Is 13 bad luck or good luck?

In my last post  I talked about how this year was not turning out to be what I imagined.  It took about 6 months of rotten luck but it has turned around.  If you had asked me a few months ago I would have told you that 13 was for sure an unlucky number because the year 2013 has turned out so crappy but now if you ask me I just might say it is pretty darn lucky.  It really all depends on which part of this year that you ask me.  After Jon had lost his job at the beginning of the year I thought for sure he would find another one right away and we would be fine but time went on and he still did not have a job.  I began to worry about what we were going to do and he just kept reassuring me that we would be fine and things were going to work out.  I informed him that if we had to we could make it through June but that was it we would be completely out of money.  He felt strongly about applying for a Job Coach position with Deseret Industries but there just were not any open at the time.  We kept waiting and waiting for one to open and I kept pushing him to apply for other jobs even thought he felt that he really needed to work for the Church.  Eventually some positions started to open up and he started applying even though they were all out of the area so we would have to move we put our faith in our Heavenly Father and kept applying.  As we got closer and closer to June and he had only had 1 interview that didn’t end up hiring I because very nervous.  True to who Jon is he just kept telling me to trust our Heavenly Father.  He had put out about 15 or so applications for Job Coach positions and finally toward the middle of June we start hearing back from several that are interested.  He knew he was in the top 3 for a position in Arizona which I really didn’t want to move to but I knew if that was the job he was suppose to get I would do whatever needed to be done.  I had just transferred the last of our saving to pay a bill and didn’t know what we were going to do the next month.  We had heard that an offer should be coming soon and I kept checking the mail everyday for the formal letter saying he was hired and it just never came.  Everyday I was disappointed but Jon kept telling me to relax then one day when I was feeling that I could no longer go any more I went up to take a nap to help get rid of a horrible headache I had been fighting for months when Jon came up and handed me a letter from the Church stating that he was being offered the position of Job Coach at the Nampa Deseret Industries!!!  I was so excited for Jon and what this meant for our family!  We would get to stay in the area and things would start looking up.  Jon started work at the beginning of July and our benefits kicked right in which is huge blessing.  I am so Thankful for a husband that has the faith to stay patient and follow the promptings he receives even when his wife is pushing him another direction. 

Life

This year was going to be the year!  I was going to do many great and wonderful things this year for and with my family and home.  But I guess the year had a different idea.  But that does not mean that I can’t still do some great things, I just have to do it in a different way.  I need to step out of my comfort zone and maybe work a little bit harder to get done what I want but it still can be done and with my wonderful husband by my side and great kids in tow we can do it!  It always amazes me that when life seems at a low the Lord blesses me with something that opens my eyes to what is really important in life.  It is never in a big way but in a simple thing. 

For those that don’t really know me well, I love to just sit and zone out when life gets difficult, I could sit and do nothing(really nothing but stare off) for hours and hours.  Well when you have 2 little kids at home it is not something that you can let yourself do with out then having to deal with the huge mess afterward. Yesterday I woke up and decided it was time to deal with that mess.  I got going and then sure enough it started snowing and everything in me wanted to sit and curl up with a blanket and zone out again.  Every time I sat and thought I will just take a break for myself my sweet Abigail would come running up with a book to be read. She would climb up on my lap and cuddle in for her story.  When it was her nap time I was again tempted to just sit and let the mess wait for another time but again as I would sit down for a moment to myself  Baylee would come to me needing something and that would get me up and going again, thanks to my little girls that would not let mommy just zone out on them I was able to get the house back into a functioning order. 

After Abigail’s nap and the house was all clean I did finally sit down to take a moment, I was on the internet just wasting my time when I heard giggles, I looked up and Baylee had turned on the Wii and gotten her sister all set up with a remote and they were playing Just Dance for Kids together and having so much fun.  I watched for a minute and noticed that Abi would try to do what Baylee was doing and when she would get it right Baylee would let her know how great she was doing.  I pulled out the camera to catch this moment of my girls playing so well together on film.  I love when they are friends and not just sisters.  It again reminded me that I can’t just check out or I would miss out on moments like these.

Just Dance

We have been very lucky this past month or so to have a lot more Daddy time.  He has been able to be home with us every night and it is wonderful.  The girls are thriving in his attention.  The T.V. is off more and there are a whole lot more giggles in the house from everyone.  It is amazing what having him home can do for his girls. 

I am so thankful to my Father in Heaven for giving me little reminders in life that even when it is not going as planned that it is still going and can still be wonderful if we take the time to appreciate the things he has blessed us with.  I am thankful for the time that I struggled to have kids so that when I do see my wonderful girls(tantrums and all) I can remember how much better life is with them, then it was with out them.

New Year???

As I sit here on this last day of 2012 I can’t help but to be thankful.  I have a nice warm house to sit in, I have a full belly, I have 2 beautiful daughters sound asleep at 8:00pm with no complaints, a wonderful husband out working hard for our family,I have had the opportunity to see the love a community come together for friends in amazing ways, and have seem miracles come when people put their prayers heaven ward together.  What more could a girl ask for? 

This year has been an interesting year and I am thankful for all the challenges and blessings we have been faced with.  I am thankful to know that I have a Heavenly Father that loves me and is aware of my needs and wants.  Yes he challenges me but those challenges are there to make me stronger and ready to receive the blessings waiting for me.  Yes I struggle with this and get mad and try to find blame yet in the end I always come back to the fact that I have never been left to struggle with out help.  It comes in many ways sometimes very surprising ways yet it comes. 

Many times a year I get asked what I want, whether it is for a birthday, anniversary, mother’s day, Christmas, or just cause and I always struggle to find something I want.  I think in reality I have everything I want sure there are things that would be nice to have, or would make life more enjoyable or easier but they never really make it on my want list.  I have everything I want except one thing and I know that will come with time.  That one thing I want is more time with my husband.  He is my best friend and I miss him so much when he is gone.  I sometimes feel silly that I miss him as much as I do when he has only been gone for an hour or so. My heart goes out to those women that have to be away from their spouse for long periods of time for whatever reason. I am so thankful for him and the love he shows me and the girls.  He works so hard and never complains just smiles and says “its another day in Paradise” .  He is always there to comfort me and ease my burdens as much as he can.  I have truly been blessed with a wonderful man. 

I am going to miss the year 2012 yet am so excited for what 2013 is going to bring to our lives.  We have many goals and are working hard toward those goals.  I don’t set new years resolutions because I think it is really a way to set yourself up to fail and feel bad so I set goals and those goals have many small goals that will lead up to a big goal yet I feel good about things even if I only get one small goal finished at least I finished it. 

Here is to 2013 and the amazing things that can happen in the next 12 months! 

Update

Baylee Fall 2012 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Baylee has been a very busy little lady the last couple of months.  She did some speech intervention at a local preschool which helped but she still has some issues we are going to continue to work with a speech therapist for.  She has started ballet again and is loving it. This year they are really focusing on technique and all the different positions for a ballerina.  She has really grown up and it makes me a little sad to know that she is getting very independent.  She has some chore charts that she has to work on every day and it amazes me how well she has done with this.  She will start working on her chores before I am even up some mornings.  She knows if she wants to do something that unless her chores are done my answer will be no.  I love that she is learning responsibility.  She is still full of imagination and loves to pretend she is some character from one of her favorite movies.  She is always dancing around the house and singing songs from those movies.  She has been a little extra cuddly lately and I think it has to do with the fact that she knows she is growing up and isn’t going to be my little girl forever so she wants to enjoy being held.  She is always eating and you can’t seem to fill her up.  She will finish a meal and within 10 mins is starving for more.  I am just glad that she usually wants healthy snacks and not junk.  She amazes me everyday with all the new things she has learned or can do.  I love how often she will turn to me and say “mom I love you”.  I am so glad that Baylee is my daughter and that I get to hear those words on a daily basis.  Right now she is eagerly awaiting the arrival of Christmas and is sad in the morning when it is not yet Christmas.  She keeps telling me she is going to spend the night at Grandma’s and can’t wait.  She has a list a mile long that she wants from the Easter Bunny but only a few things from Santa!  I am excited with her and can’t wait for Santa’s arrival

Abigail Fall 2012 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Abigail Is a very sweet little lady.  She is always ready for a cuddle and to give kisses.  Not very often do you find a smile on her face but when you do get lucky enough to see one it fills her whole face.  She loves music and loves to go to the library for music and movement. The last few weeks she has seemed to have gone from a baby to a toddler over night. She walks around the house like she is a big girl and can do anything. She loves to watch shows with her big sister and dances the same way Baylee is.  She loves to carry her monkey or a baby around every where she goes and will even insist on taking it to bed with her.  She will hold the baby all night long.  She is not afraid to let you know that she is not happy with something you did or did not let her do.  She loves to torment her big sister. When she finds Daddy asleep on the couch she will stand by the couch and watch him sleep with a big grin on her face.  She loves to say bye and will say it over and over until Jon walks out the door then she starts to blow him kisses. We recently transitioned her from a bottle to a sippy cup and that went way better then I ever imagined it would.  She was very stubborn for about 3 days then she slowly gave in and now she loves her sippy.  Some of her favorite songs right now are :”I am bringing home a baby bumble bee”,”monkeys jumping on a bed”, and “If you are happy and you know it”.  She loves to sit on our bench to get her shoes on but flips out and starts screaming when you try to put the coat on her.  She loves to be outside playing and will tries to go for a walk around the block by herself and when you go to get her she runs away squealing. She loves to pretend like she is a little puppy dog and has her tongue hanging out panting a large portion of the time, she will even walk up to you and lick you once in awhile.  She has become a good little eater thankfully.  It is still hard to find things she likes but if you do happen to offer her something she is in the mood for she will eat a ton of it.  She wants to be done with naps so she screams and screams when you put her in bed but it only takes about 2 mins of being in bed before she is sound asleep.  She will take a good 2 1/2 to 3 hour nap.  I am always amazed by this sweet little girl and the little things in her personality that will all of the sudden shine through.  She is a joy in our home and we are thankful that she is our little girl.

Svedin Fall 2012 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Jon has been working a lot this last year with his 2 jobs and trying to get his teaching certificate. When he is not at work he is either studying, helping me with the girls and house stuff, or off doing some sort of service for someone.  He never complains about how hard he has to work in fact he will listen to me and comfort me as I complain about how hard things are and how much I miss him.  He is such a great guy.  I have been keeping busy taking the girls to their different activities and working out a routine here at home.  I was so sick of having to clean the same mess over and over and never have time to get to all the other cleaning that needed to be done.  I started a chore chart with Baylee and it has worked wonders for our family.  Most of the time Baylee and I are done with our daily chores by 10 and then we play with Abigail until nap time then it is play time for Baylee and mommy.  It has been so nice to be able to relax at night knowing the dishes are done and the toys are picked up.  I start my day off on a great note because the house really isn’t a huge mess. Baylee has gotten really great at looking at her chore chart and just doing her chores.  I have been busy filling out a bunch of paper work for a new adventure in our life's that I will fill you in on at a later time when there is more to tell but we are excited.  I am excited for Christmas this year. We get to go to my parents house which always reminds me of when I was little and the excitement in the air around Christmas.  Baylee and I have taken our time decorating for Christmas so that we don’t have holiday cheer burn out.  My paparazzi business has really picked up this last month with the holidays coming. It has been nice to see it work and I love how the stuff just sells itself.  I love to share it with people because of the great price.  I never thought I would love a home party based business like this.  I always thought people who did it was nuts! I guess now I am one of those nuts.  Jon is a great support and spends some of his spare time making boards for my displays and also going and doing events with me when he can.  I love how much he supports me in this adventure and that he is not afraid to be goofy with it.  This past year has flown by so fast.  I am glad that I get to share it all with my wonderful family, I am so thankful for the family that my heavenly father has blessed me with and feel like the luckiest woman in the world.  I can’t wait for what life has in store for us this next year and all the years to follow.

Baylee Serenity Svedin

What can I say about this sweet little girl.  We love her so much.  She changed her daddy and my life when she joined our family 4 1/2 years ago.  It seems like it was not that long ago that I held her for the first time and fell in love.  There is something about Baylee that just makes a person fall in love with her.  She has a smile that makes strangers walk across a room full of people just to say hi to her. 

Baylee is such a caring person and worries so bad when she sees someone who is hurt or sad.  When Abi is fussing Baylee is the first one there trying to make her happy by giving her a toy or singing her favorite song. 

Jon and Baylee have an awesome relationship.  She is her dad’s little buddy and loves to be doing what ever he is.  She gets so excited when he gets home from work. When Jon is at work she holds my phone most of the day for when her daddy will call her.  One of the last things she thinks about before she falls to sleep is her daddy coming to give her a kiss.  She always wants me to remind him so he wont forget. I love that they have such a friendship and I hope it continues through out her life.

Baylee has a great imagination and on most days you will find her dancing around the house like a princess or acting our her current favorite Barbie movie.  You might even find her outside on an animal rescue with Diego from Go Diego Go.  Recently she has started watching my favorite cartoon as a child She-Ra.  I love that she watches it and loves it enough to act out the different episodes.  She loves it enough that she wants to be She-Ra for halloween.  I am so excited to make this costume for her.  I can’t wait for the end of the month. 

I am so Thankful for Baylee’s birthmom who was so unselfish and loved Baylee enough to let us adopt her.  We are so thankful to have Baylee in our lifes!  I could not imagine what my life would be like without her beautiful smile and amazing personality. 

Happy Birthday my Big 5 year old.  We sure do love you!!!

 

Jonathan Rex Svedin

When trying to think of a way to celebrate this wonderful man on his birthday I got to thinking of how much he loves his friends and family.  He is the type of person that would do whatever he can for those he loves.  When I ask Jon about his childhood or his favorite memories he always tells me what a bad memory he has so this year on his birthday I would love to have all of his friends and family remind him of all the great times in his life that his bad memory may have forgotten.  So if you would please leave a comment below with your favorite memory of Jon to help make his day I will make sure that he reads them all.  If you would then pass this link on to others who may know him so they can share their memories I would be very thankful.  Let’s make this a day to celebrate Jon! 

I've been thinking

Lately I just keep thinking about how I clean the same mess over and over yet the house never seems to get cleaner.  I know that having kids plays into this but yet the mess is not always the kids mess.  I know that organization is the biggest problem in my house.  Not everything has a place.  I set a goal when we moved in to make sure everything had a place when it got unpacked but seemed to have failed miserably at this.  So things get shifted from one spot to the next and it drives me nuts but I just don't seem to know what to do about it.  I have read many books, and blog post on organization and think oh I can do that it wouldn't be that hard but when it comes right down to it I never get it done.  I will get started and then get distracted by one of my children or the hubby and then never end up getting back to it so that makes an even bigger mess to face the next time I try.  I often wonder if I just missed this line in heaven.  Did I not get the organization gene or is this something that is developed over time.  And if that is the case how in the world do you do it??  How can I teach my sweet girls so that they don't have to deal with this issue when they are older.  How do I who fail miserably in house keeping teach my girls to do better?  We have tried having Baylee do chores and she was great at it but once again mother falls short and stops having her do her chores and we are back at stage one of chores once again.  Is there any tricks to this that I am missing?  What age do I start.  Abi just stares blankly at me as I try to teach her to pick her toys up and put them away.  In fact she does the opposite and spreads them right back out as I put them away.  I will go to other people's homes and think "how in the world do they do it?"  I would like to just follow a few of my dear friends around all day every day for a week and just watch there daily routines and their cleaning habits and see if I can learn something. Not sure they would like that and I don't really have the time with 2 kids at home but hey if any of you dear friends are willing I think I could arrange a sitter for the week so I could observe you in your daily duties.(just putting it out there :) ) I just want my home to be nice for my hard working man and my family.  I guess I will just keep trying different things and keep cleaning the same mess over and over and maybe one day all the pieces will come together and I will get this figured out. Maybe one day I will have the house the people walk into and think WOW!!! A girl can dream right??