A New Start

So as usual I am doing my once a year blog update. The past three years of our lives have been very hard financially. Last September we lost our beautiful home. We are blessed to be able to stay with Glenn's parents. We have been living here for a year now and we are hoping that by spring we will be able to have our own house again. Glenn just started a new job with a company called 512k. They pay him great and we are hoping that by staying here another 4-5 months will give us enough time to get completely out of debt and allow us to be able to buy a new home. Photography is going really well for Glenn. Luckily his new job is super flexible and understanding about his photography business.
Brayden is getting very smart and we have been doing preschool together.  He is learning quickly and is very fun to teach.  He has quite the imagination and is very fun to listen to. We are struggling with him being me to Caitlyn. I am not sure how to teach him to be nice to her, its pretty frustrating.
Caitlyn started walking when she was about 15 1/2 months old. She is older than Brayden was when I got pregnant with her. It is sometimes weird to think that I am not pregnant but I am not ready for another child quite yet. Caitlyn is trying to learn to talk and is very cute when she does.  She has a very intense attitude and when she gets mad she throws herself on the floor and just lays there. She is so cute and so fun to play with.
I am so looking forward to hopefully soon having our own home again!!

My Latest Read, The Ember Gods by Andrea Pearson, Review

The Ember Gods is a great book and no I am not the author although we do have the same name :) Here is the review I have written for it! I highly recommend reading the first book, The Key of Kilenya, as well.

The Ember Gods, the second book in the Kilenya series, is a book I will recommend to anyone who is interested in fantasy stories. I have taught elementary school and I think this series would be appropriate for 10 years and older, although I am sure some of my 6 and 7 year old students would dive right into these books. After reading The Key of Kilenya, the first book in the Kilenya series, I was very excited to read The Ember Gods.  I enjoyed reading the book and was left hanging at the end wanting to know what adventures next awaited our hero, Jacob.

I found the book to follow the rules and character personalities of the first book very well. The transition from one book to the next was smooth and uninterrupted. I did, however, feel that it took longer to get into the story than the first. I was so anxious to find out what happened next to the characters from the other world that I wanted the story to begin and in that I was disappointed. It took a few chapters for the story to get rolling and the fantasy and action of the story to absorb me into its world. Once the story got underway my attention was captivated and I was left to allow the author’s imagination to take me on the journey with Jacob through the world of Makalos, Lorken, and Minyas.

I really enjoyed learning with Jacob what his unique powers are and how to use them. The author does a great job connecting Jacob’s earth life with his adventures in the other world. Like any 14 year old boy Jacob has his ups and downs with school, sports, his being basketball, and his peers; because these are described so well, many people, especially teenagers, will be able to relate to him.  The author also did a great job of relating to the reader through her description of Jacob’s frustration when he feels stretched too thin because of his Earthly responsibilities as well as all that is expected of him in the other world.

For anybody looking for a quick, fun read I highly recommend the Kilenya series, by Andrea Pearson.

Caitlyn's Blessing

Sunday, August 14, 2011 was a big day for everyone in my family. It was my grandma Temple's birthday, my sister, Stacy and her husband Johnny's first anniversary, and Glenn blessed our beautiful Caitlyn Elizabeth in church.

I knew my dad and brothers were going to be coming to town for the blessing but my mom surprised us all by sneaking in the back door! It was so wonderful to have my entire family together.

Sunday evening Glenn took some beautiful pictures of the family including a few with the beautiful Brenna Hall, who is my brother Jarom's girlfriend. If you want to see all of the pictures taken that night you can go to http://www.ldsphotographer.com/MyFamily/Johnston-rogers-pearson-fam.

Tuesday Glenn took pictures of Caitlyn in her blessing dress at the studio. I am so blessed to have such a beautiful baby girl. All of her pictures can be seen at http://www.ldsphotographer.com/MyFamily/Caitlyn-Blessing-Pictures.

Brayden has become quite the ham in our family and is always trying to make us laugh. He was taught to shake his bum while dancing. The other day my brother, Seth, was asking him to point to his eyes, nose, tummy, etc. When he asked him where his bum was Brayden started dancing and shaking his bum. He is so cute and such a joy in our lives.

I am truly blessed to have a wonderful husband who honors and respects me as well as loves to play with our kids and helps me with them. I am blessed to have 2 beautiful, happy children that make life wonderful. I am also blessed to have a wonderful family that loves me and supports me.

Updating at Last

Well between getting very busy with our sweet Brayden and having problems with our log in on here it has been almost a year and a half since I have last been able to update. A lot has happened since then. Brayden of course is way past his first time crawling, now he runs, jumps, and throws everything including grapes which he considers to be balls :) He is 2 years old now and is such a joy! He loves to sing and he has a pretty good voice for a 2 year old. He started trying to sing the ABCs today. He also sings almost every time we are in the car, sometimes he just sings notes and other times he sings about what he sees such as cars, trucks, and trees. On September 19, the day Brayden turned 15 months we found out we were expecting baby number two. Since Brayden was going to be a big brother he finally decided he would start walking and once he started he hasn't slowed down.

On May 21st at 4:07 am our little Caitlyn was born. Like with Brayden I had a very fast labor and had to have a natural birth because there was no time for an epidural. I had my first contraction at 3:15 am at which time my water also broke. I woke Glenn up and we rushed to the hospital leaving Brayden to be cared for by Glenn's mom. She was 7 lbs 8 oz and 19 in long.

She is now 2 months old and we are all learning to adjust to having a new member of the family. Brayden loves his little sister but has a hard time sharing mommy. Caitlyn is a wonderful eater and sleeper, which is such a blessing. She sleeps between 7-9 hours at night and loves to eat whenever she can during the day.

Glenn started his own photography business in October and has quickly become very successful. He is working on getting his photography certification which will help him learn more about being a professional photographer but will also set him apart from the crowd. His website it ldsphotographer.com. I love that he is so amazing at photography because I have so many wonderful pictures of my darling children.

As for me I am enjoying being the mother of two and the assistant to Glenn's career paths. Behind every great man is a wife trying her best to not let him fall :)

Crawling!!

So last night Brayden crawled for the first time! It was only a few steps but he did such a good job! I was so excited!! Before we know it he will be all over the house. I know him crawling will keep me busier but I couldn't be happier about this new step in his life! He is getting so big :) He will be 8 months old next week and it is so fun watching him grow up. He is currently fascinated by little details of things. Last night he was playing with a tube of chap stick and he noticed that the ridged part at the bottom that you turn was different than the rest of the tube so he was so intrigued by it and kept rubbing his finger back and forth on it. He still doesn't have any teeth although he is drooling everywhere and had a non stop runny nose. Hopefully all this goo will pay off and he will get a tooth.
Glenn also has started a new job this past week. He is the assistant IT guy for Orangesoda, an internet marketing company.  He loves his new job even though he is now working from the time he wakes up until he goes to sleep. I am so lucky to have a husband that works so hard!

I have posted a video of Brayden crawling on facebook so hopefully you can follow the link I put on here to it :-) He doesn't crawl until about 2:20 into it.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=723671579369&ref=mf

Yay for no Helmet!!

So we went to the Neurologist and he said that since Brayden can sit up now and is stronger his head will continue to improve so we don't need to get a head shaping helmet!! Yay :) We go back in 1-2 months to have him check it to make sure it is improving but he isn't going to have to get one and we are so excited. They did a head ct scan just to make sure everything was okay and that was really cool cause we got to see a 3-d imaging of his skull.
Brayden scoots more and more everyday now and he even does it when I am around! Before he would only scoot around when nobody was around to get the toy for him. I guess he figured out that I was going to make him work for it either way. He can stand up now by holding onto the couch too which is pretty exciting. I think he will probably be crawling in the next month or so. I know I shouldn't be excited about him crawling because then he will be into everything but I think each milestone he reaches is so fun and exciting!!

Brayden loves new noises and thinks they are so funny! The other day Glenn was taking a picture of Brayden and Brayden loved the noise the phone made. He was laughing so hard!! It was adorable. I made a video of it and it is posted on face book:)

Life is Busy!

So I don't know if I am just lazy or busy but updating this blog is a much needed thing. It has been so long since I updated it I forgot what our user name was! It is amazing how fast 4 months can go by! Brayden will be 7 months old on Tuesday which just blows me away that he can be so big! Tuesday is also the big day where we go to the neurologist for Brayden. Since Brayden was born so very quickly and he was sideways when he was born his head and nose were a little smooshed. His nose quickly straightened out and now looks normal but his head has not been so quick about returning to a normal shape.  Our pediatrician is concerned that as he gets older the plates in his skull will fuse incorrectly and that it will eventually cause brain damage or undue pressure on his brain.  So they want to put a helmet on him, poor little guy :-( Since he has become stronger and holds his head up more his head has improved some but I don't think it will be quite enough to avoid having to get a helmet for him.
Brayden is sitting up on his own now and rolling. He still doesn't seem to like to roll over but he will to get a toy or something that he wants. I figure he will start crawling before he really gets around to rolling everywhere. He is such a happy little boy unless it is time to get dressed. He loves his baths and tries to clean my floors for me every time I give him a bath. He loves to swing his arms up and down which is perfect for splashing all of the water out of the tub. He is growing so big all the time. He is about 27.5-28 in long and around 15 1/2 lbs.  He wears 6-9 month clothes and seems to already be growing quickly out of those. He loves the cats and Sammy now steers clear of Brayden most of the time. Bear on the other hand seems to love all of the pulling of his whiskers, tail, ears, and fur. I cringe though as he pulls the cats to his mouth. He has been working on getting his first though for about 3 months now so he chews on everything. Anything that is close to him gets chewed or sucked on. He is a little thumb sucker and loves his

thumb when it is time to sleep. He loves to drink out of cups or sippy cups as well as eat his baby food. We are still working on getting him to like cooked carrots but everything else we have tried he has loved!
We spent a week in September at my grandparents in Oklahoma visiting them since my family would not be spending Christmas there this past Christmas. It was fun to get to see them and to relax at a time of year where snow and cold were not an issue. They got over a foot of snow on Christmas day so we were relieved to not have been there.
For Thanksgiving we spent it with Glenn's family and his mom's side of the family. We had lots of fun and as it seems to be everywhere we go Brayden charms everybody. That boy knows how to smile and coo to show off for an audience already. :)Around this time we got a good snowfall and Brayden was not too fond of the cold stuff mom was putting him in. We spent forever getting bundled up for the snow and spent 2 minutes in the snow.
After Thanksgiving Stacy moved out and left for CA to start her new job in Atascadero at the state hospital as a recreation therapist. Then Christmas was quickly upon us due to the fact that we left for GA to spend Christmas with my family on Dec. 16. We spent 3 weeks getting spoiled with my family. I did very little to care for Brayden since Grandma Juju was around. Brayden loved to be entertained and spoiled by Grandpa and he enjoyed napping, playing, and watching TV with Uncle Seth. We got to talk to my brother, Jarom on Christmas day which was so much fun. Aunt Stacy came to GA for 3 days for Christmas and it was evident that Brayden remembered her and missed her. He gave her such a big hug when she got to the house. It was so cute! We returned home on Jan. 6th. Brayden did really well on the airplane and slept almost the whole time.
We are now back to life just taking each day one at a time. Glenn continues to do real estate which is slow so he is also looking for another job so that we have a steady paycheck. I try to keep the house in order and keep my boys happy. I love being a stay at home mom and wouldn't trade it for anything!