I just know that we’re going to look back on this time and call it the good old days so that’s what I named this post. We do that so often where we reminisce about a time and call it the good old days but we had no idea back then that there was anything special about that time. Time's weird man.(It's funny that I'm saying that even with so many terrible things happening in the world right now. We are lucky and haven't been directly affected by any of it.)
I went back through old blog posts from when we were engaged and first married. Honestly I did that to get fitness motivation (like “see what you used to look like? Get off your butt and workout ya lazy!) haha Anyways I noticed that I used to journal a lot more in here and this is supposed to be my journal so I am going to try and write more in this post.
When I was sick
One morning I woke up sooooo sick for some reason. I was shaky and it felt like low blood sugar and I had been doing intermittent fasting so my solution was to eat a crap ton. I then proceeded to throw up a lot. Anyway long story short it was amazing how I swear coop could tell and was extra loving to me that day. Dallin took care of him for a few hours in the morning while I puked my brains out and once it subsided a little he had to get to work upstairs so I was with the kid and he was so so so good. It made me wonder how much they understand at this age. I know that sounds crazy to say because he's so little. Both the dogs were there for me too they sat by me in the bathroom lol
Foodies
You wouldn't believe how much I've been cooking lately. It's insane. The quarantine is really getting to me. I have also swept the sidewalk in front of our house and by the front mat and stuff and I remember seeing an old lady do that when I was young and thinking, "who sweeps outside?!" Yeah that's me now. Our house is always spotless and I'm cooking. I dont know if I need to start accepting that I'm getting old or if it's just the quarantine driving me crazy. (And just to be clear- my version of spotless is just no clutter or dishes. We definitely don't have a deep clean going on here.)
Anyways...
I wile my days away on Pinterest looking at recipes and then I try them. Here's some of the things we've tried. I have been pretty impressed with myself. And I am finding that it stresses me out a little less each time.
"You're gonna miss this. You're gonna want this back. You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast..." - that one country song by trace adkins
It's so funny how we put things in here as the month goes on and then by the time I'm writing this he is completely different. I remember when we first put the following two in here it was because it was the first time he was really showing any interest in a toy or interacting with it. It was so cute to see him kicking the piano and staring at the hanging things. Now he is so different that's like old news. It's crazy how fast he is growing and changing. Ever since about 2 and half months he smiles and makes different facial expressions so much. Before I remember we would sit there for hours making fools of ourselves trying to get him to smile and we would maybe get like a half smile for a split second and of course we could never catch it on camera.
This kid is so easy going. One morning as I was changing his diaper, he peed into his own mouth and smiled the biggest grin. Haha typical boy he’s like “woah did you see that?!”
haha he loves it when Dallin sings
I’m still having those moments where I go, “holy crap that is my kid!” (We both do.) And I’m slowly realizing that our lives will never be the same. It’s been different than most peoples’ experience because of the corona virus and having to stay home and to ourselves. I think because we aren’t going out or doing anything else it has taken longer to really hit me. Like when I start working in the fall I will suddenly realize how different my daily routine needs to be. But the crazy part about that is that it doesn’t scare me at all. He is such a cool kid that I think it’s going to be great!
10 day lashes
When will I learn? This is my 2nd Pinterest purchase that has been too good to be true. I saw this 10 day lashes thing and it was only like 30 bucks so I bought it. The concept is cool- it’s more like lash extensions than strip lashes because they glue to your actual eyelashes not your eyelids. And I loved it once they were on because they looked really natural and you couldn’t see glue lines or where the sections ended. The process of putting them on was easy too. Here are some pics of the day I put them on.
The aftermath
They started lifting on the edges really bad on the 6th day. I couldn’t help myself so I gently removed them and they took 21 of my own lashes with them. I was annoyed that they didn’t last the whole 10 days and that they damaged my lashes and I asked for a refund but all they did was send me more product to make it up to me. I’m bummed because I really wanted it to work. 30$ for lash extensions I should have known can’t be possible.
Our house transformation
We have worked so hard and done so much to our house. It’s so crazy to look back on how it was when we bought it. So much time and effort has gone into making it exactly perfect and how I want it, I think it would be so hard for us to ever leave this house now.We are so grateful for all the people that I’ve helped along the way too. Dilly has become really handy! And we are almost done!
Kid room
Before
After!
It was so surreal when the last piece of the puzzle came (the name sign.) I am the pickiest person in the world when it comes to home decor so I went back and forth for like 7 months over the name sign and asked about 100 people their opinions. When it had all come together I felt a little emotional because it was one of those things that made me realize that I'm a parent and I thought that would never happen. And it came together exactly how I imagined it so it was really cool.
Upstairs bathroom
We re-did everything except for the tub/shower so that is still on the list.
I am so weird about everything having to match. If all the metals in a room don't match it bugs me. So when you're in the bathroom, it's all brushed nickel, and then in the hallway it's oil rubbed bronze. So I couldn't pick a door knob because either way it wouldn't match on one side. (lol crazy people problems.) So I got brushed nickel and painted the other side haha
New Changing area downstairs
I am so glad we were able to figure out an option that looks cute but is still very functional. I never wanted to sacrifice my house to become 100% kid land when I had kids, and it was already becoming that. So we took down the pop up table in the entry way and came up with this. Still looks nice, and it was the perfect amount of space.
Before this whole space was used as Jake and Josie's room, so we just consolidated it to the back. Jake was pissed to be honest. He will be napping in there and we go in with Coop to change a diaper and he gives a big huff and walks out. He is not a fan of the new arrangement and having to share his space. lol poor guy
Master bathroom
This was the biggest transformation yet I think. It took the most time and was the most stressful thing by far. (Because our contractor was an idiot.) But it turned out amazing and I love love love it!
here is the before version
And AFTER!!!!
I love everything about it. The only thing I've noticed so far is that our hair is super noticeable on the floor since it's white. I complain about how much the dogs shed but now I'm realizing that I shed just as much! haha
My makeup bench is life changing. and my glorious tub and shower. just all of it. lol
Even that little white shelf on the wall- you might not even notice it. But I toiled over that shelf for months. I got a different one and returned it and then finally got this and hung it. Every single little thing that is displayed in this house was well thought out and I am becoming so happy because I can walk through almost every room and I have very little things left that bug me. lol it's wonderful
Master Closet
Dallin thought I was ridiculous when it came to the closet but once it came together he said, "Okay you were right this makes a big difference." and it's true! I love my closet so much. That's one of the things it would be hard to leave this house for. The storage solutions we just found on amazon. We were going to do built ins but this was so much easier and they look just as good! We changed out the rods because they were wood before, new baseboards, storage, bench, and rug. Oh and I freaked about that laundry basket for months too. Apparently what I wanted doesn't exist so I compromised on this one. But it still looks good so whatev.
Our moms
Both Sara and my mom have had health problems lately. My mom had been putting off surgery for years on a hernia in her esophagus/stomach area and finally did it. It went well and she's recovering. It will really make a big difference in her life. Sara had unexpected problems from a previous surgery and an obstructed small intestine so she had a long hospital stay and surgery but luckily they figured it out and fixed it. She's home recovering now thankfully. We sent them both flowers and thanked our lucky stars we're all healthy. Wish we could do more or be there for them so this was as close as it got.
Dumb Arizonians
We are like the worst in the country right now. Because of that they pushed back the beginning of the school year by 2 weeks. I hope by then it will be way better because I am scared of going back to work and getting it. Seriously like 1 in every 100 people have it. And I teach like 300 ish people usually. So I'm hoping they keep pushing it back until the risk is waaaaaaaaay lower.
First time swimming!
To celebrate fathers day we took Cooper for his first time in the pool! We were both so excited even though the whole thing was only about 10 minutes total (or less) lol
He didn't cry though, he just seemed annoyed at how bright it was outside and he never opened his eyes.
It made him super tired so he napped and we stayed out for maybe another 30 minutes and I got burned! haha that never happens but my skin hasn't seen the sun in a long time
He is so cute in his little hat. That tube didn't really work for him yet because he kept leaning to one side and it wasn't stable. But it will be better when he's a little older.
I have had so many mornings (I don’t know why but it always happens in the morning... maybe its the coffee) where I sit there just basking in complete bliss. I just can’t believe how nice it is to have my cute doggies, baby cuddles, and my husband all at home. It has been so nice to have the gift of these 4 months just chillin with ma’ fam. Even in the hard moments- I know it could be worse. And I sit there thinking “how could it get any better than this?” Sometimes I get worried that it’s too good to be true or that I don’t deserve it. Like I am kind of waiting for life to throw us a curveball because we have had it just too good. Now I completely understand why my mom always said, “Be good, be safe, be happy” every time we left her. Now that I've seen how much bad can happen in the world and to good people just out of nowhere, it makes me a little more worried than I used to be. These are crazy times.
Stools Project
Dallin gave me new bar stools for mothers day but they were too tall, and being my abnormally picky self I couldn't find any that I liked. (Unless I was willing to pay 259$ per chair which is astonishing.) So I just decided to paint the ones we have.
Here you can see the before
Here is during. (I was dripping sweat literally.)
I wanted to see if I could leave the cushions alone, but the brown didn't look good with the black. 
So I found vinyl paint and painted the seats! It was pretty "lickety-split" as my mom says.
I did some research on the best top coat and came up with this one.
This is the finished product!
As I was doing this paint project in the yard I realized how much Josie brings her toys back there. I went around collecting them and ended up bringing in 7 toys that she brought out there!
My sweet girl
Speaking of Josie, she still hacks. It's so sad. She still goes swimming in the middle of night and that's less sad and more maddening. Lately I noticed she won't eat when her collar hits the side of her metal bowl and makes a loud noise. It scares her off and then she gets hungry and tries again and it clangs and scares her again lol sad. So I got her a baby hair bow to wear instead of a collar and it worked perfectly!
We talk for Jake Josie and Cooper. Dallin always has the funniest narrations for them. Josie said "when's he going home? When we've babysat before they usually don't stay this long." Cooper said, "how do you know you're in love? because I think I'm in love with the fan. It's so beautiful I can't stop looking at it." And Jake said, "You guys, I never agreed to using my room for a changing table room."
She gets up with us in the night every time so she is always so tired. And she constantly sits there like that pawing at me to pet her because she is so jealous of Cooper.
I got these stickers for their paws because they were supposed to last 2 weeks. They only lasted about 3 days. But still I think it would be good to have if you were going to a farmer's market or some certain event where you know their feet will get too hot walking on asphalt. I just know they go out to go potty and our ground is just as hot so I wish they worked better. They didn't mind them though. With shoes or socks they are both just working to get them off the whole time.
Happy Father's Day!
He is seriously such a good dad. I couldn't do it without him and I'm already nervous about that when he starts traveling for work again.
We got him chicken bacon ranch pizza from BJ's which is his favorite. Went for a drive with no top (on the car not ourselves lol) and we went swimming with Cooper.
We got him chicken bacon ranch pizza from BJ's which is his favorite. Went for a drive with no top (on the car not ourselves lol) and we went swimming with Cooper.
It looks so cute now. Then his present for fathers day was a new mini fridge for his office and he says he loves it.
3 month DIY pictures
Now that I've done this myself a few times I'm thinking I may just be cheap and never go back to a professional photographer. I am so impressed with how amazing the iPhone camera and apps are for editing. Anyway this was by far the favorite from our little photoshoot. (The whole thing was only 15 minutes long tops lol )
As I was getting inspiration for poses to do for pictures I saw this one... 
He apparently hates wearing sunglasses.
And Cooper tried his best but it was hard for him to lift his head up so he couldn't do it that high. (He can now, but he couldn't back then. It's amazing how their achievements seem to happen over night.)
And then this happened. That pretty much told me we were done with the photoshoot. Thanks man, thanks.
Its funny how as you age you become your parents. I feel like a progressive commercial lately. I remember thinking how annoying it was when I was a kid how my mom was constantly snapping pictures. And now that's me. I am always walking around turning lights off and complaining about electricity like my dad. And I also caught myself telling dallin that we need to start sitting on the other couch more so that we can "get an even wear" on both couches. Soooooo my dad. lol what is happening to me?!
Things I want to always remember...
He has his father's nails. They grow so fast we have to cut them at least once a week.
I want to remember how chubby his little thighs are. I love how chunky he is so much. Its so freaking cute.
I do laundry like every other day now and I used to only do it once a week. Good thing I don’t mind laundry! Lol the thing I hate is dishes so luckily I have the greatest hubby in the world and he does them every night before bed
He rolled over at 5 weeks I swear... but no one believes me. Now I'm starting to realize how crazy that is and I'm thinking maybe I put him down on his stomach but was tired so I didn't remember doing that and I came back and thought he must have rolled over.
Now he’s scooting but only with his legs. So kindof jumping? Or climbing? The only problem is he doesn’t use his arms so he’s dragging his face and arms on the ground as he does it. Lol but he seems ecstatic about pushing with his legs so it’s funny. So we thought we would try the jumper but he can't hold his head up good enough to really use it yet. And he's still too short so we had to put a blanket under him and behind him hahaha
I love how he is always putting his hands together like that
G's birthday
We celebrated G's birthday with a feast at home (because what else can we do right now?). It was really good! And a fun challenge for me since I've been really into cooking lately. Dallin made steaks, and we had potatoes, rolls, salad, mocktails, and cake. It was significantly harder to prepare for with a little fussy cooper wanting attention every possible second, so we were late but it still worked out well. We played a game, watched a show, and we gave her box of diapers for a present.
the cake turned out SO yummy
Visiting SV
SPEAKING OF BIRTHDAYS!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO LEXI TODAY!! WOOHOO!
This is all out of order because we went to SV before her birthday. Anyways, it was pretty much coopers first vacation! I just went by myself and dilly stayed home with the dogs and he missed us so much it was kindof funny. On the drive down I was freaking out driving the jeep because it was the first time for me really driving it and the wind was crazy so I felt like I was going to fly into the people next to me on the road. Anyway he did great on the drives and the whole time we were there. It was fun to see them. We had lunch with my dad, went scorpion hunting, made frosting for G's cake, played games, went for walks, and read coop books. The best part about it was that cooper slept for 9 hours straight one night and then 8 and half hours straight the next night. I was so happy and I thought for sure it was going to stay that way, but then we came home and he had those 3 nights from hell in a row. On the 3rd night I lost my cool for real and Dallin got mad at me. lol not my finest hour. But lack of sleep will do that to you. (Not a surprise that dallin handles sleep deprivation better than I do.) Anyway i think it was the altitude that did it because we did our best trying to replicate the SV sleeping situation and moved him around a bunch but nothing worked and ever since he has been the same as he was.
2nd time Swimming
We learned from the first time that he needs better coverage so we got him a new little swim outfit. (I got 2 new suits too because of my.... ehem.... different body...) And we also didn't bother with using the tube. It was so fun!
Nail Adventures
Because of Kim Campa's suggestion and I've been using G and Lexi's gel lights for years I finally broke down and got my own. I got all the stuff and started a weekly tradition that I'm going to do my own gel every sunday. There is a bit of a learning curve with it but I'm getting better and faster every time.
The not-so-great times
Let's be real here- although I said a lot of really sappy stuff previously about how happy we are, there are crappy times too. Lots. I definitely don't ever want to be accused of only putting the positive out there so that we seem like a fake bunch of "keeping up with the jones' type." But it's also a fine line and I don't see the point of wallowing in self pity or letting the negativity consume me. I've had to work on that though and I still am. It's so easy to see what your struggles are and it's harder to find what you're grateful for. But anyway jus real quickly- here's the bad stuff in our lives lately.
I am just now starting to get over horrible insomnia. (And we all know how lovely I am to be around when I'm tired. Which was always for like a month. Dallin's a saint.) Cooper's sleep isn't really improving that much and he is harder to put down than he used to be. We both get random bouts of being stir crazy and missing going out and having a normal social life. My self-esteem sucks lately because of my new "different" body and nothing fits me and I never get ready or feel pretty anymore because what's the point? We miss going on dates and haven't felt as romantically connected lately (and I bet everyone is feeling like that right now) because nothing ever changes and we're just with each other in the house all the time so there's no fancy restaurant night outings or dressing up.
There are so many times when I legit don’t think I have the patience for this parenting thing. Lol it’s a good thing dallin knows that and he takes over when he can tell I’m “up to here” with the crying. And cooper isn’t even bad so I can only imagine if it were worse.
He is starting to be a lot more expressive- which can be a good thing and a bad thing. lol I swear he makes that exact face at us.
I am just now starting to get over horrible insomnia. (And we all know how lovely I am to be around when I'm tired. Which was always for like a month. Dallin's a saint.) Cooper's sleep isn't really improving that much and he is harder to put down than he used to be. We both get random bouts of being stir crazy and missing going out and having a normal social life. My self-esteem sucks lately because of my new "different" body and nothing fits me and I never get ready or feel pretty anymore because what's the point? We miss going on dates and haven't felt as romantically connected lately (and I bet everyone is feeling like that right now) because nothing ever changes and we're just with each other in the house all the time so there's no fancy restaurant night outings or dressing up.
There are so many times when I legit don’t think I have the patience for this parenting thing. Lol it’s a good thing dallin knows that and he takes over when he can tell I’m “up to here” with the crying. And cooper isn’t even bad so I can only imagine if it were worse.
He is starting to be a lot more expressive- which can be a good thing and a bad thing. lol I swear he makes that exact face at us.
Cooper blows out diapers like its his job. I have seriously become a wizard with the spray and wash. When I get frustrated and I put the pacifier in his mouth and he immediately spits it out I feel like this meme. He's got it all figured out- he knows he runs the show around here.
The other thing that sucks is that I'm trying to dry up the boobs and switch to all formula so they just hurt all the time. I have been stuck on my last 5 pounds to lose and it's just staying on. It's been a very expensive time so we're feeling a little broke and trying to go back into money-saving mode. And it's just hard having this much monotony and nothing to look forward to since the whole world is different now because of the virus.
So there- vent sesh over. 😅
We could stare at him all day
Trying new things
We were talking about things that other people like that we haven't even tried and for dallin it was biscotti and for me it was cottage cheese. We both challenged ourselves to give it a try and we both thought they were okay. Good but nothing life changing.
RIP Granny
My dad and shelly went to help get the stuff out of my grandma's house. My aunt packed me up such a nice box of holiday decorations and some of my great grandma's china that my granny wanted passed down to me. I also got her pancake skillet and I love it so much! I've used it a bunch already. It was sad that it was recently her birthday. This is a picture of her caretaker at her grave. I think it's cute that we think Cooper will probably have brown eyes, and my grandma always said she wanted one of the kids born to have brown eyes like her. There was nobody else in the family with brown eyes but her. So when she died and Cooper wasn't born yet we thought maybe they had a talk up there and she said "have brown eyes like me okay?" and he said, "You got it."
We love marvel movies
We finally finished the whole marvel movies story. We watched them all in chronological order and cooper seemed to like it too. I read somewhere that babies aren't supposed to watch more than 3 hours of tv a day so we don't usually watch it all day except for our movie with dallin at night so it's like a little mini thing to look forward to every day. Now that we are done it made end game much more sad cuz I actually knew what was going on. Now we are moving on to re-watch the Chuck series again.
June decor!
I think this was my favorite mantle by far. Since I have nothing else to do now except walk around and analyze the decor I was especially picky about it and got stuff online and returned it and rearranged a few times. But it ended up SO FREAKING CUTE. Ah I just love it and I was sad to take it down for the July one.
I love Fiton!
My friend kim recommended this app to me and I have been loving it. It's free and you can pick from length of workout, body part, type, intensity, equipment, goals, etc. They have so much on there and they even have a little trainer tips portion and celebrity trainers on there. So they even have the guy from queer eye (me and G find him hilarious) and his advice was to be nice to yourself and say daily affirmations. That hit me hard because I have been trying to deal with aging and changing and stuff. I think I have an unrealistic idea in my head that I always have to look like I did when I was 22 and that's just not going to happen. So I am working on changing my goal to simply "age well" instead of "never aging." And really I do have a lot to be grateful for because my abilities are coming back and I'm only 5 pounds away from my goal, so I bet by the time school starts again I will be able to dance like normal.
I said to Dallin one day that I have lost 40 pounds in 3 months and he went "Woah!" lol I started laughing because I never thought those words would come out of my mouth. I put him in a weird situation with that one- he didn't really know what the right thing to say was. "Good job", or "you didn't need to lose weight you were already beautiuful", or "you worked so hard," etc.
I was also laughing because first you have to gain that much weight to say you've lost it so it's making me realize how friggin' huge I was! haha
I said to Dallin one day that I have lost 40 pounds in 3 months and he went "Woah!" lol I started laughing because I never thought those words would come out of my mouth. I put him in a weird situation with that one- he didn't really know what the right thing to say was. "Good job", or "you didn't need to lose weight you were already beautiuful", or "you worked so hard," etc.
I was also laughing because first you have to gain that much weight to say you've lost it so it's making me realize how friggin' huge I was! haha
What a cuter!
He loves sitting up on the couch like that.
Why is it an audible explosion every single time he poops? Is that how all babies are? And why do people say the expression sleep like a baby? They really don’t sleep for very long.
Trying new braids
I tried to follow a tutorial video on Bubble braids for a fun change of pace. I failed miserably so I went for dutch braids instead. This time I was going over to G's just to have dinner but it was something to get ready for so that was nice. I have noticed that not getting ready just makes me feel like a slob so I'm trying to be better and at least do something every day so that I feel good about myself at least a little. So a lot of days it's just one thing not everything so it looks kinda funny. Like I may have a full face of make up but still in ugly clothes and my hair isn't done. Or I did my hair but nothing else. Or out of no where I look like trash but I'm wearing a dress. haha it makes no sense especially because literally only jake, josie, cooper and dallin see me. But I would still like dallin to think I'm attractive lol
Like I said earlier, we have had a hard time connecting lately and it’s occurred to us that it’s because we used to go on weekly dates and now we never leave the house. You can call it a “date night” without leaving but it’s really not the same. We used to go to restaurants and talk for hours, or go explore a new place or do something we haven’t done or be with friends. We are both in a different frame of mind when we’re home, especially with a new baby and all the work that entails and since dallin works from home. So we have had to become more strict with ourselves on not eating dinner in front of tv and eat together, and stop being on our phones when we’re together, and making sure we still prioritize spending time together even though we can’t go anywhere. I'm sure we're not alone in that and every couple in quarantine has felt that way. After all, it's definitely not normal to spend 17 weeks at home together and literally never go anywhere else or do anything. It's a weird experience for everyone apparently. Dallin told me about a famous gamer who just committed suicide, and I know girls from our classes who are struggling with PPD and stuff. I feel lucky that our problems are really small compared to that and all in all we are doing well. 
coop thinks blankets are funny lolthe milk drunk face
July mantle
"They grow up so fast"
You know you're old when you start saying that phrase! haha
Cooper's so cute I had to make his face a meme. lol
Cooper's so cute I had to make his face a meme. lol
Can you believe that transformation!? Holy cow can time please stop? See ya next time!
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