Life is full of ups and downs. Sometimes we may feel that things could not be more perfect, and others days we may only look at the bad. I have realized lately that almost any situation can be a good one with the right attitude.
The day Skyler told me he wanted to move back to Idaho, I was very upset. I never thought I could love living here; but he felt that it was the right thing for our family, and as much as I didn't want to believe him, I couldn't help but feel it was where we needed to be. After traveling all over the US for Skyler's job, it is nice living in a small town. I can finally say that I know he made the right choice, and I am thankful for that. I love my friends here, I love our ward, I love our neighborhood, I love that there is a brand new park literally in our backyard (Cayman will love that when he's older), I love that we live in a great city to raise a family, I love that my husband is home by 6 every night, and of course I LOVE that my family and friends in Utah are only 2 hours away. Yesterday we went to the mall to have Cayman's picture taken with Santa, and we didn't have to wait in a long line. The Grand Opening of Panda Express was last week, and we didn't have to wait very long in the drive thru. "Traffic" is pretty much nonexistent here, and we love that.
I am content, happy, and so thankful that God has directed us in our path so that we could somehow end up here. It feels right, like home. I know its where we need to be. I also know that with prayer, faith, and of course a very handsome and intuitive husband; any situation can be a good one. I can't help but feel extremely blessed.
Ok, ok. I know I said I was done blogging for today but I just have to say one last thing. I LOVE my sweet baby Cayman, I don't know how I got so lucky! :)
The last four months have been rather eventful, and considering I haven't really posted anything important in the last four months, I thought I should do a little catch up post.
First, Skyler and I celebrated our 2nd year anniversary in October. The second year was very eventful, and there were definitely hard times. Cayman was born and spent almost 3 months in the NICU, we became new parents, we moved twice. It was a rough year, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I am so grateful for my husband. Every little thing he does, I don't think he'll ever know how much they mean to me. We spent our anniversary in Park City and the best part was that we got to bring Cayman with us! Skyler- you know how I feel. I love you!
Here's just a couple pictures Skyler took of me and Cayman on our anniversary.
Pumpkin Patch~ This fall was an absolute blast! We went to Swan Farms Pumkin Patch and I am so glad we did. We were able to find the most perfect pumpkins and get fun pictures. Here's just a few...
Pumpkin Carving- A few days after we went to the Pumpkin Patch, we carved the pumpkins. During that time we had at least 5 members from our ward stop by and say hi and give us treats. We spent so much time getting to know everyone, that it took us about 5 hours to finish the pumpkins!! haha
Halloween- Yes, we decided to do a Star Wars theme this year for Halloween. I must say Skyler totally rocked his Anakin Skywalker costume, and of course Cayman was the cutest wittle Yoda EVER!
We totally won best costume at the Halloween party... haha jk.
Our New Home~ As you know we are finally settled in our new home in Pocatello. Its the perfect house for us. Three bedrooms upstairs, and two downstairs (once its finished) along with a HUGE second living room. We are basically doing a "rent-to-own" because we want to make sure we love the area, love the ward, and can see ourselves living in this house for 5 years. So far we love it. Its brand new. Granite countertops, knotty alder cabinets, two tone paint, vaulted ceilings, etc. I have had so much fun decorating it. Now that I actually like my house, I can finally decorate it the way I like it, and not what "works" for the house. I decorated for the fall but completely forgot to get some good pictures, so ill share my Christmas decor and Cayman's new room. :) I decided to use the colors gold, silver, and brown this year. I did not want any red whatsoever this year. I don't know why, maybe its because I've always decorated my house with red and I'm sick of it? Who knows... all I know is that there will not be one red decoration in my house for the rest of my life!!!!!
I made this swag myself, it was time consuming but turned out perfect!
Made the centerpiece and wreath myself.
This wreath took me 2 days and 5 hours to make!! I almost gave up, but I'm glad I didn't.
Cayman's Blessing~ We FINALLY were able to bless our sweet baby boy! We had to wait until Cayman was old enough and his immune system was strong enough to be blessed at church. We thought we would do it at our house in MN, but we wanted our whole family to be there so I'm glad we waited till we did. Skyler gave a beautiful blessing. It brought our entire row of people to tears. I am so grateful to have a worthy priesthood holder as my husband. I love you Skyler! We had everyone over for yummy food afterwards, it was so fun to have so many of my amazing friends and family there.
Here's a few of the people that came to his blessing, most everyone left before I remembered to take a picture! LOL^^^
Cute boy so excited to be blessed!
New Car~ Skyler and I had been looking for a nice SUV for months. I just couldn't imagine driving around Cayman in my little Lancer in the snow. I am way too paranoid as it is, so we wanted to find a family car safe for us in the winter. We test drove a bunch of SUV's, but nothing seemed to compare to the Infinity FX35. Unfortunately its a pretty penny, and we are really trying to save right now. So, once id finally given up on the idea, we got a phone call from one of our close friends saying they got an FX35 with really low miles in their dealership. It was an 07' with only 30,000 miles on it!! We almost bought the 09' model of it with over double the mileage! haha I fell in love with it instantly, but Skyler seemed like he didn't feel right about it. He called me from the dealership and said he wasn't going to get it. I was so bummed. But an hour later he walked in the house, handed me my keys, and said go pick up your new car! I drove to the dealership, finished the paperwork and drove my new SUV home! I absolutely love it. Thanks hubby :)
Ok, I have been blogging for way too long. I can only take so much before I go insane, and therefore stop blogging for months on end. Hah so ill stop now, so I have something to look forward to. Stay tuned for more posts coming SOON!
Cayman is 8 almost 9 months old!? Where did the time go? Please, someone tell me where the time went? I have pretty much sucked at blogging lately. Having an 8 1/2 month old is hard work, who would have thought? haha BUT I am loving being a mommy. It is by far one of the greatest blessings I have ever received in life. Here are a few pictures I've taken over the months to give you an idea of how much he's grown and changed.
Cayman's Likes and Dislikes~
Likes-
1. Smiles- He smiles ALL THE TIME. Not just a grin, but big huge smiles.
2. Giggles- He thinks his dad is extremely funny. Here's a video-
3. Rolling over- He has become so good at rolling over. He will roll and roll until he almost hits something!
4. Grabbing things- He finds everything so interesting that he simply MUST put it right in his mouth!
5. Christmas tree- His favorite thing right now is sitting under our Christmas tree and trying to get the ornaments
6. Sitting up- He likes to sit up like a big boy, even though he doesn't last very long before he falls over. :)
7. Touching faces- When I rock him to sleep, he likes to put his hand on my face and play with my lips or stroke my cheeks until he falls asleep. :) My favorite.
8. Cooing- Before we wake up in the morning, he will just play in his crib and coo and babble until we get him. He is such a happy boy in the morning.
9. Screaming- Lately if we try to rock him to sleep (especially if Skyler does) he will SCREAM! It's so cute now but I don't know if ill be singing the same tune in a year or so. :) Here's a funny video of Skyler trying to put him to sleep. (don't mind Skyler showing off Cayman's acrobatics, as you can see it freaks me out and I don't really let him do it anymore. lol)
10. Blankie- when we give him his favorite blanket, he throws his arms up and starts kicking his legs while he lets out a very happy scream! He absolutely loves his blankie!
11. Rookie- He love love LOVES his puppy Rookie. If Rookies around he lights up and tries to grab his fur or legs. Poor Rookie. :(
12. His baba- What baby doesn't like his bottle really? He gets so excited and opens his mouth whenever he see's it!
Dislikes-
1. When daddy tries to put him to bed-but we already mentioned that. ;)
2. When one of us leaves the room- He will watch us, and the SECOND we are out of his sight he starts to cry. He loves attention.
3. Diaper changing time- He rolls over, kicks, anything to try and get out of diaper time
4. Changing clothes- He pretty much does the same thing as diaper time. :)
5. Waiting for his bottle- If he is really hungry, he will let you know it!
6. Sitting still- He just wants to GO GO GO!
7. Shoes- Shoes are like my bows if he were a girl. I love putting shoes on him, but he HATES them! lol
8. Our entertainment center- Can't tell you how many times I've saved him from hitting our entertainment center. He just rolls and rolls and sometimes bumps his head on it. :(
9. Car Seat- I tell ya the second he feels his head touch the carseat, he flips out! Thank goodness for car seat toys and binkies!
10. 6 am- I don't know what it is about 6 am but no matter what time I put him to bed, or how much I feed him. He wakes up at 6 am EVERY DAY and wants a bottle. Glad he's on a schedule, but man I wish it were 9!
Mommy's LOVES~
Because Cayman was born so early, we have a physical therapist and a lady from the infant Toddler program visit him once a month. So far he is in the 70-75 percentile for his corrected age, and I LOVE that. This means he is doing great and is right where he needs to be, and I am so proud of him. :) He's been sleeping through the night for a few months now. He goes to bed at 9, wakes up 6am and takes a bottle, then falls back asleep for another hour and plays and talks to himself in his crib until we wake up. haha. Pretty good if you ask me! His hair is FINALLY growing back. He had so much when he was first born, but with being born so early and always rubbing his head on something in the NICU and at home... it fell out fairly quickly. Its coming back in and straight up like a "chia pet" as Skyler would say. Right now we are just enjoying life and loving every moment. Every day Cayman changes and grows a little more and it's so exciting seeing what he'll do next. I have a lot to post about, so stay tuned!
So I am one of those people that believe blogging shouldn't always be about how "perfect" your life is. Because, well lets face it... NO ONES LIFE IS PERFECT and if you don't think so then,"thou doth protest a little too much." (In the wise words of Whitney)
I ran into a lady at the grocery store today and she asked me how old my son was. I responded, "oh, he's 6 months." Well of course she says, "Wow, my son is six months and he's THREE TIMES HIS SIZE." She was the sweetest lady, but to be honest I was having an off day today and really did not want to explain how my son was born early for the millionth time. So in as few words as I could, I told her that he was a micro preemie and is actually 3 months "corrected" which is why he looks like a three month old. Anyway, that obviously wasn't enough information for her because she wanted to know more. Just for the record, I usually do not mind answering questions about Cayman. I love having any excuse to talk about my little man; BUT like I said, it was an off day for me. She wanted to know how much he weighed, how many weeks he was, how long he was in the NICU, etc etc. I explained everything and then she said, "Well if he was only 2 pounds then it must have been a really easy labor, imagine what you felt and multiply that times ten!!! I wish my kids were micro preemie." WHAT!? Who on Earth would say that?
Im sure she was just being funny or sarcastic, but I was a little bugged after that. I've had so many people tell me lately that my labor was "so much easier than a full term baby." This has become such a pet peeve of mine, so let me make this clear. IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW BIG THE BABY IS... LABOR PAINS ARE ALL THE SAME!!! So, next time you want to belittle what I went through. Try being in hard labor for 2 weeks, full blown labor for over 24 hours getting little to no sleep, delivering a 2 pound micro preemie, THEN tell me how "easy" it was! You have just experienced one of Bethany Lynne Dyers rage rants, I hope you enjoyed it. ;)
As most of you know, Skyler and I were planning on moving to Utah at the end of this month. Well, that didn't exactly work out according to plan. Skyler got a job offer in Pocatello with his company that will be a little more permanent and stable, which is just what we want. Am I excited to move to Pocatello? Not exactly, but we are buying a home there and its only 2 hrs from my moms house, so I can't complain much. We went and looked at houses last week with our realtor, and there is actually some beautiful areas to live in Pocatello. I'm starting to think I might really like it there. We still haven't decided if we want to build or buy yet. The rates for building are great right now, but you just can't beat the prices on foreclosed homes either. You can buy a home right now that was originally over $350,000 for $250,000! For those of you who are wondering what "my type" of home is, ill give you some examples. These are pictures of some of the homes we have looked at. We are still trying to find the "perfect" one.
vaulted coffer ceilings...GORGEOUS
Grand stone fireplace..gotta have this right?
Grand Stone Entrance
beautiful doors and entry way
granite counter tops- beautiful cabinets of course..
Grand room w/ arched entry way
Jetted Tub and Double Vanity
Large Master bedroom w/ Tray Ceilings and Picture Frame windows
These are just a few different houses we have looked at in Idaho. When we find one that has everything we want, it will be "THE one." Buying a house is not only exciting but also very nerve racking. I cannot wait to finally live somewhere more permanent, and raise Cayman and our future kids in our home. BUT, I am also nervous about having another large bill every month and having the commitment of being married to our house for 30 years! I am so grateful that my husband has worked his butt off for us so that we could have this opportunity. We are lucky he even has a good job in this economy, and if that means we have to live in Pocatello, then I guess thats not too bad. :)
His nursery was ready, the house was spotless and sanitized, Cayman was taking his oral feeds well and wasn't needing any oxygen... IT WAS TIME FOR HIM TO COME HOME!!! The week before Cayman came home I was staying at the hospital every night working on his oral feeds aka "Que base". They told me he needed to take 170 CC's in a 12 hour time frame. WELL he had taken 150 CC's within the first 5 hours! My little boy never seizes to amaze me. So, after over 2 months, 11 weeks, and 72 days in the NICU... they decided he could come home a little earlier than planned. May 28, 2011 and 37 weeks corrected, was the day he came HOME!
We made the NICU workers brownies and brought them flowers and a balloon to say thanks! :)
We decorated the garage for him, but it RAINED and ruined it! lol
I changed the picture in the frame on the left to the one on the right... but you get the idea! :)
I can't even begin to explain how happy I am to have him home. It had been such a roller coaster having him in the Nicu. I experienced every kind of emotion a mom could have: some days I was sad, or afraid, angry, extremely happy, excited, frustrated, anxious, all of the above. When we got the phone call that it was time to pick him up and take him home, I literally started jumping up and down and clapping. I probably looked like a total idiot but I was READY to have him home!
Newborn Pictures~
Cayman had his newborn pictures taken. Kayla Paler was the photographer and we are so glad we chose her. Seeing as how Cayman wasn't technically a "newborn" for his photo shoot (he was over 2 months old at the time) he wasn't exactly sleepy the whole time. Kayla was so patient with him though and would take her time to get the perfect shots. Im glad she did, because they turned out amazing! Isn't our little guy so adorable?
Living in a "Bubble"~
A few weeks ago Skyler was holding Cayman, and our dog Rookie came up and put his chew toy on Skylers lap for him to throw it. (This is a normal occurrence these days seeing as how Rookie HATES it when Skyler holds Cayman) Well the chew toy touched Caymans arm by accident and I immediately pulled out a Johnson's anti bacterial wipe and wiped his arm where the toy touched him. lol paranoid much? YES. Its true... I've become a germ freak! Skyler smiled and looked at me, and said "Have you seen the movie bubble boy!?" Which brings me to my next subject. Ever since Cayman came home, i've pretty much lived in a bubble. The NICU nurses, and his pediatrician pretty much engraved in my brain how dangerous it is for him to be in big crowds with such a weak immune system. A small cold for him could send him back to the hospital on a vent. The good thing is that I have an AMAZING husband, and wonderful in-laws. They try to help out as much as possible so that I can get out of the house every once in a while.
For instance, Skyler watched Cayman ALL DAY so I could go to Valley Fair for my sister in-law Diane's birthday. It was so much fun! Except for I'M GETTING OLD!! You know when you'd go on a roller coaster, and the entire time you waited in line your heart would be racing?? NOPE, didn't happen. I didn't even get scared when we'd slowly go up the huge ramp for the initial million foot drop! That used to scare the crap out of me when I was little. I think it's time I go bungee jumping, or sky diving. I need some more thrill in my life.
He also watched him so I could go to the midnight showing of Harry Potter with my in-laws! Can I just say that I am a total Harry Potter nerd? I wish that Hogwarts were real, and that you really could fly on broomsticks! The last movie was probably the best movie I have ever seen, and I thought it followed the book fairly well. I cried, I laughed, and my heart was racing the entire time! DIANE said she didn't like it as much as Part 1 and that "she expected more." Needless to say, we told her she "wasn't our sister, and was disowned from the family!" Love you Diane! :)
Fathers Day~
I am so happy Cayman was home for Fathers Day. I'm sure it made Skyler's first Fathers Day as a dad that much more special. I ordered him a picture frame and had it engraved almost two months before. It said "God held my hand, so I could hold my daddy's. " Inside the frame was this picture above. Cute idea huh? He loved it! I also bought him the new Gucci Guilty cologne and made him this slideshow. Every time I watch it, it makes me cry. It reminds me of the struggle it was for him to just get into this World and survive. I have pictures on here that I never thought id show anyone except family, but now that he's home and healthy. I feel comfortable sharing them. (please turn your volume up and make sure its not on mute so that the music will line up according to the slideshow) enjoy! :)
Have you ever had one of those days where everything seems to go right? The weathers perfect, your hair is actually working, nothing seems to bug you, and you are just happy to be alive!? Well, this was definitely one of those days. Skyler and I woke up early and decided we would go to Stillwater. Its the cutest little town in Minnesota. Old shops, beautiful scenery, fun things to do.
To be honest I was a little worried taking Cayman out because he is/was so small and I was worried he would get sick. BUT he did fantastic, and it was cool enough that we could walk around with his canopy over his car seat so we didn't have to worry about germs. The views were simply breath taking, and we had so much fun. We walked around with Rookie and Cayman and looked at all the fun little shops and got ice cream cones. Rookie was loving all the attention he got that day. Every time someone would come over to look at Cayman and swoon over him, Rookie would attack there feet and start licking their toes! HA so we really didn't have to worry about people touching Cayman, Rookie took care of it and loved all the people there. Towards the end of the day we went to a cute little park overlooking the river and the cutest old lady offered to take our pictures. Rookie was even able to be in them with us. :)
4th of July~
The 4th of July weekend was a lot of fun. We had a big pool party with Skyler's entire office and ordered pizza. Then on the 4th we went to a park with the entire family and had a bbq.
Khyle and Annabell's Wedding~
My brother in law Khyle got married last month and we are so happy for him. Annabell is the perfect girl for him and I'm sure she will keep him in line. ;) Here are just a few pictures from their big day!
Aren't they adorable?
Me, Diane, and Marissah being cool like always...
HAHA
Ari's Birthday~
Ari is my ONLY niece, so you better believe that she is spoiled by her aunt Bethany. I truly believe that she is the CUTEST little girl that ever lived. She has the biggest bright blue eyes, plump lips, long eye lashes, and blonde curls. She is always smiling, and such a good baby girl. Oh I just love this little stinker! It was her 1st Birthday in June so we celebrated with the whole family.
Well, this concludes my blog post. Sorry it took me so long. I will be updating again soon with Skyler's Birthday and much MUCH more! Stay tuned. :)
