If....

So, I stole this from a blog that I follow, and I thought I would do it. It looks fun and interesting, so here I go.

If I were pregnant again I would: Be excited, of course. What a blessing to have another child coming into the world, but a little nervous. Alden and the next one would be only a year and a half apart which would be NUTS! But, I love babies.

If I could have any job in the world I would: Be a stay-at-home mom just like I am. I have always wanted to own my own business, and here I am, owning a dance studio. My dreams are coming together!!! :)

If I had a day to myself I would: Definitely sleep in. :) Then, I know this will surprise people, I would want to spend the entire day alone with my husband. Maybe shopping, going out to eat, watching a movie together, just reconnecting. We are both so busy.

If I could get married all over again I would: Definitely be married on the beach in Hawaii. Of course, to Lyndon! :) We have talked about renewing our vows years down the road with all of our children in Hawaii. :)

If I could live anywhere in the US I would: Somewhere warmer. I love Idaho. There are 4 very distinct seasons, but summer isn't long enough. If I could fly south for the winter I would enjoy that. I love Idaho too much to leave. Cross our fingers we will never have to.

If Alden would have been a girl he would have been named (or your baby girl a boy):
Olivia Kayline Haines. I have LOVED the name Olivia for a long time. I like that it is old fashioned and feminine. Kayline was chosen because Lyndon's grandma is Kay and my grandma is Arline. If we have a girl in the future, this will be her name.

If you met me in real life you would probably say: She's comfortable in her own skin. I don't change myself for anything. You get what you get with me. I enjoy life and love who I am and where I am in life.

If I could go back to school and get a different degree I would: Get a degree in Art. Something for photography, painting, pottery, something. I have always enjoyed art but I knew I couldn't do much with a degree in it in a small town in Idaho. (6,000 population... yeah, small).

If money were not an object we would: Pay off bills. Credit card, medical, student loan, car loan.... Get it all gone. Then, buy a cute house, buy Lyndon a new truck, and save.

If I could meet one celebrity I would: Want to meet Guiliana Rancic. She is the news anchor on E News and has her own show with her husband, Guiliana and Bill on the Style Network. She has had a hard time trying to conceive a child and the show follows that struggle. She seems like a strong woman (Emotionally) and she is comfortable being herself.

If I could shop at one store for the rest of my life I would: Choose... Oh my! This is hard. Probably Kohls. Since I had Alden I have enjoyed shopping there. They have good sales, good prices, and good qualilty clothes.

If we get another pet I would: Want another dog. We currently have a dog and a cat. The cat is getting older (16 years old) and we know the end is coming for her. we have talked about getting another dog to keep Sophie company.

If I could go on a trip RIGHT NOW I would: Go to Mexico, Hawaii, somewhere beachy with Lyndon. We would just lay on the beach together and relax. Both our schedules are crazy so we never see each other. It would be nice to be together.

If I had to choose between a house cleaner and a personal chef I would: I know this sounds horrible, because I LOVE to cook and bake, but Right now I would choose a personal chef. With the dance studio and Lyndon working late hours, dinner is not a priority. Alden gets fed, but we find anything to eat when we get home at 7 or 8 at night. It would be nice to come home and have dinner waiting. :)

If I had the option of plastic surgery I would: Probably not take it. I don't think it is plastic surgery, but I would get laser hair removal. With a child, shaving legs is not always on the top of the list. In the shower I will feel my legs and think... Ehh, I could go another day. :) So, definitely hair removal. :)

8 Months!

Alden is 8 months old. I keep telling people, 9 months of pregnancy went a lot slower than these 8 months. I swear it has flown by! Where has the time gone???

Here are some updates on our wiggle worm.


GROWTH: Alden is weighing around 22 pounds. He hasn't been weighed "Accurately" at the doctors office since his 6 month checkup. This is calculated by me standing on the scale and then holding him. He is in the 90th percentile for weight. He is 29 inches long, which is also in the 90th percentile. He is one big boy.

SLEEP: Alden is sort of sleeping through the night. He has been teething (We have a tooth finally) and so there have been some rough nights. For the most part he goes down for bed at 9 PM and sleeps until 8:30 AM. There are night when he gets up at 5 AM crying, so I usually feed him and bring him into bed with me for the rest of the night. Lyndon leaves for work around 5:30-6 AM, so I get to snuggle my bug for a few hours.
Naps are not as long. We are still taking 2 naps (Sometimes 3) during the day. One in the morning at 10:30 to about 11:30 or 12. Then, he is back down at 2 PM until 3 PM.

EATING: Alden loves his food. If you can't tell from his size. :) He is still on soy formula, but isn't drinking as much as he used to. He drinks maybe 3 8 ounce bottles each day. He likes to eat solid foods more. He eats 3 meals a day and 3 snacks (With bottles in there) a day. Snacks include Ritz crackers, Gerber Graduates Puffs, canned carrots, cut up cucumbers, cut up fruit...I haven't kept track of everything new he eats because we don't try new things too often. He has tried corn and wheat. We held off a while on those because of allergies. We are waiting to try meat and dairy for a while still.

CLOTHING: Alden is in 18 month clothing. He is FLYING through his clothes. We had to go on a shopping spree recently for new clothes because he doesn't fit into ANYTHING.

DIAPERS: Alden is in Size 4 diapers.

DEVELOPMENT: Alden is pulling himself up to stand. If we hold his hands he will walk a few steps with us. He is crawling normally now. Whenever he wants to get somewhere fast, he still does the "Army crawl". He can go from a sitting position to crawling position. He is saying more words now and can put words with faces, such as Momma and Dadda.

Alden is such a good little boy. He is happy all the time and does mostly everything with me. He has, however, learned the temper tantrum. Now that he is on the move, learning "No" and getting things taken away is hard. But, what a joy he is!!! :)

The Studio

As you know, or don't know, I bought the dance studio that I have been teaching at for 9 years from the previous owner. At 23 years old, that is big step to take in life. We had our first week of practice this week and we had around 50 kids show up. I have 3 other girls that teach with me.

The building we were at for the past 3-4 years decided to sell. So, that meant we had to find a new location. I found a new spot on the highway that is a business center. The ceilings are lower than I had hoped for, but they have seemed to work pretty good.


I've been so nervous and have been losing sleep this past week because of this new venture. I went to school for Business Management, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be owning a business this young.


My mom has helped me tremendously with bookwork and signing new students up. I have had some calls this week for more girls who want to join, so I am excited about that.



What is nice about the studio is that we only are open Monday-Thursday from 4-6:30 or 7:30. I can take Alden with me while I teach. I teach 3 days a week for a couple hours. I love it.


This year, we are going to start competing again. The studio hasn't competed since 2004, when I was dancing. So, it is time to start again. I'm very excited about that.


I think this will be a great addition to our "Family". Hopefully, it will make us a little extra (very much needed) money.

BBQ At Grandma's

Over the weekend, we went to Lyndon's grandma Kay's house for a BBQ. Every summer we have lots of BBQ's out at her house. It is so nice to sit in her backyard and enjoy the warm summer evenings. Since the summer is coming to an end, there aren't many more BBQ's. I think this will be the last for the year.

Lyndon's Great grandma Donna came out. Which is Alden's great-great-grandma. She enjoys watching Alden play in the grass. He is getting pretty big, so she has a hard time holding him. She held him for a few minutes. It's so fun to see them interact.


We had corn on the cob as one of the side dishes. So, after we ate, we took the cobs to the horse and donkey for a little treat. Alden helped feed them.


It was so cute. He wasn't quite sure about the huge animal right next to him.


Then, we went and checked out the chickens. Grandma Kay has a rooster in there. Alden is not fond, what-so-ever for the rooster. He is way too loud for Alden's little ears. He didn't crow while we were close, so he enjoyed it.


We enjoy spending time with family. We are with Lyndon's or my family a lot. We are so grateful to have everyone around.

Watching Notre Dame

Lyndon has been waiting all year to watch a Notre Dame game with his son. Today is the day! :) He finally got his wish!

Learning "No"

Now that Alden is on the move, we are learning the word "No". It is a struggle and I feel like I am saying it constantly all day.

We have a basket of magazines that he isn't allowed to touch. I felt like this was a good learning experience because he can't hurt the magazines but he can learn that he isn't allowed to touch them.

However, I went to grab something from the kitchen and when I came back I saw this...



Guilty!?

This is How My Dad Babysits! :)

I was at my parents house, using their printer. Alden was playing in their living room and my dad started playing with him. I walked out of the room and when I came back in, this is what I found.

Back To School!

School has officially started, which means I pick up my niece Hannah from the bus stop when her dad is working. My sister works a 9-5 job Monday-Friday and her husband is a police officer that works 4 days on 4 days off. So, when he is working I pick her up so my sister can save money on daycare.

Since school has started, we have gone to the Public Library, which is 2 blocks away from my house. We have made homemade chocolate chip cookies, and read lots of books. She helps me with Alden.

Normally, we will get back to the house, she will start her homework, which is a worksheet because she is only in 1st grade. I will make her a snack while she works and Alden and her will eat. Then, we will read a book, play a game, bake something, cook something, blow bubbles, play with sidewalk chalk... Anything we can think of. I have really enjoyed her coming over.

Napping Dilemma

We are having issues napping. Alden is sleeping just fine, but he thinks he needs to be in our bed to nap. The problem is, I can't be in the bedroom the entire time he naps, because he naps about 2 to 2 1/2 hours. He fell off the bed a few weeks ago. Not from rolling over. I had my glasses and my Bible sitting on the table by the bed and when he woke up he saw them and wanted to touch them. He crawled over, tried to grab them and fell. I felt horrible. Since then, I have been trying to have him nap in his crib. Which is a struggle. He wakes up and cries. I've been giving in a couple times and putting him in our bed and I will watch TV or a movie while he naps. But, that means I get NOTHING done. He sleeps JUST fine in his bed at night.

I'm not sure what to do.

Little Helper? Maybe

The other day I was folding laundry. I got to the socks. Alden's FAVORITE part! He loves to play with them. He's Momma's little helper, he thinks. It took me twice as long to fold them, but we got it done and he enjoyed it.

Book Worm

Attempting To Crawl

We are officially crawling. He does a weird scoot across the floor. He isn't up on his hands and knees. This means he has nice rug burn on his arms, belly, and knees.

Before he started crawling, this is what was happening.



He's a little tri-pod. :)

Checking Out The Ladies! :)

When we went to Applebees for lunch one day, Alden flirted NON-STOP with the waitresses. He would smile at them, babble, and get their attention no matter what. When they wouldn't look at him he would watch their every move. :)


He thinks he's a little stud muffin!

Animal Crackers

We found some animal crackers at Costco that pretty much melt when you eat them. Which is PERFECT for Alden. He now enjoys feeding himself snacks. :)

Milkshakes!

My family set up a bowling night. When we got to the bowling alley, they were closed. (Even though we called ahead of time and reserved lanes). There was a home football game that night, so they closed to go to the game.

Long story short, we decided to go to a local restaurant, JEBS, for milkshakes. They have at least 30 flavors of milkshakes, ice cream sundaes, cones, you name it. They also have really good hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken strips.

They kids LOVED getting shakes. I got a Oreo shake and Lyndon got an M&M shake. I think the strangest one we had was Root Beer shake or Cherry Chocolate.

Here are the girls waiting for their milkshakes!

(Hannah, Alexie, Hayden, Emma)


Hannah and Alexie being silly.



Lyndon and Alden



Hayden and Emma had to be silly too.

I'm A Big Boy!

My sister's mother-in-law had this toy at her house until recently. her grandkids have grown out of it and so it has been passed down to Alden. He loves it. Of course, he doesn't understand how to push himself on it, but he loves when Momma and Daddy push him.