Happy Birthday

Happy 25th Birthday to my self and my twin!!!

It's so funny how things change as you get older. Usually I like my birthday to be this huge ordeal and everyone know about it. :-)

This year I have better things to put my thoughts and efforts too. I still want to feel special on that day, but just having a family is enough for me and for us to be together when Richard gets off work. I guess I'm finally maturing about my birthday.

Jerelyn - (I know you never read this or go online, but I will tell you anways so my bloggers know I love you) Happy birthday!!!!! I love that we are twins, that we grew up together, that you are my sister for life. I love you with all of my heart and enjoy our phase of life that we have entered together. I pray for you a lot and love you so much. Have a good day!! :-)

Well as I wrote this - my day turned out to be rather bad. A lot of things went wrong with work and changed my plans for the day - and carson screamed for a long time. Oh well, you can't have a good birthday every year.

Now Richard is home and Carson is doing better and work is done. So the rest of the night will be a good birthday. :-) I am so thankful for my new family!!!!

Finally Summer around here.

It is finally summer weather in NEPA. It took until the beginning of August to get sunny and hot. But man do we appreciate it more now. :-)

We are busily doing things around here. It's so crazy how you feel so busy all the time but when you sit down to write about it, you can't think of anything specific. I guess life in general just keeps you busy.

Things around church (teaching SS, or weds night kids program, baking things for SS, taking meals to people, social events to attend) all contribute to some of our busyness.

My parents came by for a few nights last week. I was thankful because it was a free babysitting on wednesdays when I go to work, and I had a very busy day that day. It was fun to have them here. Then they drove to MA to visit my mom's family and on their way back to Altoona PA they stopped in again. Also I love being able to call my mom whenever I want. :-) A nice thing to have when I am used to the only contact being email. We have enjoyed talking a lot lately.

Over this past weekend it was so beautiful out on Saturday. I think it was the first Saturday this summer that it was beautiful weather and we didn't have to do anything or go anywhere and Richard was home from work this summer!!!! Wow! So we really enjoyed it. WE went to a park for a little and threw a football around and walked. Then came home and cooked on the grill. Lots of fun and very enjoyable.

Carson had his 4 month check up and seems to be doing great!!! Growing right on track staying in the 25th percentile. He did scream almost the entire time. It was during his nap time and after they checked him a little he just got so annoyed and flipped out. He didn't even realize they gave him a bunch of shots because he was already screaming so much. Oh well!!!!

My mother tells me he is a lot like me when I was a baby - when he is happy - he is REALLY happy and when he is mad - he is REALLY mad!! No middle ground, just like his mom. ;-) Overall though he is such a smiley baby. He is on a great schedule and sleeping through the night and taking wonderful naps with hardly any crying in his crib. when I go in to check on him he is pleasantly looking at his fingers talking or rolling around waiting for me to get him - when he sees me he always gives me the HUGEST grin. So so nice. :-) He has rolled over a few times from his back to his stomach is starting to figure out the whole wiggling/moving thing.

We gave him cereal this week for the first time. I think, like all babies, he hated the taste and the idea of swallowing something that was put into his mouth with a spoon, but we will keep practicing. :-)

Richard has been working far away but thankfully most nights he is home with us. It is so nice when the designated slow times at work really are slow. Carson and I have enjoyed seeing him in the evenings.

I have also been busy getting things ready for 2 weddings that I'm in. Making sure dresses fit me, working out travel plans, getting wedding presents etc.

Next on the calendar - Trip to CO!!!!!!!!!!!!! next weekend, Rachel Pettit's wedding and events and then a week in good ol' Grand Junction CO. I cannot wait to be out west seeing the mountains and cliffs of grand junction and spending time with Richard's side of the family. I truly am blessed by a great in-law family and miss them a lot while we live out here. So it will be fun to catch up. So I'm thinking and planning for that trip and cannot wait!!! Richard's mom has finished her Chemo treatments and soon will start radiation. As far as we know she is doing great through all of this. Carson Can't wait to meet her!!!!!!!!

The last 2 weekends

Man - we have been traveling a ton lately. But I love it. I love to travel and see people. (But at the same time I hate missing out on things here. :-))

For July 4th we went to Virginia beach and visited a ton of our friends from college. Words cannot describe my excitement to see them again. There is just something so unique about the relationships that we developed in college that we have decided we will probably never have again. We left Thursday after work and drove what we thought would be about a 7- 7 1/2 hr trip, but it turned into like 9 and half or something like that. There was a lot of traffic. Carson was going through this phase of not really liking his carseat either especially when we are stopped so the trip down there wasn't too enjoyable. But we made it and looking back it didn't seem to be that bad. :-) We stayed with Wes and Katie Kouba, Dear dear friends of ours, for 2 nights. They were great hosts. I'm telling you, they thought of everything and made our time so relaxing there. We went to the beach on friday and had a great time. Richard and I aren't the biggest beach people (you can tell that by our ghostly white bodies. :-)), but we like to go for a little while. Carson did really good too, even fell asleep on the towel in the shade for a little bit. He didn't really like the water but maybe by next summer he will be more fond of it. (I laugh so hard every time I look at this picture, I have it on my desktop and it makes chuckle whenever I turn on the computer) Richard got to fit in a round of golf with his buddy Wes, (and by the way played one of his bests rounds in a very long time. :)) and we just relaxed with great company. Jenny and Johnny Borchardt came over with their little baby for a little bit, (she is a dear friend of mine from college) and it was great to catch up with her.

Saturday we didn't do too much just went and saw some things, went shopping in a humungous mall (at least for me) and ate lunch at a great place, but I forget the name. It was cute and very good though.

Saturday night we met up with Kristen and Chris Lownes. Kristen is my best friend from college. Chris too was a great friend of mine. There is this common bond that we have with these friends from college that cannot be replaced or replicated. Kristen and I can just talk forever and I feel so relaxed with her and so at home. We went to church with them and then Wes and Katie fed us lunch again. (They fed us so much food). we left Sunday after noon for the long trip home, but with very happy hearts and uplifted spirits.

Not only was it fun to see them and spend time with all of them, it was spiritually encouraging, and gave us a renewed joy with where we are right now, and a renewed desire to stick with Seminary.

This post is getting long and I still have another weekend to go . . .

This past weekend we went to see my Sister Jerelyn. She had her 2nd baby on July 9th by c-section and Aaron Michael was born around 6 pm I think. He is adorable. Both my parents came back for this baby. So we drove down after work in friday and Carson met him maternal grandfather for the first time. :-) It was so fun to spend that weekend with my family. And to meet the little baby.

Now my parents have 3 boys as grandchildren. They are loving it.

Carson just keeps doing better and better as he lives longer. He was never too bad before, but he did have his moments. this week has been great. He falls alseep on his own very easily and doesn't wake up now from his naps and will sleep like 2-2 1/2 hours in the morning and afternoon with a smaller one in the evening. Which really works well for my very strict work schedule. he has been sleeping 9-10 hrs at night too!! It was like something just all of the sudden clicked with him and he doesn't fight what I want him to do anymore. He was pretty happy before but he is much happier now. ;-)

We are just getting ready now for our big trip to CO. can't wait for that one either. :-)

The past month

So where do I start? Carson is now officially 3 months old!!!! He is now rolling over from his stomach to his back. He is getting a flat head from laying on his back, so his awake time consists of bumbo to stomach, to holding, to bumbo and so on and so forth. ;-) I don't know if it's helping but his muscles are strong now and hopefully his head won't continue to get too flat. He is starting to squirm too in his crib and will be in a new position when I go into check on him. :-) He is entering the really fun stage, where he interacts with us a little, is developing his personality, and is a joy to watch. (And unfortunately not the laid back easy going personalitiy of his cousin Daniel, he already is showing he is a lot like his mother :-))

He really is such a joy to our little family. when he smiles his face just lights up so huge, and he does smile and laugh a lot. :-) It is the best in the world to see. He does have his moments of screaming and not going to sleep or waking up when it's not time but he is learning. Mom and dad (richard and I) seem to always do something that throws his schedule off. We thought that we wouldn't do anything once he came into the world, but we still continue to live our lives almost like we did before, visiting friends, leaving the house spur of the moment to do something fun, etc, so he is learning to be very flexible. But for the most part Richard and I try to be as consistent as possible.

I have started work now :-( I can work 16 hours from home and that is working out great. Then I just started doing 4 hrs on weds in the office at work. I found a babysitter and really God worked everything out that I was looking for in a babysitter. I had my first day back at the office last week and everything seemed to go well. I hope it continues to go like that.

This summer is just flying by so fast. We just got done a very busy week of a 5 day VBS at our church every evening. Richard and I did the 3rd and 4th graders together and had a blast. It was really the first "ministry" thing that we have done together and we found that we work together so well. We had a blast doing it and in my opinion made a great pair. :-) God answered so many prayers of our church for the VBS and it was a fun week, unfortunately I don't have any pictures of that week.

Richard is working a ton which is normal for the summer. Doing lots of over time to hopefully save up for our trips and for school.

This weekend for the 4th we are going to VA beach to visit our best friends from College!!! I can't tell you how excited I get every time I think about it. It will be a fast and long trip, but we are expecting to just enjoy ourselves the entire time we are there! I cannot wait!! I just hope Carson will enjoy it as much as us, and it will be a whole new adventure to do a big trip like this with him. Should be fun. :-)

Then in August we are taking a long trip to CO. I am in Rachel Pettit's wedding (for those of you that know her) and then we are going to capitalize on being in the great CO and visit all of Richard's family out there. Oh, do I miss living there and we both are looking forward to seeing those awesome mountains again, breathing the dry fresh air, and enjoying the culture of the west again. Richard's mom was diagnosed with breast cancer at the beginning of the summer and has already gone through 2 Chemo-treatments. She is doing well through it all, but because of that has not seen Carson yet, so we are excited for him to meet them, and for them to enjoy his smiles in person. :-)

Beginning of September I am going to Helaine Rozelle's wedding (for those of you who know her too) probably by myself with Carson. I can't wait to see her again, but am nervous about going with Carson. He will be a traveling pro by the end of the summer. :-)

Jerelyn is having her baby in the middle of July and I will make a trip down to see her also. My parents will be in the states for that too, and my dad will meet Carson too for the first time.

I am trying to start running again - in hopes to loose this weight that nursing apparently doesn't help with. I was running a lot last summer before I got pregnant, and hope to get back into that, and possibly run in my first race this fall. We will see. (its one of my lifetime goals)

We have a wonderful summer ahead of us and love spending the time with Carson and I should have a lot to post and tell you about in the future. ;-) Have a great summer everyone.

Month 2 of Carson's Life

Carson is now officially 2 months old. He does good sleeping for the most part. He smiles a lot now and is starting to laugh and make baby talking noices. Sometimes Richard and him will carry on converstations in a different language. Mostly Carson is trying to imitate the sounds that Richard makes. It's so cute.

My grandparents on my dad's side of the family came here to visit us for about 4 nights. We had a great time. Although we didn't do too much, we still had a great time relaxing and playing with the baby. He enjoyed being spoiled and being held all the time. I think that my grandparents loved being able to bond with their Great Grandson. It was a lot of fun. Juli and Scott we able to make it for 2 nights. They were in NYC for a wedding and stopped by here for a little to see our new place and to meet their nephew. They had never visited us here in Scranton, so that was fun to spend with them. We had a houseful, but us mayfields are so flexible about that and we had a great time. I love when I get to spend time with my sisters.

Then for Memorial Day weekend we decided last minute to drive to Altoona PA to see Jerelyn and her family. Jeffrey is living there for the summer too so we all got to see eachother and we had a great time. They all got to meet Carson too. Jerelyn is about 33 weeks pregnant and really feeling it, so we didn't do too much last weekend either, but us girls can just sit and talk for hours about anything. Her son Daniel is so cute too. It's so nice that we were able to see so much family in a short amount of time. My dad now is the only one that hasn't met Carson on my side of my immediate family, hopefully he will later this summer.

About a month ago we found out that Richard's mother has breast cancer. They have already done surgery and were optomistic about how that went, and this past weekend she had her first treatment of Chemo. Things are going as well as they can for her. WE just continue to pray for her and for strength. They are planning on coming out next week to see Carson and I really hope that it works out.

We have been so thankful for skype lately. Technology really is so nice to have every once in a while. Since the grandparents are both very far away, we have been using skype so they can see Carson growing etc. It has been very fun.

Today I started work too. So far it has been going good. I think it will be ok. It's not too hard of work, it will just be tricky to work out Carson's schedule around work. (what I'm doing can't be felixble time wise). So I just will take each day at a time and hope it works out ok. I"m just so thankful that I can work from home and still help out with our budget and paying for school, while taking care of Carson. Its neat to look back and see how God worked everything out - from the first time I saw this job posting on the internet when we first moved here, to drivnig far for work every day, to offering me another job but then making me pregnant so I couldn't take that job, and then my work being willing to move me to a closer office and then letting me work from home. I didn't know it as I was going through all those decisions but God was just working all things out for me to be able to work from home, and providing for us financially. So So Cool!!!

Well I hope everyone is doing good this week. Enjoy the week!

Smiles Smiles Smiles

I can't but help post this very cute pic of Carson smiling. Just this week he has started to smile a lot in the mornings. I'm sure there will be so many more to come, but I just love this smile. I know there is red eye, but he is still so cute.
I have a couple that I caught on my phone but I can't put those on my computer until I get a card for it. So for now until I get more, here is the cutest smile I've ever seen. :-)

Then I added a couple more because I just think he is so cute!!!!!!!!!! :-)

Frugalness

So I've been wanting to post this for a while, and have just now got around to it. I cannot take any credit for this because someone gave this to me at a baby shower. I think it is so great, and am proud of myself for doing this now. (You see this whole frugalness was not bred in me, I'm trying to learn it all, and I blame that on living in a third world where sales, coupons, garage sales, consignments shopes and clearances don't exist. So my married life I have really been trying to work on this, and learn and get better.)
I hope that all the mothers that don't know about this can find this beneficial.

It's HOMEMADE BABY WIPES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
here is the recipe.

1/2 Roll of BOUNTY (yes invest in the best and it pays off) paper towels w/0 the cardboard insert.
2 cups of water
2 Tbsp Baby Wash
2 Tbsp of Baby oil

Mix water, wash, and oil in Container.
Place paper towels in mixture.
Turn Container upside down to allow towels to absorb mixture.

They are great and last a while.