Jane Eyre

Last night Amy and I had a night out and we went to see Jane Eyre at the Lyric in Fort Collins. 

First of all, it was both of our first time at the Lyric.  It is one of those places you can bring appetizers, or beer, wine of coffee/etc. into the movie with you.  The idea is super neat, but the theatre itself is pretty crammed and not the most comfortable.  I don't know if I would normally choose the venue, even though I enjoyed my latte during the film, but it is all worth it if you get to see a film that you otherwise wouldn't be able to. 

 Jane Eyre is a perfect example!!!  I love the book Jane Eyre and ever since I saw the previews for the new movie I was so excited to see it.  I was nervous though!  Sometimes movies do a horrible job of representing books, and I also wasn't decided on how I felt about the lead actors playing the characters.  I am very pleased to say that Amy and I were both so impressed.  She had never read the book and she still loved it!  I haven't seen a movie in a long time that I new instantly that I had to own it.  I will definitely be buying this movie.  I think they captured the book perfectly, and the characters were perfect and seriously had the most amazing chemistry EVER!  I highly recommend seeing it.  And hopefully you can find somewhere near you that is playing it!  Here is a preview...although I don't even think this does it justice!

Have any of you seen it?  What did you think??

More Updates

I decided I would use one blog to review some of the events that have happened recently...

or not so recently for that matter!

* I think you all know that in early April Cole, Tavian and I went to Virginia to see my sister, Andrea and her family.  It was so wonderful getting to spend time with them and watching the boys play together.  We actually found out we were pregnant the night before we went, which made for a long day of travel becuase I was so anxious to tell her!!  It was the first thing said when I finally saw her!!!!  I only posted two pics from the trip becaue there were so many!  However, I think you will all get a good laugh over the videos I posted.  I'll give you a little info first.  We are a competitive family and when Cole, Luke, Andrea, and I get together we always have competitions.  We play tons of games and sports.  Andrea and Luke have a rope swing and while the kids were napping we came up with the great idea that we should have a competition to see who could swing off the rope and land the farthest away.  I know, very mature! lol!  Anyway, I had a few good rounds, and then the following happened..enjoy!

OMG, I hope you are laughing as hard as we were, and as hard as I still am!  The only downer was that as soon as she was done laughing in my face, Andrea freaked out when she remembered I was pregnant.  Not the best thing to do in early pregnancy, but I wasn't too worried, and thankfully everything was fine!

This next little gem also cracks me up.  Cole won with the longest jump, but he kept trying to beat his record.  We told him to strip down to his native roots, after all he is 1/4 Native American.  So this is was he did....

(oh, and you should know he got his best jump!)

We got to see my cousin Kevin while we were town, who I hadn't seen in years and had never met Cole because he was in the peace corps, so that was really special!

 * We also got to celebrate my besties 25th birthday at The Rio.  I had been looking forward to a delicious margarita, so it was a bit of a bummer that I got pregnant just before this!  I still had a yummy alcohol free mango marg...no comparison to the real thing, but what are you gonna do??



Loving life with my girls!

 

So fun to have a night out together!



*This is random, but for like 5 night straight Cole was sweet enough to go get me Spooners.  It sounded so yummy and it never dissapointed!  Pretty sick I ate this for like a week straight though... 

* Cole got a pic of me all decked out in my scrubs ready to go to my first day of traning.  I was much more energized on the first day then on the last...lol!

* We took some video on Easter morning, but other then that this is all we have in regards to Easter.  It was fun getting to dye eggs with my sister and her family and I wish we had more photos from it.  I'm sure we would have had more pictures from throughout the day if I hadn't been so deathly ill.  Cole and Tavian went to my sisters to celebrate and I just stayed in bed.  Not the best Easter!

* My neice Kenzie had her first communion the weekend after Easter, so we had a lot of family in town.  My brother, Sean, is all the way on the right.  I don't get to see him near enough, and this was actually the first time he got to meet Tavian, so it was really wonderful.  The next few pics are of a night out with just the adults.



This one has my sister Sarah's friend, Denise, in it.  We all love her!

 

Could be one of the best pics ever.  I am pretty excited to get it documented on facebook.  And however it may look, my brother-in-law Christ was not intoxicated.  lol!



Friends!



*LOVE*

 

So cute!



Kenzie receiving her First Holy Communion!  Such a special day!

Even when I don't think I'm going to end up crying, I do!!

Snuggling with one of my brothers daughters, Maddie.  She has gotten so big and I'm so glad she got to meet Tavian!

Tavey loves his Uncle Sean

* And finally I graduated!

At graduation with the class from my training.

Smiling with Gerardo...we had to share a massage room so we became friends.  He is too funny!

*  On our big date night seeing Bebo Norman.  An AMAZING concert!

This is just a taste of one of my favorite songs he sings!

Ok, I think that takes care of quite a bit!!  Sorry it was so long!

Surprise!

As many of you probably already saw on Facebook, I am pregnant!! 



This shirt comes with a bit of a story.  My oldest sister, Sarah, had this shirt made for her son, Connor, to wear when she became pregnant with Mckenzie.  It got passed along with all the other hand me downs and was the perfect size for Tavian to wear.  I didn't use it on Cole because he quietly snuck up on me as I was waiting for the pregnancy test to process (we weren't suprised by this pregnancy..we actually were expecting it!).  But, we did get to use the shirt on most all of our immediate family.  It was really fun to watch as they figured it out.



We are so excited and I had my first real apt today.  I'm already 11 weeks (life was too crazy to see the Dr. any sooner), and I'm so happy to almost be out of my first tri-mester.  If you remember my last post, I was crazy busy getting my massage therapy training done.  Now just add to the list of craziness that I was also pregnant!  If anyone would have told me beforehand that I would have been able to go through all that while pregnant, I would have said it was impossible.  It only makes me all the more thankful that the Lord helped me through it.  I have never, I mean never been so exhausted in my life.  Luckily I didn't feel too sick too often.  There were a few pretty nausuas days, but overall I felt really lucky.  I had jolly ranchers on hand at all times and I was eating something all the time too.  I was nervous at first because, as you know if you read my last post, the first time I was going to try and do the training I couldn't because I was pregnant with Tavian.  Granted I would have been much farther along with him, but I had a few nervous weeks that if anyone in my training found out that I might get kicked out....so I didn't mention it for the first two weeks.  I had talked it over thoroughly with my Dr., who I totally trust, and he said there was no risk whatsoever.  But I was nervous they might not let me for liability reasons.  Thankfully everything went fine and I wasn't at risk for getting kicked out!  Whew!!  It was relief when I no longer had to hide it...and I think my classmates were happy to know I don't always eat that much on a regular basis! haha! 

It is crazy being pregnant again, and a lot of the time I have to remind myself that I am.  Having our apt. today was great because we finally got to hear the heartbeat.  Such a wonderful sound!  It was cute having Tavian there to listen to his little brother/sister's heart.  Still, the second time around seems so much different.  I hardly think about it because I am just so preoccupied with the cutie right in front of me!  I'm sure it will get more and more real as the time passes.  December 7th, our due date, will be here before any of us know it!  I think it is perfect timing.  I think I will love having a Christmas baby, and of courseCole has shared his excitement over the fact that all the expenses will fall in one year :)...lol, that's my hubby for you!  It is hard to believe that Tavian's first Christmas was last Christmas, and this Christmas will be our new baby's first Christmas.  So amazing how quickly things change!  God is good!!! 

We have decided to post pone our big vacay.  I am hoping we will get to take off sometime next August as we are celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary.  We could have still gone this summer, but I really don't want to take any more time away from being with Tavian, and it will be nice to save it for a non pregnant time....if that will ever exist me for..;)  lol! 

As for finally being home with Tavian, oh my goodness we are both loving it!  I have missed him more then I could ever describe, and I can feel him putting trust back into me and has started to realize that I'm not going to be leaving every 5 seconds.  My first day back with him was Monday and we went to Epic to swim and to the park.  Such a fun day!  I wish I could remember all the adorbale things he has been doing lately.  It literally blows my mind how smart he is.  He says new words every day and understands everything we say.  I think pretty soon here I'll dedicate a post to some of the fun specifics!

So I think this catches me up...at least to some degree.  We are very excited to finally make this news public and be able to have all of our friends share in our joy.  Please pray for me and the baby throughout the pregnancy!

M.I.A.

Yes, I realize I have been missing from blog world for a very, very long time.  For those of you who noticed, I'm sorry, but I do have good reason. 
For the last 4 weeks I have been doing my intensive hands on training to become a massage therapist.  Surprised?  Probably, because there is a good chance that I never mentioned anything about this in my blog.  I'll start explaining from the beginning...which was a very long time ago!
It started right before I found out I was pregnant with Tavian.  I heard about a school that was giving free massages from students.  I am always up for a massage, and I definitely couldn't resist the free part.  As the student was giving me the massage, I started asking her about the program.  I learned that it was totally affordable, efficient with time as the book work is all completed at home on your own timeline, and then culminates with a 4 week intensive hands on training.  She left me very interested, as massage has been of interest to me for awhile, so I went home and did some research.  Cole and I were very excited to find a school that was so affordable and that didn't have a year long commitment like most do.  I signed up thinking I would have everything completed within no more then 6 months! 
And then I found out I was pregnant...
At first I thought that would be a good thing.  I could finish the book work and training before Tavian was even born, but the school informed me that I would be too far along by the time I did the training and they wouldn't let me.  Lame.  So everything got put on hold.  I did some of the book work, but for the most part I didn't want to get it all done and then wait months and months for the training and most likely forget everything.  So, after Tavian was born and things slowed down a bit I started back into the book work.  And, despite all the odds and effort and work that had to come together, I actually completed the training.  It was 10-12 hrs. a day, 6 days a week.  I have never been more exhausted in my entire life.  Part of me believed I would never actually make it happen, so I am SO proud that it finally did!
And it really wasn't easy.
Just the thought of being away from Tavian, especially after having never left his side in over a year, would bring tears down my cheeks.  And it took so much love, support, and help from Cole, his mom, my sister, Sarah, my Aunt Barb, and our good family friend, Judy.  All of who helped watch Tavian over the last month.
So I'm pretty sure that counts as reason enough to not have time for blogging...right?  Especially when you add in there that I also had to write a paper, give a presentation, and study for tests throughout.  Oh, and also when you consider the first weekend was Easter (which I ended up being too sick and exhausted to participate), followed by my neices first communion and my brother and his daughter who I never see came to town and stayed with us, followed by Mother's Day (which we didn't celebrate because I was so sick, Tavian had an ear infection, and Cole was on the verge of joining us).  Yeah...no time!

But it is over now!  I officially graduated yesterday morning and Cole was able to celebrate with me.  He took the day off, his mom took Tavian for the day, and we celebrated with lunch, a movie, dinner, and then the Bebo Norman concert in Colorado Springs.  It was an amazing day, but we didn't really think things through in terms of relaxing after such a long stretch of stressful time.  The concert was seriously the best ever, and I am more in love with Bebo then ever, but we didn't leave any time to recooperate.  So that is what I am trying to do now.  Cole and Tavian are downstairs and I am in bed...not finding the energy to drag myself out.  Hopefully the energy will come soon.  If not then I am sure I will awaken with much more strength tomorrow.  And I am looking forward to this week.  Just me and my baby boy.  Finally!  He isn't that thrilled with me these days, as I'm sure is tired to relying on someone who keeps leaving, but Praise God that will no longer be the case!

So, anyone want a massage?  My business is up and running from my house and I would love some clients :)  Let me know!!!

oh, and i'll post some pics soon!

Tid Bits

Just a few things on my mind...

I got a speeding ticket today.  The kind that takes your picture.  That is the only kind of speeding ticket I have ever gotten...but this makes it #3.  Lol, I hate those stupid things!!!

I just got summoned for Jury Duty.  Sweet.  If I didn't have so much going on with being a mom I actually could think it was kind of cool.  But it probably won't be cool.  And, lets be honest, no defendant would ever want me on their jury, I'm banking on getting dismissed pretty quickly!

Tonight is the Bachelor finale.  I wish I could say I wasn't so freakin excited, but I am.  I have loved this season and I can't wait to see Brad pick Emily tonight.  (seriously, I like Chantel, but in my mind it is no contest!)

I just bought tickets for Cole, Tavian, and me to go to Virginia to visit the Vercollones (my sister and her fam).  We are pretty stoked!  The kicker is that we leave on the first of April which is right around the corner which means I have a lot to do before then.  In no time at all I'll be hanging with my bestie in what I hope is very warm weather!!!

In other reality tv news, is anyone watching American Idol?  I was a fan years ago, then stopped watching for a few years, and just picked it up again this season.  I didn't think I would like it much without Simon (yes, I am a huge Simon fan), but I still really like it.  I only listen to Randy when it actually comes to talent and criticism, but I have really enjoyed Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler.  I have always loved Jennifer Lopez and I think she is so pretty!  As for Steven, lets just say I am simultaneously scared and attracted all at the same time.  Plus he really makes me laugh.  I don't know who will win, but I like a lot of them.  Pia is very talented but I also love that country boy.  Any thoughts??

I also want to apply for some reality tv.  I think it would be funny, but mostly because I think of it is an investment plan!  If I get Cole on Survivor, I have a much better chance of winning a lot of money then I do from the lottery or any other scenario!  Plus he would have a blast.  Any ideas on how to make the video casting worthy?  Who wouldn't want to see my 1/4 native american pasty white hubs on the show??  Lol.  Oh, and i may apply us for Amazing Race.  It is a bit trickier because Cole continues to tell me he would never race with me...he must know me too well...lol!  I'll get him to change his mind ;)

My little baby is Aaadorable!  He can now saw Bah (ball), NiNi (night night), and Daw (Dog).  He makes me smile!

Oh, and Cole and I are looking to book a trip together this summer.  We wanted to wait until next summer when we will celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary, but I'll probably be pregnant or have another baby by then.  This really is the best time to get away and the opportunity won't come along again for awhile.  We are thinking cruise... :)

Hope you are all having a great week with this amazing weather!

One Year Stats

We had Tavian's one year checkup yesterday. 

Tavian with Doctor Kesler..the most amazing Doctor ever!  I have been meaning to take this picture since the day Tavian was born...so I guess better late then never! :)

He is in the 95% for height at 31 inches!  

He is in the 33% for weight at 21lbs 10oz.  I am a bit discouraged by this because he has lost a little weight since 9 months and he hasn't been eating well for weeks  But, I know he is still healthy and I'll just continue to monitor things.

On that same note, I would just like to say that I officially made it past 1 year and am still breastfeeding!  When I look back I can't tell you how surprised I am that I actually made it.  There were many moments when I just knew it wouldn't happen.  But here I am!!!  I am so proud of myself and so proud of Tavian.  I owe a lot to Cole for all the help he provided over the last year and a lot of thanks to everyone else who lended encouragment and support.  It was worth every ounce of hard work!!!!  I don't know how much longer we'll make it or how much longer Tavian will be interested in nursing, but no matter what I have already reached my goal...what more could I ask for?? :)

Tavian with Lynel, our lactation consultant.  I can tell you 100% certainty that I wouldn't have even come close to reachign my goal without her help.  She is awesome!

A Year of Blessings

Did my baby boy seriously turn 1 on Monday???

I can't even believe it!  On one hand I can't believe that I was pregnant a little over a year ago...seems more like a lifetime ago that I had a baby in my tummy.  On the other hand, it seems like only yesterday that Tavian was so little and new to our family.  This is by far the fastest year of my life and I doubt things will be slowing down anytime soon.  I get a little sad when I think about how fast it all went by and about how big he already is, but at the same time I rejoice in all the time I have been given with him and I look forward to all of the experiences we will get to share in the future!

The beginning of labor at the hospital.  Please do not let this picture deter any readers from having children...I'm aware of how HUGE my belly is..lol!

My sweet baby boy

The most intense love!

My beautiful family

Cole and I watched Tavian's birth tape the other night (don't worry, it is a very tasteful birth tape!!), and we both had tears in our eyes.  It was actually way more emotional then I thought it would be.  The whole experience was just so beautiful!  It is interesting what I realized looking back at the tape that I was oblivious to at the time.  At the time I remembe Cole rubbing my leg and being so supportive and a calm force, which don't get me wrong, he was, but while watching the tape I realized just how anxious and nervous he was.  I could tell by his manerisms and his pacing...I love that at the time he was so convincing as the strong one that I could lean on...just what I needed him to be! I'm so glad we have it on tape!!!!

   

We have had a lot of fun birthday celebrations.  On Saturday we had a big party at our house with family and friends.  It was a bit chaotic because there were so many people, but it was great having so many of our loved ones in one room together.  Many of the people celebrating with us have been with us throughout this year long journey and it was very special getting to celebrate together.  Not only celebrate the gift of Tavian in all of our lives, but also celebrate the accomplishment of making it through the first year.  It has been a year of love and blessings, of course, but there have also been trials and adjustments.  Cole and I are proud to have made it!!!!  We had a Noah's Ark theme for his party (since that is one of his favorite toys) and it turned out adorable.  The best decoration was the cake that Cole made out of rice crispies and homemade fondant.  I tell you I am very impressed with my hubs.  He is always pulling through with amazing results!  (I would have settled for buying a cake, but Cole knew I would be happier with a homemade masterpiece!)  We served spinach artichoke dip, fruit with fruit dip, guacamole and chips (thanks to Cole's mom), and ordered pizza.  I think it turned out to be a perfect day!!!

We also did a little celebrating yesterday on his actual birthday.  Cole hadn't left yet when we heard Tavian wake up so we both entered his room together singing Happy Birthday!  It was very fun and something I know we will continue to do throughout the years.  That night Sarah and her family and my dad came over for a simple dinner and some brownies.  I think Tavian liked the brownie even more then he liked the cake!!!!  Tavian got some amazing gifts for his first birthday.  Some of which include a slide, power wheels, a beautiful book about Noah's Ark, a drum set, a blowing bubbles lawn mower, and a tickle me elmo!  He is loving playing with all of his new gifts.

Tavian with his cousins...Aiden didn't make the picture because he wasn't cooperating!

I can't believe how much life has changed in only a year.  I feel like a completely different person.  Some changes are harder to accept then others (like rarely looking presentable and most days running around a bit frantic), while others I am so thankful for (like the fact that I am learning to love and sacrifice more then ever before).  Motherhood is a call to love.  It is a call to sacrifice.  It is a call to give for the good of someone else.  I never understood this to the extent that I do now.  It is ok if I feel somewhat chaotic or if I wear sweats everyday or if I never do my hair or wear makeup...it is ok because I have a little boy that I put my time and energy into and he is thriving because of it.  It is a beautiful thing to be willing to take the back seat out of love for another. 

Tavian Larkin James, thank you for being my sweet baby boy.  I am honored to be your mother.  I couldn't have hand picked a more perfect child.  I am proud of you and I will always strive to be the best mother I can be for you.  Thank you for giving me sweet kisses, bird kisses on my belly, laughing with me, and snuggling with me.  You have grown so much in a short year and I couldn't be more proud of you.  Daddy and I watch in awe and amazement at the sweet baby boy you are...we are often asking, "Is this really our child?  How did we get so blessed?"  You bring a smile to everyone who sees you.  Your have the best personality accompanied by the best facial expressions and the most fanstastic sense of humor.  I find myself chuckling all day at your silly antics.  Thank you for teaching me more about love and about innocense and about sacfifice.  I willl treasure you as my gift from God for the rest of my life.  I am thankful for this past year, and I look forward to all those to come :)