Hats, Ties, and Cars

Julian has a few obsessions as of late. Namely, Hats, Ties, and Cars. Julian LOVES to wear a hat, even if the object it not meant to be worn as a hat, Julian will put it on his head anyway, and walk around as if it was a hat all along. He also walks around with Jamies ties around his neck, and whenever he see's someone wearing a tie (or a hat for that matter) he yells out.. A tie, a tie. or A hat, a hat! Cars; this one is relatively new whenever he sees a car he has to yell car, and then touch the car. He likes toy cars as well.

All of this for the most part is funny and cute, but let me give you a few examples when this can be quite annoying lol. The other week I went to BYU to register for my run/swim race which takes place at the end of this month. Julian was with me, and there was a long line. Well of course like most college student, and especially at BYU, there is an abundant of student wearing... you guessed it, a hat or a tie. I was waiting in line for 10 min, and pretty much every second of the wait was joined with Julian yelling... A hat, a tie... The other example is that we live across the street from the church building so we just walk to church each week. In the parking lot are about 30-40 cars. It took us about 10 min just to walk through the parking lot, because Julian had to stop at each car along the way, touch it and yell.. A car!!

Like I said this makes me laugh and giggle usually, but every once in a while think you might have a breakdown if you hear the word, hat tie, or car again!

Here are some pictures of the many hats Julian enjoys!

Look at that face! That is a face that I can't help but love! I have been asking heavenly father in my prayers recently to help me remember to stop and focus on Julian and his needs through out the day, to really try to understand him. You see Julian has a whine that within seconds makes you want to shoot yourself! He is very independent, yet so needy at the same time, and impatient as all get out (he gets that from his dad) When he doesn't like what you have to say or don't respond quick enough he will hit you, and it's not just the "frustration" hit that doctors talk about, it is a true attention getting I am mad at you hit! Between all of that I have been struggling the last several months, at getting truly upset and mad at this little boy! To the point that it was taking over any positive. So the last several days I have prayed for the guidance and awareness to STOP and THINK and UNDERSTAND my little boy. The first day I just prayed for patients, BIG MISTAKE, when you do that the lord answers by giving all the opportunity to practice!!!

The next several nights I asked that I would be able to understand Julian, remember his limitations, and to be aware of his feelings and struggles. And the last several days I have found or rekindled a even stronger love for him! I always loved him, but the last several months I had been physically exhausted and my emotions so frayed that I had a hard time feeling all the love I really have for him! The last several days I have been able to stop and see I boy who is extremely loving. Who cares deeply for those around him, who loves to snuggle, even if it is for a brief minute in between his race. A sense of humor to boot, and a smile that could kill! I am absolutely in love with this little boy. He still has a whine that could bust an ear drum, and a mighty powerful slap, but I have learned to see past that to the heart of my son. I am learning to make those frustrating moment into better teaching moments.

Motherhood is hard work! I never expected it to be easy, I knew it was physically demanding, but the thing I think I was least prepared for is how EMOTIONALLY demanding it can be. But at the same time it is very emotionally REWARDING! You just have to remember to STOP, THINK, AND LISTEN!

There is a popular blog I follow entitled 71 toes The mom has a very simple sign in her entry way that reads "Love More" This has been my focus of the week, and I really want to make a similar sign for my house, so that I could always remember that there is always room in our lives to love more...

Mommy loves you Julian Thompson James!

Sex, Marriage, & Fairytales || Spoken Word

Saw this video on facebook, and it gave me goosebumps! It is a great poem about marriage

Falling behind!!

I can't believe it has been so long since my last post! I realized that I am horrible at posting during big events/ holidays, the one time that my post probably matter the most right??

Christmas, was an amazing break for our family, especially Jamie. It was the first "real" vacation for him in almost two years. So needless to say it was way over due. A few days before Christmas we headed to California to spend time with my side of the family. It was the first time I have traveled with Julian, and Jamie, so I wasn't prepared for the amount of stuff we had, and this threw me all out of wack. Well to make a long story short,I not only left Julians Immunization card, which they check to verify his age since he flies for free, but I left his whole diaper bag, with his toys, snacks, diapers, and even some presents, in the car of the friend that dropped us off at the airport. Needless to say I was a wreck crying in the airport going through security. But all ended well. They let me pass with Julian (luckily he is on the small side so they believed me) and I had our friend send some of the presents to me. I had a bunch of wipes and diapers packed in suit-cases so that was good! Side note, if you ever need diaper and wipes they do sell them at the airport, at least the SLC one they did. In a package you get three diaper and a small thing of wipes, LIFE SAVER!!

It was really nice to relax with family we had Christmas Adam (the day before christmas eve, and Adam came before eve, therefore... ) this was a mini German dinner with Schnitzel since Christmas eve was a big German dinner at my omi's house and she doesn't do the Schnitzel she does the fish. This was great with my sister and her family and the cousins had a blast And then Christmas day was at home with my grandma and grandpa Fogleman, and Uncle Chris. That was great to spend time with them. Julian had a blast and is still playing with all the toys he received. Jamie was with us the first week, but had to leave for work, and Julian and I stayed a second week with my cousin who lives in NYC. It was great spending time with her, since we haven't seen each other in 4 years. We are six months apart and were really close when we were young. We had a great time and welcomed the new year in together!

Now that we are home it took me a couple weeks to get back into the swing of things. Julian had his 18 month check up and he is doing great. He is still on the lean side only in the 7% but he is gaining weight, and the doctor told us that in the next two visits or so, we can determine if that's just genetics, and he will be always be genetically lean. But his is growing tall in the 66% so above average. And the biggest hurray was that his head grew leaps and bound. Six months ago he wasn't even close to being on the charts with a head size in the .01% but now he is on the charts, on the low side, but nevertheless he made it on. We are really happy about that. That was the thing we were most afraid of.

Julian is talking up a storm. I am going to list all the words he knows, but I am sure I am going to miss a lot

1. water
2. night-night
3. dog
4. momma
5. daddy
6. couch
7. eat
8. no (still doesn't really say yes, says no for both)
9. bye
10. gentle (this is the word we use when he hits. He knows to wipe your cheek and say gentle)
11. banana
12. book
13.out
14. hot
15. cheese
16. please
17. Thank-you
18. yucky
19. stinky
20. ball
21. mine
22. cookie (blame jamie with that one)
23 brrr. (when we go outside and it's cold
24. Baby
25. Car
26. football
27. eye

That's all I can think off the top of my head, but there are more, especially since now he is starting to copy words that you say to him. His comprehension is even greater. He knows all the parts on his body and will point at them if you ask. He know about 10-12 different animal sounds, and knows what they look like. If he sees a cat he will go Meow, instead of saying cat. I can ask him to get me just about anything in the house and he will get it for me (ie diaper, cup, pillow, blanket ect..) He talks pretty much non stop, even if it isn't just gibberish. Still as active as always. We actually started sending Julian to Nursery a little over a month early. He was getting to distracting in RS. And the minute we dropped him off, he was off, and could care less about us! He is always happy when you are there to pick him up, but has no problem leaving you! Nursery has been a blessing, it is great to be able to really listen to a lesson again!

Well I think that pretty much sums up the last couple months... Until next time

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

I have mentioned before how I have struggled with motherhood. How I haven't adjusted to the roll as well as I thought I would. The last couple of months have been especially hard. Late last night I felt like I needed to go to the temple, so this morning I woke up really early and headed to the temple. As I sat pondering and reflecting, the topic of joy in motherhood and rejoicing in motherhood kept coming to mind. As I continued on with my day I tried to keep these thoughts in mind. I did pretty good, until Julian decided to wake up at 11:00 pm right in the middle of my movie and much needed down time. I struggled to get him to go to sleep but he was content throwing a fit on the ground whining crying, throwing himself on me, then throwing himself on the floor when I tried to pick him up. I started to loose it. Then Jamie came home from work, and took Julian to bed. I decided to go in my room and do some more pondering about motherhood. I found a great website called power of moms then I found a Mormon Message, which are great uplifting messages posted on YouTube, and I came across this amazing message about motherhood, I completley bawled during the entire thing. but I love the message so much. It was exactly what I needed to hear. I just wanted to share it1