Time Flies!

On May 24th Ashton will be 6 months old!  I can't believe 6 months have passed since his birth.  Pregnancy seemed to last forever but since Ashton is here and I am helping him experience the "outside" world, I can't believe half a year is over.  Ashton was born 2 days before Thanksgiving, a Thanksgiving I will never forget.  This little man came into my life and my life has been joyful ever since.  I love being a mom, it has been more than I ever expected.  Of course, there was a time when I gave up expecting to be a mom. That was a difficult time in my life.  So much of my energy was spent being sad even though I put on a good face.  I tried my best to not let my sadness affect the joy other people had with the birth of their own children.  I did find a way to cope with the sadness, it involved babysitting and spending time with my amazing niece and nephews.  I have always loved taking them places, playing with them, and buying them things.  It is hard to believe that they are so grown up now.  Cole is 18 and graduating from high school, Charlie is 14 and finishing 8th grade, and Sydney just turned 12 and will start 7th grade in the fall.  I am so proud of the 3 of them.  They are amazing kids and I love spending time with them as teens, but I miss them needing me or enjoying my silliness.  If I say something somewhat silly (which used to be funny to them,) they are totally embarrassed.  Embarrassing them does have its charms, but I miss the genuine laughter over something I said that was funny or how they seemed to look up to me.  Taking a strong interest and playing a role in their lives helped me to cope better with my infertility problem.  I love them so much and am so glad they are a part of my little Ashton's life.  He has 3 wonderful cousins who love him and I know they will be good examples so he has someone to look up to.

Cole Christensen, age 18.  He is going to go to Westminster College on a ROTC scholarship.  He is a talented lacrosse player, excellent student, and motivated kid.

Charlie Christensen, age 14.  Charlie is a self taught musician, excellent student, amateur wood worker, and thoughtful kid.  He is very witty, reads a lot of books, and plays lacrosse.

Sydney Christensen, age 12.  She just turned 12 but acts and seems older.  She plays lacrosse, loves to hang out with friends, and loves to make jewelry and decorate cakes.  She and I have been taking cake decorating classes together.  It is something we enjoy doing together.

I can't believe how little Ashton was when he was born.  He has gotten so big, is so interactive, and is such a happy baby.  I am making an effort to enjoy every little moment of his life.  I want him to know how much I wanted him in my life, how much I love him, and how I will keep trying to be a better person every day because of him.

To get a walker or not

I have recently been thinking about getting Ashton a walker. I know there is a lot of controversy over walkers and safety: babies falling down stairs, getting burned, pulling stuff off the table on to themselves, etc. even while parents are supervising. However, I like the idea of Ashton been able to sit upright and push himself around the kitchen floor, I think he may find it fun. There is no way he is falling down the stairs, we live in a ranch style house and I have the family room blocked off from the stairs. I promise not to cook while he is in his walker, and I don't have a table cloth on my kitchen table for him to pull on. My mom said I loved being in the walker as a baby and never had an accident in it. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Mother's Day

This year was my "first" mother's day.  Though I was a foster mom last year, it feels different this year having had a baby of my own.  I understand the bond that exists between a mother and her baby and know I would go to great lengths to protect, love, and nurture my little one.
As I think about my mom this mother's day, I cannot begin to express how much love and devotion I feel for her.  She is an amazing example to me of devotion, sacrifice, hard work, steadfastness, happiness, and love.  She taught me so much throughout my life and made sure that I had opportunities to develop talents and succeed.  She didn't have much in the way of possessions growing up and didn't get to experience the opportunities that so many people take for granted, but she made sure her children had an opportunity to be exposed to a variety of experiences.  Mom made sure to get us into music lessons, especially piano, and encouraged us to practice and share it with others.  My brother, sister, and I all play the piano and we each play a separate instrument.  Eric and Cyndi both play wood wind instruments so when it came my turn to choose and instrument, my mom asked me if I wanted to play the flute or the clarinet like my siblings.  I remember clearly telling my mom that I wanted to play the violin while we were at a Granite Youth Symphony concert for my brother.  A few weeks later mom and dad told me they were going to take me to look at violins but it wasn't likely that I would get one that day.  About an hour later, we walked out of Summerhaye's music with my first violin in tow.
My mom also made it a point to make sure we went on some sort of vacation each year.  Most times it wasn't anything fancy, just camping in our trailer at Bear Lake or a camp ground up one of the local canyons.  Some of my most favorite memories resulted from family vacations.
Mom has also been the foundation in my life.  Any time trouble or sadness arose in my life, mom was there to hug me and offer words of wisdom.  She has never let me down because she always seems to have the right answers.  I hope I can be the kind of mom my mom is to my little boy.  I hope he will look to me for wisdom, comfort, and love.  I hope his life will be as enjoyable as mine has been, all thanks to a loving mother.

This year I decided to write my mom a poem.

A Little Girl’s Dream

A little girl’s dream is to be a mother one day,

She puts on mom’s shoes, her dresses, and makeup in play.

She imitates mommy as she cradles her doll,

Singing a lullaby, “the cradle will fall.”

Her doll she will chastise when she has been naughty,

But praises her quickly for using the potty.

She reads her a story, her most favorite one,

And tells her she loves her more than anyone.

My mother is loving, faithful and strong,

Charitable, spiritual, with a heart full with song.

She showed me what it was like to be a great mother,

An example of love shown by no other.

She is my strength, my beacon of light,

I still seek for her wisdom, her compassion, and might.

Now I am a mom with a baby of my own,

A good example I want to be, like the mother I’ve known.

I will love him, protect him, and teach him what’s right.

I’ll kiss him, and cuddle, and rock him at night.

I’ll teach him patience, kindness, and love,

To kneel down at night and pray to Father above.

To be like my mom was my little girl dream.

I learned from her, copied her, no better mother I will ever deem.

I want you to know how much I love you.

I appreciate all that you were and are willing to do.

You mean so much to me and my little clan,

 And will follow your legacy the best that I can.

Happy Mother’s Day Mom!

 

Ashton made me some beautiful artwork.  I received an imprint of his little hands and an adorable picture of him (Thanks Cyndi for helping Ashton.)  He also got me a card which made me tear up.

This picture was used to make both grandmas a work of art.  Ashton imprinted his feet into clay and gave them a picture.  The funny thing was my sister got the same kit I did to make me the hand impressions.  My niece Sydney knew all about it and was great at keeping it a secret.

Ashton is so lucky to have a wonderful grandma (my mom) who wants to babysit.  She and grandpa watch him 4 days a week while his mommy and daddy are at work.  We love grandma a lot!

For Mother's day, Alan gave me a beautiful card and a cake decorating kit that I really wanted.  He knows how much fun I've been having with cake decorating and wanted to get me something I'd enjoy.  He is a wonderful husband and father and I am so lucky to have him in my life.

Putting the cake together

Last night was my last class for my Wilton 2 cake decorating class.  I learned how to do the basket weave technique and how to do a rope border and got to use the flowers I made on the cake.  The bird and the birdhouse were made a few weeks ago and were very fragile.  Both of the birds I made broke on the way to class so I was only able to use half a bird in the middle of the flowers on top of the cake.  All in all I am very happy with this cake, the only thing I would do differently is fewer leaves just below the flowers around the house.  My next class will be dealing with fondant and I am so excited about it.
For Mother's day, Alan bought me a 101 piece cake decorating kit.  I know it isn't mother's day yet, but he couldn't wait to get it and give it to me.  I am absolutely thrilled and can't wait to use it.  Cake decorating has been a blast and I can't wait to post more pictures.

My baby boy is getting big

Today Ashton reached an important milestone:  he rolled over from tummy to back!  I thought he had officially done it before (like a month ago) but it was from back to tummy on my bed.  He hadn't done it again since.  Ashton does not really like to lay on his tummy.  I have tried and tried with him but he proceeds to scream and cry.  I let him cry for a little while, but he doesn't stop until he is picked up or turned over on to his back.  Alan and I bought Ashton a special mat for tummy time.  This morning I laid him on it, he didn't like being on his tummy, so he rolled over on to his back.  I cheered so loud for him and told him he was such a big boy!  He beamed from ear to ear and giggled.  Ashton is trying new things like new toys, seeing new things, and trying new food.  Yesterday I fed Ashton some green beans.  You should have seen the faces he made.  I fed him green beans before and he LOVED them, but not yesterday.  Then I decided to mash up a banana and feed him that.  He really seemed to like eating a fresh banana.  I have also fed him sweet potatoes, peas, squash, peaches, and apple sauce.  He likes most of them depending on the brand.   I love my little guy.  He is a mellow, happy baby who loves to play and interact with others.  He is truly the sunshine in my life!

I need to find my inner chef

I was just thinking I should try to cook more at home.   I find Alan and I eat out a lot which can be expensive as well as unhealthy.  My problem is time and work schedule.  Alan works days and I work evenings so there are only 3 days a week that we are home together in the evening for me to cook dinner.  Alan really isn't into cooking so fast food or microwavable dinners are what he tends to lean to.  I typically go for a can of soup in the cupboard and buy dinner in the cafeteria at work.  Right now my list of prepare ahead dinners is extremely limited.  However, I did make a recipe from Rachael Ray that made enough to feed a small army.  It was a cheeseburger mac and cheese that was to die for http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/food/recipes/cheeseburger-mac-and-cheese/.  I portioned what we were going to eat for dinner then portioned out the rest in Ziploc containers, labeled them, and put them in the freezer.  Already I am sure that this dinner was cheaper and healthier than going out to dinner.  I am challenging myself to make a bunch of meals on the weekend (or days off) to freeze and have later.  I am also going to challenge myself to track how much money it has saved us.  The first task is trying to find tried and true recipes that will freeze that Alan will actually eat (he is a picky eater.)  Somehow I need to sneak veggies into the meal so he will eat them.  He and I are also going to allow ourselves to only eat out once a week on a date night. So, in preparation for the challenge, this week I will be collecting recipes.  If anyone has any great recipes they'd like to share, I would appreciate your submissions.

Cake decorating, my latest craft fetish

So I must admit, I am kind of a fickle craft junkie.  I love to do crafts of all kinds, but after a while I get bored and move on to a new craft.  I have tried knitting, crocheting (not my favorite things to do), scrap booking, card making, sewing, toll painting, jewelry making, and a few I am sure I have forgotten about.  My latest "craft adventure" is cake decorating.  My niece Sydney and I started taking Wilton cake decorating classes about 2 months ago at the Robert's craft in South Jordan.  Sydney and I love the cake decorating shows on TLC like Cake Boss and the Ultimate Cake Off.  It amazes me how people can make these enormous and beautiful cakes.  So, Syd and I decided that we should give it a try.  We are finishing up the second Wilton course on Tuesday which has been all about making flowers with royal icing.  It was kind of difficult at first to get the techniques down for each flower (especially the rose,) but after last Tuesday, I think I have it down now.  I sat down at my kitchen table for a couple of hours on Wednesday and made about 80 flowers.  I love making pansies and daffodils and I think my roses are starting to look pretty good.  Daisies are incredibly easy to make as are primroses (the pink flowers in my pictures.)  It has been so much fun making cakes and decorating them.  I still need to practice some of my other techniques, but I am making progress.
Other flowers we learned to make included violets, apple blossoms, chrysanthemums, as well as violet leaves.  I don't have pictures of those yet but will be able to post those later.
I have found cake decorating pretty relaxing, especially making flowers.  I am amazed that I can actually make frosting look like something alive and growing like a flower.  I find myself studying real flowers so I can make my sugary little petals look more life like.

This is the first cake I made in my Wilton class.  We learned how to do drop stars, write on a cake, and do zigzags.  Not bad for a very first cake, but a far cry from where I want to be.

For my second cake, we learned how to do drop flowers, shell borders, and how to make creepy clowns.  I think this cake turned out pretty well.

I learned how to do roses, sweet peas, and leaves on my third cake.  It turned out good but I still needed some work on making roses.

I made this cake for a friend's baby shower.  You can see my technique is getting better, but I am definitely no Cake Boss.

I love the rosettes on this cake (the swirly things all over the cake).  They were easy to make and I think they look pretty cool.

I made this cake for a patient of mine.  She celebrated her birthday in the hospital so I thought I would cheer her up by practicing my cake decorating skills on a cake for her.  It was fun to do that for her.

My next cake will be my final project this next Tuesday.  We are learning how to do a basket weave and then will put all the flowers we made on top.  I am excited to post pics when I am done with the final project cake.  After that, we will be learning fondant and gum paste and will learn to make a wedding cake.

Learning cake decorating has been a blast and is something I would love to keep doing.  I remember my mom made some really cool cakes for my brother and sister and me when we were little.  It was always cool to have a home made cake that looked and tasted great.  I want to be able to do that for Ashton so he will have fond memories of his birthdays and how his mom took the time to make it extra special.