Since the last time we talked

Hi readers!
This is the first update I have done, and I've got several things to talk about.

{this was his regular temperature throughout the first week of January}

First of all, for the last few weeks, little Joshua has not been feeling great. It started with RSV, then he ended up getting an ear infection, and now he's teething. It has been hard, but he is much better! Saturday he even went to his best friend's 2nd birthday party! The party was so much fun, it even had a photo booth which was probably my favorite part.

{These photos were taken by our amazing friend Libby Gutierrez}

Also, Monday was my husband's birthday! So, he is now 23! Over the weekend I made him banana pudding and threw him a small surprise party. On Monday I made him breakfast in bed, J made him a cute little birthday card, and we sang him "happy birthday" to wake him up.

Now that everything getting back to normal, we've been exploring our new neighborhood a ton and just having a blast together. J has even started walking pushing his walker and can now balance very well standing up. I predict he will be walking by valentines day! He will be nine months on Sunday so I plan on doing a nine month update after his check up. Anyway, to end this post, I'm sharing the pictures we've taken the past few days.

 

Hope to make you smile! Thanks for viewing!

COME ONE, COME ALL!

Where did this year go?!
I cannot believe it is time to start planning for my baby boy's FIRST birthday!

Okay.. Joshua's birthday is still a little over three months away, but I am always the one to wait until last minute to plan. NOT THIS TIME! We've decided on a circus theme, and by 'we' I mean 'I.' (My husband isn't a big help when it comes to party decor.)

Here is some of the things I've got in mind (and on pinterest):

 This is kind of the theme idea I have in mind.

I adore the party table!

Animal crackers at a circus party. A MUST.

If you can't tell the first picture is not popcorn,

it's actually a cupcake made to look like popcorn.

I haven't decided I want to do this or have actual popcorn.

I guess it will depend on where I have the party,

because I know popcorn can get messy.

   I kind of have a small obsession with elephants. 

I love this! I know I want some circus animal party 

supplies, but I'm not sure exactly how 

I want to incorporate them. 

I love these bottles. I think this is the perfect way

to incorporate some admissions tickets. The straws are

adorable, also. 

I just found this one Pinterest. I think I'm going to try

to make some of these out of small mason jars. I would

do a different color and add some personal touches.

I plan to put some other kind of candy in them, 

because I hate jelly beans.

PARTY WIND MILLS!

Doesn't really need an explanation. I just love these bad boys.

Cute little elephant cookies! I love these, but I don't

even know if I should even try to attempt making these.

I'm not much of a baker. These are adorable though!

Last, but certainly not least THE CAKE!

I'm not sure if I want to do a big cake and give J the top part

for his smash cake, or if I want cupcakes for his party guest and 

make him his own cake. I guess we will see what our cake lady

comes up with.

I will plan some more details soon, but first I guess I need to work on my guest list and figure out where I want to throw his party. I know Joshua will have a blast no matter what I decide on!

Thanks for reading! Have a great week!

Where I See My Family..

Ten Years From Now

After asking others what they wanted to know about me, one of my friends gave me the idea to make a post explaining where I would like to see my family in ten years. Although, I am very satisfied with the way my life it right now, I loved it. I haven't really given much thought into what I want 10 years from now, and I saw this as the perfect opportunity to do so. Listed below are the plans I have for my family in ten years.

  This is where I am thinking we will be. Sound crazy enough? We will be wherever life takes us. In all honesty, I have no clue where due to my husband being active duty. If I had to guess I would say somewhere overseas (Germany or Japan, maybe). In his career field there are not very many stateside options, so we are pretty sure we will be going overseas within the next few years. Hopefully, we will get the chance to be stationed somewhere we've always wanted to go, but anywhere as long as we are together will do just fine.

This is what our family looks like now. We have wonderful son that is here with us, and we have a baby girl in heaven. By the time 10 years passes, I planning to have two or three more children. I would love to have a big family. Hopefully, I will be blessed with a few more wonderful pregnancies, and even if, we have also talked about and are considering adoption. No matter what happens, I am so blessed to have the amazing family I have today.  
 

I plan to go back to school to get a degree in social work, and eventually become an adoption agent. I have these plans on hold right now, because I want to focus on being a mother. Continuing to be a stay at home mom until our children are in school is what we've decided is best for our family. When we decide it is time for me to go back, I plan to only take online or week day classes, so I can still spend the majority of my time with my family. 

I hope to always make time to do the things I love. I've said this in previous posts, so I think it goes without saying, but I love sewing. I am learning more and more about sewing and different stitching techniques, and the more I learn, the more I love it. I plan to start a business soon, and in 10 years I am hoping my business is doing great. Regardless of how successful I am, I never want give up doing what makes me happy. 
  

This took some time to think about, since I'm not a very big on planning. I'm more "go with the flow," and my husband is always the man with the plan. We look forward to seeing what God has in store for us.  
 

Thanks for reading! 

New Years Resolutions

Happy New Years Eve! 

2013 has been the greatest year of my life. I became a mother. As a child when I was asked what I wanted to be when I grew up I always said "a stay at home mom" and now, that's exactly what I am. I could not think of a greater blessing than being a mother. 2013 is definitely a year to remember. I expect 2014 to be a productive year for me and my family. To get to the point, I'm going to list some of the things I expect for me and my family in 2014.

New Years Resolutions:  

 

1. Work on our fitness and health
I know, I'm sure everyone has this on there list, but it is something we need to work on as a family. We eat healthy for the most part, but we have way too many cheat days for my liking. So I would like to find some amazing paleo recipes in the new year and eat home cooked meals as much as possible. I would be happy if we could just get completely away from all fast food. I want to start working out again, I stopped after I had my son because "I didn't have enough time" (worst excuse ever). Our gym has a mommy room that I could easily take him to. I have a jogging stroller and 3 friends that live less than a mile from me and I usually drive to one of their houses every morning. Besides, Joshua loves his stroller, but I cannot say the same about his car seat. So, no more excuses. I want to be happier with myself and my body so I can be a better mother and wife. My boys deserve it.


2. Become stronger in our faith
Me and my husband both know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we have had our son dedicated through our church, and we attend church regularly; but we could all put more into our faith. I would love for us to pray together more as a family. We usually pray together at dinner time, but I am hoping to start praying together before bed and in the morning when we wake up. I want it to become as natural and as needed as breathing to us. I also want us to start doing a year of daily devotionals as a family starting January 1st. I want to include the Lord in every aspect of our life.


3. Plan some family vacations
Last year we were unable to take any vacations. I was pregnant and tired the first four months of the year and after that we had a newborn to take care of. So, we just never planned any. I seriously don't think it ever even crossed our minds. This year I am hoping we can plan a few. I'm not sure where yet, but I know we will probably wait until the summer to go anywhere. 


4. Start a home business
I love sewing/embroidery. I would absolutely love to start a business selling baby moccasins, leggings, cloth diaper covers, cloth diaper wet bags, and embroidered shirts and onesies. Who knows, by the time I start selling, I may have so much more to offer. Right now, I am still practicing. I am not planning on selling anything until I think my creations are perfect. Hopefully by the end of 2014 I will be confident in my creations and have a small business going.


5. Better ourselves as a family
 We love being parents and of course we only want whats best for our family. But, I am hoping to get more involved in each others lives (not saying that we are not involved). I just would like to talk about things more and sit down at the table every night for dinner. Our marriage is incredible, but some days we are both just so exhausted and not really on the same page. I hoping talking about how our day went on days like that will better our understanding of each others feelings.


I'm sure I will come up with more things to work on in 2014, but for now this is our list.
Hope everyone has an awesome New Year!

The Pieces of Me

Hi. I'm Kelly.

And this is my family.

I'll start from the beginning..

This is the love of my life.

We met through two wonderful mutual friends who were not expecting us falling in love to be the outcome of introducing us. lol. From the minute I met him, all I wanted was him. AND I GOT HIM! How lucky am I!? We started dating in July and got engaged December 24th of the same year. We took this picture two years ago to the date, and yes, we have both changed, a lot, in mainly good ways I would say. Anyway, this was 5 days after he asked me to spend the rest of my life with him, and of course I said yes! I couldn't think of a better way to spend my life then by his side. We got married on March 19, 2012, then two weeks later he was leaving his new wife for 8 weeks of military basic training for the Air Force. After that he went to tech school for another 8 weeks, luckily we were not but four hours apart and I could drive down every weekend to see him. Once he finished his training he got his first assignment and we were finally able to be together on the sunny beaches of Florida! A few months after we moved here..

we found out we were expecting! No, we weren't planning it, but after we found out we were so excited. From the start we knew it was a boy and we knew we wanted to name him after his daddy.  My pregnancy was normal for the most part. First trimester was hard on me, I ended up losing 20 lbs due to morning sickness. After that, pregnancy was fantastic. I loved every part of it, especially when I started feeling little movements and when we found out he was definitely a boy, like we always thought he was. Towards the end, of course, it started getting rough, and I started to become a Drama queen. But, it didn't last long, because..

 

Joshua Lee Jones Jr arrived, all 6 lbs and 13 oz of him, on April 26, 2013 three days before my due date. That was the best day of my life. Labor was incredible. I may sound crazy, but if I could relive that day every day for the rest of my life, I would. It was love at first sight. He was perfect, and a breastfeeding champ, might I add. We were so ready to take him home and start our new life as a family.

Our handsome little baby grew so fast. He was learning, laughing, and just an all around happy wonderful baby. We decided after he was born that we really wanted him to have a sibling close to his age. We are a military family and will be moving very often and we wanted J to always have a friend. So, we decided the time was right to start trying for baby #2! And after 3 months of trying..

 

We found out we were expecting, again! (this was our reveal photo) Oh, we were so excited! We even moved into a bigger house so we would have more room for our little babies. Unfortunately, our excitement was short lived. During the week of our move I started feeling strange, so we rushed to the E.R. and after spending 6 hours there, found out our little angel went to be with the Lord. We decided to send the baby off for chromosome testing to see if we could maybe find an answer and weeks later found out it was a baby girl, and there was no medical issue they could find that would have caused me to miscarry. Best way put is "it just wasn't meant to be." We coped and accepted the loss. We know our baby is with the Lord and that there is no better place for her. We sure do wish she could have stayed with us, but we know this is God's plan. We were so happy to have Joshua to help us through this. His silly little ways keeps our minds and hearts occupied. 

 I don't really take selfies too often anymore so, this picture will just have to work. I guess I should write a little bit about my interest and hobbies.. So, here it goes.. I believe in Jesus Christ. When I have down time I craft or sew. Sewing is my favorite thing right now. I didn't realize how much I loved it until my mother in law got me a sewing machine for my last birthday. So, I am fairly new at it. Right now I am working on hand stitching, though, I have just started making baby moccasins. I have to say, I am pretty good at it and hopefully will be able to start a business selling my creations within the next year. I love the beach, hopefully Joshua will share my love for it so we can be there every day next summer. I love to take baths... with lavender and salt, which is where I got the name for my blog. I'm a lover of animals, I would have a thousand pets if I could. My husband and son are my best friends, but I have 5 great girl friends.. & that's just about all there is to me.

These two make my world go 'round. I couldn't imagine life without them.

My boys are the pieces of me.

And if you read all of this, I commend you.