Love Every Minute......

As I was putting a second coat of paint on our bathroom yesterday, I had a random playlist playing music on my cell phone. I've always liked to believe that everything happens for a reason and things happen when they need to happen. And that it all happens in God's timing and for whatever reason you need to hear that/see that/feel that, in that very moment. So as I'm painting away, Brad Paisley's "Anything Like Me" comes on. I remember hearing this song shortly after Karson was born, I particularly like it because it makes me smile thinking that Justin just might get his "payback.":) As this songs playing I hear the pitter-patter of little feet running towards the bathroom and all I could do was smile. That moment hit me very hard, I felt like I had taken a mental image to hold on to forever. I remember when I was newly pregnant, I had so many people giving me so many "tips" and "ideas." I think the best advice I was given though was to love every minute. I embraced pregnancy and loved every minute. Even when my Mom was making me walk laps around and around the school gym and go up and down the stairs over and over again because she wanted that baby out! I told "Teeny Bean" when we left that he/she could stay in there for as long as they wanted! I loved having him so close and so protected. After Karson was born I remember all those moments when I'd be sooo tired......but I remember holding that new born little baby in my arms and Trace Adkins "You're Gonna Miss This" would play over and over again in my head. I think that was God telling me to "love every minute." Every day I watch Karson and love to see everything that he's learning. It absolutely amazes me. It's all those little moments that are little miracles. It's all of those moments whether I'm loving him to pieces or wanting to pull my hair out that make me take a step back. So what if he wants to flush the toliet over and over again and pull down the entire roll of toliet paper or get into the bathtub and turn the water on when he's in his clothes! So what if he wants to dip aka soak his carrot in ranch dip and then run all over the house with ranch dip dripping all over the place! I'm learning to pick my battles with him. He loves getting to dip his veggies into ranch. So what if he is getting a little ranch dip everywhere!! At least he's eating his vegetables right!?!? I figure if he's not endangering himself and not causing too much mass destruction of our house and it's making him happy, then just embrace it and love every minute because those moments aren't going to last forever and chances are......I'll probably even miss them. Other Moments that I've been Loving...... One day I saw that Barney was on TV so I wanted to see Karson's reaction. Anyone who knows Karson knows that he does not sit still for long. He is one busy little boy who has lots of learning and things to get done every day. But when he saw Barney on TV he just stopped. He watched the remainder of the show!! And when it was over Barney was saying "Bye" and Karson started waving back at him. And when it was over he started to fuss, pointing at the screen saying "uh....uh!! So I said to him, "yep, Barney's over" as he starts to cry, pointing at the tv he says "Bar! Bar" looking so sad that it was over. Every day now Karson wakes up, we go to the refrigerator, I pull out his whole milk and his apple juice even though I know what he'll pick because he always picks apple juice!:) He then proceeds to the living room gets up on the couch with the remote and waits for me to join him so that he can give me the remote to put Barney on!!:) I love that it's become his little routine. It's like Justin said, "it's like he knows Barney is his show." Karson loves to vacumm so we got him his own little toy vacumm. The other day I asked him if he wanted to vacumm and that he needed to pick up his toys. He immediately runs over to his little vacumm, picks it up and puts it away where I normally keep it! I was so impressed!! One day we were reading a book, another thing Karson loves! He brings books to everyone saying his best version of "book" "book." As he'll climb on your lap to read it. He loves to point out and say mostly everything that starts with a "B." "Ball" "bat" "bird" "balloon" etc. The book we were reading had a Mom and Dad riding in a car so I asked him where the Mommy was...... he stopped looked up at me, smiled and pointed at me! It melted my heart to pieces:) All I could do was smile and say yes, I'm your Mommy. His funny but not so good moment was yesterday. We have 4 kittens at our house right now. Two that are ours and two that are going to Mom and Larry's once they're big enough. He loves trying to hold those kittens and bless their little hearts they let him catch them. Normally he just tries to pack them around. They're kittens but they're not that little any more. Anyways I caught him multiple times yesterday trying to make those kittens ride his trike! I would laugh inside and then go tell him no! So he decided to move on from making them ride his trike. The next thing I know I'm looking out and he has one of them in their water bowl! The poor kittens entire backside was soaked, luckily it was HOT outside! Maybe he was trying to help?? He knows so much and is accomplishing so many things. It really makes me stop and think about how precious all the time I get to spend with him is. I feel so blessed that I get to see all of these little moments. Whether they're naughty or making me melt they're all so special and I'm loving every minute.

Priceless

One of my favorite parts about being a Mom is seeing the world all over again in a little ones eyes. I love to see what excites Karson, what makes him happy, what makes him sad and the things that really tork him off! It all makes me smile:)

I've said before how much Karson loves animals. Which I love because I have ALWAYS been a huge animal lover! I can remember being very little, 4 years old maybe and going to a livestock auction with my Dad. I fell in love with a baby goat there and knew for sure when that baby goat came up for auction my softy of a Dad would bid on that baby goat for me! Well the baby goat came up and dear sweet Dad didn't raise his hand once! I was heartbroken, I cried and cried! As you can tell I'm still a little scarred from it to this day, I still remember it like it was yesterday! Haha:)

My poor parents and Grandma wouldn't even take me to the pet store or humane society when I was little. I still have the same problem it's just that now it's my husband who won't take me!

Some of my best memories are the times when Dad would bring home baby calves that we would get to bottle feed. When our dogs had puppies and cats had kittens. But the most special memories are the ones that were completely out of the blue. The puppy that Mom and Dad brought home. The baby kitten that Dad surprised Ryan and I with after school. I lived for those moments!

So you could say that I was very happy with my husband when he brought home one of those completly out of the blue surprises!

Last Saturday he went to the mud bog. And when he arrived home 5 hours after the original time he told me he would be home, I wasn't in the best of moods even though I knew that's what would happen!

And darn him, I didn't even get the chance to be mad. He came in the door with a box and told me to look inside. The box was clamped shut and coming from my husband who likes to kill snakes I wasn't about to open this box. After I finally gave in this is what I found!!



Our Newest Family Member!! Chevy Honcoop!!

He's SO TINY!! He fits in the palm of my hand:)

Karson and I love him to pieces!

Every time I would try to put Karson down he would cry and hold his arms up so I would pick him up and he'd lean over to look in the box.


I know Karson really loves Chevy because he doesn't just give out kisses anymore like he use to! The only ones who are really on the "Kisses from Karson" list are his dogs, his cats, his Teddy Bear and now Chevy!



Everyday Karson gives Chevy some lovin! He leans his little head down and lays it against Chevy<3

Having your husband come home 5 hours late is worth it's wait in gold to see your baby give loves to his baby bunny:) Priceless.

*Life brings simple pleasures to us every day. It is up to us to make them wonderful memories*

The Ultimate Surprise!!

I’m writing about this topic for one of my dearest friends ever. I had started this blog a few days ago and then stopped because I thought it was “stupid.” But as I talked to her today we started talking about her sister who is pregnant and her debate over whether or not she should find out what she’s having. I thought it was funny and somewhat ironic that her sister was struggling over this issue and I was struggling over blogging about this issue! So here’s to my amazing friend and her amazing sister:)


As most of you know when we were pregnant we didn’t want to know what we were having. Let me rephrase that….. I didn’t want to know what we were having. I had to pretty much beg and plead that we wouldn’t find out! Some call this old fashioned, some call it crazy! I call it motivation!!

It’s actually quite amusing when you tell people you don’t know what you’re having and no you’re not going to find out. Some people get mad, some think that you’re lying and just not telling them, some think you’re out of your mind and other’s think it’s absolutely amazing.

The funny part of all of this is that, I tell all my friends who are pregnant to not find out. I guess I want that ultimate surprise for them too. But it drives me absolutely crazy to not know what they’re having! I have absolutely no problem waiting 9 months for myself but my best friend gets pregnant and I HAVE to know! It’s crazy I know!! I think it comes back to that whole motivation thing.

I watched two of my cousins be born and maybe from that time on I knew I would need LOTS of motivation. For everyone who’s had a baby or watched one be born……you know what I’m talking about!:)

People are funny….. I will never forget the most precious old man that Justin and I ran into at the hospital one of the nights we were there for birthing classes. He came right up to me and said “looks like you have a watermelon under your shirt” we laughed and then he said “and I’m sure you already know what you’re having, that’s how they do it these days.” It was almost as if he was relieved when we told him we didn’t know! He thought that was the greatest thing in the world. “The best surprise anyone could get.”

From the time I was a little girl I always “knew” or *cough cough* THOUGHT I knew that I would have a little girl first. When I was pregnant I would have the craziest most random dreams ALL the time. And I would guess that 90% of the time if I had a dream about the baby , the baby was a girl. I did all the online tests, followed baby’s heart rate, compared it to the heart rates of friends who had babies already, did the ring over the belly test yada, yada, yada, yada……… every one of them said GIRL!!


Was this because I wanted a girl? Because Justin wanted a girl? Was this because I was the first born and I was a girl? Or was it because I truly believed I was having a girl and when my Mom was pregnant with me she KNEW I was a girl. I really have no idea.

But it’s funny how God doesn’t give you what you want he gives you what you need and I believe in some sense he even prepares you for it.

Exhibit A

These shoes………










I bought these shoes probably 3 years before I was even pregnant! Just because they were the littlest cutest tennis I had ever seen! At the time I told myself they could be boy or girl……definitely more boy!

Exhibit B

These shoes……



Larry bought me these shoes 5, that’s right FIVE YEARS before Karson was born!! Let’s just say he was excited for a “Grandbaby!” I know girls can wear camo but these scream “I’m Justin Honcoop’s little BOY!!!” If you know Justin you know he’s a “guys’ guy” and he loves his camo!! In fact if you ever see Karson and he’s dressed in all camouflage or even a little camouflage or has camouflage paint on his face you will know who dressed him:)




Exhibit C

This quilt……





I bought this quilt a year before Karson was born, again before I was even pregnant! I have nothing against little girls loving their puppies and kites, but doesn’t this just say little BOY!?!;)


Exhibit D

These baby cloths




This was the first thing I bought after I found out I was pregnant. I had baby fever and HAD to get online and buy something for the baby and these homemade baby cloths were just too cute to pass up!


Later my Grandma and I found matching material that she had made into some baby blankets for our little Teeny Bean (that‘s what we called Karson before we knew he was Karson.:)




Exhibit E

This necklace




Justin bought this necklace for me 4 months before I had Karson and had pre-paid to have the baby’s name inscribed after he or she was born. He surprised me with it right after Karson was born, thanks again sugar!:) Let’s just say KARSON was MEANT TO BE!! I’m pretty sure the girl name we had picked out would not fit to be inscribed on this necklace!!


Another God telling sign…….. I have ALWAYS LOVED the name Karson! I can remember being in the 4th grade picking out the names Karson and Konnor. From then until now my love for those names has NEVER changed. Thank God Justin liked those names I don’t know what we would have done! I have changed and changed and changed and CHANGED my girl names!! (Justin and I battle over these) Thank goodness God gave me my Karson now I’m just waiting on my Konnor!;)



None of this probably really even matters to anyone besides me because it’s my story:) But the point is your baby is your baby. Boy or Girl, Pink or Blue. It doesn’t really matter!! I always thought I’d have a little girl first and as much as I’d love to one day have a daughter I’d be perfectly content to have 4 little boys! In fact when I talk about having another baby I refer to them as “Konnor!” I love Karson so much I want another just like him!!:)






Pregnancy and labor can be a hard road. I had a great pregnancy and labor but the biggest reward I could have after 9 months of wonder, 22 hours of labor and 2 hours of hard pushing is a healthy baby. Boy or Girl! Pink or Blue! Meeting them for the first time. Nothing else in this world can compare to that feeling. Some may argue that I don’t know what it’s like to “know.” But that’s fine with me, I don’t need to nor do I want to know:) And even though I had to beg Justin in the beginning I think even he will tell you that there’s nothing in the world like it. He’s even agreed that we won’t find out on any of our babies! Aww I love him!:) Cross your fingers that he will always feel this way! He tends to get very excited and goes through the whole “I just want to know” thing!:)


Not knowing what your baby is, is a bonding experience in itself. It’s fun to guess, it’s fun to wonder. Are my dreams right? Are my feelings and intuitions right? It’s fun to have other’s guess! Why would you want to know what you're getting for Chirstmas before Christmas?? It takes away some of the magic!! You're pregnant for 5 months before you even get the option to find out or not. That didn't kill you and you're over HALF WAY THERE!!! YOU CAN DO IT!!!!:D





You don’t love your baby because he’s a boy or because she’s a girl you love your baby because they are…… your baby<3


*I would love to hear other's opinions on this topic!* When you were pregnant did you find out what you were having? Did you try the old wives tales?? Did they work for you? If you waited were you're intuitions right??:) What is your suggestion to the girls out there debating whether or not they should find out what they're having or wait!!

Time Flies!!!

I love following blogs so I decided to start one of my own. I also thought it would be fun for family and friends out of town and state to have the chance to see what Karson's up to:)

I named our blog "rememebermealways" because I want to do just that. In the craziness of our lives we think we'll always remember but time seems to go by so quickly and we easily forget those things we say we'll " always remember."

I want to remember Karson always. Who he was as a newborn baby, who he was at 2 months old, 6 months old, 9 months old, a year old and who he is today! All of that time is so special. Hopefully with blogging I will be able to capture some of those precious times and memories.

So in honor of my precious little boy who just turned ONE on May 21, 2011 here we go.........

Bits and Pieces of Karson's 1st Year!

Karson is happy, funny, BUSY, loving, determined, smart, adorable, independent, sweet and a complete goof ball! These are just a few words I would use to describe who he has always been.

This morning as I was thinking about starting this blog I started thinking about the first time I met Karson. May 21, 2010 around 1:22am after 22 hours of labor might I add:) Justin layed him on my chest. I remember him looking up at me, looking straight into my eyes. He didn't cry he just looked at me, a moment I will NEVER forget. And as I look at him today and think about how much he has grown and changed in the past year I can still look into his eyes and see that same little boy. And throughout the past 12 months his little personality has always been there. It just gets brighter and stronger each day.

Things that Karson loves!

His doggies! Copper, Roo and Rex.... He has always, always loved them. He actually LOVES all animals, dogs, cats, horses you name it. (He takes after his momma in that aspect:)

His family~ It AMAZES me with how fast and how little he was when he started recognizing the people he knew! He actually cries now if they leave.....it's sad but cute.

The water! Karson started hottubbing, taking baths and showers very early and still loves it all to this day! Any water he can get into makes his day! The dogs water bowl is his VERY FAVORITE!! Along with dog food....ugh! Sometimes I think he loves his doggies so much because I think he thinks he is one

Snacks- Karson loves snacks! Goldfish crackers, graham crackers, popcorn and cookies. Dog food would be on this list if I would actually let him eat it! And anytime he wants a bite or a drink of something he says "baa" "baa" it actually does kind of sound like "bite" as he puts his little hand out pointing for whatever it is he wants!

His teddy bear! And when I say teddy bear his teddy bear is bigger then me....he's HUGE! Teddy sits in the rocking chair in his room. Each morning before Karson gets out of his crib I ask him for a kiss (usually he'll give me one! Sometimes he shakes his head no!) and then I ask him if he wants to give teddy a hug and he ALWAYS shakes his head yes for that! So I get him out and he runs to Teddy and then falls on to Teddy and gives him big hugs and sometimes a kiss on the nose! It's SOOO CUTE!!:D

Phones, Cell phones and Remotes~ Karson loves to pack all of these around! If he has the phone he carry's it around holding it up to his ear saying "Hi Dad!" the whole time:) If the phone rings he runs to whoever answers it and screams "Hi Dad!":) Cell phones- he likes to carry around especially if they have music playing! He walks around and dances with it! And remotes he just likes to push the buttons and chew on them! And mess the TV up so Mommy can't watch the TV just him??:)

Outside~ Karson LOVES, LOVES, LOVES being outside. Even if it's not very nice out, that's where he prefers to be! Whether it's just running around on the deck, out in the yard helping dad chop fire wood (wow that's a scary thought!:) playing with the dogs, hunting for Easter eggs, helping Grandma Dawn plant her garden (which we did today,) or riding his favorite trike he loves it all! As long as he's outside he's happy:)

Making people laugh! Karson loves to laugh and he loves to see people laughing!! He makes me laugh all the time without trying but there are times where he does his little "fake laugh" just to make you laugh and it works! He is so silly and he knows it:) What really makes me laugh is when a bunch of adults are sitting around talking/laughing and Karson looks around the room at everyone laughing and chimes in with his little fake laugh like he knows what everyone is laughing about! It's HYSTERICAL!!!:D His laughs and giggles are CONTAGIOUS!! Even if it's his fake laugh you will laugh!

These are a few of his most favorite things! My most favorite thing of course is him! I feel so lucky and blessed that I get to be his Momma. That God picked me to share his life with. To take care of him and to share in his most favorite things.

It's like I always say...... it's amazing, how not long ago I had never met Karson. I have lived most of my life never knowing him. Yet at the same time there are moments where I will cuddle with him and have the strongest feelings that I've known him my entire life. And now with knowing him I can't imagine life without him.

Here's to you Karson "Bubba" Lee Honcoop! Thank you so much for being such a blessing to your Daddy and I. We love you SO much!! And we're excited for what's to come!

Love,

Mommy