HELP!

I don't know what to do! Owen was sleeping through the night from about 11 weeks till about 6 or 7 months...but then he started waking in the night. He is now 9 1/2 months and STILL wakes up at least once, maybe twice in the night. I am very frustrated because everything I have read or heard or people tell me is "oh just go in and pat his back, give him his binky and let him know you are there but don't pick him up and go in every 10 to 15 minutes and he will eventually go back to sleep" Um...YEA RIGHT! If he even hears us or we go in...it makes matters a billion times worse. If we do go in and try to do the rub his back and give him his binky, the second we leave, he is standing up and screaming at us as we walk out! And the more we go in to let him know we are there and try to comfort him...it just starts all over again. Literally, the ONLY thing that puts him back to sleep is a bottle. But it is getting really hard and frustrating to get up and give him 2 bottles a night! Tonight I tried to go in and just give him his binky and lay him down and rub his back but he screamed and just reached for me to hold him. I am SO sick of getting up in the middle of the night. It seems like everyone else who has babies this age are sleeping through the night. I just don't know what to do. It breaks my heart to have him cry it out. I tried that tonight after laying him down with his binky didn't work and he cried or should I say screamed for an hour! It is 1:30 in the morning right now and I just listened to him cry for an hour...he finally fell asleep but who knows how long that will last. I don't want to get up and feed him because 1) I think he eats less during the day which just makes him hungry again at night. And 2) Everything I read/hear/am told is that feeding them in the night just makes them get into that routine and make it the only possible way for them to go back to sleep. Which is just the predicament we're in. I also don't want to just turn off the baby monitor and let him cry it out because what if something happens..I need to hear him. AUGH! I am seriously so tired and frustrated! What do I do? I mean, seriously. If anyone has any good ideas or thoughts...PLEASE let me know.

Owen is Walking!!

It has been quite a while since I have posted so I will update. Thanksgiving was good. We went up to Lee's parents. We stayed the night and the next morning Lee got up at 3 in the morning to go get his Christmas present. An Xbox 360. I was so mad though because I have been saving my paychecks from teaching and I was going to surprise him with it on Christmas morning. I had the best idea ever. I was going to get him a game too and then just give him the game and he would say that we didn't have the 360 then I would pull it out. But he caught me so I let him do all the work of researching the best deal on Black friday and going and getting it. But he was more than happy to!
The main news and I am so dumb for taking so long, but Owen started walking! What the? He is only 9 months old. About a week before he turned 9 months he started to take 2 or 3 steps but in the past 2 weeks he is pretty much only walking. It is hilarious to see him. Because he is so tiny and watching him hold his balance. It is so crazy. He will walk and grab to something then you can just see him staring at his next obstacle and walk to that and start all over. He loves it. I think it is so cute! But it makes me sad kinda. He is my baby boy and now is getting so big he can walk and say "mama". I love this stage he is in so much! He is my mama's boy and is just so cute and so happy and I don't want him to get any bigger. I love him so much!
This past weekend we went down to Cedar City and stayed with some friends we had in Logan. It was way fun. We miss them so much. It was so cute to see their kids play with Owen. He just loves other kids and he had a blast the whole time. The worst part though was he did get kinda sick the first day so we took him in to instacare and he had a mild case of croupe (sp?). Luckily we got medicine and the next day was acting much better. It makes me so sad when Owen is sick. I know every parent probably feels this way but I wish that I could take away his sickness and pain and carry it for him. Especially because he is so tiny and can't talk or communicate his pain so he just cries and I would take everything for him because I just love him oh so much! It made me so sad because his voice was gone and you could tell his little throat hurt. I just love that little boy and I feel like I am going to burst with love. I feel like it is impossible to love anything more. I can't even imagine that it is humanly possible to grow more love. I get scared thinking that when we have more children I won't love them as much but I know that is just silly. But for now...I just love Owen more than anything. I can't wait for Christmas. I told myself that we were only going to get him one toy but I find myself wanting to buy him more and more. Luckily, I have Lee to stop me.
Anyways we had fun in Cedar so thanks to JD and Melissa. We hope we didn't inconvenience you too much! We had a lot of fun and I know Owen did too! We hope we can see you again soon.

AFAA Certification

Today I spend 9 hours at the gym. I finally got my Primary Group Exercise Certification test done. Technically, in order to teach, you need to be certified. I am certified in Turbokick, but not through a more general certification. AFAA stands for Aerobics and Fitness Association of America. It is quite thorough. A lot more so than I thought. First of all, you have to study and do a mean study guide that is like 37 pages or something and memorize proper muscle names and places. Then you go to the certification and you have to do both a written test (100 questions, multiple choice and matching) and also a practical (showing that you know how to work all the different muscle groups and stretch them out and basically that you know how to teach and cue correctly). To be honest, I didn't read all the chapters, I more just went through and found the answers and didn't study too hard until last night and then I only studied for an hour or two. Then you do a practical which is you do a warm-up, a cardio section, a cool-down section, go through every muscle group in the body and show at least 2 strengthening exercises per muscle and 1 stretching exercise. On top of this, you also have to teach an individual presentation in front of everyone showing 1 move and 2 harder modifications.
I was really worried about it because the lady that originally does it is an older "really anal" lady. She is all professionalism and having everything correct down to the last hair on your head. Which I think everything does need to be proper, but group exercise is all about fun too! Anyways I have been way stressed, then when I got to the gym, come to find out she is not the one who was doing it that day!! YAY! She was supposed to go out of town but ended up not but someone else was already flown in. The girl who did my certification was way cute and fun and it helped to ease the tension. She was more in the style of helping everyone out and making sure everyone passed. (I didn't get that impression from the original lady). I hope this is making sense.
Anyways, it is finally over. This has been hanging over my head for quite some time and it feels nice to finally have it over. And not just over, but I feel good about it. I am positive I passed. It really wasn't that bad. In 4 to 6 weeks I should be recieving my results and certificate showing I passed. So not only can I kick your butt in Turbo, I can now kick it in any class!! Watch out world! Here I come! :)

Bed Head

After Owen woke from his nap, I found his wispy little hairs going in every direction.I love him.

2 More Aprons

Ok so I am like obsessed now with sewing. I love it. Seriously, it is so fun. I just wish I had more money so I could go buy fabric. I love fabric by Heather Bailey, Moda, and Buggy Barn. Anyways, so my friend is getting married and is having a shower on Thursday so I decided to make her an apron. Also, my niece Cambry turned 3 and so I made one for her too. I used Heather Bailey fabric and it turned out so so so cute! I LOVE them! So without furtho ado...here they are....The top one is for my friend, I also put some chocolate chips and kitchen shears in the pocket. The bottom is the one for my niece. I used the same fabric but used different accent pieces. Fun, fun fun!

Susie Homemaker!

I have been hankering for a while to make aprons but I never got around to it or had fabric or a pattern for that matter. We went up to Lee's on Saturday and his mom had some patterns and had fabric too. So I brought them home and on Sunday I made this really cute reversible apron! It really is so cute, especially on. The pictures don't do it justice. It took me all day and I know I did some things wrong (I won't point them out). But I did it the way I felt was right. The directions were actually pretty unclear so that was the most frustrating part. Maybe I am just new to sewing but it would say "turn out and press" ok, so press down on which side? The right side or wrong side of fabric? After I finished I understood what they were trying to say, however the directions didn't make it obvious so some things were done my way! And I actually think I like it better anyways. So I pretty much finished the reversible apron on Sunday. Took me quite some time. Probably like 4 or 5 hours total. On Monday I just had to do some quick finishing touches. Then after I put Owen down for his nap, I was browsing online and found another cute apron pattern. It is supposed to be made with old jeans, but I had old khaki's instead and decided to try it out. It doesn't require much fabric so I had some old scraps from Sarah's quilt so I decided to make it using that fabric. Once again, I didn't do it exactly like she said. The directions were very clear and obvious. The bottom of the skirt is supposed to be pleated and I tried, but I didn't cut long enough fabric so the ruffle at the bottom is smaller than the website. But it is still cute. Once again, I won't point out all my little flaws, but if I do say so myself, these two aprons are so cute! The second apron (half apron) was really quick and easy and I think I will use the other leg to make another for my friend who is getting married. It took me like 2 hours to make total, but now that I have done it, I think it would be even quicker. Well enough, here are the pics...I am thinking I may add some yellow rick-rack on the pockets and up by the neck on the purple reversible apron. I don't know, maybe I will just get a yellow button to add some detail. Pretty cute anyways though! Anyone wants to make one I am totally down, we could have an apron makin party!

Fall and Halloween!

It's been a while so here are some pics....first of all, Owen and I have really been enjoying the nice fall weather and going on lots of walks! Owen loves it outside!We also went to the Barnyard Boo at Thanksgiving point and Owen rode a horse and played around. He is standing up so much and wanted to stand up on the hay, but every time he touched it, he would get a gross look on his face. I don't think he liked the feel of it!The night before Halloween we decided to carve pumpkins and let Owen touch the slime. He didn't really get too messy, but it was still fun. We carved the cutest pumpkins ever!Finally time for Halloween! Funnest ever! We dressed Owen up as the cutest little tiger ever! He was so cute and so happy! We took him trick-or-treating with his cousins Keaton and Cambry. He got quite a bit of candy (I mean Lee got a lot of candy) Then we went over to my friends house and she was having a halloween party. I must say that my costume got quite a bit of attention. I looked HOT! I was an 80's aerobic instructor. I had turquoise leggins and legwarmers and side ponytail...the whole she-bang. The best part was the leapard underwear! Lee was his usual...a wierd gothic freak. Next year, he is not allowed to be that though. He has been that every Halloween since I have known him. Anyways, Halloween was a good time!