10 Months!

I feel like I just wrote about Shawn turning 9 months, and now he's already 10 months. Seriously, where is the time going? In two months he'll have his first birthday. What?? Last week he started walking a little. He still prefers crawling as his main form of transportation, but he can walk short distances. We bribe him with food when we want him to do it. That's what good parents do, right? Ha. He is trying more and more foods and he likes most of what we give him. Except Cheerios. What baby doesn't like Cheerios? Of course I bought the biggest box I could find. If I try to give him a bite of something too soon, he'll just spit out whatever is in his mouth to make room for the next bite. Goof. He's still not sleeping real well, but I just keep telling myself it could always be worse. This past week he is getting up twice a night on average. He has also cut his naps from two a day to only one. I am not quite ready for that because his naps were the only times I got anything done!

I also can't believe Christmas is next week. I have had a hard time getting in the Christmas mood this year because we have exactly zero Christmas decorations up. Listening to Christmas music as I type this helps a little. I usually do a tree and nativity and all that jazz, but we're moving this weekend! Yep, 4 days before Christmas. What a fun time to move. Not. The last month and a half has been extremely stressful as we try to figure out where to go and what to do next with our lives. Ben finishes up student teaching this week and has been trying so hard to find work. Nothing has worked out so we will be returning to Washington where Ben will be a substitute teacher until next school year. We were thankfully able to find a tenant to take over our apartment contract, which was supposed to go until April. That was a little worrisome since this is not a very popular time of year to move! We have truly enjoyed our short time in Nampa and we will miss all the wonderful people we have met here.

The Christmas song that just came on is the "extra festive" version. Thanks, Pandora. 

And now, a bombardment of blurry cell phone pictures. Here's what we've been up to since I last posted about Thanksgiving.

Shawn got his first Christmas present. He didn't really know what to do with it! He was much more interested once we opened it for him and he got to play with the Buzz Lightyear flashlight inside.

It's much more fun if you actually climb inside the drawer.

Yum, spoons. My table now has dents in it from where Shawn decided to use it as a drumstick.

Trying baby cookies for the first time. He was a fan.

It looks like his foot is all twisted, but I promise these pajamas are just a little too long :) That ladle is now cracked in half and in the trash.

He loves it when daddy shares his popsicles.

Bath time is still the best time.

Ward Christmas Party. Shawn was totally happy and pleasant the entire time except the 5 seconds I was taking this picture. And also this one:

Classic.

Those lips! He's enjoying playing with all the boxes and mess of random stuff that's everywhere as we prepare to move. It's like a jungle gym for babies.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. Ben was fortunate enough to have the entire week off so we spent the whole week in Washington with my family. Excuse my blurry cell phone pictures. 

This kid REALLY hates being in the car. I sit in the back with him, but it doesn't make much difference. Road trips are no fun for any of us. I'm glad we only live about 4 hours away from my parents right now. I don't think we could handle a further drive than that!

We were all very happy to arrive, but no one was as happy as my mom. She loves her little peanut! Check out all those toys in the background. My mom is the coolest grandma ever.

Yeah, it's pink. Shawn loved it anyway. He has a tiny highchair at home that straps onto a regular chair so it was fun for him to have a big highchair with a huge tray. 

If you look closely, you can see his two little teeth on the bottom. So cute! We were playing peek-a-boo behind the couch and he thought I was hilarious. I think I'm hilarious too.

Helping grandma unload the dishwasher.

Shawn woke up from his nap in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner. He doesn't usually snuggle like this but I don't think he was quite ready to be awake!

The dinner was nice, but to be honest, I think Thanksgiving is way way way too much work. I don't even like the food that much. Turkey? Yeah I had a few pieces. Stuffing? Gross. Pumpkin pie? Ew. I can't even stand the smell. I'd rather order pizza every year. Pretty sure I'll never get my way!

Reading with Grandpa. Blurry but cute!

Black Friday shopping with the girls. It's a tradition! This was my first Thanksgiving home in 3 years so it had been a while! That store waaaay in the distance is where we were going. Despite the long line we were in and out in 1 hour, 8 minutes and I got everything on my list!

The trip home went a lot smoother than the trip there. It was so nice to see everyone! But it's always nice to be home and back to our own beds and familiar routine. Hope everyone else had a nice Thanksgiving too!

This month will be spent packing and moving. I have no idea when or where we're going. Should be fun.

P.S. Shawn has slept through the night 3 times in the last week! It's a miracle!

9 Months Old

Shawn has now been outside of me longer than he was inside me. He turned 9 months old last week! Here are his 9 month stats (I know you probably don't care, but this way I can remember!):

22 pounds, 6 ounces (86%)

29.5 inches tall (87%)

He is reaching most milestones that would be expected of a one year old. He can do pretty much everything except walk! We're working on that.

He brings so much joy and laughter to our home. No matter how hard I try, I just can't kiss those cheeks enough every day! He got his first two teeth in the last couple weeks. One on the top and one on the bottom. Ben says he looks like a Jack-o-Lantern! I imagine a couple more aren't too far behind.

He would stay in the tub all day if I let him.

He gets into EVERYTHING!

Caught red-handed.

 I thought I was so smart by putting a chair in front of the cabinet. It only took him like 3 seconds to figure out how to push it out of the way!

 This kid loves to eat. Even if I just gave him a full meal, he'll still want some of whatever I'm eating. 

We love you Shawn!

I Have Good News and Bad News

Which one do you want to hear first?

Okay, always good news first. Ben got himself a job interview. Yay!

The bad news?

The job is at a middle school in Enid, Oklahoma. 

Yeah, I hadn't heard of Enid either. 

I'm trying hard to have faith that we'll end up where we're supposed to, but dang! It's hard!

We have about a month left to figure out where we'll be calling home after student teaching. I'll keep you posted.

My Obsession

Since Shawn was born 9 months ago, I have gone to exactly one movie. One. Iron Man 3. In our life B.S. (before Shawn, haha) we went to movies all the time. Lots of weekends you could find us at the Dollar Theater for date night. But this month, I'm going to a movie. Nothing's going to stop me.

When a preview comes on TV, I make everyone be quiet and I jump up and down like a little girl. I don't have that many crazy obsessions, but this is one of them. Catching Fire was my favorite book in the Hunger Games series, so I've been waiting for this for a long time. Anyone else feel the same way?

P.S. Mom, will you babysit over Thanksgiving? :) I mean, how can you say no to this face?

P.P.S. You might want to hide your towels.

Look How Cute I Am!

Not me, my blog!

I got a major face lift courtesy of Jessica Olsen. You can find her blog here.

I love it! Tell me what you think.

Thanks Jessica!

November Update

I know many of you out there are wondering, "What's new with the Rawlinsons?"

Well, I'll tell you.

Not a whole lot.

But I decided that shouldn't keep me from blogging! 

Here's an update on all of us.

Ben- He's loving student teaching! He is doing so great and I'm proud of his hard work. He gets done right before Christmas. We are desperately searching for a teaching job...but how many teaching jobs open up in the middle of the school year? Not that many. We've applied all over- Utah, Nevada, Oklahoma, Kansas, Tennessee, etc. etc. etc. We believe that we'll end up wherever we're supposed to go (But I'm secretly hoping it's NOT Oklahoma, Kansas, Tennessee, or any of those other states that are really really far away!) Now that the middle school football season is over, Ben is home a lot more. It's nice not only for me, but now Ben and Shawn get more time together too. He got put in as 2nd counselor in the Elders Quorum in our ward. That calling plus all the job applications keep him very busy!

Me- Um...nothing. Just kidding. My life is really not that interesting. I play with Shawn, clean, do dishes, laundry, the typical mom stuff. But I love it. Sometimes when I get tired or sick of doing laundry for the millionth time, I remember how lucky I am to be able to stay home! Although speaking of that, I'm currently looking for a seasonal job. No luck so far. I should have started looking a month ago. Oops. I just got put in as the new primary pianist. I haven't been in primary since I was actually a primary kid. It's fun to do something different! We looooove our ward and are crossing our fingers we can find a job around here so we can stay. If you remember my last post, we are still doing insanity. It's still just as hard, if not harder, than the first day. But we aren't giving up!

Shawn- He'll be 9 months old next week! I'm telling you, this kid is ridiculously smart. He takes after his mom. Just kidding. Kind of. But he learns new things almost every day! He is constantly making me laugh. This last month he has stood without holding onto anything a couple times, so walking is probably in the near future. He learned how to give high fives and how to stick his tongue out.

Adorable.

 Sometimes at night after he's in bed I just look at pictures of him because I miss looking at his face. We're pretty sure he's going to be left-handed. He eats all his food with his left hand. If I put the food in his right hand, he'll transfer it to his left hand before putting it in his mouth. Oh well, I'm not that surprised. He takes after his left-handed dad! 

He loves to play in the fridge. Weirdo. His favorite thing is the bottle of mustard. He chews on the top. He has now slept through the night 3 times. Three glorious times! I'd love for that to become a regular occurrence. He growls a lot and crawls around saying "mamamama." I love it.

Our Journey to Insanity

Before I actually start this post, I would like to brag for a second. I just swatted a fly out of the air and it landed in the garbage can. Can't get more efficient than that!

Contrary to what you might think based on the title, this will not be a post about us entering an insane asylum. But we are definitely insane for what we are undertaking. 

This.

You've probably seen the infomercials in the middle of the night. Thanks to Craigslist, we got it for 1/3 of the price. I'm pretty sure I'm going to look like that girl on the right when we're done. If I survive. Yesterday was day 1 and I spend the majority of the time on the couch trying to breathe. 

Hopefully I'll spend a little less time on the couch tonight and a little more time getting stronger. 

Sleep

Let's get real. Babies are cute and fun, but taking care of one around the clock is exhausting! Shawn has never been a good sleeper. Around 3 months he started doing a little better and would give us one solid 4-6 hour stretch of sleep, but once he turned 4 months old the sleeping situation went downhill. He wouldn't sleep in his crib for more than 1-2 hours without waking up. We tried it all! Different swaddling products, the swing, putting him in bed with us, etc. etc. etc. And naps were a joke! Someone had to sit near his swing and be on "binky patrol" because if that thing came out, you could forget about nap time. 

But now, at 7 months old, we are all finally getting some sleep! Last month we tried some sleeping training to help Shawn learn to fall asleep on his own. Prior to that, we always had to rock/bounce him to sleep. We did a modified cry-it-out method where one of us went in every 5 minutes to soothe him without picking him up. After a week or so he was able to go to sleep without crying at all. Life became a little easier, but he was still waking up anywhere from 2-5 times a night. Usually the only way to get him to calm down and go back to sleep was to feed him. But this month, he has gotten to the point where he is only waking up 1-2 times per night. Last night he went down at 7:00, woke up at 10:00 to eat, and then slept all through the night until 7:50 this morning! I haven't felt this rested in forever!! 

Nap times have been a little tricky over the past week because Shawn learned to stand up in his crib. Every time I lay him down, he just cries and stands up! So I've had to resort back to the bouncing and rocking a few times. But once he gets over the new-ness of standing, I think we'll have ourselves one good little sleeper!

Welcome Home!

We are all moved in! It took a while, but all the boxes are gone and everything is put away. It finally feels like home. Follow me for a tour!

Shawn's room, complete with minion poster. I love it! The top says, "Have you hugged your minion today?"

Other side of Shawn's room with his dresser.

My brother Keegan made this for Shawn.

Kitchen. I love the amount of counter space!

View of the living room from the dining room

Living room from the other side

Spacious bathroom

Bedroom

The bedrooms and closets are a little small, but we've found a place for everything. So far we have really enjoyed living in Nampa. It's fun to explore the new stores, restaurants and parks in a town. It's also nice to be "in between" lots of family members and friends. We've already had lots of guests who are passing through on the way to Rexburg/Washington/Provo.

I can't write a blog without talking about my little angel. Shawn is getting bigger and learning new skills every day. Ben comes home at night and swears he looks bigger than he did the day before. He is still up 3-4 times a night, but he generally goes back to sleep pretty quickly once I feed him or give him back his binky. At 6 1/2 months old, he is in 9 month and some 12 month clothes and size 3 diapers. We'll need to go up to size 4 soon. He is a rolling machine and we think he'll start crawling soon. He is extremely curious and will fearlessly nosedive off the bed/couch/counter/whatever if he sees something he wants to explore. I'll definitely have my hands full once he's more mobile! He is such a happy little guy with an infectious smile. His favorite things to do during the day are go on walks in the stroller and jump in his bouncer.

Such a doll.

This is the only time he's ever done this. I was feeding him green beans and he started eating the table! It was hilarious. 

Those big blue eyes kill me! It's hard to tell in the picture, but he is getting more hair. In some light it looks blond, and sometimes it looks a little red. He loved gnawing on a carrot! 

He's a tummy or side sleeper now. Sometimes I go in and he's playing with his Mickey Mouse bumper pads. 

He got his first sippy cup last week. He hasn't figured out that he's supposed to suck yet, but he sure loves to chew on it!

6 Months!

My sweet baby boy turned 6 months old last week! I can't believe he's halfway through his first year. It has gone by in the blink of an eye and yet it feels like I've been his mommy forever. He is getting bigger and learning new things every day. We took him to the doctor today (his third doctor already...that's what happens when you move a lot!) He weighs 19 pounds, 11 ounces (82nd percentile) and is 28 inches long (91st percentile). Quite a jump from the 12th and 14th percentiles he was in at birth! 

He can now sit up for long periods of time all by himself. He likes to sit up and play with his toys. We've also started baby food. He wasn't a fan of peas or green beans, but he doesn't mind carrots. 

We love him so much. I am so lucky to be able to stay home with him. I consider it the best job in the world. Ben started student teaching this week so Shawn and I get lots of time together during the day. We read books, play with toys, and go on walks. Ben is teaching 6th grade history and helping coach the 8th grade football team. We are enjoying our time in Nampa so far. We are {almost} all the way unpacked. Just a few more pictures to hang on the walls. Once we're done, I'll take some pictures of our new home!