My Little Mail Man...

So, we got Christian a new toy (walker) which we found out when put it together that it's a little mail carrier - so cute! It has little plastic envelopes that attach to it and can come off. Well, he's been pushing this little thing all over the place for about a week now and we've noticed he does NOT like the envelopes being attached.. He immediately takes them off of it!  Tonight he started taking them off and putting them in the drop box on the front of it. It's the first time he's really been interested in opening things and putting something in anything. Once he figured it out though that game went on forever. When he would drop one, we would say "Uh Oh" and then he started saying it!! By the end of it, he would say Uh Oh every time he dropped anything!! Soooo cute!! It really sounds more like Uh Uh, but I could just eat him up!!!

This is the little mail carrier

 He also watched part of his first Christmas movie tonight!! He has never been one to watch the TV even if we put a baby Einstein or kid movie in, but The Grinch got his attention tonight! It was the colorful cartoonish version and he watched it for a whole 3 minutes probably - which is good for him! Then I gave him to daddy so I could get a few pictures (have to document these super important things ya know.. haha!) and he ended up watching it some more with Corey until he fell asleep. What a joy that little boy is!! Earlier today he was pulling at the Christmas tree that we just got put up a few days ago.. I thought it might be bad, but he was very gentle! He did push around one of his presents that was under the tree though and I thought for sure he was going to unwrap it but all is good still! :) I just can't wait to spend this Christmas season with him!!  

 Love them so much!!!

Christian modeling in front of our Christmas tree

Day 24 of Thanks on Thankgiving...

I'm not going to continue my days of thanks through out the whole month.  I just wanted to do it through Thanksgiving and I sure did enjoy it! :)  I have saved the best for last though... Today, and every single day of my life, I am thankful for God.  I am thankful that he gave His Son, Jesus Christ to die on the cross for my sins.  Because of Him, I will have eternal life.  There is nothing in the world that I could possibly be more thankful for.

One of my favorite songs is, "Amazing Love"... Here are the lyrics which pretty much sums up this post:

I'm forgiven because you were forsaken

I'm accepted, You were condemned
I'm alive and well
Your spirit is within me
Because you died and rose again

I'm forgiven because you were forsaken
I'm accepted, you were condemned
I'm alive and well
Your spirit is within me
Because you died and rose again

Amazing love, how can it be?
That you, my king. would die for me
Amazing love, I know it's true
Its my joy to honor you
Amazing love how can it be?
That my king would die for me
Amazing love I know it's true
Its my joy to honor you
In all I do
I honor you

I'm forgiven because you were forsaken
I'm accepted, you were condemned
I'm alive and well
Your spirit is within me
Because you died and rose again

Amazing love how can it be
That you, my king would die for me
Amazing love, I know its true
It's my joy to honor you
Amazing love how can it be?
That you, my king, would die for me
Amazing love, I know its true
Its my joy to honor you
In all I do I honor you

You are my king
You are my king
Jesus, You are my king
Jesus, You are my king

Amazing love, how can it be?
That you, my king, would die for me
Amazing love, I know it's true
Its my joy to honor you
Amazing love, how can it be?
That you, my king would die for me
Amazing love I know it's true
Its my joy to honor you
In all I do I honor you

Day 23 of Thanks...

I'm thankful for my home.  I love that we were blessed to be able to buy a new home that was being built when we found it.  The whole process went so much easier than we expected and only took about a month! I love the location and everything about it.  It will always be so special to me because it's the home that we started our family in.  I know we won't be there forever, but it will always be dear to my heart!  I'm sure we will live there for quite some time though.  It really is the perfect size for our sweet little family.  Khloe even has a fenced in yard now, even though she spends a lot of her time inside the house! ;)  We will definitely build our next house though and not until we can afford to have things that we really want!!  I'm excited for that day, but until then I sure do love our home and the people in it!! Thank you, Lord. 

 We were SO excited!!

I know I've already wrote about how thankful I am for my family, but I saw this today and just loved it....

How true is that?! Love!!

Day 21 & 22 of Thanks...

I am thankful that I was born and raised a southern girl. ;) It doesn't get much sweeter than that! I love everything about it.... the accent, manners, food, sweet tea!!!, love for sports, love for God (the bible belt is the only place I'd wanna be), and pretty much everything about it! People are just different in other areas... it's like we are just raised differently... southern hospitality maybe? I don't know, but I sure thank God that this is where I'm from and I have no intentions on ever leaving!

I am making this a two day post because part of living in the south is.... SEC FOOTBALL - only the best!! :) I love the Razorbacks, in the good times and the bad, but regardless of what kind of year we are having, SEC football is just leaps and bounds above the rest! I am so excited that we are #3! WPS!!!

Day 20 of Thanks...

I am thankful for Sunday's. It is my favorite day of the week for sure! I look forward to church all week and seeing our wonderful church family. I absolutely love our Sunday school group. Tommy and Becky are such great leaders and being able to relate to them makes it very real. I love the discussions we have and how we all sit and talk about daily struggles and what we should be doing and how it relates to the bible. It's such an awesome support group. Our preacher, Eric, is absolutely wonderful! He is straight up and if you don't want to hear the truth, tough. He tells it like it is and straight from God's word. I love how it relates a lot of his messages to marriage and raising kids. Our church family is the greatest. Everyone is so loving and down to earth. We have made some really great friends there and we are so blessed that God led our family there!

Day 18 & 19 of Thanks...

These are both going to be about Christian of course.. :) First of all, I am thankful and very blessed that I have not had to put him in daycare. I stayed home with him for 10 weeks and when I went back to work I was fortunate enough to leave him with the people that love him the most, besides me! My mom keeps him 2 days a week and my husband has him the other 3 days. He works a lot of weekends so it worked out best that way.  However, he is 9 1/2 months old now and I'm starting to feel like it might be time to change that. He is so happy on Sundays when he is in the nursery playing with the other little kids. Sometimes I feel bad that he doesn't have as much social interaction as he would if he did go to daycare. I've been praying about it a lot so we will see what happens. Maybe we will wait it out until the yucky sickly season is over! Corey is trying out for the Fayetteville Fire Dept in about two weeks though and if he gets the job, I guess that will be God's plan anyway! I'm glad that I will atleast be at peace with the decision if we have to because up until now I think I would have died if I had to put him in daycare! 

I am also soooo thankful that Christian says momma now!!! I have waited on this day to come forever!! haha! He has said it here and there in the past, but only a few times and it was very random. Now he says it, ALL THE TIME! It completely melts my heart, unlike anything else! He has been teething really bad lately and last night he woke up crying so I went and got him and put him in bed with me. He was burning up and ended up having a fever - 101 - I freaked out until I read my little book and it said don't call the doctor unless it's 103. Thank goodness for that book by the way, moms.. if you don't have "What to Expect the First Year," you need to purchase it now! It's been a life saver.. along with babycenter e-mail updates.. love them! Anyway, totally got off the subject..... So I went ahead and changed him and gave him a bottle since he wasn't feeling good and then I put him back to bed. Well, that only lasted about 3 minutes and then I heard whining and "momma, momma, momma, momma." Umm... pretty sure I JUMPED out of bed to get him!!! It was one of the best moments ever, seriously. I've always known that he depends on me, obviously, but to hear him say "momma" when he really needed me. Whew - nothing like it!! I ended up giving him a warm bath to break his fever.. He went to sleep right after that and slept until 9:00 this morning. Sweet little angel - I love him to pieces!!!

 We built his 1st fort :)

 

 

 my little doll face

 How cute is that?!

 Uh oh! I dropped my book.

Melts my heart...

Day 17 of Thanks...

I am very thankful that I was recently accepted into grad school! I was a little nervous about not getting into JBU because of the minimum requirement on the GRE being very high. I hate taking tests, but thankfully there was a lot of math on it! I knew I would be able to get in somewhere but I had my heart set on JBU. I love that it's a Christian school and the classes are from a Christian stand point. I feel like being a counselor or therapist is my calling. I'm going to start out getting my degree in school counseling and hopefully be blessed enough to get a job doing that. It will take me a couple more years after that to get my degree in marriage and family therapy.. My long term goal is to be a marriage therapist (dream job).  I'm so excited to start school in January and I hope it all works out! I'm going to put it in God's hands and see where He takes me!

Day 16 of Thanks...

I am extremely thankful for my amazing friends!! God has blessed me with such a great group of close friends and many other friends as well. I take pride in being a loyal friend and over the years I have realized who has the same morals and values friendship as much as I do. It's a lot easier when you're older to know who you really want in your life. Time is precious to me now so it's nice knowing who I enjoy spending my time with! :) 

Obviously, my best friend in the world is my husband! There is no one on earth I would rather spend my days and nights with.. <3 Amber is the friend that I grew up with.. we were absolutely inseparable and it's nice to know that even though we don't live in the same town anymore and we are both super busy, that we will always be there for each other! There was a time that we didn't talk for a while and when we did, it was like we picked up right where we left off. She is very special to me and just a special person in general! I would love for her to find the man of her dreams/soul-mate, but he better be the best of the best! ;) Then there is Devin and Diamond... I mean how in the world did I get so lucky to have these two in my life?! We met when I started working at Olive Garden and hit it off immediately! I feel like I've known both of them my entire life. They are the definition of "true friends." Devin is about as talented as it gets... and we have been so lucky to have him as our personal photographer (I know a lot of my friends hate me for that!). He is such a sweet sweet, genuine person!! I love that we can act ridiculous and laugh our heads off and have a bible study all in the same hour! haha Then there is Diamond.. my sister at heart! We have so much in common that you would think we were sisters! She is crazy fun and one of the most beautiful people I know!! I just absolutely love her to pieces and I'm so glad she moved back home! Last but not least, sweet Brittney.. I honestly have no idea what made us start hanging out but I'm so glad we did!! When I started dating Corey we became very close and were with each other almost every day. She is such a unique friend and we are very different, but make the best of friends ever!! I know I could count on her for anything and I hope she feels the same way about me! She just got married a couple of weeks ago and I am beyond happy for them!! It's funny how people come into your life and stay. I know there is a reason for each one of them and all of my other friends who are very important to me also, even though I didn't have time to write about them all. Corey and I have an incredible group of friends and I am very thankful for each and every one of them!! 

 

 

Day 15 of Thanks...

I am thankful for all the appliances in my house that makes life just a little bit easier! :) I am trying to be positive since my garage door is broken and my hot water tank is leaking. So, we will just focus on the things that ARE working and boy, am I glad they are! I mean what in the world would we do without our washer & dryer?? I can't imagine having to wash clothes and hang them up to dry like they did back in the day! More power to those ladies!! I am also extremely thankful for my dishwasher, even though I pretty much wash the dishes prior to putting them in there.. Everyone makes fun of me for this! I like to think of the dishwasher more as a "steam cleaner." I do not trust it to clean the dishes entirely... Yes, I am a freak! Let's see.. I'm also very thankful for my DVR. I know that is not an "appliance" but I sure do love that thing! I'm a full-time working momma that is about to start my master's program, so I rely on the good ol' DVR so that I can still watch all my lovely shows! :) Hmm.. I all of a sudden feel a little better about the garage door and hot water tank situation we have going on right now and the hundreds of dollars it's about to take to fix those darn things! I was stressing about it last night and my sweet hubby said, "Kristen.. just have faith in God because He always provides. It's never worth it to worry when it's completely out of our hands but thank God we have His hands to put our problems in." He started talking about things that we discussed at church last Sunday night and how we need to apply that to our lives instead of just hearing it. I just started crying... because not only is that sooo true, but that I am so beyond blessed to have such an amazing support system in my husband. Thank you, Lord!!!!

 I am hoping my handy-dandy hubby can make me one of these storage areas for my pots and pans... Is this not the coolest?!

Day 12, 13, & 14 of Thanks...

I had a very busy weekend and did not have time to post so here are a few things I am thankful for on these days...

• Breakfast in bed from my hubby.
• Lunch dates with my two favorite guys.
• Family time on Sunday's.. It's by far my favorite day!!

Hope everyone has a great week!!

Day 11 of Thanks...

Today is Veteran's Day and I am extremely thankful for all the men and women who have and are currently serving our country. We are so blessed to live in a country that protected by such brave men and women. They sacrifice so much for us.. That takes a very special and selfless person. Happy Veteran's Day and thank you for everything you have done and continue to do...

Day 10 of Thanks...

I am thankful for God's beautiful creations.. At this very moment I'm in a tree stand enjoying nature, with my husband which makes it that much better! This is my first hunting experience. I'm not a bit afraid of heights but let me tell ya, climbing that tree and getting in the tree stand just about freaked me out!! My sweet husband climbed up right behind me and helped me in it.. He knew I was scared. Now that I'm up here, I'm fine! :) Man.. Hunting takes patience! Thank God for cell phone service because I'm actually really enjoying myself! I think I should go sit in a tree stand to write more often. ;) Anyway, being out in the woods is so relaxing.. The trees are beautiful and there are so many sounds.. I can't help but thank God for all our surroundings! This is also a really great time to have a conversation with Him. Makes me think that I need to take more time to just turn everything off and enjoy God's beautiful creation. Thank you, Lord.. You are simply amazing!

Day 9 of Thanks...

Today I am thankful for Christian sleeping all night two nights in a row! When I say all night, I mean 11-12 hours. We have been on about a month streak now of him waking up atleast once a night, every night! I don't mind getting up with him and Corey is absolutely amazing at helping me, but every night for about a month straight was getting a little exhausting when you get used to sleeping through the night again! We can't do the "cry it out method." I just refuse to... If he wakes up hungry, I'm feeding him!! And then I'm changing him so he can't go back to sleep nice and dry! :) The doctors say that's a no no, but I'm mom! haha So anyway, very thankful for getting some much needed sleep and hoping it continues! :)

Day 7 & 8 of Thanks...

I'm combining two days because they go hand in hand... Plus I'm a busy working momma and didn't have time to write yesterday! So, on these two days I am thankful for my job and the wonderful kids that go along with it. :) I absolutely LOVE my job and I know not everyone can say that so I feel very blessed. I honestly wake up happy about going in to work everyday (not that I love getting up early.. but once I'm up, I'm good!). I kind of always knew that I wanted to be a teacher. Sure, the pay isn't outstanding, but I'm not complaining! It's definitely better than some and the real pay, which is intrinsic, is completely worth it!! Knowing that you could be the only positive influence in a childs life is pretty awesome... and making a difference is even better. I teach science, but I also teach life.... how to show respect, what is appropriate and what is not, how to treat others (BIG thing in my classroom), discipline, maturity, compassion, attitude, how to write (you think I'm kidding.. I'm not.), organizational skills (the fact that I'm so OCD really gets on their nerves, but I think they secretly like it), and anything else they may need help with... and believe me, an 8th grader needs a lot of help! People always ask me why in the world I teach at this age level... Well, I want to make a huge difference and what better age to do that in than this one?! This is the time of their life they are totally transitioning and becoming the person they will end up being. This is the time to help mold them into a really great young adult. I'm hard on my kids and they know I have very high expectations of them.. but you know what?? They respect me and deep down, they love it. Yes, there are days that I want to pull my hair out, but all in all.. I love my job and I love these kids to pieces. I'm also lucky enough to be a Student Council advisor. That is a lot of fun and those kids are really special to me. They really do have huge hearts and I try really hard to humble them. They do a lot of great things and make me really proud. To make it even better... I absolutely love the friends I have made at work. They are some of the best friends that I'm very blessed to have in my life. Gosh, I guess this could have been split into about 4 days.. haha! Needless to say, I'm happy where I'm at and thank God for blessing me to work in such an amazing school district.. especially one that doesn't take out God. Thank you Jesus!

 Student Council held a clothes drive a few weeks ago and the turn out was AMAZING!! That just shows what great kiddos we have at AMS. These are some of my kids helping sort and fold clothes.

Day 6 of Thanks...

I am very very thankful for having such an amazing dad. I've always looked up to him and respected him in so many ways. I think girls always look at their daddy's like heroes.. I know I do. He has always been such a great provider and advisor. He has given me some of the best advice that has helped mold me into the woman I am today. I know that if I have a problem that I can always rely on him to help fix it and he has always been completely honest with me. I feel like our relationship is stronger now than ever.. I seem to get closer to him with age. Now that Christian is here, I feel like we have a whole new kind of bond. He loves that little boy more than anything! I absolutely love to see the way he looks at him and smiles. He calls all the time just to "talk" to him and see how we are doing. I think it's pretty special that we talk on almost a daily basis. He also has a great relationship with Corey, which means a lot to me. They do a lot together and that makes my heart happy!! :) I know that no matter what the situation is.. he will always be there to encourage me. I am so thankful and blessed to have such amazing parents and such a great relationship with both of them. It stinks coming from a divorced home, but I have to give my parents HUGE credit for always maintaining a friendship and making sure I was #1. They are both very special. I love you dad...

Such a special moment we shared.. He made all my nervous butterflies go away! :)

Day 5 of Thanks...

I am so very thankful that God blessed me with the best mom ever. She has always always always been my very best friend and #1 fan. There is honestly no way I could express in words everything she has done for me. What hasn't she done for me?? She is the most selfless person I know and would do without to give me anything I need. I know I can count on her for absolutely anything. She will be there, no matter what. She has always put me way before herself, even when I didn't deserve it. She has went above and beyond the duties of a mom... I don't know what in the world I would do without her!! Laugh if you want, but I have never went a single day in my life without talking to her or saying goodnight. I pray that I will always have the same relationship with Christian as me and my mom have. I have had such a great role model to follow that I will make sure I do the same for him. Christian is absolutely in love with her (nanner). He is one lucky little boy to have such a special person in his life!! I could seriously go on and on because there are endless reasons why I am so thankful for her and truly believe she is the best mom in the world, but I'm trying to keep these short and sweet since I have to make myself write every day. ;) If you do read this mom, I hope you know what a HUGE impact you have made on my life and I thank you sooooo much for giving up so much of yours for mine. Not many people do that... you are just very special. <3 I love you!!!

Always by my side...

Day 4 of Thanks...

I am thankful beyond words for my sweet baby boy, Christian Michael Iovinelli. He is my little angel. He made us a family and has been a blessing ever since we found out I was pregnant. He is by far the sweetest little boy in the world.. He has always been so loving and happy. We got extremely lucky to have such an easy baby.. He was never a big cryer except when he was hungry. He started sleeping mostly through the night at about 4 weeks old and completely at 6 weeks. (not so much anymore however... lol) He was always content just swinging or hanging out in his little vibrating chair.. really didn't have to be entertained (although I assure you, he was!!). He never went through a fussy stage and teething wasn't bad at all. Thank God he hasn't been sick yet, other than some tummy issues while teething and a few allergy problems here and there. He's such a healthy little boy and we count our blessings for that every day. He is 9 months old today and in to everything! He is a crawling machine and pulls up on anything he can. He's starting to try all new foods and is saying new words. Every day is new and such an amazing blessing waking up to him. I know I won't be able to say this when he is older, but he's just a pretty little boy. His big eyes melt my heart and he has the sweetest little smile in the world. Thank you Lord for blessing us with such an amazing gift. I love you, Christian Michael Iovinelli!!

 

You had only been in this world for a few hours and you completely filled our hearts...

I'm Thankful For....

Since I'm a little late at starting my days of thanks, I will just name two smaller things I'm thankful for and then start blogging about Day 3! 

Day 1 - I'm thankful for... getting to listen to the rain with my hubby last night. (one of my favorite things to do.)

Day 2 - I'm thankful for... the cooler weather today.. loving it!

Day 3 - I'm thankful for... my husband.

I am thankful for this man for so many different reasons. Corey is my best friend, companion, soul-mate, love of my life, counselor, husband, and best of all.. daddy to our little boy. He has been nothing but a blessing to our life. I feel so blessed that God picked such an amazing man for me to share my life with. We are alike in many ways but for the most part, "opposites attract" is true in our case. He compliments me in every way and we balance each other out perfectly. There is no one I would rather spend the rest of my life with. I still get butterflies when I talk about him and extremely excited to go on dates with him. I can't wait to get home every day from work to see him and spend the evening together. He feels it is so important for us to go to church together and raise our child in church.. as well as putting God first in our lives and our marriage... That just might be the best thing about him. He's such a hard worker and takes pride in everything he does. He is extremely intelligent. He has a very calming persona and when I'm stressed he always makes me feel like nothing else in the world matters. We don't go to bed without each other.. praying and cuddling is a must! :) He has been the best daddy ever since Christian was born. He has always got up with me at night and been right by my side... he even gets up by himself a lot of times without waking me up just so I can get rest. Christian looks at him like he is his hero with those big eyes and sweet smile. Every time Christian says "DaDa" it melts my heart. I look at Christian often and think how amazing it truly is that he is a product of us. God is so great... I mean, it is truly a miracle! I could go on and on, but these are just a few reasons why I am so incredibly thankful for Corey Michael Iovinelli - I love you!

1st Halloween...

This was by far the BEST Halloween ever for our family!! Every holiday that is Christian's 1st is going to be amazing!! Just experiencing it with him for the first time is so much fun! I always said our baby's first Halloween outfit had to be a pumpkin but we also found this really cute tiger costume, so he had to have both! Devin took pictures of him in each outfit and they turned out ridiculously CUTE!! His "official" Halloween trick-or-treating costume though was the tiger. He was so stinkin adorable... We had the best night ever with him! Mom took pictures as we were getting him ready and as we left and also got it on video. First stop was Grandpa's house!!! They came out with a bowl of candy that had puffs and a toy in it, which was the obvious choice for him! ;) I feel so blessed that my parents are so involved in his life... It makes me so happy to watch them with him and see how in love they are with him. After we left there, we headed to Kyle and Brittney's house. It was our first trip to their house now that they are married, how exciting!! Christian played with the dogs and hung out with Brittney and Kyle for a while and then it was home for bedtime! The night was just amazing and so were the memories made!

 These are the pictures Devin took.. So cute!!

His 1st little Halloween bucket!

 Getting ready!!

 He loved my head band!

 Sweet little tiger

 LOVE my dad's face here.. He sure does love his grandbaby!!!

 Grandpa had to take him to the door for every trick-or-treater! :)

 Look at that little tail!

My baby tiger

 

The cutest pumpkin ever!

 

My favorite <3

I also have some great news to share... I received my acceptance letter from JBU yesterday!!! YAY! I'm so excited and I can't wait to start! I'm planning on taking 6 hours next semester so wish me luck! :) Hope everyone had a fabulous Halloween... I'm going to crawl in bed with the hubs and listen to the rain! 

Goodnight!