The Joys

I've been tagged . . .

So Megantagged me on facebook. Here's what I had to say:

 

 

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)

1. I love to cook but baking scares me.

2. I fell in love with elastic waist pants while I was pregnant.

3. I love how I feel after exercising but can easily talk myself out of going to the gym.

4. I met my husband on eharmony.

5. Having Tristan helped me find my purpose in life - being a Mom.

6. I didn't like being pregnant but I LOVE being a parent.

7. I can only watch a scary movie in the morning or afternoon in my own home. It's less scary that way.

8. I hate to vacuum.

9. I love making To-Do lists.

10. I love having a stash of little notepads and notebooks in my desk drawer available to choose from at any time

11. I grew up in Arizona but I feel most comfortable living by the ocean

12. I have lived in 5 different states (4 in the last 10 years)

13. I love doing arts and crafts but sometimes  I have a hard time getting started with a project

14. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday - it's all about food and there's little stress

15. I don't remember learning how to swim - it's as if I've always known.

16. The only jewelry I ever wear is my wedding band and engagement earrings. And they never come off.

17. It's hard for me to sit and relax when there are things to be done around my house.

18. I don't think I'm a very good gift-giver. It's because I over think it.

19. I chew the inside of my lip when I'm thinking.

20. I love technology but hate reading a book on a screen. A book should be in paper format.

 

21. I struggle with the longing to be a 1950's housewife (a la Donna Reed) and my liberal views of equality

22. I love the original version of The Parent Trap. Maureen O'Hara was just beautiful.

23. Mayonnaise makes me gag.

24. Celebrate Me Home by Kenny Loggins always gives me chills (in a good way).

25.  I want to have a house right on the beach someday.

This is the man I love . . .

 

 

 

 

Happy Anniversary Handsome!

Love,

rain rain go away

It's a cold and rainy day here. If this were BT (before Tristan) I would be curling up with a big blanket, cup of tea, and a nice fat book. Instead I am taking advantage of every free moment (ie Tristan sleeping) to clean, pick up messes, and prepare for the next round when he wakes up. I'm a bit ahead of the game today so I'm sitting down and organizing my pictures. I realized I have taken many of Tristan but have forgotten to take the weekly photo of him in his chair. After thinking about it I realize that getting that picture weekly may be an unrealistic task for me. I've decided to give myself some slack and his "watch me grow" album will now be updated monthly somewhere around the 10th.

                           

I realize I forgot to show you his Santa picture. How funny is he? He just kind of looked up at Santa as if to say "who are you?". Did you notice his big boy shoes? Oh my cute little chunk. Here are a few pictures from Christmas . . .

                        

                           

                        

  Love,

Goodbye 2008

A quick hello to you and goodbye to 2008. What a year it's been for The Joys. I'vespent most of today reminiscing about all that has occurred. Lots of ups and downs. I realized that there were more ups than downs that came to mind. I wonder, is this positive thinking due to an increasing maturity that comes with the passing years? Or is it motherhood that has made this possible? Maybe it's just because I now spend my days with the most incredibly sweet and wonderful little boy in the world. Whatever is responsible for this peace and contentment (dare I say happiness? Yes I Do!) in my life, I hope it continues for many years to come. From my happy heart to yours - I wish you all a Joyful (hehe) 2009. I now leave you with a picture of Master Joy languishing in his last bath of 2008. (I have black-barred Tristan's "privates" in the hope of diminishing any future embarrassment said cute boy may have.)

 

Love,

The Family Joy

This is a picture of the happiest moment of my life. Even though Tim was able to bring Tristan in to the OR while they doctors were "finishing me up", I wasn't able to hold or touch him. This picture was taken moments after I was brought into my room (thank you very much to Aunt Pat for taking it). Just holding his little body against mine, feeling his heart beat, watching his eyes as he tried to see the world around him was absolutely amazing. Having Tim right there, stroking my head, telling me what a good job I had done was wonderful too. (Though the nice thing about a c-section is that I didn't do anything other than lay there, the OR team did all the work). Anyway, looking at this picture makes my heart swell with emotion all over again. I love being a mom.

Love,

I am proud to introduce . . .

                          Tristan Timothy Joy!

  

*Amended*

Yes, he does have red hair! How happy am I? VERY.

 

He was born September 10th and he was a BIG BOY! 9lbs, 3oz and 21 1/2 inches long. After 20 hrs of labor it was decided that a c-section was needed. Let me tell you I was all for that! I think even he knew that was the best way to go. So I apologize that it took so long to finally get something posted about him - but I have been recovering from surgery and getting a crash course in parenting. I  just the the all clear from my doctor today, I am free to resume normal activity. Well, as normal as life can ever be again. Even though people told us that our lives would change forever, I don't think you're ever really prepared until the baby arrives. I have to say this is the most amazing and wonderful challenge I could ever face. Am I tired - yes. Do I feel overwhelmed trying to figure out what he needs - yes. Am I dealing with hormone changes -yes. But nothing has ever made me happier and content in my life. Tristan is the most precious thing that has ever happened to me and I hope I am worthy of him.

Love,

 

 

 

What a lazy day

It's pretty overcast and muggy here today. It's the kind of day that makes you feel like doing a whole lot of nothing. I decided to take advantage of this and go through some of the pictures I've taken lately. Sitting with my computer is about all the energy I'm going to muster(at this stage of pregnancy the heat and humidity gets to me pretty easily). So here we go . .

  Father's Day was cute this year seeing as it was Tim's first. Though if you ask him it won't officially be Father's Day for him until next year. Anyway, he and I had a relaxing day just the two of us. We went out to breakfast (oh how we love Cracker Barrel) and then watched some crazy reality TV. We went over to his parents' house that evening for a cookout. Tim and his dad were having fun grilling together then wandering around the yard checking out Bob's garden. We're hoping it will turn out as great as last year's!

We've also been doing some strawberry picking lately. Actually Tim has been doing the majority of the picking. It's a bit too much for me to constantly squat and pick. I just take pictures and point out the "good ones" I see from my bird's eye view. I must say there is nothing like fresh picked strawberries. Makes the ones you get in the store a sad substitute. Needless to say we have been having lots of strawberry shortcake around here.

Love,

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Just a quick update. I know I've been MIA lately, unfortunately I have had 24-7 morning sickness. I've had just enough motivation to feed myself and Lucy and that's about it. Fortunately the sick to my stomach feeling is fading away and I am starting to feel normal again. I still need to nap every day ( I am officially apologizing to all of those who had to deal with bratty little girl Lisa who refused to take her naps - does it help to know I'm taking them now?) and get tired pretty early in the evening. If I see 8pm I'm lucky. Poor Tim must wonder if he has a wife anymore. He has been the most wonderful and understanding husband. He is catering to my random whims and moodiness without even muttering under his breath or rolling his eyes at me. I think he might be SuperHusband.

In addition to this we are (cross your fingers) closing on our house Wednesday. Once again SuperHusband came to the rescue and dealt with the whole thing. From crazy mortgage people to inconsistent lawyers, Tim held down the fort while I was trying to hold down my lunch. So after a few delays and setbacks we are closing in a few days. Our first house! It's much smaller them what we're renting now (what wouldn't be?) but I'm looking forward to having less house to clean. I would rather spend time with Baby than clean house anyway.

Which leads me back to Baby Joy. Tim and I have chosen to wait until the baby's born to find out the sex. We have been discussing boy and girl names but have decided to keep them to ourselves. Too many cooks and all that. So until the baby is born I will be referring to him/her as Baby or Baby Joy.

As I finish up I just want to say a belated birthday to Dad (March 8th) and an early birthday to Jim (March 11th). Also, hope you like the spring '08 look of the blog. Feeling bit lazy but wanted something fun. I found this kit here. So awesome! I can have a cute looking blog pronto! It only took me about 10 minutes to do this little bit. Will be adding a few more extras later.

Have a great day and wish us well on our move!

Love,

Happy 2008!

I truly can't believe it's already 2008. The last few months of 2007 flew by. Well, here we are at the beginning of a new year. I'm always filled with excitement at this time. It's as if I get a clean slate every 365 days. Here are some of the things I've started to fill said plate with:

1. Exercise - Tim and I joined this gym last week. Of course, we didn't actually start going until Sunday but we have an excuse. Our gym is still in the construction stage - won't be completed until the end of next month. In the meantime, we have access to it's sister gym which is 30 min away. It took us a few days to get our butts in gear but we eventually started. I've already gone to work out this morning. Big round of applause for me. On a side note - on our first day at the gym I ran into Deb (for those of you who were at our wedding, she was the blonde woman with a super-toned body) who used to be my pilates instructor in Providence. She is now working at the sister gym and will also be teaching classes at our gym when it opens. I could not be happier.

2. CaeJoy pet photography - I have some new ideas for the business that I am excited to start implementing. Some new packages and a new web site design amongst other things. I'll keep ya posted!

3. Playing with my new Christmas presents - My husband was very generous this year. I got a new COMPUTER. Yes that's right a new desktop computer. We have always used laptops which was fine until I started to need large programs for photo editing (not to mention all the photos I work with).  I type this post to you from my very lovely and very fast new computer that has all kinds of cool options.

It has Windows XP which is awesome. I loooooooove to customize stuff and XP doesn't disappoint. It also has one of the coolest things I've seen in a very long time. The CD burner has a function called lightscribe. It allows you to burn an image/design/text onto the front of a CD. It's so rad.

I also found this printer under my Christmas tree. My photos come out so amazing on this. Just as if they came from the printers. I just looooooooooove it.

My most surprising gift was this. I never even mentioned wanting one - Tim did research and picked it out. How good is he? I still need to play with this a bit more but I am so excited about it. This will make my crafting soooooooooo much easier. Be prepared for lots of fun homemade gifts this year!

So that's what I'm starting the year with. Writing it out makes it even more exciting for me. Lots of fun stuff. I will leave you now with some pictures I took while I was in PHX.

I have more that I will post later. I couldn't resist leaving you with the the gooey mess on Aunt Terri's face. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm smores.

Love,

An early Christmas present for me

I'm in the middle of finishing decorating but I had to pause to share my new toy with you. Let me start by saying I love love love Verizon's "every 2 year-free upgrade" program. Because of it I got this little beauty as an early Christmas present. Lucky me! I looooooooooove it so much. It's red and shiny and pretty. Tim has it in silver and I've always liked his. Now we have his and hers phones. OK, enough cutesy-ness.

In other news - I'm heading to PHX next Friday for a weekend with my grandparents. I am ashamed to say I haven't seen them since our wedding. Way too long. So I'm popping in for a brief but needed visit. I'll also get to soak up some warm weather for a few days. It's gotten quite chilly here. I believe it's only 32 degrees today. Brrrrrrrrr.

I'm off to finish the holiday decor. Wish me luck!

Love,