy Fishy

Char, Dan and I have taken Nate to the pool several times now and I have been meaning to post the pictures of Nate from the first time he got in the water with us. The life jacket that Nate is wearing is for any babies 0-30 pounds... which of course poses several questions... is there really such a thing as a 0 pound baby? 2) Who would take a baby weighing less than, say 8 (at minimum) pounds swimming? Anywho! Nate really enjoys the water. However, I think that the pool is a little chilly for his taste.



The first time I assumed that it was because it was around 8 pm and it was starting to cool off (and by cool I mean 80 degrees outside). So I decided that the next time I took him to swim, it would be during the day time. So that is what we did the next time. I am nearly, if not fully, convinced that the water was colder during the hotter hours of the day. Maybe I can find a pool that is warmer and take him to it. The reason that I like taking him to Char's pool is because there is rarely anyone from the neighborhood swimming and when there are people, it is not an overwhelming amount of people... 5 tops, which is nice when you have a
little baby in the pool. As you can see... Nate is still trying to eat/suck on anything that gets near
his mouth (aka a life jacket).

Fortunate Cookie Tampons

OK, so I have been meaning to blog about this for awhile, but kept on forgetting to do so. The thought once again came into my mind tonight at Wal-Mart (Spawn of Satan) while in the check out lane. Playtex Sport Tampons. I do not know what made me try them in the first place... perhaps that the were new in the market since I got pregnant with Nate, but anyway. I know you are wondering what is so interesting about these tampons to deserve a blog, so I will relieve you of the suspense now... THEY HAVE MOTIVATIONAL MESSAGES ON THE WRAPPER. That's right, each tampon comes complete with two inspirational/motivational sayings on them. Things such as...

Focus on the positive (That I am not pregnant?)
You've got the moves
The sky's the limit
Stay focused on what matters most
Live out your dreams
Challenge yourself
Get out there and show em' what you got (My period??? Is that what you want me to show them)

I am not sure what these messages are supposed to inspire me to do, other than have a good laugh. Although, I must admit that Playtex did one thing right, they got people talking about their product. I set down on the couch and pulled out my box of tampons and read my inspirational messages one by one to the hubby, who of course shares the same sentiment as I... WHAT THE HECK!?!?!? Now, this whole thing got me to thinking, who is the poor shmuck that has to come up with these sayings. What is their job title? Dan suggest that it is probably some poor intern! So, I of course went to the playtex website and there is a "confidence corner"! I have decided that it is the women on this website, Jenny R. Susser, PhD, that is coming up with these wonderful messages for all of us to enjoy/laugh at/mock. What a wonderful use of a PhD indeed. Maybe I should get a PhD in Clinical Psychology so that I can put motivational messages on condom wrappers!

Continuing to Continue

<--- PROUD PARENTS!!! Oh, I was so proud this day and Daniel gave the most beautiful blessing I have ever heard. I am not just saying this because it was the blessing of my first born either! There was not a dry eye in the room, it was truly amazing!










<--- The Hall Clan... My mom's cousin Susan, her daughter Deborah, Diane's daughter Desiree, my mom's cousin Diane, Diane's husband Dale, my great aunt Shirley and us!











<--- Dan's best friend Ephraim! He was supposed to be in the circle while blessing Nate, but unfortunately did not make it in time! However, he did make it in time for the pictures :D











<--- My sister Autumn and her fiance Ian! (So weird to say my sister's fiance by the way)






<--- All of but two of Nate's living grandmothers. Dan's mother (Gran E) Winona, my mommy (Grandmommy) Robbin, my Great-grandmother (Granny) Gloria, me and Nate, and my grandma (Mimi) Jean. Missing from the picture are my Great Grandma Irene Dixon and my Grandma Patricia Jeanne Thomas. Also missing from the picture is Dan's Stepmother Kim Weber and her Mom and step-mother.


FYI... Mimi's name is Gloria Jean, her name sake of course being her mother and I am Stephanie Jean, my name sake being Mimi and my Grandma Patricia Jeanne Thomas







<--- My lovely mother Robbin, beautiful sister Autumn, handsome hubby Dan, sweet son Nathaniel, and myself :D











<--- Again, my mom and sister with me and Nate

More of Nate's blessing

Mom, Autumn, Ian and I went to Temple Square before Nate's blessing (Ian's first time there). Mom told us to all look and point in different directions... notice my pointing! You may also notice it was WINDY!!!












This is our chapel... we did not end up blessing him in the chapel, but I thought that it was a really pretty picture... hence it's presence!











This is Dan's family that came to the blessing. His mom, sister Megan, and brother Sean!










My Dad, sister Autumn, me and Nate :D Can you tell where I get my looks?















Nate's great great aunts! My Great Aunt Shirley (Mom's Father's Sister) and my Great Aunt Judy (Mom's Mother's Sister) :D

Happy Birthday Baby Bennett

We want to congratulate Dave and Catie Pilkington on the birth of their adorable baby boy, Bennett Pilkington! We look forward to getting to met the little guy in person as soon as Mommy and Daddy are up to having visitors :D

I told Nate earlier today, before we found out the Bennett ("The Flash") had made his arrival, that he was going to have a new friend to play with named "The Flash" to this Nate smiled and then let out a little giggle!

Nate's Blessing (pictures with my Dad's family)

Here are some pictures from Nate's blessing (which I am aware was 8 weeks ago)! I actually do not have any copies of any of the pictures taken at his blessing so if you have some, send them my way :D

<--- Autumn and Ian











<--- Everyone who was in the circle. Our Bishop, Dan, Uncle Brad (Dad's brother), and my mom's cousin Dale













<--- Dad, Autumn, me and Nate











<--- Dad's family that was there. Dad's girlfriend Char, Dad, Uncle Brad, Brad's wife Teresa, Autumn, me, Dan and Nate. I don't know why Ian is not in this picture now that I am looking at it! Actually, come to think of it, he is probably the one taking the picture!

I Wear My Sunglasses at Night

I had to buy Nate these cute little glasses!

Getting ready to get in the car!

Nate is too cool for school!!!

This is how I found him sleeping after our car ride!

Woo woo

I saw this swing today at Babies-r-Us and it reminded me of Catie. I showed it to Dan who also thought it looked like Catie. Well, first I had to show him the cute little notebook that she made for her baby shower, but then he saw what I saw! The collection has this swing, a pack and play, a car seat, and a stroller! The funny thing about this collection is after it reminded me of Catie I looked at it's name and it is the Catalina Collection, too funny since Catie's first name is Catalina!!!

Flaming Cheesecake of DOOM!!!

This is the cheesecake that I had for dessert the other day when Dan and I had lunch with Dave & Catie! The cheesecake was really pretty and tasted fairly good as well. It was a raspberry cheesecake with a chocolate crust. Oddly enough, this is not the cheesecake that I ordered, I ordered Strawberry cheesecake, but hey! We are pretty sure that our waitress was new, she was a bit awkward and she messed up both of my orders (my pizza and cheesecake)! Anywho... this is my pretty cheesecake!

What a Royal Pain

The car has become one major headache for us! Like I said earlier today, Chris came over today and helped us get the car back to Centerville and to work on figuring out with the heck the issue is with it! Dan and Chris pop-started the car (yes, we drive a stick shift)... don't ask me how they pop-started the car on the freeway, I care not to know! Anyway, they pop-started the car and Dan drove it home while Chris followed behind him. Once they got home Chris figured out what the problem is with the car. Our security system! For those of you who have seen our car I am sure you wondering wondering the same thing that we are... we the heck is there a security system on our car. Needless to say, we did not know that there was a security system in our car. Apparently the security system had shorted out and caused the alternator fry, in turn draining and killing the battery. OH FUN! So at this point, taking the security system fixed the car. Dan thinks that we should test drive the car by driving it to Ogden (which is where Chris lives) and I agree seeing as it would not be the first time that it seemed to work fine and then dies. So, Dan and I go to Target to pick my prescription and a pair of swimming trunks for Nate (cute pictures to come tomorrow after we go swimming) and then we head over to Checker to see if our old alternator was indeed bad. Well, low and behold it was BAD... by bad I mean the wires were fried! So then we drive to Ogden. As we get right into Ogden, but not to our final destination, the car dies, AGAIN! We call Chris and Chris and his buddy Andy come to where we are and switch batteries out for us and we drive to Dan's Dad's house. Chris tested our new alternator once we got there and finds out that it is not putting out the wattage that it should be, essentially that we have a bad alternator. So, at the point it is looking like the alternator that we bought is bad, which is why our battery died again. Oh Joy! Chris is going to take a look at the car more tomorrow once he gets off work and will let us know. Yet again, I am hoping that it is just the alternator, because that means that we can return it and get a new one! One can only hope!!!

They Come in Threes

Well, when the going gets tough, the tough get..... ah hell! We thought that because bad things come in threes that we were in the clear, but apparently not! Sadly for us, Dan no longer is working with his internship. Obviously, this came as a complete shock to us yesterday. This past week Dan had decided that he was not going to stay with his company during the upcoming semester because it was simply not worth the commute. As high as gas prices are the commute has been draining our bank account (over $200 a month just to get to work) and not to mention the fact that it was killing our car. Simply put, we did not have the resources to continue to commute. Regardless of this he was going to stay with the company until he had a new job (duh huh... we are some what responsible despite what some of my family may say)! Now we are on the hunt for a new job under a lot more stress! Our current car has also drained our savings account of the past week! AHHHHH!!! Like I said in the previous post, we dropped over $200 to have it repaired only for it to brake down. The yesterday morning Dan went and had the battery tested and it was a goner, so we replaced the battery for $100. The car started right up and drove perfectly fine all the way down to Provo yesterday. Then on the way home from work, the car died again right after the point of the mountain. AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! Dan and his brother Chris just left to see if they can get the car back to the house in Centerville so that they can run some test on it with Chris' car computer thingy and see if they can figure out what is wrong with it. Dan is thinking that it may be that the alternater that we bought was bad! Who knows. I kind of hope that is what it is because we can return the alternater and get a new one and not have to spend anymore money on the stupid thing!

Oh, so like I was saying, we thought that we were in the clear because we had already had 4 bad things happen to us. As I was driving out to The Point of the Mountain yesterday I thought to myself, "If we count all of the car troubles as one thing than this (Dan losing his internship) is number 3". So hopefully we are now in the clear. I drove extra careful yesterday on the way to pick Dan up because I did not feel like I could handle getting pulled over that day! Not that I can really afford to get pulled over on any day, but I may have just lost it yesterday had anything else gone wrong on the way there! We know that things could still get much much worse for us, but we are really hoping that they don't! We are also very thankful for all that we do have! Hopefully Dan will hear back from the company that he applied with yesterday soon! The company that he applied for is in Salt Lake City and we could live in SLC or one of the surrounding areas and it be much more reasonable for him to get to and from work, school and home!

Congrats Autumn and Ian

Just wanted to say congrats to my little sister Autumn and her FIANCE Ian! Ian proposed during the fireworks on the fourth of July and Autumn of course said YES!!! Congrats Autumn and Ian, we wish that we could have been there too! We love you both and wish you all the best!

Our Week From "Heck"

Well, like many of you out there, we had an unforgettable fourth... unfortunately for us, it was not a good one. I will give you the ultra-brief side of it...

1) We bought a new alternator for $200
2) We found out we accidentally ruined my aunt's lake condo floor by leaving the leaking AC on (I may add that we live with this aunt, so things are tense)
3) Dan's eyeball got scratch, causing him a fair amount of pain (OK... an insane amount)
4) On the way to the fireworks, our car broke down and now we think that we have an electrical short in the car because it is acting all funny such as when I push on the brake, the radio turns off... odd... very odd indeed.

Needless to say, our fourth was vastly unpleasant. Unfortunately, my birthday on the 2nd was not much better... that is the day that the car broke down on the side of Lehi for the first time. Oh well, at least next year SHOULD be better.

We were planning on moving to NC mid-August, but we will no longer be doing that because this whole car adventure has set us a little too far back to be able to afford to make the cross country move. This week is one of those week that you wonder, what did we do to deserve this! It is one of those time where everything is going perfectly fine and then the world seems to fall apart.

We did have a good day today, which was a nice relief! We went out to lunch with our friends Dave and Catie. We went to this nice little pizza shop here in Centerville! We always really enjoy their company. I made add that this lunch reminded me (and probably informed Dave) that some times Dan does not know when to stop with a story. Dan is lucky that I am not easily embarrassed because if I was, I may just be embarrassed fairly often. Dan gets so into talking about whatever he is talking about that forgets to put his filter in. I love him dearly, but like I said, it is lucky for him that I am not easily embarrassed! Oh and Catie gave me a birthday present, which was very thoughtful and unnecessary! She gave me her favorite lotion and I see why! I love the way that it smells and that it is thick and creamy!

We will see how tomorrow goes for us. Tomorrow Dan and his brother Chris will be working on getting the car home and running... wish us luck!

Ode to Zombiehood

Sleep... must sleep! The people who tell you that the first 6 weeks after giving birth are the most difficult are NUTS! At least in those first 6 weeks he was asleep most of the time! Not that I am complaining that he is awake and smiling (I LOVE that), but I am saying I WANT SLEEP! Now he is going to be at midnight, waking up around 3 or 4, falling back asleep till 6, waking up to eat and then back asleep till around 9. Now, that might sound good to all of you... but I have severe insomnia and find it near impossible to fall asleep until 3 or 4! Not to mention that my migraines are back now! They are not as bad as they were before having Nate (as in 4 times a week), but they are getting there fairly quickly... I have had 2 already this week! Let me tell you what, being sleep deprived is one thing, but being sleep deprived and having a migraine is another. My migraines are so severe normally that they knock me out and I am completely useless. Add on top of that the sleep deprivation and it is a wonder that I can move! I cannot get back on my migraine meds either because I am breastfeeding. I am so torn between breastfeeding and having migraines or stop breastfeeding and not having migraines. I am honestly not sure which one is better for Nate... a useful mother and no breastmilk or a mother who is verging on a zombie like state 2 days a week, but getting breastmilk! I am propbably not a bad mother either way, I just feel bad having to make that decision. I know what is finicially responsible for me though... zombiehood. I cannot afford to buy formula and meds! So, breastmilk and zombie mommy!

From The Eyes of This Mother

As a lay next to my son staring into his beautiful eyes my mind can't help but to wander to thinking about our Heavenly Father. I have always known of my Heavenly Father's love for me, but I do not think that anyone can really begin to understand this love until they are a parent themselves. I firmly believe that a mother's love is the purest love that there is on this earth. I know that no matter what Nate does that I will always love him with all that I have. When Nate is hurt, I am hurting. When Nate's face lights up with happiness my soul smiles. I have never in my entire life known a love so beautiful, unconditional, and pure. I can only imagine how our heavenly parents feel for us. I know that they must hurt when we hurt and rejoice when we are happy. I know that I would lay down my life for Nate in a heartbeat if it was needed. This knowledge helps me to understand the atonement even more. I think that the atonement has become more personal since becoming a parent. I see things in a different light, it is truly amazing. People always say that becoming a parent changes everything... I thought that they were nuts, I mean, how much could having a child really change. I now know. It changes how you see yourself, your partner, your parents, your ideals change, your understandings of things change, your world changes. Simply put, your world is no longer the same. Things that once mattered no longer matter and things that have never mattered to you before now do.

9 Weeks Pictures

The world's cutest Tarheels fan!
He finally will take a paci that is not a Soothie!
Daddy loves his little boy :D The melt my heart!
Deep in thought!