Sunday, August 25, 2013

The Finished Nursery

 
It took me a couple months, but I finally finished Blake's nursery! I LOVE IT! SO MUCH! I fell in love with this bedding as soon as I saw it. It was ridiculously expensive, but I knew I wouldn't find anything I liked better than this.
 
I bought extra fabric from the company that makes the bedding. With the extra fabric I made the pillows and the curtain. The three black picture frames above his dresser have the blue fabric in them with animals cut out of the same fabric as his bedding. I used my cricut to trace the animals.  I also made the slipcover for his rocking chair.
 
He also has a gorgeous bumper that matches his bed, but since he is so little still he doesn't sleep with it yet.
 
LOVE how it all turned out!
 




 
-SL

Valentine's Day

We decided to keep it pretty simple for Valentine's Day this year since we had Blake with us.
 
Aaron bought me an awesome new Cricut cartridge (Pixar characters!), flowers, and a couple beautiful new charms for my Pandora bracelet. I gave him a basket full of all of his favorite goodies to snack on. Do we know each other or what?!
 
 

 
Aaron had one other sweet surprise...
 
We had originally tried to get a tree house in Eureka Springs for Valentine's Day, but they were totally booked up! Instead, Aaron created our own little "tree house" in our guest room for the night. Pretty cute, eh? Here is a picture of Aaron setting up the computer so we could watch a movie. He told me to pick whatever girly chick flick I wanted. I had a specific, cute, Valentine's Day movie in mind, but couldn't remember the name of it. We searched around Netflix for awhile, and we found "I Hate Valentine's Day," and I thought that was the one I was looking for. Nope. Turns out that was one of the worst movies ever! So lame! Later I found the movie I was looking for, which is in fact called "Valentine's Day." Oh well... It was still a blast. Love that I have such a creative husband!
 
 
This guy is my best friend, and I love him more than anything!
-SL
 

Elder Whitlock...the adventure begins!!

 
Blake's first big road trip in a car was to Sioux Falls, SD! It was kind of a long car ride (9 hours without stopping) because we had to stop to feed Blake every two hours, but it was worth it. I was so glad to have Sam with me to keep me company on the way up. My parents asked me to watch my two younger brothers while they drove Sam to the MTC in Utah. Aaron and I have never been apart for longer than a week (when he travels for work), so I knew two weeks was going to be crazy hard... and it was! Thankfully I had my awesome family to distract me.
 
Sorry for the poor quality in pictures...I forgot my camera cord at home so these are all camera phone pictures. Sad day!!
 
Grandma sure enjoyed the cuddle time!
 

 
Great-Grandma did too!
This is a picture of my grandma with Blake and my Uncle Barry's daughter, Stella. They are only 6 months apart!
 
 

The newly set apart missionary! Sam will be serving in the Washington, D.C. North Mission...FRENCH speaking! How cool is that? I was able to go with him when he was set apart. Such a strong spirit filled the room. He will be such an awesome missionary.
 

 
Uncle Nate

 
Uncle Nate, Uncle Ben, and Blake playing games
 
 
Master Yoda Blake went through a huge growth spurt while we were gone. He does this thing where he gets SUPER chubby and then grows tall and leaner...and then he gets SUPER chubby again. I love it!!!
 

 We had such a fun time, but let me tell you what...I'm not ready to have three kids! Running my brothers around to school and their different activities with a three month old was a ton of work. Also, my brother Ben is Autistic and is on a gluten-free and dairy-free diet. Talk about challenging! I really appreciated all my parents do for my brother after those two weeks. It is not an easy life. I enjoyed every minute of our trip, but I was glad it was only for two weeks. I couldn't wait to get back to my hubby!
 
 
Even though Blake is only three months old, I could tell that he missed his daddy!! I was thrilled to be home. I felt so bad that we missed Aaron's birthday while we were gone too! Hopefully I made it up to him with some awesome gifts and...HOMEMADE NOODLES! Just like his grandma used to make...well...kind of. I can't claim they were that good, but I tried.
 
 
-SL
 
 
 

Monday, August 19, 2013

Blake's Blessing Day

 
We can't stop taking pictures of this little guy. Don't be surprised that most of this blog will be primarily pictures!
 
 
Educating him properly...
 
Blake's blessing took place on January 26, 2013. It was the only time that both families could come for the blessing. Also, my brother Sam would be leaving for the MTC a couple weeks later...it was perfect timing! We were so happy that Sam would be there for the blessing. The only one we were missing was my brother Nate. He had to stay behind to work.

 
 
Uncle Sam

 
Uncle Ben

 
Grandma and Grandpa Whitlock

 
 
Grandma and Grandpa Lanoy


 

 
Everyone who stood in the circle for the blessing. Left to Right...Blake's Great Uncle Randall, Uncle Sam, Grandpa Lanoy, Daddy, and Grandpa Whitlock. 

 
Love our little family!
 
 
It was a perfect day. I feel so blessed to belong to such wonderful families. I especially am so happy so have a husband that is so wonderful to Blake and I. Having the priesthood in our home is an irreplaceable joy and blessing. I'm so thankful that Aaron brings that to our home!
 
 
 
Sam stayed with us after the blessing for a day so that he could drive with me up to Sioux Falls. I will be staying with my two younger brothers while my parents drive Sam to the MTC. More to come on that soon! Isn't this picture just precious? I think Sam held Blake the whole time he was with us after everyone left and all the commotion died down after the blessing. It's crazy to think that he won't see Blake again until he is a toddler!
-SL

Starting the New Year Off Right!

Well not exactly....

It was practically a given that Blake was bound to get sick after hours in a germy airport, and that's exactly what happened.


Despite being very sick, he actually looks very peaceful! It broke my heart watching him suffer. I spent a lot of time just holding him in the bathroom with the shower on to try and help him breathe. It was miserable. My friend introduced me to essential oils to try to help Blake while he was sick. Now I swear by them. It's great to have found something that works that is all natural. Even though I rarely get sick, I did catch whatever Blake had. Taking care of Blake while he was sick was so sad even while I was totally healthy, so being very sick myself was even worse. Thank goodness for Aaron! He took such good care of us both!

Eventually we recuperated. I have never been so grateful!

Here's hoping we never are sick again...(at least not at the same time!)

-SL

Christmas Time in Utah

This year was our year to travel to Utah for Christmas. We knew it would be a challenge with Blake, but when the time came I was really grateful he had been born a little early. I was glad he was a little bit older when it was time to take him on an airplane. I never used to worry about germs until I had a baby. All of the sudden I am extremely aware of everyone's dirty hands coming near my child, or another kids dirty snotty face rubbing against my baby. It may sound mean, but...as you will soon hear... a sick baby is nothing to take lightly.

Before we left, we were asked to be Joseph, Mary, and Baby Jesus in our stake's live nativity! It was a pretty cool experience.


 
 
 
Here are some pictures of us just hanging out around the house before our big trip.




 

Proud Daddy!



Can you guess what is all over my leg? Yep...he's a sprayer...

 
 
Blake did really well on the plane to Utah, but of course it wouldn't be holiday travel without some kind of catastrophe, right?! When we landed in Denver, we got an email that our flight delayed. It was delayed three more times, and then it was CANCELLED! I was seriously considering crying to see if someone would take pity on me and my newborn baby and give us their seat on the plane. Long story short...after many hours in the Denver airport... we finally got on standby and BARELY made it on to a plane. We arrived in SLC sometime around 1 am.


Blake sleeping in the airport.

We had a breakfast date with my sister, Melanie, the next morning. We didn't sleep much that night, but it was worth it. We were really happy to get to spend time with Mel. I think Blake enjoyed meeting his new aunt.

 
 
We had family photos taken in Utah as well. LOVE how they turned out! Loved taking photos with all three of us.

 
 
 
 
 
Here are some other picture from our fun trip.



Cousins Abby and Iris
 

 
My Uncle Nate




 
Aaron's Grandma Lanoy
 



 
 
Christmas Morning!
 

 
Aaron bought me a brand new lens for Christmas! Naturally I started practicing with it right away!
 



 

We went shopping for Blake's blessing outfit which was a huge highlight for me!
 
 
 Such a fun trip! Memories in the making...
-SL