Pinch Me...I Must Be Dreaming!

I wish children had pause buttons. Not to stop them so I can relax or sleep, but to keep life exactly where it is. Seth brings such joy into my life. Every moment I find wonderful he is apart of it. I wake up happy knowing I'll see his perfect smiling face to greet me. I come out of bad moods instantly just watching him run around my house in his horribly ripped stained, what I call disgusting and what Seth calls "cool" batman costume. Yes, the one from Halloween. Can you only imagine the condition of this cheap Walmart costume that has been worn on a daily basis since Halloween. Its not pretty, and since Seth loves it so much I cant bare to throw it away.

I love how caring he is towards me, always making sure I'm happy. Everyday...literally he asks about 50+ times "Mom you happy" my response is always "Of course sweetie." His reaction is a wide ear to ear grin...how adorable is that? Today when our family doctor told Seth "Well your just wide eyed and bushy tailed this morning" Seths reply was "No I'm handsome." Kids say the darnedest things sometimes.

I feel like I've been so blessed in my life. Actually I dont feel I know that this family of mine has truly had the windows of Heaven opened and blessings showered upon each of us. I'm grateful for this gospel, the knowledge to know and have an understanding of so many things. I love that we can stand out in this society instead of stand within.

Three more months and our precious Ashton will be here. Oh my...oh my!!! Every day I wonder what it will be like to have two children. Then I look at Seth and realize life will be better...more joyful moments to experience. More ways to learn and challenge myself as a mother. More ways to expand my love and patience! I love trials, because the blessings from them no matter what they are fills my heart and it becomes full. My husband and soon to be two children make my life complete.

Time flies...

Oh boy how does time just pass you by! Halloween was wonderful, Cameron was able to get off work early and we both, as a family I might add with such gratefulness, took our sweet Seth trick-or-treating. It was wonderful to finally share a holiday together, and for once we didnt have to say good-bye afterwards. Seth was the most adorable Batman I have ever seen too. He was able to get lots of candy, that he did indeed enjoy then shortly forgot so I threw it out. Mostly for my sake, sadly I think I ate more than him. 

I love this picture! 

                                                             Ready to go mom!

                                                                       First house!!

                                                                 Yay!! A sucker!

                                                                  The damage!




November has been a wonderful month. We have been able to finish a lot of much needed Christmas shopping. December is approaching so quick, and I'm so glad we were able to divide the shopping and cost into two months. Last week Seth was admitted into the Alberta Children's Hospital for a 5 day EEG (its a test that measures and records the electrical activity of your brain. Special sensors are attached to your head and hooked by wires to a computer. The computer records your brain's electrical activity on the screen or on paper.) Seth was diagnosed with Epilepsy/Seizure Disorder when he was about 18 months old. The hospital here is absolutely amazing. This test was just for record purposes. Since we just moved here the doctors wanted to do some tests themselves. So we spent 5 days in the hospital. The worst part was trying to get my wild 3 year old to stay in bed. He was video recorded the entire time just in case he had a seizure so I was told to make sure he was in front of the camera at all times. I cant say it was the best week I had but I'm glad that I was able to be there for him. We shared many laughs and watched way to much TV! I should really give him more credit because I thought it was going to be more of a fight to keep him in bed but it wasnt. As long as I was there with him he did pretty good. One downfall they wanted to induce seizures, so because Seth has seizures when he is tired they slept deprived him. Sleep depriving a 3 year old means sleep depriving the mom. We went to bed around 12am and woke back up at 6am. I already feel like a walking zombie with 8 hours of sleep and possibly a nap during the day if I can squeeze it in while being pregnant. Luckily it was only 5 days and we had the weekend to re-group. We also went and grabbed our lovely Christmas tree too! 

                                 My wonderful husband, whom I love oh so much! 

I'm finally 4 months pregnant! YAY!!! The sickness and extreme tiredness has passed and I cant say I'm sorry one bit. That was probably the worst I have ever felt in my life and thought to myself many times "I"m never doing this again." I really wonder how many times during pregnancy a woman says those words and end up having a least a few more kids. I guess time does heal all because I completely forgot what the first 3 months were like and now I'm slowly starting to remember the "truth" about pregnancy! Even though at times its ruthless torture I'm so blessed to have the opportunity to have children. Cameron and I are so excited to welcome this little one into the world next year! We find out what we are having in two weeks! 

Seth and I will be making a trip to the United States in the middle of December. I'm so excited to see my parents and friends. I really miss them all so much, and I have been craving a few food items that I will be stocking up on while I'm there. Mmmm just the thought makes me hungry! I have noticed one specific craving with this pregnancy and it definitely isnt beneficial to my goal of "slow weight gain." Neopolitan ice cream, oh my I could literally eat the entire bucket! I have been slightly exercising, and by slightly I mean twice....I'm working on getting more motivation...working on it is key here! 

Other than that life is the same, wonderful! 

Our life

I have been thinking about getting a blog for quite sometime now, but every time I come to this exact spot my mind goes blank and I have no idea what to write. So since I finally gave in to doing a blog, I hope I can continue to write...and hopefully its as interesting as the others blogs I've read!!

I'll start with when I had my beautiful son, Seth in February 2008. What a wonderful experience that was and even though it was hard at that time being a single parent, I managed to find a road that changed our lives for eternity. In May of 2008 I became an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Now this was a big decision on my part, I was stuck between living a life that I knew or change and take a different road. I took a different road and it has taken us to wonderful places. Shortly after, I met my wonderful husband and we were married and sealed in the beautiful San Diego Temple on October 7, 2008. A lot happened in 2008, and I'm grateful for every moment.

Seth Ryan born February 19, 2008 at 8:47pm weighing 8.7lbs

October 7, 2008-San Diego Temple

October 13, 2008- Our wedding reception with my in-laws 

2008- Seth's first steps

2009- Seths first time on a quad. 

In January 2009 we realized it was very difficult financially. Cameron my husband was unable to work due to citizenship. He is Canadian and was only able to "visit" the United States by using the left over time from his missionary visa. He went back to Canada while Seth and I stayed in Nevada. What we thought would be a very short 3 months turned into a long 2 and half years. That was probably one of the hardest trials we have ever had to endure. With that being said it was (and now that its over) an amazing experience that I now look back on and feel blessed that the Lord had that much faith in us. I know it was highly needed, and I wouldnt want our life to have been any other way. Of course it wasnt easy and at times we thought we would fail but with our growing testimonies and unconditional love we managed to pull through to the end. Cameron was able to drive down and visit a few times. We made wonderful memories during each visit whether it was visiting family in Arizona or just spending quality time together. Even though I can look back at that time in our life and see wonderful blessings, and remember the great times I was able to share with other members of the church and my parents. I'm relieved and so happy to put that behind us and move on with our new life together as husband and wife.

2011- Trip to Disneyland

2011- Trip to Disneyland

2010- Boise ID

2011- Trip to AZ, Mesa temple

2011- Handsome Seth in front of the beautiful Mesa Temple.

So here we are in Calgary...finally. After a long hard road we are a family. What a wonderful blessing it is to be apart of the Saviors plan. We have been living here in Canada for about 3 months and already so much has happened.

Seth started school, and he loves it so much. He goes three days a week and I truly believe if he could he would go every single day. I've been able to get accustomed to the health care here quite fast. A few weeks after arriving Seth managed to get his hand stuck in our treadmill. First ER visit in Canada and I was able to first hand experience the "newly to me" socialized healthcare. It felt wonderful walking out of that hospital and knowing we only had to pay for parking. Then we were referred to Alberta's Children Hospital and Seth continued his care there. What a wonderful place, with amazing people. Seth's hand is healing quickly, he has been so tough through this whole experience.

2011- Seths first day at preschool in Calgary, AB

2011- Seth in preschool with his new cool name tag. 

Another blessing our family has received is the privileged to have another child. I am just a week and half shy of 3 months. We are thrilled to experience this pregnancy together and watch Seth grow from an only child into a brother. He will be 4 once the baby is born, kind of a bigger gap than I wanted but grateful we are able to expand our family!