Life as a Mother

With Maddox hitting another milestone last Tuesday, I’ve been thinking a lot this week about what motherhood has meant to me and why I love being a mom. So, on a more personal note, here are three of the things that stand out most to me:

1. LOVE! Undoubtedly, my capacity to love has grown. And this sweet boy has taught me through his example more of how to be loving. Maddox is so quick to forgive, and he sincerely loves me unconditionally. After I’ve been distracted for 20 - 30 minutes with dinner and not giving him my undivided attention, he runs over to squeeze my legs in a bear hug and kisses them. It just melts my heart. Oh, those hugs and kisses and cuddles! Expressing love for one another so frequently and without reservation is one of the most uplifting blessings of being a mom.

2. Happiness! Maddox’s sweet innocence and the things that make him happy and laugh are really eye opening. It stirs gratitude within my heart and helps me to delight too in the simple and often unnoticed beauties in life. He makes me smile and laugh daily with his antics (he is his father’s son). And he is simply happy and smiling a lot, which is seriously contagious! He is really helping to make it easy to find joy in this journey of motherhood.

3. Growth! Since this little boy came into my life, I have grown in every way – spiritually, mentally, emotionally, physically (not in weight though luckily, haha). Maddox is helping me turn my weaknesses into strengths, he is giving me new experiences that really stretch me. He is helping me to learn patience, not only in my reactions but, more importantly, in my thoughts and feelings. I have learned a little more about sacrifice and giving purely out of love. And it is such a pleasure to witness Maddox’s growth too. He is learning constantly, which makes me want to be a better teacher and a better student. Each new phase brings opportunities for progress for us both, and it is so fun and rewarding.

And although this is all about Maddox and my role as a mom, I can’t leave out the one who is my partner in it all. Scott’s support and love are pivotal to my experience of motherhood, and he is whom I call my number one.

I believe I am doing God’s work as a mother and a wife. And I am so grateful for the two boys in my life who fill our home with pure joy! I love it!

18 Months

Maddox is 18 months today! At some point, I'll stop counting his age in months… Our buddy is growing and learning so much. I feel like I say that at every stage, but it is still true. Here's a taste of what he's up to these days.

He talks and talks and talks. He has added several words to his vocabulary: milk, oops, yuck, that, this, go, woof, caw (for birds), moo, truck, book, nurse (so random), please, thank you, watch, apple, etc. There really are too many to remember and jot down right now, and he will pretty much try to say whatever you ask him to - even though at times he just gets one of the sounds in the word correct. And when he isn't talking, he is pointing (passionately) to communicate. He even points to his diaper when it needs to be changed. When he is whining, we ask him to use his words and he will start "talking."

Maddox is really good at saying prayers with us before meals and bedtime. He will fold his arms even before we are ready. It is really sweet. He eats really well with utensils now. Scott has also taught him how to bang cups and "cheers" with him, so that is a common occurrence at mealtime.

He still sleeps really well; goes to bed at 8 pm and wakes up around 8 am. He is taking just one nap during the day, normally from 1 to 4.

Maddox still LOVES dogs. He just squeals with excitement whenever he sees them. So we get to meet a lot of new people….

Maddox's "petting" is resting his hand on the
dog. He likes a calm pup that'll just hold still!

Maddox wants to be just like his dad! He wants to walk in his shoes, wash the car, work in the garage, create new uses for toys… This little boy is all about the man stuff!

In dad's space at work.

He likes to march. He mostly just lifts his left leg up high as he walks - it is really cute though. Maddox will walk backward when we say "back it up, back it up." He jumps like no other white boy; he bends his knees and gets real low then gets some mad air and hang time:) And he LOVES a good game of chase!

We simply just love to play! He is good at entertaining himself, especially when mom is distracted with dinner. He will now stack blocks and build towers instead of only destroying the ones I make. Maddox is an excellent sharer, and he likes to offer toys to other kids, especially those that are shy. He still holds his ground though if someone is trying to take something he wants. He handles other kids (the timid as well as the rambunctious) like a champ!

Maddox likes to watch videos of himself. In this one, he says "oops" when he drops the rings (on purpose) and shakes his head when he starts to stack the rings in the wrong order… silly boy!

He is a little OCD like his mom, and he believes everything has it's proper place and should be put there. Haha. He is very observant, and he mimics things pretty accurately.

He's our little monkey!

Maddox really likes being outside, at the park, store, new places. Home Depot is the best play area ever for this kid. And we really enjoy going to the Children's Museum. There's never a dull moment...

Scott is the biggest amusement at the museum though…

Maddox still loves reading books. For a couple weeks, he was only interested in reading his two favorite. We read each one like 27 times a day… and mom was learning a little more about patience. Maddox can identify a lot of objects in books, and he loves to go point out the physical object if we have it in our home. He recognizes the letter "m" and knows m is for Maddox. The library is a favorite of ours, and Maddox has so much fun during story time. He absolutely LOVES the wheels on the bus rendition during story time! Now, whenever we see a bus outside, he moves his arm in a circular motion and wants to sing "the wheels on the bus."

He's been going to nursery since January, so that isn't so new. But he is getting better at puzzles as a result and really has a lot of fun in class. No separation anxiety there! He is doing better during Sacrament meeting, sitting on a bench instead of in the back has been helpful. And it is the cutest to see him raise his arm with everyone else for sustaining votes and hear him laugh when we do at something that's been said.

He was introduced to snow last month!

Classic Maddox face… oh!

And he is a toddler and has had a couple of fits of frustration. Luckily it has been while we're at home and he is quick to be consoled. And to be honest, they are kind of funny at this point...

One new quirk for Maddox is he has started to pick his nose. He's been good about it this last week, but we don't know where this came from or why he was interested in doing it - probably because we asked him not to.

He gives us kisses on the cheek more than he blows them now. Instead of waving with his whole arm, he now waves by moving his fingers out and in. Such a big boy. When we FaceTime with Scott's parents, he will call Scott's Grandma Layton out when she doesn't wave back… every time. It is pretty funny.


We love this kid to pieces, and are so blessed to have him in our family!

Holiday Fun!

Ward, friends, and work holiday parties kept us hopping last month. We enjoyed awesome food, fun games, and great company. We are extremely grateful for the many wonderful friends we've made here in Portland over the last couple years and loved celebrating this special season with them.

Cinco hosts some fun parties in pretty
unique venues. Maddox was just glad
he didn't miss the game...

The annual Klug-Layton gingerbread face-off! This year we built traditional gingerbread houses. Scott built us a good, sturdy house and I added some sweet finishing touches. The girls thought we needed more sprinkles though.

Maddox had a little chat with Santa. I was convinced he was going to be terrified of the overweight bearded man, but I wanted to maintain the tradition of visiting Kris Kringle every year. Much to our surprise, Maddox didn't mind him at all - Santa even got a few smiles out of our little man.

Scott and I decorated our cute little tree which we've had since our first Christmas together. Maddox really liked looking at the lights and did well with not touching the cord. It was a great fit and location for our family this year. We opened gifts here at home before we flew to see Scott's family on Christmas Eve.

Maddox has become a little obsessed with throwing things away; he had to go throw the ribbon in the trash before he could begin to think about continuing to unwrap his gift.

We had a wonderful time down in Arizona with Scott's parents and sisters and their families. We had a delay in flying down, but the airport and Maddox luckily provided hours of entertainment.

View of Mt. Hood

We had an awesome feast and read some scriptures of Christ's birth on Christmas Eve. Christmas morning, we enjoyed being a part of some special news and were treated to some very generous gifts. And Scott surprised me by shaving his beard… best present ever!

Maddox developed an addiction to pretzels on our trip.

Then we took a ride in grandpa's fun red truck. It is a '55 Ford F-100. So fun!

That afternoon, the boys went to work helping install some speakers. Scott found some good work clothes in his dad's closet. So hot!!

Christmas Day 2013

We checked out a couple parks in the area and rode a train at one. We absolutely LOVED the beautiful weather!

Of course, we ate lots of good grub!

We had a good visit with Grandma Layton, and the cousins had a lot of fun playing with the toys at Uncle Curt and Aunt Ruth's.

Just hanging out at the house was a lot of fun too!

I love seeing old photos of this handsome guy around the house!

Maddox learned to wave and blow kisses to everyone on our trip.

And of course we shopped until everyone was worn out…

Scott's sisters left on Sunday, and we spent some "alone" time with his parents for the remainder of our visit. Maddox tried nursery out for the first time and he did great! He played with the toys, enjoyed some yummy snacks, colored his picture, held props during singing time, and tried not to get trampled when the bubbles came out at the end. Watching him in that setting helped me realize just how good he is at understanding and following directions. He's such an awesome kid!

Cooking up some fudge - peanut butter and chocolate, delicious!

New Year's Eve we played at the park again, saw the Christmas display at the Mesa Temple, ate some yummy Cafe Rio (the second time in two days), and played games until midnight.

Scott broke in the new year with the Spanish tradition of eating 12 grapes in the last 12 seconds of the year. Here's to another 12 lucky months!