Day of Thanks

Thanksgiving; definitely one of my favorite holidays. I really think you should find things to be thankful for all year, but I love having this one day to celebrate with family and friends and just pondering all of your blessings. I know many people going through rough things right now; loss of loved ones, divorce, illness, etc. Every one of these people, that I know, continue to have great attitudes and try to find the best in what they do have. Today is the 22nd of November, Thanksgiving day of 2012, and this is my list of 22 things I'm thankful for (since I royally ruined the whole 'thankful for one thing a day' trend) :) 

1. Jesus <>< There is no better feeling in the world than knowing that there is always someone there to talk to, to trust and to know is there for you. Everything doesn't always go perfect in life, but I always know that God has a greater purpose for me than I know, and I just need to let things go.

2. Joel: It's hard to believe that we've been together for almost 12 years. Wow! He is my best friend and I don't know what I would do without him. He is an amazing friend, husband and this year I've gotten to see him develop into an amazing father. He is such a blessing!

3. Juliet: I know everyone says it, but until you experience it, I don't think you can possibly understand what a blessing a child is to your life. Her face lights up my days and it doesn't matter how horrible something has gone for both Joel and I; when she gives you a hug or kiss or just giggles, the troubles of the day melt away.

4. My job: Some people might say, but hey! You quit your job. I did, but now I have the best job in the world. Being a mom! I'm so thankful to have a husband that supports me staying home and works hard so that we can afford it. I love being able to see Juliet all the time and see every new things she learns. *I'm also loving my Tastefully Simple job, even though it doesn't feel like a job. :)

5. Family: Both my biological family and married into family. :) Joel and I are blessed with amazing parents and siblings that we love spending time with. It's so great to have family that are also friends!

6. Our neighborhood: We have AMAZING neighbors, that are really more of friends to us than neighbors. Joel and I have already said that we're going to have a really hard time moving WAY down the road. No plans for a long time! I don't think we'll find another neighborhood like this one.

7. HomeFront: This is our church. We love it. We have made so many amazing friends over the last few years and we look forward to going to church. I never thought I would actually say that, but it's true. We LOVE our HomeFront family!

8. Home: I'm so thankful for our home. No, our house is not perfect and there are several things I would like to change, but it's perfect for us. We have enough room, but not too much to take care of, and it's ours. :)

9. Music: I seriously don't know what I would do without it! Everything from christian, country, classical, rock, hip hop...whatever it may be. I love to listen to it, dance around the house and sing along. I'm so thankful Juliet is loving it as well. I don't know what I would do if my children were not musical! :)

10. Koda: My pup. I can't believe he's going to be 8 years old right before Christmas. I get a little choked up thinking about the fact that he probably won't be with us for too many more years. He was our first child. I know he's been a bit neglected since Juliet has come around, but I love him. I love how he comes into our room in the middle of the night to snuggle and gets excited if he hears the word 'walk'. :) I hate the days he's at the groomers; it feels so strange when he's not here.

11. Sleep: Anyone who knows me, knows that I love my sleep. Thankfully, Juliet is a great sleeper!

12. TV/Movies/Books: I love getting lost in a story. It's a great way for me to unwind at the end of the day. I get really sad when I finish a good book though. I start to feel like the characters are real people and I want to know what happens with them.

13. Friends: I have some amazing friends. I love having people in my life I can count on and just be myself with!

14. Snuggles: The best is when Juliet is in a snuggly mood.

15. Crafting: Although I haven't made a lot of time for it lately, I love to do some crafting. Making cards, scrapbooking or whatever. I love to be creative!

16. Cooking/Baking: I get excited to try new recipes and surprise Joel with a delicious meal at the end of a day of work. :)

17. Warm days and Cool nights: My perfect day is cool at night to sleep with the windows open and wrapped up in a blanket, but to be able to enjoy a sunny warm day to enjoy the outdoors. :)

18. Camping: So relaxing! That is all.

19. Coffee/Keurig: I'm spoiled with my Keurig, but I love it. A freshly brewed cup of joe in the morning is fantastic!

20. A Good Workout: I'm pretty bad getting myself to workout, but when I do, I love the feeling!

21. Our Garden: It's so rewarding to grow, cook and enjoy food that you grew. Love it!

22. My iPhone: It's completely frivolous, but I love it. Yes, I would have a really hard time getting rid of it. :)

Praying you all enjoyed a blessed Thanksgiving! <3

Morning Walks

Juliet and I have been going for morning walks (almost every day) and I love them! It's so funny how since last week, she doesn't lay back in the stroller, she sits up and watches the cars drive by, the sprinklers watering the yards and Koda (our dog) walking next to her. It's so great to be out with her early in the morning.

It may seem silly, but now that Juliet is a little older and starting to notice things, I've begun to appreciate the little things. Flowers, the birds chirping, the sound of the train going through town, trees swaying in the wind; she is so interested in everything. :)

Last week as we were walking, I saw a dad walking/jogging with his daughter who was about 10, and it made me smile. I get so excited to think about all of the things Joel and I get to do with and teach Juliet. Such an honor. 

A funny from our walk today: There are always student drivers in our neighborhood in the morning. I smile whenever I see them stopping way to soon for a stop sign or trying to parallel park on the street. This morning though, one of them drove up on the curb as they were turning. Tee-hee. 

I sooo wish I would have had my camera with me this morning as I saw the sweetest thing. An older gentleman was walking his dog this morning. You might say, "What's so cute about that?" Well, this older gentleman was using a walker to walk and was still out taking his dog around the block. Melted my heart. <3 

I hope you all take time out of your busy lives to stop, notice and appreciate the little things in life. :)

The Start of Something New

Here we go! All of my life I've wanted to be two things when I grew up; a teacher and a mom. The past 6 years I've lived and loved being a teacher. It is one of the most rewarding jobs ever! My students have been my 'kids' while I've been teaching and I love them.

All good things eventually come to an end though and now it's time for me to move on to the next chapter of my life. Being a mommy! I can't wait to make memories with my little girl. I feel so blessed to be able to stay home with her and that I have a husband who wants me to be with her; even though it means I won't be getting a paycheck anymore. Besides, who needs things when you get to spend all of your time with this girl...

Wonderful Weekend

Oh, Memorial Day weekend. The official start to the summer, even though we have two weeks left of school. This weekend was awesome! The weather was fantastic and we didn't have a lot of plans, so we were able to enjoy a weekend together around the house.

Friday night, Juliet hung out with my Uncle while Joel and I went to see The Avengers. Great movie! I just cannot believe how expensive movie tickets have gotten! Good thing we're not going to be able to go to many movies in the future. $20 for two tickets... ridiculous!

Saturday morning was pretty chill. Juliet and I hung out and Joel slept in, then I headed to my sister's for a haircut and did a little shopping at the mall and Meijer for groceries. Saturday afternoon I baked some cookies and did a few things around the house before we headed to a neighbor's for a cook-out. It was a lot of fun hanging out with the neighbors. We are very blessed to live in such a great neighborhood and have made friends with so many of the neighbors. We came home early to put Juliet down for the night and had a bon-fire with some great friends who are expecting their first baby any day now. So excited for them!

I got to sing at church Sunday morning, which was so fun. I can't wait until school is done so I can sing more often. After lunch, Juliet went down for a nap, so Joel and I did as well. We slept for 2 hours and Juliet for 3. Yeah! She loves her Sunday afternoon naps just like mommy. :) Joel had his small group at church last night, so Juliet and I got to hang out and I did some gardening after she went to bed.

Today was totally great! I got up with Juliet around 6:30, fed her and we headed out for a walk before the heat kicked in. :) I was able to do some cleaning while she napped in the morning, we took her to swim in the big pool, put her down for her afternoon nap and read and took a nap in the sun ourselves. I planted some flowers and we played for quite a while before bedtime. Juliet also tried rice cereal for the first time tonight. It was cute, and messy. :)

Here are a couple of pictures from the weekend. :) I can't wait for summer!

She wasn't too sure about the water...it was a bit colder than her baths. 

This stuff is good mom!

Mother's Day

I think Mother's Day is my new favorite day of the year. Being a mom is the greatest blessing I have ever experienced. The weather was beautiful today and we enjoyed a wonderful day at church and with family. I even got a nap this afternoon. :) 

Joel got me a beautiful tree last year when we found out I was pregnant, so he took a picture of Juliet and I in front of it this evening. I just LOVE her! 

Hope all you mommas had a great day and that all of you told your moms how wonderful they are! <3

Photo Op

Being a mom is the best job in the world! Joel and I are loving all of the new things Juliet learns to do every day. She is the joy of our life. Though it's been hard being back to work full time, I cherish all the time I do get to spend with her. It's been a while, so here are a bunch of pictures from the last few weeks. :)

We had a friend's baby baptism and luncheon last Sunday. Somebody was really sleepy and ready to go home for a nap.

 Easter morning. I had to torture her with the ears.

This picture and many moments like this melt my heart. Joel is such an amazing daddy and he already has a daddy's girl on his hands.

Juliet feel asleep while we were grocery shopping. What is it about watching a sleeping baby? I could watch her sleep for hours.

A family pic on Easter morning

We had steak dinner for Joel's birthday; he thought Juliet needed to join in.

I LOVE that my awesome neighbor and friend is watching Juliet for me. She sends me pics all the time of her playing. Such a happy girl while mom's at work.

My parents and Uncle got an oak high chair for us. It's beautiful. I can't believe she'll be big enough to use it soon!

Such a silly girl

Milk coma :)

A girl's gotta be stylin'!

Juliet had shots on Friday as well as a cold. She was super snuggly this weekend. 

She does know how to push the buttons with her hands, but hitting them with her head is so much fun :)

Have an awesome week! You can expect another post from me next weekend. We're celebrating the one year anniversary of my mom's heart surgery. So excited and thankful!

Slacker

Yep, I've been a slacker. I have been a little bit busy, you know. :)

Things are going well for us. I've been back to teaching for about 3 weeks now (with one week off for Spring Break). I still don't like leaving Juliet in the morning, but once I'm at school, the time flies and I know she's being well taken care of! My awesome friend, and neighbor, Jamie is with her all day long and I know she loves on her tons! She so great and sends me pictures and videos of her throughout the day. Only just over 7 weeks to go, that's only 36 days and, because I despise pumping twice a day, I'm actually keeping track of the number of pumpings to go: 72 to be exact. :) Ha!

I am so excited to be able to stay home with her after this school year. I feel so blessed that Joel and I are able to afford for me to be home with her. I'm so looking forward to being with her all the time!

Praise God!

My heart is so full of happiness this morning for some of my dear friends. For those of you who don't know, we have friends who were expecting twins this spring, but they decided to come at 24 weeks less than a week after Juliet was born. They had two beautiful boys, but one went to be with the Lord on New Year's Eve. The other has been in NICU ever since. There have been some improvements and some drawbacks, but he's been holding on. 

Last night, I received a text from his mom saying that he had an awesome day! He'd had surgery to repair his little heart the day before and did so well. They moved him to a private room last night and during the transfer she was able to hold him like a "normal" baby for the first time. I was sitting at a Pampered Chef party when I got her text and started tearing up when I read this. I started thinking about how many times I get to hold Juliet during the day. The fact that they're basically the same age and this was the first time she got to hold him. I'm so thrilled for her, but also reminded that I need to cherish every second I have with my precious baby girl (not that I don't, it's just always good to have a reminder). 

If all goes well, my friend will get to have skin-to-skin time with her little boy for an hour today. Praying that she gets to. Praying for continued strength for the little guy and can't wait for him to come home and be loved on all day long!

2 Months

I cannot believe it, but Juliet is already 2 months old! The last two months have been the best. She is such a blessing to us and I have a hard time thinking about what our life was like before she was here. She is such a happy, healthy baby and has so many family and friends that love her so much. We had her two month check-up yesterday which meant 3 shots and an oral medication. She cried for sure, but once I was able to pick her up, she calmed right down. She's such a trooper! She has grown 2 inches since she was born, which seems crazy to me! That's an inch a month! No wonder she loves to sleep! So, the official measurements are 24 inches long (92nd %ile), 13 lbs. 12 oz. (96th %ile) and her head is 40 cm (75th %ile). She seems very proportional to me. :) She's starting to really fill out and get cute chubby thighs. I've told her to 'work' the chubby thighs since they won't be as cute when she's older. :) Here are a few pics; her one month and 2 month. I love looking at them and seeing how much she's changed!

She's definitely getting more hair and chunking up! :)

Debt

It is indeed an EPIC day in our home...I just made the final payment to pay off my student loans. This means Joel and I are free of college debt! All we have left are our car and house. Such an amazing feeling! Props to the Dave Ramsey class we took at church a few years ago. It really helped us be disciplined with our money. Yeah!!!

Dedication

Juliet was dedicated at church on Sunday. Joel and I decided to do baby dedication instead of infant baptism, because we see the dedication as our promise to raise her in a Christian home and she can make the decision to be baptized when she's older. :) Here are a few pictures from the day. It was wonderful. 

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates."

-Deuteronomy 6:4-9

One Month!

My baby girl is already one month old! Wow!

Happy!

My baby girl is already 4 weeks old today and she smiled at me!

God is Able

We had a wonderful service at church yesterday. Our pastor talked about all of the amazing promises from God and how we need to have faith that God will follow through on his promises. We can't just believe in them when it's convenient or makes us comfortable, but at all times. We've been so blessed in our lives and sometimes wonder when the "ball is going to drop". Thanking and praising God for the great things He has done in our lives and praying he continues to bless us, our family and friends. 

We sang this song twice yesterday; one of my favorites, and a great reminder of the awesomeness of our God. 

God Is Able

"Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall." -Psalm 55:22

Introducing...

Juliet Mary Dykema 

Our wonderful Christmas Blessing. :)

It's taken me almost 2 weeks to post this. I cannot believe my little peanut is almost 2 weeks old. It's amazing how much she grows and changes every day. I want to soak it all in. Before I know it, she'll be crawling and running all around. So, here's Juliet's story:

Here I was at 40 weeks. Very ready for our little one to make his/her arrival. Little did we know, it would only be a couple of more days. :)

On Tuesday, December 20, I headed to the hospital for a routine ultrasound and non-stress test. They make you have these done twice a week once you're overdue. At my ultrasound, they said my amniotic fluid was low. 0-5 is too low and 5-10 is borderline low. Mine was at 5.2, so once they saw that I was starting to have contractions on my non-stress test, the doctors decided they wanted to induce me to get my contractions stronger and get baby going. So, I headed home to eat, get Joel and get our bags together before heading back to the hospital at 6:30 that evening. 

The doctor started my induction around 10 p.m. I was able to rest for a while and the doctor came in to break my water at about 2:30 in the morning. This really got things going and I was ready for an epidural by 4 a.m. Seriously the best invention ever! Joel and I were able to sleep for a few hours before the real thing started going. 

Even with the epidural, I really started to feel the contractions around 11 a.m. on December 21. 

My doctor showed up around noon. I ended up pushing for about a half an hour and took a break for 45 minutes. Another hour and a half after that, Juliet was born at 3:02 p.m.

I cannot believe she's here!

I LOVE this picture of Joel. So emotional.

...and here come the tears. 

 I love this shot. :)

 My beautiful baby girl.

 Our wonderful doctor. She looks so happy!

 One proud daddy. She's going to have him wrapped around her finger. :)

 One of my favorites. This one's getting framed for sure!

Sweet pea.

 Making daddy proud!

 Snuggling with mommy.

 Our first family picture. :)

 Family picture on Christmas morning.

 Snuggle time with mommy after all those tiring Christmas parties. 

 Love this!

Torturing her with a photo shoot. :)

Hope you loved Juliet's story. It's only just beginning. I can't wait to experience so many things with her. I'm looking forward to seeing what the future holds for our little family. Feeling beyond blessed right now. Happy New Year to you all. Wishing you the best in 2012!