Rocking Chair

This kid is so funny. He's perfectly capable of sitting on his own. "But please don't make me do it," he says! He has to be distracted by a really cool toy to sit on the floor willingly. It's even a struggle to sit him in his highchair or the bathtub. Although once he's sitting in either of these places he's ok. The rocking chair though, he doesn't mind the rocking chair :) It was a chair we had when I was a kid. Good thing my dad went to all the work of disassembling it, my mom flew on an airplane with it, and Travis put it back together because Bergen loves it!

Here's to Better Documenting

We wave at Bergen A LOT. I don't know why but apparently it's just something people seem to do to babies without even realizing it. Would you agree or am I totally wrong? :) Occasionally Bergen puts up his arm and I've wondered if he was trying to mimic us. At church on Sunday I decided yes, he was definitely waving at people. We were walking down an empty hallway when someone else came around the corner. Bergen stuck his arm up and started shaking it. Sitting in class he was watching people behind us and did the same thing. Several times. When we got home we tested it out again, and yup, he kept waving back to us. It's so cute!

All of a sudden he's discovered he can pull himself up on some things. The open refrigerator, a stool, the windowsills, the dishwasher. I think it is just simply amazing to watch him work on it as he figures out how to get himself up, and when he's done ease himself back down. There are so many things we take for granted knowing how to do them. As I watch him learn something I think is so simple, I'm reminded how much there is for him to discover and how much he really does have to learn. It's a TON! When I realize how much we have to teach him it's almost overwhelming. Lucky (or unlucky, depending on what it is, haha) for me he seems to just pick up so much on his own.

A Little Reflection and Reevaluation

January has come and is nearing the end. It has left me thinking a lot about each of my days.

Where does the day go?

What do I do every day?

What am I not doing every day?

What do I wish I would be doing?

So I've decided to take the rest of this month to figure out what I want my priorities to be, and rearrange my life so that I spend February and the rest of the year doing those things instead of whatever else I seem to do doing.

1.) I know I spend a lot of time taking care of Bergen, but I wish I spent more time really "playing" with him and especially reading to him.

2.) I wish I spent more time reading myself, good books, the scriptures, and the Ensign. You know it's bad when it comes time to renew your Ensign subscription and you wonder if you really should because you haven't even read the stack on your nightstand that's been accumulating for months!

3.) I wish I was keeping better track of the "things I want to remember", which would include writing in Bergen's baby book and updating our blog more often since that is pretty much my journal.

4.) I wish I spent more quality time with Travis. When he's home it seems like we are always trying to check things off our list, and don't get to be "us" very much.

So in order to accomplish this list of high hopes, I need to replace the things I am currently doing. And what are those things? Well, I'm still trying to really evaluate just what that is, but so far this is what I've got.

1.)First of all, stop wasting time! I find myself wandering circles trying to decide how much time I have and what to do next. I may not always have enough time to finish something in one sitting, so I've got to start getting used to partial projects...because after all, lots of partial projects will eventually lead to completed projects, right?!? This post for example...I started it days ago :)

2.) Second, limit my computer use. I cut back on this quite a bit a while ago, but I think it's time to maybe do some more cutting. As much as I enjoy reading about everyone else's life, maybe it's time to spend more time living my own life. Along with this I need to stay focused! When I sit down to say update our blog, instead of spending 30 minutes looking at others and then deciding I don't have time for my own, do mine first.

3.) I don't often watch TV during the day, sometimes it's on for noise but I'm still working. Evening time is another story though. Two, three hours at night goes by just like that. Granted I may be doing dishes, putting jammies on Bergen, or picking up toys, but I could probably do them faster without the TV. So, I either need to give up some of these involving shows, or figure out if a DVR is worth the extra cost so I don't have to watch commercials and can watch at a more convenient time.

4.) Let's see, what else? Oh yes, cleaning! I think this is where most of my time goes. I have to come to grips that my house doesn't need to be up to perfection every day. It still drives me nuts, but picking up toys once a day, maybe picking up clutter and doing dishes every other day, and sweeping every third day, something like that. My house may be messier but if it means I better document our life, I guess that's what will be more important come next year.

So that's what I've come up with so far. Lots more thinking yet to do, but it's a start. Now it's time to implement. They say if you write down or tell someone else your goal, you have a better chance of achieving it. I'm doing both :) Whoever is still reading by this point can periodically ask me how it's going. And if no one asks me I'll let you know anyway. I bet you're so excited!

Afternoon at the Park

We will eventually stop taking a million pictures every time we go somewhere, but until then you get to enjoy all these.

January Doings

This is a quick update of a few things we have done this month. More detailed updates to come...stay tuned for my next couple of postings.

So, much to Bergen's displeasure, we finally took down our Christmas tree. He was having so much fun with it :)

Bergen really likes music, and he REALLY likes getting piano time!

Bergen no longer rolls to get around. He scoots! And he is getting very adventerous and exploring more corner of the house. He was in the living room playing, but came to help me with the dishes. He got himself under there, although I kind of missed how it happened :)

Along with making discoveries in our house, he now knows the cupboards and drawers open, but only while sitting in his seat. Thankfully he hasn't put the two together that they would also open while he was on the ground. That's ok though, I can wait for that one!

We have a mirror in our car so I can see his face while I'm driving. I LOVE watching him look outside. All too often I find myself looking in the mirror and watching the road out of the corner of my eye. And they say cell phones are a distraction, what about baby mirrors! These pictures do not do it justice, but they give you an idea of what I see.

Travis is constantly watching the bikes that are for sale. This one was so under priced he just couldn't pass up the chance to buy and sell it himself, an investment opportunity he tells me :). All while getting to enjoy it for a couple of weeks.

This is as much of a ride as Bergen gets! Maybe when you're older sweetheart...much older!

Bergen's First Christmas

Merry Christmas to little Bergen! We stayed at home this year and had a quite little Christmas. Travis had to work the 24th-29th, so we actually had our Christmas on Tuesday. Lucky for us, Bergen had no idea and really enjoyed the whole Christmas experience!

We put the tree in an area of the room that Bergen didn't go to much so keeping the tree safe really wasn't too much of a problem. Christmas morning was probably the first time we put him in front of the tree by myself.

It wasn't long before he had had enough pictures and just wanted to get at that tree!

I think he was more interested in the wrapping decorations than he was the actual paper at first.

I try to read him books often. Bergen has a cousin that being a lion is one of his favorite hobbys! I thought it was very cute that Bergen seemed to pause an extra second at the picture of the lion. Do they really know and remember more than we think they do?

Our little family of three. Our extended families were very generous to us this year. We got lots of fun things we will enjoy using, playing with, and seeing all year long! The present Travis and I got for ourselves this year was a little chest freezer. We (ok mostly me) are so excited to be able to stock up on those good deals you need a lot of freezer space for, because now we've got the space!

Bergen's ONLY toy that makes noise...and I made sure it had an off switch :)

Testing it out.

And here's when he decided the paper was pretty cool!

I just love this "mouth full of paper" expression! And I love even more the pictures that capture his beautiful eyelashes.