Titan is ONE!

He turned a year old on January 14th.

I picked up a cake for him. Nothing special because I didn’t call ahead of time. I just picked from what they had there and had them write on it for me. We sang for him and ate cake here at home. 

This year went by so fast. I know everyone says that, but this year truly did. It went by faster than any other year. With Tay and Trent, I was excited when they turned one. With Titan, though, I’m sad. When I look at him, I still see a baby. I know he’ll always be my baby, but I just can’t seem to accept that he’s pretty much a toddler now. He’s slowly becoming independent. 

He walks and even runs everywhere. He plays rough with his brothers and loves running away from them or chasing them. He babbles a lot more, is making new sounds, and says a few words. He loves to dance. He can now point, but it's kind of with his whole hand rather than just his pointer finger. When we ask him, "where is ___?" (mommy, daddy, or his brother's names) he will look in their direction and sometimes will even point. We do this thing where we make a humming noise in his ear. Well, the other day I put my ear near his face and he did it back to me! 


He is really goofy! Just like his brothers and parents. hehe :) He's also very loving and can be dramatic. He'll pretend cry and pretend laugh. He is a ton of fun. 
Another thing is that it has been one year since I’ve been breastfeeding! I am very proud because with the other two I didn’t make it past 2 weeks of nursing. A whole year! No pumping, no substituting formula, and not starting solids until after 6 months really and even then he didn’t even want baby food, so we waited to give “table” food around 10 months. I’m proud and happy to have nursed this long. Happy that my milk supply stayed up and that he was a boobie monster. 


Here's some pictures of his birthday:

His Cake

His big brothers were quite excited for him. :)

"mm I am going to devour this!"

hehe

Opening his gift from his birthday buddy, Zeb. 

His excited, goofy face!

He loves it. (so does his big brothers haha)

Dreams and Reality

“I want to become an actress, move to New York, star in a musical, make it onto the big screen, and become famous.” “I want to be a scientist and find cures for diseases”

These are dreams that some people have. A lot of people, if not all, have dreams. Me? No, not really. 

Sure, when I was little I wanted to grow up and be a teacher or a doctor, but I also wanted to be a mother even more. 

Now though, I am so very realistic. Too realistic to where I don’t even bother to dream big. My “dream” is to one day own a house and for us to open up a family restaurant. Not too farfetched, right? Pretty possible and attainable, right? 

When people are asked, “What is your dream car?” They may say, “A Cadillac Escalade, with chrome rims, decked out sound system, etc.” When I am asked the same question, I say, “one that will fit my family, runs well, and is good on gas.” See, realistic right? 

Most likely the reason for being so realistic is living a life where I’ve always been struggling. Pretty much my whole life we’ve been lower class, borderline poverty, and at one point even houseless. Well, there was one point when we were middle class when my mom was married to my ex-stepdad. Anyway, I know that certain things are just unattainable and nearly impossible, especially with the economy the way it is. So, instead of setting myself up for disappointment, I stick to reality and things I know can be accomplished. 

Our Christmas

I'm blogging about this a little late, but better late than never, right?

I'll start off by saying that this year we weren't able to buy our boys anything. With both of us being students, finally purchasing a vehicle last month after needing one for a year, and paying rent, we had no extra to buy gifts. We were expecting gifts from my mom and younger sister, since they told us they got the kids some gifts but that's it.

Last Monday after Tay's Christmas performance, we were hanging out in the living room when we heard our doorbell ring. I opened the door and no one was there. There was, though, quite a few gifts! The boys were so excited that Santa had arrived a few days early. About a half hour later, there was a knock at the door. Again, no one was there but there were a few more gifts! I couldn't believe it. I had tears of joy and gratitude to know that people care about my kids and us. There are great people still out there. Thanks to the kind people from church, some friends and some family, my boys had a great Christmas when we weren't expecting much at all.

On the morning of Christmas Eve, we drove up to Salt Lake City to my husband's uncle and aunty's house. It was good to see everyone. The boys, of course, were excited to see their cousins. They played with them the whole time we were there. On Christmas morning, all the kiddos opened their gifts. My boys got gifts from their cousin's. It was so very nice of them. I also got a gift from them--some socks and lotion. That afternoon, we went to my husband's aunty's family's house. It was a lot more traditional than the other parties I have been to with my husband. There were "talks" given and prayers said all in Tongan. The adults sang songs in Tongan too.

Anyway, there was a lot of food! My boys decided to act up (Trenton was tired and Titan was tired and hungry), so I didn't really get to eat, but my husband's cousins grabbed a huge foil pan and put some food in it for us to bring home. Lu Pulu, tapioca, mussels,and octopus in coconut milk, ribs, ota, pig, noodles, and lots of desserts. We got home, warmed it up, and ate like we were starving. I love Tongan food! Lu pulu is my favorite. I swear I could eat it every day. :P

I can't wait for the next time I can eat Tongan food. I think it'll be in April for my husband's friends farewell. He's going on his mission. :)

So, overall, we all had a great Christmas. Of course, I missed my family but it was so much better than staying home and being sad.