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Back into the swing of things!

We made it back to Texas and started our “Fall semester.” At least that is how I am thinking about things.

This “semester” we are doing swimming, gymnastics, toddler time at the library, homeschool, and something called MomLife at a non denominational christian church here in Waco. For me, as a mom, I like to get out once a day. The best time is between 10-12. This works well for me and Blakely but Bronson does get sleepy at that time. He will take a 45 minute nap on the go but we probably could be better with letting him sleep. After we get out for the day, we come home, eat lunch, do home school and then some screen time. I try and stick to one hour and make it a learning show. That means, either Daniel tiger, sesame street, tumble leaf, or something along those lines. Sometimes when I know I need some extra time I will let her watch a Disney show. After that, we do some sort of activity which is something around the house or she helps me cook dinner.

Bronson will hopefully take a longer nap when Blakely is doing screen time so I have a moment to relax or get stuff done that needs to get done. It’s been working well!

Blakely is getting taller! She now fits in 4T clothes. Her hair is getting longer, it’s so fun to see her grow. She is a spunky little girl. She loves to learn and wants to be involved. She is a social butterfly and loves to play with friends. Swimming is going well and she can make it across the pool by herself. That looks like rolling over on her back to take a breath but that is ok! My nerves as a mom have benefited from having her in swimming. I recommend it! Gymnastics is good as well. I feel kids 2-5 will benefit from swimming and gymnastics the most as it helps them move and understand their body.

Homeschool is still going strong! There are some days she isn’t very into it but most of the time she likes the 1 on 1 time with Mom and the activities we learn. It’s so satisfying when we pass a sign out and about and she says “Hey, it’s the letter A” or another letter that we are studying. There is another lesson plan called “learning to read in 100 lessons or less” that I want her to do as well. Catching her reading (looking at the pictures in a book) by herself is also a really satisfying mom moment.

Bronson is a dream baby! Oh… my heart sings every time I pick him up. His front two teeth finally popped through and his smile is even cuter. He is so close to crawling. He can sit up by himself, spin on his belly, and do a sort of army crawl. He is also very outspoken. Meaning, he is usually making some sort of noise. When he gets tired he just kind of sings one note until he drifts off to sleep.

A few things to note about Bronson. He likes to purr. He does this trill thing in his mouth that sounds like a purr. I do it back to him and he smiles. Not sure what we are communicating but from his reaction, it’s a good thing!

Also, Bronson is such a smiley guy, he will smile in his sleep. It makes me so happy.

When we got back from AZ I was really nervous we would have to sleep train. I go into flight or fight mode when I hear by babies cry so sleep training is really difficult for me. But what is the alternative!!!?!!?!? Well, we put him in a different room in a crib as he was rolling around and he would wake up about every 10 minutes, 3xs in a row, then finally fall to sleep. After about 3 days of that (and a lot of mental preparation for sleep training) I asked Ben to go and bounce him back to sleep as I knew he wasn’t hungry. Ben comes in 3 minutes later with a baby asleep in the crib. I asked, “what did you do?” and he just laid Bronson on his stomach and he went right to sleep. Since then, I nurse him till he is sleepy then flop him on his stomach. To this day, it’s still working!

What we are dealing with now is him walking up about every 4 hours. Mama needs some better sleep. So… we will figure that one out. But oh how we love our Bronson boy and are so blessed to have him in our family.

Im still in the Young Women’s at church, and Ben is the secretary for the Elders quorum. The weather finally cooled down, and we are preppeing for the holidays. Here are some fun things we did this month.

Austin and General Conference

We went and spend the weekend in Austin with Jen and Candace. Our first stop was Barton springs! Blakely didn’t love the cool water but Bronson didn’t seem to mind so much!

It felt so good to get in the cold water.

MomLife

So Momlife is interesting and also amazing. It was $30 for the whole semester! The women of this church are so kind and giving. The child care is amazing and the lessons they give on parenting are good to hear. A few other moms from the ward go with me and Blakely has a fun crew to play with afterward.

We also love playing with friends!

The weather finally cooled down and we are thinking about Halloween! I think I will do a Frozen themed party for the kids party and found a kids Elsa outfit off the marketplace. Not bad for $15!

Everything Breaking

So we had this random week where everything broke. First it started with the battery in our car breaking. I walked the kids to the local Harbor Freight and got a charger but it didn’t work. Ben ordered a battery from Walmart and had it delivered to our house. He installed it and it worked! Well, it was the next day that our AC stopped working. Well, September is still really hot for Texas. It was pretty miserable. I am surprised how well I kept it together. It was like 90 in our house at night… The last thing that broke (which made the heat situation worse) was our ice machine! Ugh… it was rough. We ended up having to get another compressor but it’s working now! PHew!

More to come!

August was mainly spent in AZ with Nana J!

I unfortunately didn’t get a lot of photos on this trip…oops!

On August 5th, we packed everyone up and went to Nana Js for 2 weeks. We love spending time with her and helping with the house.

Plane rides are always an adventure and both the kids did great. We even got an ice cream cone from McDonalds. Blakely and I went walking around the airport while we waited for our flight to board and it was fun looking at the murals on the floor and pretending certain colors were lava. Who ever said 3 was the worst… it’s the best!

Bronson did great as well, except from the ride from the airport to the house. He was over the car seat and cried super loud all the way there. Poor guy!

The weather was nicer than Texas! It was bearable to walk around the block in the morning or at nights when the temperature went down.

We did a few fun things during our stay. We went to a Youth Cinderella play downtown. It was super magical for Blakely. The story was different which was hard to explain to a toddler but for the most part, she loved it and asked to go back. I love exposing her to art.

We also went to the children’s museum. It was fun and I would go back. However, I think ours in Waco is better.

While in AZ, I committed to do 2 weeks of a homeschool program and see how she reacted to know if I should continue for this year. It was a huge success! We did it after breakfast and it was all about the letter A, and apples. The program gave me a bunch of fun things to do with her that I never would have thought of! So when we got back I printed off the book and she has loved doing it since.

Here are a few random pictures that Blakely took while we were there.

Bronson got a low grade fever while we were there, but it passed in a few days. He is a really happy kid, but man… when he isn’t, you will know it!

Swimming!

Oh man did we swim! Joannas next door neighbor is a saint. Literally. She inspires me to be a better person with how much good she does. Her name is Ellie Pace. First of all, she offered to watch Blakely for a few hours during the day so Joanna and I could work on her house (I am helping her clear out things she doesn’t need before she tries to sell it.) Then she has a pool, tramp, and playground that we just walk over and use. We went swimming everyday when Ben got off work to get outside and cool down.

We also went swimming at Aunt Kathys house, as well as the Dastrops. Both have super nice pools. Aunt Kathy has a diving board and Blakely didn’t hesitate to try and dive off of it. I love to brag about my kids and I am so proud of Blakely for her courage. Everyone kept saying how great of a swimmer she is. The Dastrops have a gorgeous pool with a little seating area which Blakely turned into a stage and danced for us. She also swam into a rock formation that is attached to the side of the pool but she was ok.

All in all, it was a great time that left me wondering… do we need to move to AZ?

Something I really loved about Nana Js house was her Bed… Mainly because her room was so inviting you just wanted to spend time with her there and hang out. Blakely loved cuddling with Poppa Bear, and one day she took a nap with me. This is a rare occasion but when it happens I love to sleep next to her. These kids are a blessing everyday.

Back to TX

On the day we were suppose to come back, our flight was delayed so we would have missed our connecting flight. We DID NOT mind spending another day in AZ! We just booked the same flight but for the next day.

Everyone did well and it went smoothly. It was after midnight when we got home! But the house was fine and everyone went right to sleep.

Bronson and Sleeping

Well… we finally put him in his own room. I was a little sad. He slept great the first night but the next few night he was struggling. I think he was teething and I was stressing about sleep training again. Well! The next night we figured out he sleeps a lot better on his stomach so after I fed him, and got him sleepy, we would put him tummy down in his crib and he has been a champion sleeper. We are so blessed by this guy!

Blakely likes to play with is sound machine and there is a “music box” sound that she will dance around the room like a ballerina. It’s really sweet.

Sticking with Homeschool!

Well, homeschool has continued to work well for us. Blakely will sometimes argue about doing it but that is usually solved by the “after school treat” bribe. The other day, we strung fruit loops on a piece of yarn. She made 2 big necklaces and worked by herself for over an hour. I cleaned up, sat down, turned on some classical piano as she worked and felt the next level of motherhood. It was awesome.

Back in the Groove

We are heading into September and I am thinking about “Fall Semester” for my kids. Essentially that means, what are we doing every week this fall before the holidays. We have Gymnastics, swimming, toddler time at the library, and Homeschool every day. I think it will be a good holiday season. Now it just has to cool down…

Everything Breaking

This was an interesting week leading into September. On Tuesday, our car battery died. That night our AC Went out, and then the next day our Garage door tension spring broke. SO! We have some unexpected expenses to take care of. Here is to home ownership!

July was a very successful month for the Beck family.

The reason I feel it was successful was because we had a full week schedule. I had it down! Mondays were bible study with the ward, Tuesdays were at the pool, Wednesdays were at the twin rivers pool with friends, Thursdays was Kids club (a little play group we put together) and Fridays were workouts at the church and Macy the babysitter would come over. This was helpful for me as a mom so I had a reason to get out of the house, and also for my little Toddler to get some social time in which she desperately needs.

Bronson had his Baby blessing which you can READ HERE, and Blakely is a spunky little toddler who is eager to try new things.

For the 4th of July, we went down to Austin and spent some time with Aunt Jen. We swam both days (which Blakely LOVED) and went to a BBQ with their neighborhood friends.

Macy our new babysitter will come over to the house on Fridays and bring some fun activities. It’s an interesting situation because Ben and I are both here, but it’s fun for the girls getting their feet wet with babysitting because if something does happen, we are both here to help. Anyway, Macy makes Friday afternoons magical for all. I get a break, and Blakely gets to try new things like press on Elsa nails!

Bronson Boy is a dream baby… seriously… I don’t know how I got so lucky with 2 great kids. He is so happy and smiling all the time. He loves to be held, loves the milk, and loves his big sister. He isn’t as interested in food as Blakely was at that age. But… I am not to worried about him not getting calories. I LOVE those rolls…

One afternoon, it might have been after swimming, we all sat down for some screen time and both Blakely and Bronson fell asleep on me. It was so sweet (and hot) that my littles feel comfortable and safe with me. I was able to slowly move them off of me to the couch and had a little mommy free time.

That is July for you!

On June 9th Benjamin Blessed our little Bronson.

Dear Heavenly Father we come before thee by the power of the holy Melchizedek priesthood and give this child a name and a blessing. The name that he shall be known by is Bronson Scott Beck. At this time Bronson we want to express how much love that you have from you family, grandparents, cousins and most of all Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. For this time that you have to learn and grow in this body you will make healthy decisions, that you may be blessed with good health. And at this time that you will grow and learn spiritually as well and as your testimony grows you will be an example to those around you and be source of light in the world. We also bless you in times of trial or doubt that you will be able to lean on that testimony for answers and understanding and comfort and that you can be an example for others and support for others in times of need. We love you Bronson, and say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

That particular Sunday was a little crazy.

We gave someone a ride to church and had Benjamin in the back between two car seats. We had Jen and Tony coming up for the blessing, and I was teaching YW right after. So sad to say… We didn’t get a lot of pictures together. I am hoping to get some in his blessing outfit later on and upload them.

Jessica DeWitt, our good friend who actually took Blakely while Bronson was born, took Bronson to another room and snapped some shots so this was on the actual blessing day.

What a handsome little dude. We are so lucky to have you in our Family Bronson! We can’t wait to get to know you even more.