A Quality Life

"A quality life is God's greatest wish for us. Life is to be lived well in whatever circumstances we find ourselves. There should not be a waiting period..."

-Marvin J. Ashton, "Becoming a Quality Person Now," Ensign, April 2010

I read this article and knew that it was meant for me. But I read it for the second time today and it just hit me. I can really get discouraged about the smallest and biggest things. I don't like that. However I am grateful for who I am and for who Heavenly Father has made me. I know satan is really the only one who puts those thoughts in my head and sometimes I let him. And sometimes it's a constant struggle fighting with those thoughts and him. But overcoming those small or big struggles makes me better than I was before and helps me to appreciate what I have. I love to be happy and love to enjoy life. My life is good and the simplest things make it wonderful.

Happy 18 months!

Yesterday Noelle turned 18 months. I seriously can't believe it. She has quite the personality and is so helpful and so smart. I remember thinking when my sister Alyson gets home from her mission Noelle will be 18 months. I thought that was such a long ways off. Now Aly's coming home and the time really has flown by. We ask Noelle "Where's Alyson?" And she points to her picture on my parents wall. She's picking up on everything. Here are some of the latest milestones:

• She often says something to the effect of "What's dis?" or "Oh geez."
  
• She brings us anything we ask her to and is so helpful.
• Her vocabulary is growing more every day. Some of our favorites lately are "ha"=hot. "sh"=shoe. "bebe"=baby. "be"=button/belly button.
• We love asking her where her hands, feet and teeth are. It's so cute when she shows you them.
  
• Noelle loves making animal sounds. Her favorites lately are making kitty, duck and doggy noises.
• She repeats a lot of what we are saying or the first part of it anyway.
  
• She loves Elmo and Sesame Street more than ever and loves dancing to the music.
• She loves her little pink blanket and still loves giving hugs to her stuffed animals and saying "ohhh" when she does.
• She folds her arms during the prayer, this doesn't last very long though.
  
• She still loves books.
• She takes naps and goes to bed very willingly, walking into her own room and hardly ever crying. (we love this)

I can't believe how big she is getting and how much she is learning. We went to her doctor's appointment today and she is 23.2lbs (40%) and 32 inches (75%) and we found out that she has Bronchiolitis. Apparently there is no medicine for this really either and it lasts about 2 weeks. She's a very happy girl though and if it wasn't for her cough and runny nose you wouldn't know she was sick. We love her so much and are so happy to be her parents!

She loved having her own purse and sunglasses

Very serious and "I'm cool" picture

Did I really do that?

So today I had an "I'm a bad mother" moment. Now I know I'm a good mother and I love being a mother. It's just one of those moments that you look back and say "Did I really do that?" or "Can't I go back just a few seconds and change that?" You'll understand why. Our car door doesn't have automatic locks so I'm so used to locking the door by hand. Me and Noelle came out of Subway and I put her in the carseat. Normally before I shut and lock her door I will leave my door open or check to make sure my door is unlocked. Well I forgot this time. That's right, I locked my daughter in the car with my keys on the drivers seat. The first thought going through my head was "How am I going to break the window?" I was seriously looking around to find a rock on the ground or thinking to myself if I was strong enough to break it with my hand. I was a little loopy apparently. I call Michael he gets me the number of our emergency roadside assistance and they hook me up with a locksmith. They couldn't get there for another twenty minutes so I call my mom to help me keep Noelle entertained. Luckily it wasn't a hot day. For being in a car by herself she did really well. She cried a little and had some tears, which really broke my heart. But we would sing "The itsy bitsy spider" or "Popcorn popping" and she would do some of the actions with us inside the car. Poor girl didn't know what was happening. I'm sure we were quite the attraction doing these songs outside. We didn't care though. Help came and rescued my daughter. Today I'm very grateful for my cell phone and locksmiths. I'm not trying to make light of the situation, it was very scary and sad for me. Anyway. What a day. That's one for the story books.

Pudding can be so fun to play in!

Without a car during the day I've realized I have to be creative with activities in the house. Noelle seems to get bored so easily with certain things I try and do. She doesn't want to color yet. She puts the crayons in her mouth still. She will only play with her toys for so long. And as much as she loves Elmo and Sesame Street the songs are starting to get stuck in my head way too often and I need to find other things to do. So my mom suggested playing with pudding. Thursday we did this and it was a huge success. I put her in her high chair, left her in only a diaper and just let her have at it. She didn't know what to do at first but then just went crazy. I actually did put a little on her face and hair but after I did she went crazy with it. It was a lot of fun and just might be a weekly activity.

I had fun with the pudding too!

Noelle has been really fussy this last week. She's been very needy and often won't let us out of her sight. If we do she just starts bawling. She's had a poor appetite, even worse than before. It's been sad to see her like this. We thought it was just teething. Friday night my mom saw these little bump like blisters on her hands. She had a bunch of red spots on her arms and legs as well. It spread fast so Sunday we took her in to the doctor's. The doctor looked in her mouth and it was very red as well. I guess she has hand, foot and mouth disease. It's supposed to go away within 7-10 days and there is no real treatment for it. So she just has to wait it out. I hate that. But at least it's nothing worse.

One of her nights when she wasn't feeling well and was very upset.

She's been into this bracelet thing lately. Anything that will go on her wrists she puts on them and just loves how she looks and is so proud of herself. This day she used my flip-flops. Clever, funny girl :)!

Recipe Update

For those of you who care I updated my recipe blog. There are four new recipes that I absolutely love and think you must try:

Avocado Egg Rolls with Dipping Sauce
Bowtie Chicken Salad
Hot Corn Dip
Cinnamon Apple French Toast Bake

Go here for all of them in a row and enjoy!

#7 "Goodbye Ruby Tuesday"

Our second date together was spent at one of our favorite restaurants: Ruby Tuesday. So that is what I planned for our date this last Friday. We definitely needed to get out and I love the atmosphere there. I had two small veggie burgers (which were delicious by the way) and the salad bar and Michael got a bison burger with some fries. We also shared a very fruity juice drink called tropical paradise. Afterward we had to top it off with a little ice cream from Cold Stone. Oh it was so fun to talk and walk around and just have fun together. Thank you to my parents for being the babysitters. After a long week with a crazy 17 month old I long for adult conversation so I tend to talk a lot to whoever is with me the most.

Me: "Am I talking a lot?"
Husband: "Yes, but it's fine."
It was funny to me. Another fun date night with my wonderful husband.
Interested in other date night ideas or joining this fun project? Just click here!

Happy Easter

It's been a great week and weekend. Even though the weather wasn't really the greatest. We had a fun time with Grandma Fullmer, Aunt Taylor and my cousin Jessie at the mall on Thursday. Thursday also marked 8 years of when my friend Jamie passed away. We went to her grave and left some roses and a note. We also went to my brother's grave and left a little Easter basket. Leaving things on my loved ones graves is really good for me. It helps me to feel closer to them and helps me to remember good memories. It was an emotional day but the spirit was really strong. I'm so grateful for the Savior and His life and resurrection. It really hit me today and I'm so grateful for the knowledge I have that I will see those that I love again someday. I'm so grateful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I didn't get to watch as much general conference as I would have liked but what I watched I enjoyed and the spirit testified of important truths to me.

Friday we had a fun play date with a friend of mine from high school and her two girls. It was a lot of fun and it was really good for Noelle (and me). Saturday Noelle did her first Easter egg hunt with my dad's side of the family. It was a little cold and windy and she really didn't know what to think at first. Then she got the hang of it (a little) and picked up some of her eggs that we hid around my Grandparents yard.

I'm just grateful for all the blessings I have and how my life has turned out. Things couldn't be better!

With all the kids doing the Easter egg hunt

Attempting to have fun during the cold, windy hunt. Yes, she has a toothbrush in her hand-this is one way we can keep her happy when she is fussy.
More eggs
She got some sun glasses, a long necklace and some bracelets for Easter from Grandma and Grandpa Fullmer.
My parent's dog, Lucy. Noelle loves giving the dogs kisses. I don't know how I feel about this.
She loves to get on this chair and rock back and forth.
Her cute, yellow rain coat!

#6 Movie Night

It was Michael's turn this week. We've had a pretty busy week and so he decided to have a movie night. Friday he was really tired after work and didn't feel like stopping and renting a movie so we just bought a movie off on demand. And it just happened to be Sherlock Holmes. This is one of our new favorites. It seriously keeps me entertained the whole time. It was just perfect and we haven't watched a movie just the two of us, at home, in a while. I do kind of miss going out though. So next week that is what we will be doing.


Interested in other date night ideas or joining this fun project? Just click on the link below!