Today is our 5 year anniversary. 5 years! In a way I can't remember a time we weren't married. In another way, I can't believe we've hit the 5 year mark already. I remember thinking that that was a big milestone and it would take a while to get there. But time FLIES! Here we are 2 kids later.. So strange! I love our life together. Sometimes when I'm doing laundry and putting our clothes away, I realize how much I love sharing my life with him. Our clothes in the same closet, the smell of our house, our cars, our tvs and books, our food in the fridge, Johns tooth brush in the shower, even our bills!  It sounds funny but I have moments where I notice  these things and I love it! I'm just so grateful that we have each other to lean on no matter what life has to offer. We've come a long way from the little 18 &19 year olds we started out as. I know in the grand scheme of things 5 years is nothing and we have eternity to go and learn, but  I have learned so much about myself and about life that I never knew before. I am more and more grateful for the guy John is! I've gone a little crazy since having 2 kids and trying to work at the same time and he has been amazing. He always helps me with whatever I ask him to do and he listens to me and my crazy thoughts about life and still loves me.  I'm so grateful he has the priesthood and can give me blessings anytime I ask him to. Im grateful that he has blessed both of our boys, that he teaches our Sunday school class, and that I always learn something from him everytime that he does. I'm grateful he goes to church with me every Sunday and that he comes in every morning before work to pray. I also love that he has an alarm on his phone at night for us to read scriptures even when some nights the snooze button gets pressed til it's too late. But those things are so important to me and I love that I have someone who helps me want to be better. I'm grateful that he's such a great dad. When I tell Ty that daddy is almost home, he runs to the door and waits or stands on the table to look out the window. When he walks in he yells, "Daddy!" John is also amazing at calming Steven down. Sometimes I'll be holding him and he just won't settle down and then the second John takes him he stops. I love him more for loving our kids.

   So, in honor of our 5 year anniversary, I will name 5 things about John that I love:

1. He is always happy. He is optimistic and always making jokes. He hardly ever lets things stress him out and he always comes home and gives me a kiss and teases or tickles me. He's playful and I wish I was more like that!

2. He's so smart. He knows ALOT of stuff. I don't know how his brain remembers everything but it does! You know when people say the wife is always right? Well I hardly ever am. He almost always is! I've come to trust his judgment on most things because he always knows what he's talking about. He's always looking at our finances and makes spreadsheets for random things. He's been in school for 4.5 years and is in his last semester. I'm so proud of him for sticking with it! I don't know if I could have made it all the way. He's always been ambitious and wants to keep learning. I love that!

3. He has always known who he is and what he wants. I envy people like that! I feel like I am just now figuring out who I am and what I want! He is definitely a leader. I hope our kids can grow up and be confident in themselves like he is.

4. He is funny. He is always showing me something funny that he's found or making some kind of joke. I love that about him because even though I'm not very funny, I enjoy a good sense of humor! To go along with this, he is always singing a song that he's made up of some sort. They are usually made up of what's going on at the moment to a random tune or with words that rhyme with Staci or Ty. They always make me laugh.

5. He can do anything. I swear!  He tells me he's going to run a 10 minute mile and I tell him it's going to be harder than he thinks and then he just does it! Then I try it and I make it half of a mile and think I'm going to die, so I stop. He tells me to just push speed 6 and run for 10 minutes. Easier said than done my friends! But he makes everything seem so simple and possible and I wish I was more that way. I complicate things and have no faith in myself! I hope our kids also think that they can do whatever they put their mind to!

Sorry for the sappy post! I just love this guy and I'm so glad we've been able to be a part of each others journey in life!
 We have more pictures together than I thought!

     So this week I tried spending 20 minutes of quality time with Ty each day. We ended up reading a lot together or making food together, he even helped me unload the dish washer (which he loves!).  I really do feel like it brought us closer together. He still threw some fits and some days I was still stressed but I felt so much love for him this week! It's something I want to keep up.
     Tonight we had dinner at my parents house and celebrated Ty's 2nd birthday (what?!). It's not until march 4th but this week was best to celebrate it since we are taking a trip the week we were going to do it. He had so much fun opening some gifts and being sung to and blowing out his candles. He loved his cake and ice cream and ate the whole bowl without even making a mess! He got some bubbles from 2 different people and m&ms from 3 different people. There was definitely a theme and it was PERFECT! He loves both items and cried when I put the bubbles away tonight. My mom bought him some Cars sheets for his bed. He LOVES them. He laid down right away and wouldn't get out of bed! So cute! I can't wait for his real birthday we are going to have a blast that day!

Stevie is starting to fit into bigger clothes which means more clothes that look like little men! I love that. I never got a really great pic of him today but I got a couple cute ones:

starting to get his baby chubs, I love it!

 

He is THE happiest baby! He's always smiling and loves everyone. He's a really good eater and has been sleeping at least 6 hours every night, sometimes more. I'm so grateful for that, I need the sleep! He does great in the salon and has been such a  joy in our lives! We love him so much. I can't believe he is already 2.5 months old! Time flies. I'm SO grateful for my boys!

 

 

ALL of them!

 

       This past week was a little bit stressful. I thought I had been getting the hang of working at home with two kids but this week was crazy! Ty hasn't been napping very well which means that most days he is begging for my attention and I keep telling him to go play with the toys and he keeps asking for suckers  and  I keep telling him no because I'm pretty sure giving a 2 year old 10 suckers a day isn't the smartest thing to do. He gets angry and then I get angry back and it has become a vicious cycle.
       I am so grateful that I can work from home and be with my kids. I love doing hair and I love all my clients. I love that it has become something I can do and still be a mom and I felt like I was doing okay and that things were going great but this past week my patience with Ty was very low! He is getting his very last tooth and it's one of his canines so it is cutting through extra sharp and I'm sure it's really painful. Because of that, he was really angry and naughty all week and I reacted badly ALL week! By Friday we were both frustrated and I felt like the worst mom in the world.
      Before I had Stevie I was afraid that when he was born I wouldn't be able to give Ty enough time and attention and we wouldn't be best buds anymore. I realized that that was exactly what was happening but only because of my bad attitude! I wanted to cry. I felt so sad that I had been  acting worse than  my almost two year old especially when what he needed more than anything was for me to just love him. I felt like there was no way that I could work and love my two kids enough and be a good wife and clean the house and cook all the meals and do everything else! After having a little meltdown on Friday I felt much better and on Saturday I decided  that what Ty needed was more one on one time with me. I also decided that I was going to parent with love and patience instead of snapping back at him.
       Today at church the whole relief society lesson was on families  and our children. She told a story of a woman in my exact situation who even though she worked from home felt that her children weren't getting enough attention from her and in turn they were acting out and she decided to spend 20 minutes of quality time with each of them daily. She said 20 minutes didn't seem like much but when you're working full time and doing everything else you need to do, 20 minutes was at least doable and it made such a big difference. One day it was very late and the kids were already asleep, but she needed to spend her 20 minutes with them so she woke them up! She figured they'd be up all night but after they had their time together, which was amazing, they went right back to bed!  It was interesting because I knew this whole lesson was just for me! I had already decided to spend more time with each of them daily but I have now decided that for this week especially I am going to do 20 minutes of uninterrupted quality time. No phone or distractions on my end. I can tell Ty needs this and I know he is going to love it! That is my goal this week and to also be more optimistic and happy. I will follow up next Sunday to see if it made any difference.

(I just have to say, incase anyone reads this, that I really do love doing hair and I'm grateful to all my clients who still come even though it's usually a mad house! I'm also super grateful for everyone who is always helping me. We are so happy and I love Ty! We just  had a crazy week and I'm hoping this week will be better!)

Stevie 0-2 month pictures: