Jealousy!!

I am used to getting most of the attention from my little man, and I am usually the person who gets to see/participate in most of his firsts. However, the tide has turned and I have to sit on the sideline and just watch. It is NO FUN!!! I want to at least participate. Jonah has decided that Joseph is the only one who gets this priviledge. Joseph says its because he only sees him for an hour a day and that this is Jonah's way of telling his daddy he misses him. What is his first you might ask? Jonah will give his daddy kisses or "sugar" is what they call it. When mommy asks all she gets is a pinched nose. Oh well, I still get a lot of attention from both of my men. I know I'm the only woman that either of them wants (at least for now from Jonah.)

Picture Update!!!!

Look y'all, I can drive!!

Me with Mom and Dad!!

I'm a good eater!!!

Mom and Dad put me in jail after I made an earlier.

I have two teeth. I've had them since the beginning of April with no other appearances. Mom is glad about this since I am still nursing.

I can crawl pretty well.

I'm even getting pretty good at pulling up and standing for a minute while I hold on with one hand. (In case you can't read it: my shirt says I'm handsome like my daddy.
That's it for now folks. Mom has gotten more practice uploading pictures, so you should get regular updates now.

Blog Worthy

I promise to have pictures up by the end of tomorrow. In fact you all might be overloaded by pictures by the time I get them all on here (as long as my internet holds out.) However, I wanted to share with all of you an event that happened at our house a couple of weeks ago. For those of you who know my husband, you will really enjoy this story. If you don't know him that well, let me mention here that from about the middle of March till the middle of October (depending on the weather) he is in the fields at least 12 - 14 hours a day. Needless to say he doesn't get to spend a lot of quality family time, except for Sundays. Anyway, as little man started crawling his favorite new place to go was the t.v. stand. He, like the rest of his Dean cousins, is a button pusher. He also likes to open and close the cabinet doors (but usually ends up pinching his other hand.) Well anyway on with the story. I was in the kitchen one night, cooking or cleaning (you know a man works from dawn to dusk but a woman's work is never done.) Joseph was watching/ playing with Jonah in the living room. All of a sudden I hear, "Megan, come get him. He's in the t.v. stand." My thought is "you are supposed to be the one watching him." However, I had to go get Jonah when I heard the explanation. "I see him for less than an hour a day. I can't be the bad guy." He's just a big softy!!!!

Great Example!!

In the past conference for our church, their was a talk given on Saturday morning by a counselor in the Primary general presidency about becoming like a child. In the talk she mentions that we are given children so that we might learn more about our Heavenly Father and becoming like Him. - This is sad to admit but right now the only picture of Christ I have up in our house is a smalll postcard size picture. It is the picture of him in the red robe. Anyway, a week or so ago I had Jonah in my arms when I went to get something out of the fridge (why I had never had to do this before is beyond me.) Well, as I'm holding him, he starts to go wild; squealing, waving his arms, and then clapping his hands.(Like he does when he sees one of his grandmas or his daddy.) Then I realized that he was doing it towards the picture of Jesus. He was reaching out to him like he wanted to hold him. To me it was like he was saying; "I know this man. I know He loves me and cares for me!!" To me it was a great example of knowing who the Savior is and what he can mean in our lives. I hope that when I meet the Savior that I will have the same recognition/ response. Jonah still gets pretty excited when I hold him up by the refrigerator.

Nothing is Safe!!

About the middle of May, Jonah started crawling. He had been able to get up on his hands and knees and rock back and forth for about a week and a half before that. Now nothing in the house is safe. We are not totally baby proof (I don't know what to do with things like the cable box.) I can no longer pause the television while I go stir dinner or switch over the laundry because when I come back it is unpaused. When I pat the hand and say "no-no" I get my hand patted and a big smile. However, when I want him to crawl (I try to make him get exercise my crawling up the hallway after our diaper changes) he puts his head down and cries huge tears. Crawling was not enough for our little man. He said that it was for the "birds." Just a couple of days after he started crawling, he was trying to pull up on everything, especially the coffee table. Needless to say, he has had several bruises on his forehead from where he knocks it. This morning he whacked it pretty hard. I was sitting right there trying to keep him safe and was unsuccessful. He has a big bruise in his hairline. I tried to ice it because it started to turn a little purple and swell a little bit, but he didn't like the cold. After that it was time for our morning nap. It wasn't even 8 (we were up at quarter to six with our daddy) so I decided to go work in my garden for an hour or so while he napped. I took the monitor outside with me and turned the volume all the way up. I worked for a little over an hour then went in to check on Jonah. He was still sleeping though he was facing the opposite direction from what I had laid him down. I accidently hit his toy box with my foot, and he jumped but did not seem to wake up. I decided to take a quick shower to clean up. As I was turning off the shower about fifteen - twenty mins later, I hear him screaming, crying. I hurried and dried off. I went to open my bedroom door, so I could talk to him while I got dressed. HOWEVER, when I opened my door Jonah was crawling up the hallway looking for me. He was crying but settled as soon as I picked him up. Nothing in our house is safe, even our baby. Thank goodness he is resilient and make to take a few bumps and bruises. I guess it is time to lower the mattress in his crib.

Blessings This Week

Starting this blog has made me real concentrate on different things that occur in my life, especially my blessings. The beginning of this week started out fairly normal with me trying to find time to clean, study for the Praxis, get information for my new job, and spend time with my little bundle of joy. However, I felt like I wasn't getting any quality time with my husband. On Wednesday Joseph stayed home and played with Jonah and I in the morning, then he took me on a lunch date (with Jonah), kept Jonah while I went to the university for a couple of hours, and then spent the evening cuddling with Jonah and I on the couch. (I rewarded him by telling him I didn't mind him hunting all of the next day, I just minded that it woke Jonah up at 4 that morning. This is supposed to be about blessings though.) This week I've had a headache most nights (I think I haven't been sleeping enough and drinking enough water). Last night when my husband came in from hunting, he offered to clean the kitchen while I bathed Jonah. It was so good not to have to rush bath time so that I can run back to the kitchen. Jonah loved being able to splash around in the bigger part of his little tub. Tonight my husband is taking me to the movies, so I get another date with him!!!!!!
* Let me not forget my little man. I love when he reaches for my fingers while I nurse him. He is becoming much more alert and watches his daddy and I when we leave the room and come back. You can now really tell that he knows who we are.

Great Opportunities

I feel like in my life I have been given many great opportunities to better myself and help others. These range from teaching elementary, being an EFY counselor, a daughter and sister to my wonderful parents and siblings, a wife and mother to my favorite two men in the whole world, and being a member of Christ's church. I have been so grateful for each opportunity and learned many lessons from each experience.
A week before Christmas, a lady from my ward who works as a counselor in one of the local middle schools called to tell me about an adjunct teaching position at Delta State University she had heard about and thought I would be perfect for. When I got off the phone with Sis. Buckley, I called the lady at DSU for more information. After discussing the details with Joseph, we decided I should apply for the position. I am now the newest faculty member at DSU. I will teach two sections of Science Methods for Elementary Education majors. It pays $1000 a semester hour, and I get one free graduate level course for every course I teach. I guess that means I'll be starting on my specialty or doctorate come summer. I'm a little sad to leave my baby, but it is just for six hours a week. I set my schedule as a Monday night course and a Tuesday/ Thursday morning class. Right now between my husband and in-laws, Jonah will not have to go to a babysitter. Once planting season starts, we'll have to talk about what we are going to do for childcare. I don't want to leave my baby, but as a family we felt that this was to good of an opportunity for us to pass up. Plus it will give me a little adult interaction that I miss sometimes (not that I would change being a stay at home mom for anything in the world and still consider myself one.) How thankful I am for the wonderful blessings in my life and the opportunities I have to grow and become a better person and hopefully help others as well.

New Years Traditions

Not only does my family have Christmas traditions for the holiday season, but we also have New Years traditions. I was not able to kiss my loved ones at midnight due to my two favorite men falling asleep earlier in the night. (Joseph made it till about eleven, but Jonah had only had a nap of about thirty minutes. He crashed at 8:30.) I'm pretty sure my love with them will continue through this next year. My parents and sister came down about one o'clock today and brought a combination of greens with them. I had some purple hull peas in my freezer that we substituted for the black eyed peas. I also had some ham frozen in the freezer that one of Dean Partnerships business suppliers had given us. With the help of my mom, we had our traditional New Years food. For those of you not from the South or Southners who don't have deep family roots, this is a traditional Southern New Years meal. The black eye peas are to bring good luck (supposedly each one eaten equals one day of good luck.) The greens that are eaten bring wealth. The pork that is eaten brings forward prosperity. I remember my first year in Utah I had to go back on New Year's Eve. I went out the next day and bought these foods and made all of my friends and roommates eat them so we would all have good luck, wealth, and prosperity. Whatever you ate today I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed mine and that your food brings you everything you need.