A Little Life Update

I used to do these often and then just kinda fell off of it when my life got insane. Last year I decided to coach cheer at my old high school. I had no idea what I was getting myself into and it ended up taking over my life, ha. In a good way... most of the time! Blogging is truly one of my passions and something I love doing, but there just weren't enough hours in the day to get everything done. Sooo blogging ended up getting cut from the lineup. Sad. I'm really hoping to make more time for it now though because I love and miss it! I've been getting quite a few messages on Instagram asking how we're doing and if something happened to make me stop sharing and posting as much. The answer is that nothing happened but life just got a lot busier. So, here's a little catch up post to hopefully answer my most asked questions as well as share just what we're up to!

Hunter

-Working at GA still and excelling. I never doubted or worried about him but he just keeps getting incredible performance reviews. Good job Hunter!

-Working from home during this quarantine and being so good being patient with the little ones running around crazy all the time, haha. 

-Teaches Sunday school to the 12 and 13 year olds at church. I've had the opportunity to sit in during a few lessons and he is a wonderful teacher. I'm so grateful he's the one helping me teach our children!

-Coached the JV basketball team at our old high school last season. I didn't get to go to many of his games since I was coaching at the varsity games but from the few I did get to see and the practices I got to see him in action at, I can tell that's yet another thing he's a rockstar at. 

-Wakes up around 6am even when he doesn't set an alarm. Ha, he gets most everything done before I even wake up!

Aleigh
-Finished up my first year coaching varsity and competition cheer. We actually got cut short due to the quarantine. I was sad to have things end so abruptly but still made lots of wonderful memories over the year. Yes, year. Cheer is completely year round which makes it much different than other sports. We started in May and would've gone til April if the quarantine didn't happen. Tryouts are ion the Spring. We practice over the summer, start competition practice in the Fall. Cheer for football in the Fall. Work on halftime routines and pep rally routines in the Fall. Compete in the Winter. Cheer for basketball in the Winter. Finish with any school performances in the Spring.
-Got called to being an advisor in Young Women's at church. I was really enjoying getting to know the girls and spending time with them. Hoping we can return to that soon!
-Doing little homeschool lessons with Oaks to fill our time up now that preschool is done.
-Remembering how much I love cooking now that I have time to again!

Oaklyn

-Finished up her second year of preschool. It obviously ended sooner than we thought it would but we're looking forward to her starting Kindergarten in the Fall. She made some really awesome little friends and learned SO much!

-Taking hip hop classes and honestly... not totally loving it, ha! I thought she would since it's faster paced but she just keeps saying she wants to be a cheerleader. I can't blame her since she was surrounded by it constantly for the past year. She's currently doing her classes virtually and we are really hoping the recital will still happen this June. 

-Turned 5 in February. (WHAT)

-In CTR 4 at church and we are LOVING seeing her in Primary Programs. 

-Acts like a teenager and is definitely giving us a run for our money. But, she is also very thoughtful and kind when she wants to be... ha. 

Cambria

-2.5! She will be turning 3 in August and I literally cannot believe it. These last 2.5 years have actually flown by.

-Grows an inch of hair each day, I swear. Her hair is gorgeous!

-Such an active little squirt but also such a snuggle bug. She loves to be held and snuggled in a blanket next to anyone she loves.

-Working on potty training. She's doing amazing with pee! Poop however has been quite a struggle...

-Still taking a nap but figured out how to climb out of the crib. And how to open doors... I may or may not have found her in the backyard during nap time. Don't worry, we figured out how to contain her 😓 

-She's still an easy, happy go lucky child with a hint of sass now. She's such a funny little stinker and her vocabulary is becoming hilarious. 

As for a family update... we are still living in San Diego but are planning on moving next summer! Where? Not totally sure yet. We're pretty sure we know where but nothing is set in stone. We'll definitely share more during the process of moving and are getting really excited for a change! As for now, we're enjoying where we're at and are trying to take things day by day rather than wishing time would speed up. There's a lot to be grateful for right now so we're trying hard not to be too anxious! I feel like the most asked question I get is, when will there be Baby Moore #3? Haha! The answer is, we absolutely want more kids! We're very excited to have more kids but it just hasn't felt like the right timing. We definitely don't feel done at two, but we're also not in a rush for three. I guess time will tell... ha! Sorry there isn't more exciting news there. 😉 

Here's to hoping this isn't the last post for a while... I'm going to work on posting more, yay! Let me know anything you guys want to see more of!

All my love,

Aleigh Joy

Dresses were found at my local Marshalls. They have the best and most reasonably priced dresses!

3

Life With Two... So far.

This post is somewhat of an update on life and somewhat of a follow up post to this one.

I also haven't blogged like... at all... since Cambria was born so I figured I'd do that ha.

The day Cambria was born I was instantly in love with her. Like smitten, maybe even obsessed? Hunter said recently that Cambria "walks on water" in my eyes because literally everything she does is adorable to me. I was so happy that this time around, the bond was instant. If you've been a reader for a while you know I had pretty severe PPD with Oaklyn and I think that really hindered the bond I had hoped for with her. Luckily it came later and we pretty much became best friends. However, it was so nice to feel the instant connection I had seen so many other moms experience this time around. The hospital was such a dream. She slept in my arms or on my chest the entire time, nursing was fairly easy, I felt mostly calm and relaxed... I couldn't believe how different this experience was. When we got home my mom was there to make dinners, take care of Oaklyn, let me recover, hold the baby while I showered and then my mother in law came the week after to do exactly the same thing. It was wonderful and I even thought to myself, "maybe two kids isn't so hard after all!" 

When both grandmas left, I pretty much became a one man show. Hunter has two jobs and goes to school full time so to be honest, he's not home much... I was tired and some nights were rougher than others, but overall I was shocked at how much smoother the transition from one to two was. Oaklyn was the type of baby that I literally could not put down. So far, Cambria has been a much more mellow baby and that has been a huge blessing. Oaklyn has also gotten a little more used to being home more often. Before Cambria was born, we were only really home to sleep during the night and nap time. Other than that, we were out playing! She loves being active and exploring so I just always had activities planned constantly. With a nursing baby, that became pretty complex. So we're still kind of adjusting to a slower lifestyle. 

As far as sharing the love goes, that has actually been pretty hard for me. I'll be honest in saying I'm not much of a baby person. Generally when babies cry it's a guessing game for me and makes me anxious and nervous. They're sweet and adorable but I'd much rather babysit a 4 year old than a 2 month old. That being said, I can't get enough of Cambria! She gets the hiccups and it's cute, she cries and it's cute, she smiles and my heart could literally burst. It definitely helps that she's such a sweet baby. Unfortunately, Oaklyn is going through a tough age right now and throws tantrum after tantrum all day long. When she's sweet, she's the sweetest. When she's not, well... it drives me nuts. I feel like everything with her is a fight right now and it stretches my patience pretty thin. I feel bad because I have to tend to Oaklyn's constant meltdowns and messes so I feel like I hardly get to hold Cambria. But then I also feel bad because when I am holding Cambria I'm talking to her sweetly and tending to her every need whereas with Oaklyn I expect more of her and get upset when she purposefully acts out. It's a balancing act for sure and while I love them both to pieces, this is just a hard phase. Babies need a lot of constant attention and care, and toddlers need constant stimulation and well, are just a lot for a mom haha. I know that this time is short and they honestly won't even remember it, but I'm always worried they can't feel how much I truly love them both. 

I feel like I get asked quite a bit how the two kid thing is going... and I generally answer with, it's going! I feel like my life is kind of a circus right now and most of that is just where we are in life. Hunter is SO close to graduating and I can't tell you how excited we are for him to be done. No more homework, no more classes, no more group projects... we can't wait! His two jobs also take up a good chunk of time and energy and I'm left feeling exhausted because I'm at home with the kids by myself most days. 

So, if you're nervous to make the transition from one to two kids... In my experience it hasn't been nearly as hard as I thought it would be. It's challenging but motherhood is in general. Getting sleep is hard, doing your hair is hard, and finding time to yourself is hard... but that's just the newborn phase in general. I'll report back when Cambria is sleeping through the night and taking two solid naps a day ;) I'm honestly just trying to figure it all out and hoping I don't totally screw my kids up along the way, ha!

It's still so weird to me to say "my kids" like... I'm a mom. But not just a mom to a kid, but kidS!

Where has the time gone?

Anyways, there's a jumbled post on my thoughts on two, 8 weeks in ha.

I have some other posts that I'm really going to try to work on in the next few weeks that are a little more thought out. 

So please forgive me for my absence in this crazy time of life!

All my love,

Aleigh Joy

0

Little Oaklyn's Eye Pt. 2

A while back I opened up on this blog about Oaklyn's eye.

It was actually much harder for me to do than you'd think.

I'm incredibly protective over my Oaklyn, and I struggled with the fact that other people were starting to notice there was something different about her eye.

To me, she's perfect. 

She's a beautiful little girl with the cutest and sassiest personality and I couldn't stand it when I received rude comments or messages about her eye.

I struggled with it for a while so I finally just decided to open up about it.

You can read more about it right here, but long story short is that she was born with something called Brown's syndrome and we tried all we could to fix it without surgery... but ultimately she ended up needing surgery.

That's actually the update I wanted to share about for those of you that have been asking how it all went.

There's good, bad, and hopeful news... so bare with me as I share it.

The day we scheduled Oaklyn's surgery I literally felt like I was going to throw up.

I know that little kids and even babies go in for surgeries all the time but it just about broke my heart into a million pieces even thinking about it.

We had a couple of weeks to prepare but since we had never done the surgery before, I didn't even really know what to prepare for.

We went to the surgical center that morning and my sweet baby was hungry.

She had to fast, like you do with any surgery, and we had to wait longer than expected.

They finally called us back and we got her dressed in the little hospital gown and socks and I had to hold back the tears.

I've never seen someone make a hospital gown look so cute though ;)

We waited to speak with the anesthesiologist and the doctor while Oaklyn played with toys having no idea what was going to happen.

They were both friendly but my anxiety about the whole thing was still through the roof.

After talking to both of them, a nurse came in, picked Oaklyn up, and just walked away with her.

That's when I lost it.

I totally get that they didn't want her to be scared and crying that mommy and daddy were leaving her and they obviously didn't want us back there while putting her under, but man it was so hard just walking away from her.

All I could think about was her terrified wanting mama and dada.

I couldn't sit in the waiting room because I was a hot mess and bawling the entire time we waited. 

After about an hour, though, I knew the doctor would be coming out soon so I pulled myself together and went in.

The doctor came and talked to us and said everything went well and the surgery was successful.

He gave us a few brief instructions and told us she'd be waking up soon and they'd come get us when she did.

Those few minutes between the time the doctor came and talked to us and when they actually called us back felt like forever.

Right as they said "family of Oaklyn" Hunter shot up and practically ran to the door. I waddled behind because well... pregnant.

Oaklyn waking up for anesthesia was pretty funny, and also really not.

She was acting drunk and her body was flopping all over the place and she asked if she could go to Walmart, ha!

The nurses wanted to give her medicine but she couldn't have it unless she ate.

Getting her to eat and not touch her eye was an actual nightmare but we survived and about 2 hours later were able to go home.

From there, she was such a champ with recovery.

Her eye was pretty red and swollen for a few days and it wasn't exactly easy telling her not to touch it, but man did she impress us.

She hardly whined, took her medicine, and slept great.

I watched it closely each day and kept hoping it was starting to look better.

The swelling was going down and the redness was fading but inside, I just knew her eye didn't look better...

Her post op was about 10 days after the operation.

At that point the doctor was able to determine what our next step was.

I had been praying that our next step would just be to go home and call it good because the operation fixed it, but I couldn't help but feel that wasn't the case.

Oaks was the most cooperative she had ever been at this appointment and he was able to run several tests. 

He finally told me that the Brown's syndrome was in fact fixed, aka the good news.

However, the way her body chose to recover from the surgery created a different problem... aka the bad news.

With this surgery, they put a spacer in between the tendon behind her eye. 

That allowed the tendon a little more flexibility so it can move more freely which fixes the initial problem.

However, her body gets to choose how it responds to that... either it figures it out and all is well, or it can't figure it out and has a hard time adjusting.

Unfortunately, her body chose the latter.

The doctor let us know there is definitely a possibility of another surgery in the future to correct this.

However, here comes the hopeful part...

He let us know that he wants us to patch the strong eye for 2 hours a day to make the other eye work harder at figuring out how to work with the spacer.

So, there is definitely hope that the patch will work this time.

We've been doing it each night and Oaklyn has been awesome.

Sometimes it takes some convincing, and sometimes she peels it off early, but she's doing much better than we thought she would. 

Honestly, I really have noticed an improvement!

We have about two more weeks of patching and we'll see what the doctor says, but from what I've seen, I think it is helping.

I'm choosing to be hopeful and optimistic, but also to remember that surgery again is still a possibility... and that is okay.

If that's what needs to happen to help her, then that's what'll happen.

Anyways, I know that was long, but I've gotten a lot of questions and I figured I might as well just write it all out.

So, if you want to keep our little girl in your prayers and thoughts, we would very much appreciate it.

All my love,

Aleigh Joy

1

Just a Little Update

I really love getting to work with companies and review their awesome products, but I have to admit... it's a lot of work!

Yes, it's fun... but taking pictures, writing a post, editing a post, submitting links, etc takes up a lot of the time I used to spend just updating this blog about personal thoughts.

I love that I get to help pay the bills with this blog of mine, but sometimes I forget why I even started!

The title, "For the Joy of Life" says it all.

I started this blog to share the joys in my life and as an attempt to remember them since writing in an actual journal is not my expertise.

Cut me some slack, I wrote Hunter through snail mail for two years ;)

I got to thinking about how I haven't done a family update in a while and if you've been a reader for a while you probably remember that I have zero method to my madness when it comes to writing updates sooooo here goes nothing!

We moved. Yep that didn't get an exclamation point...

I'm trying to be more optimistic about it because I'm really actually happy here,

but it's just hard to experience so much change at once.

We didn't move into our own house, even our own apartment...

We moved into Hunter's grandmother's basement apartment and while it's actually very nice,

it's just not home to me yet.

We'll only be here for a short time, but we didn't plan on being here at all in the first place.

But, life happens and you learn to be okay with it.

So that's currently what I'm doing, learning to be okay with it. All of it.

Some pros are: 

-We now have a backyard

-We can finally fit a kitchen table

-Two full bathrooms

-There's a piano down here, so I should probably learn

-Bigger rooms

-Bigger space in general

-Much more natural light

So there, I'll focus on the good :)

We bought a new (to us) car!

The car we were driving happened to be owned by my father in law and was actually meant for my sister in law.

We were using it while Hunter was in college so we could save up.

Then the unexpected happened and a whole lot of changes were made.

We are so grateful we saved our tax refund for a rainy day because that helped us with the down payment.

We are also thankful for Hyundai for finding us a car with very reasonable payments.

So we're adulting, and it's scary, but it also feels good.

I think I weirdly actually fell more in love with Hunter when he signed the papers for the car.

I was just so proud of him, and us, and all we've done together.

Also, I really like this car 

I got a new calling in our ward!

If you aren't LDS here's a little break down.

Our church is the same world wide. Like completely the same.

We all go to church for three hours, have the same lesson topics, have the same structure, heck most of the buildings even look the same!

The only difference is the people in each leadership position in each "ward"

There's the church as a whole. Then there's stakes which is made up of a bunch of wards. Then there's wards based off which building is closest to you.

And that's how you know which building to go to and what time.

So in my ward I just got called to be a relief society teacher.

So I get to teach the women in my ward and I am SO excited about it :)

Hunter is still working for BYU football.

He's liking the new staff and will always just love being surrounded by football.

He's planning on keeping this job til he graduates if all goes according to plan.

He also is now working for Culinary Crafts, a catering company in Utah.

He usually only works on Saturdays due to his other job and school schedule so we don't see much of him but he's definitely paying the bills.

As I had mentioned on instagram, he got into the business school at BYU!

This is a really hard school to get in to and I'm just so proud of him.

He's loving his classes and as far as I know, he's doing well in them.

Him getting in, was a huge answer to our prayers. It also gives me yet another reason to be proud of him!

He's in young men's in our church and is the perfect guy for it.

He relates so well with them and has so much fun with his calling.

He loves his little Oaks and I'm loving watching them play together now that she's older.

My favorite noise ever is hearing Oaklyn giggle and scream as dada chases her around the house.

If it were up to Hunter, I'd already be pregnant with another ;)

As for me... I'm just getting by haha.

Okay just kidding, I'm loving all I'm doing but I'm just so busy!

While Hunter is gone all day I try to hold down the fort.

This generally entails trying to wake up before Oaklyn so I can do my makeup in peace, changing a whole lot of diapers, cleaning up a ton of messes, washing lots of sticky fingers, witnessing countless tantrums, getting several wet baby kisses, giving snuggles and hugs constantly, always laughing at how silly and sassy my child can be, kissing numerous boo boo's, and filling up sippy cups and bottles galore. 

We try to get outside at least once a day and every day is a new place but Oaks just loves to go "Buh Bye" with mama.

Surprisingly, we experience far less tantrums if we're out and about.

When we get home I put Oaklyn down for a nap and spend that whole time answering emails, editing photos, and writing posts. 

That's usually my favorite time of the day because it's me time and I feel important.

I know motherhood is important, but I love that I get to do something for myself.

I'm really enjoying all the opportunities blogging is bringing my way, I'm still doing photography and would love to schedule shoots, and I have another business in the works ;)

Oaklyn Joy is just growing right up

I stopped doing the monthly updates after a year but if I would've kept going, each post would be packed!

This kid is learning something new every single day and she amazes me constantly.

Not to mention, she's the cutest little thing I have ever seen!

She is seriously getting prettier by the day and just keeps looking more and more grown up.

She's so much more of a "kid" than a "baby" now and it's kind of breaking my heart while also so exciting!

He favorite foods right now are "poppy" (popcorn), "sauce" (any form of dip but preferably mustard), "wa wa" (any drink in her cup), and of course cookies. She also seems to like chicken nuggets, pizza, rice, carrots, and still loves shredded cheese.

She finally likes TV and gets so excited over Clifford and Care Bears or anything else with animals.

Her best friend is her white teddy bear that she named "Gida."

She only sees him at bed time and naps and gets so excited! She burrows her little face into him and her face lights up.

She definitely has gotten the hang of sleeping in comparison to her first year and it makes me so happy!

She walks super good and is pro at jumping. 

Her favorite toy is shoes ;)

Seriously, she could try on shoes for hours on hours!

She's saying so many words and is starting to put two together.

She's also super opinionated now and chooses her outfit almost every day. Bow and all!

She's just the best and so much fun!

This time in our lives is nothing short of crazy.

However, it's also super fun.

We love being young and married while also being parents.

We're both always tired and Oaklyn is always crazy ;)

But seriously, we're just having fun and living each day as best we can.

I've had a lot of people ask "how we've been doing" you know... as far as Hunter's dad goes.

The truth of the matter is, it's hard.

We both still have break downs and not a day goes by that we aren't thinking about it.

We're absolutely still grieving and we're going to take our time.

I've dealt with lots of anxiety and Hunter has dealt with the pain of losing one of his very best friends.

We wish we could call him, give him a hug, see him, just say one more word to him... but we're just trying to remember this is not the end.

We miss him. 

We're sad.

We love him.

But, we really will be okay.

It's still so fresh and we will take our time with healing, if it ever comes.

That being said, thank you to everyone for all your love and support.

We feel overwhelmed with all the amazing people in our lives.

Anddd that about sums it up!

We had an amazing summer turned most horrible summer but we're really looking forward to fall. 

This holiday season will be hard but we have the greatest family ever. (I'm biased but whatever)

We have so many happy things going on in our lives and we are trying to focus on them.

We have been given much and we are so thankful for this life we live. 

All my love,

Aleigh Joy

We got to attend a taping for a Christmas concert... in September!

Oaklyn goes to the BYU home opener!

This was just today... she got a pretty bad bonk on her forehead and this photo does not do it justice! Welcome to crazy toddlerhood.

Utah is gorgeous and we love hiking!

Oaksie watching "Gidas" (care bears) and eating poppy! She's such a mess by the end of the night haha!

But seriously, how cute is she?? Look at those long legs! Right after church.

There she is! The new(ish) car

This was the Sunday after Pat's funeral. It was a hard week but we were smiling through the pain.

This isn't new by any means but Hunter wouldn't leave San Diego without it. It's his favorite picture of him and his dad after a high school football game. Hunter's dad was his absolute biggest fan. 

This picture kills me a little inside. We went to visit his dad the day after the funeral. Oaklyn and I walked away for a minute to let Hunter be alone and I couldn't help but take this sweet and heart wrenching photo. Never ever would I have expected I would have this picture of Hunter this young. It still isn't making sense, but we're so thankful families are forever. 

0