We Wish You a Merry Christmas

I blame Snapfish for not having enough Christmas cards to send to everyone. Their shipping fees are ridiculous and they only let you order your cards in sets of 20, which I think is a bit stinky. Anyway, in light of the fact that I do not have enough cards to send beyond my immediate family, here is an online Christmas card and a "letter" that was not included in the ones I sent my family (see you are special) :)

Merry Christmas Friends!

We are so excited for the Christmas season this year. Boo is old enough to remember Christmas past enough to anticipate and be thoroughly excited for it to come this year. This  is such a fun age. Sometimes, I forget that she is still little because she acts like she is 5+ but then there are other times I think she is older than she is and expect too much out of her.  She is loving that we have a new house and a basement- and she is sure to tell everyone that comes to our home that it has a basement. 

Little Miss is growing in a blink of an eye. It seems like yesterday that she came to us and I know that the next thing I know she will be one. She thankfully has not learned to crawl or even roll over yet but I suspect it won't be long before so learns to do one or both.  I say  I'm thankful because 1) I don't have to guard the Christmas tree, and 2) once they become mobile my sanity goes out the window. :)  Little Miss is generally a very happy delightful baby that fills my heart with joy.

GG is busy, busy, busy. He is now an assistant athletic director at a high school here and is gone to a lot of sporting events. The only thing about him being gone late at night so much is that he can be late to work in the morning and we actually get to see him before he leaves in the morning. 

And then there is me, trying to figure out how to keep a house clean (amazingly a bigger space takes more time to clean and keep clean).  ps. we bought a house..BIG step for us this year. I love that I don't need quarters for laundry, I don't have to drag groceries up a flight of stairs and I love that we have a fenced in back yard for Boo to play in. I do miss, however, a handyman to call to fix things and neighbors to blame for the noises I hear in the night.  I would say the thing that GG loves most about our home is the water dispenser on the fridge, seriously. He would often say to me, "Hun, we are living the dream!" And I began to realize that every time he would say this he would say it with a glass of water in his hand. :)  I'm glad all that he needs to feel fulfilled in life is a fridge with a water dispenser. 

We feel so very blessed this year and many prayers have been answered. We hope that you have a very Merry Christmas!

The Trick, the treat and the BOO-tiful.

It was nice to have a home to celebrate Halloween in. Plenty of kids in the neighborhood-but I decided I don't need as much candy as I thought I would-but in the beginning I was only giving the kids one a piece-but they would look at me expectantly for more. I decided, I think pretty firmly, that my children will not be trick or treating past age of twelve maybe thirteen. Trick or treating is a kids activity-when you're older, carrying around a pillow case-forget it. You are no longer "cute" you just look greedy. Get a job and buy your own candy. However, I realize they are the ones that could actually "trick" you in order to get a treat. The little kids don't need to give an ultimatum of "trick or treat" we'd willing give them all the candy in our buckets. It's the older kids that have to scare me enough to give them a treat to go away....I guess that is all the more reason I don't want them knocking on my door.

We have way too much candy in our home- I like it but I might be putting on my maternity clothes back on in a few months if I don't stop devouring it.  I heard of this thing called a "switch witch". Where the kids keep a few pieces of candy and then they leave it in a certain spot. Then at night the witch comes and switches it for a toy. Not a fan. What a waste of candy! And what did they do to "earn" a toy? My friend who was talking about it said that they key is NOT to keep the candy for yourself but to dispose of it. As long as they can dispose of it by giving it to someone else then I can be okay with the idea of getting rid of it. But I really don't want to buy a toy for my kids for Halloween. What are birthdays and Christmas for? I might be a little too judgmental...I might change my mind in a year or two. 

Here are our girls- I must say, Boo is one Boo-utiful Snow White. Seriously, cute.

 Little Miss was supposed to be an owl-but apparently she didn't really look like an owl. Maybe the pink threw it off but I did make it out of stuff I already had at home.

Last minute spooky treats for chili dinner with the grandparents. Boo asked if they were ghosts on the water. 

Thankfully Halloween is over and so is October (ordeal of buying a house and cleaning up an apartment is OVER). My only regret is that time has flown by entirely too fast since Little Miss was born. It's like I blinked twice and summer was gone and now fall is half way over. Thanksgiving will be here in a few weeks and then Christmas. My Little Miss will be one before I know it and I will feel like I've been cheated out of time watching her grow up. I do love my girls. They can drive me bonkers but they melt my heart.

Happy Fall Friends!

Checki-ity Check, CHECK!

What a whirlwind month...well last two weeks.

Close on a house. CHECK

Clean house and move in. Check-ity Check!

Boo's Birthday. Check

Lesson for Sunday. Check

Halloween Joy School on Monday. Check.

As soon as the kids left and I got little Miss asleep, I found myself crashing and losing my energy. But I'm not done yet!! I think it's my fault telling myself I only had to get through Monday. That was a lie. I need to get through Halloween.
I still need to:

Clean the apartment.....ugh...

Trunk or treating

Halloween

....and actually the list goes on from there still. Maybe Sunday night I can relax? Although, there are countless things I should clean  or see about fixing/improving in our new house. What do to, what to do?

And can I just say, how embarrassed I am by how much stuff we have accumulated and how much stuff I crammed into that two bedroom apartment without any storage areas? I'n loving our two storage rooms and laundry room....NO MORE quarters for laundry!!

Child Rearing

I alright friends, I need some advice. Boo is great in a million and one ways however, I have a growing list of concerns that I need to figure out how to address:

1.  My daughter is entirely TOO concerned how she looks.  She has become increasingly picky over the clothes, shoes she wears and how her hair is done. I understand there is preferences -and I try to let her pick out what she wears most days with some guidelines-like "it's cold outside where long pants and long sleeves, etc...." She has her own opinion what matches and what does not. I'm fine that she has preference on what she wears. However, I am not okay with her reasons- especially for the way her hair is done. "My friends won't like it" or today she said about wearing socks with her boots instead of bare foot, "my friends will laugh at me."  The other day we were going to the park so I put her hair in a pony tail quickly so it would be out of her face and it was a fast easy hairdo. She cried, not a tantrum cry, all the way to the park. When we got there she hid her face behind my legs, saying "my teacher won't like my hair" (her primary teacher was at the park). She would only went to play when I took her hair out.

I'm not sure what to do with this reasoning. And I don't like that she cares SO much at the age of four.

2. She doesn't care when she makes her friends cry. She's runs off playing and happy as can be. I feel like she is starting to turn into a little bit of a bully. I talked to her a little bit about it on the way home from church. I asked her what she wants ME to do when she's sad and crying- she then brought up that I make her cry when I take away her toys (which is done as a consequence for not cleaning up or like the other day I took away her crayons after she colored all over her dresser). Am I teaching her to be a bully by taking away her toys (I try to explain to her consequences and why I'm taking them away)? Am I teaching her not to care about other's crying by not giving into her crying to get what she wants?

3. She has been trying to police other kids. Today in church during the opening prayer she was telling one of the kids behind us to close HIS eyes.  It's funny that kids don't get the logic yet that OBVIOUSLY she doesn't have her eyes closed if she can see that his eyes are open. Anyway, I feel like she tries to tell other kids what to do often

these are just a few of the concerns I have but I think the most important when it comes to interacting with others. .

I realize that the answer lies with me and my behavior but I think I need some parenting opinions and advice so I can figure out how to remedy these situations.

I'm Feeling GOOD!

Friday afternoon, 3:30ish my dear Hubby calls me while I'm shopping at Bed Bath and Beyond and asks if I want to go on a date with him. He already has a babysitter lined up and he is taking me to MICHAEL BUBLE!!!!! WHAT???! It was the very first show at the new arena.

He bought the tickets as he was speaking to me. We get there and find our seats, guess where they were. THE VERY LAST ROW in the corner (well as much of a corner you can get in an almost round arena)!   As much as I love Mr. Buble I wasn't thrilled about being there to start off with. 1. I don't prefer heights, and 2. I don't prefer big crowds. However, once Mr. Buble came out singing "Fever" I was so glad that we had come. Such a great show!!  And besides it being a great show, it felt so good to get out with just the Hubs, it has seriously been too long.

Feel jealous? I'm sorry, because I'd totally feel jealous too if you told me you went to Michael Buble and I didn't. :) Let alone the the handsome man that I went with. ;) 

falling behind......need some zzzz's

I'm tired. I'm starting to get very very tired. And unfortunately, I am one of those people who need 7-8 hours of sleep to be happy. Little Miss was an AWESOME sleeper. As a newborn to 3months she would only wake up once a night. Now it's every couple of hours. Mix that in with Boo's ordeals at night- whatever they might be- sometimes she's just crying and then lately she has been wetting the bed. She started wearing underwear to bed a couple of weeks ago and she had been doing FANTASTICALLY.  WHAT HAPPENED? What threw off the balance I felt we had?

Little Miss wakes up a lot and wants to eat a lot. I'm tired. Boo cries. My patience is wearing thin, I get snappy. Boo cries more. I get even more tired. Little Miss still wakes up a lot. oh sigh. It's a terrible cycle.

I'm longing for Little Miss's doctor appointment. She is the most awesome doctor with the best advice that seemed to work so perfectly for Boo. I feel like she is my therapist as I wander threw the cloudy path of motherhood. She seems to know spot on what I can do for Boo- I hope she is as perceptive for Little Miss.

I've contemplated leaving one night and sleeping at my parents house and let GG take care of the kids. If it doesn't improve soon, I might just do it.  

The Sunny Side of Life

So the world seems to like throwing things that want to pull me down but in the midst of it all I have three wonderful people who bring me so much love and joy.

This week Boo and I had a little mommy/daughter date. She didn't quite get the concept of it. I had to convince her to leave Miss B home. We went shopping. She is quite the shoe shopper, a girl after my own heart. :) <3

And then we went and redeemed a coupon for her to get some free icecream from the summer reading program. What flavor did she choose? Vanilla with an incredible amount of dye to make it crazy blue and pink. I think it reminded her of the My Little Pony, Rainbow Dash. (insert eye roll here.)

The other day the fam went for a walk/run/bike ride. Boo did all three. GG walked and ran. I just walked and Little Miss was just was for a nice ride.  But how can I not be so entirely happy when I have this view in front of me?

(wish I had gotten a picture with them running hand in hand with Boo still wearing her helmet).  GG is the BEST BEST BEST dad ever! Seriously, our girls are going to owe a lot of what they learn and become to him.

See, life isn't so rough when you've got wonderful people to fill it. :)

I felt like including this video too. I love this one. If you're mormon you've probably seen in it if not it's a good enjoyable reminder to slow down, lift our eyes and enjoy the small moments that make up our living.

I like to eat!

I love love baked goods. And I have been baking and eating up a storm. I like to think that because I'm nursing, I get a free pass...especially for seconds and thirds. :)

I think I might be addicted to Sprite. Weird right? Its not even caffeinated. I told GG last night its that first drink where its so bubbly and exciting in your mouth. He said, that's just like meth. Really? comparing Sprite to meth. That doesn't really seem fair or right. But he had a week training this summer on drug addiction and recognizing it in the high school kids.   Its a good thing I can't justify spending money for a sugary drink very often- special occasions. I'm social soda drinker. :)

After talking about my crazy inability to control my hunger and cravings right now, I realize and KNOW I need to stop. I felt very depressed Saturday when I tried to find a dress in my closet to wear to a wedding. BLGH! So gross. I feel worse now than I did a month a go.  I'd ask for good ideas to stop eating or exercise but I probably won't take it.  I'm going to try real hard this week not make anymore baked goods- granted I've got half of this cake still in my fridge so it shouldn't be too hard. Its so ridiculously rich:

I'm going to maybe better this week. :)  Happy eating this week.

happy

I'm a happy momma. Look at these girls!

Life feels good right now. It does.

 The hubby isn't too busy right now, he's got meetings for his new job but its not too bad. As long as I know what to expect it easier to handle. 

The girls are great. really they are. Boo says, "MOM. MOM. MOM" over and over, and it feels like she dose it ALL the time. Sometimes it makes me want to go crazy but she just wants my attention. I love her and I want to give her my attention so I need to just breathe when she does that, stop what I am doing and give her my attention. 

Other than that, she is the BEST big sister. I love how she talks to Little Miss and tries to help her be happy. She is such a BIG help.

This picture above is after she got all dressed and says shes "just gonna dance". And she dances to Chicka Chicka Boom Boom as she looks at herself in the refection on the TV. So funny. I Love her personality.

Little Miss is an easy baby. She cried today and I tried to calm her without feeding her (I didn't think she should have been ready to yet). As I struggled to calm her I realized, she really doesn't cry too much. She is a wonderful baby. She has such a big smile. I love it when she tries to talk to me. So sweet.

I'm sleepy and getting more exhausted but if I think about the last two months and all that we have done and the fact that I have a newborn baby--the tiredness hasn't been that bad, I know I'm blessed. (mostly because I have a very helpful husband who lets me sleep in some.)

Look at the cutest bug! So funny. Boo was shinny her flashlight on her (at least she was kind enough to put glasses on Little Miss before shinning her flashlight in her eyes....her flashlight is NOT bright at all otherwise I would not be sitting there taking pictures.) 

Happy girls, happy momma, happy life. 

My little artist

Boo's art skills have jumped leaps and bounds this last couple of weeks- thanks to an art kit her cousin gave her. She pulls it out and starts coloring. I'm thinking I'm going to have to go to Staples to buy some $1 computer paper. If she keeps this up we'll be out of paper soon. This is her friend Anna :

 The little artist, looking all patriotically artsy :)

:)

more little miss

I want to post but I'm not really sure about what. Stay with me, maybe I'll come up with something clever. :)

This has been a great summer- GG gets to stay home more since he quit his high school football coaching job so he can be an assistant athletic director at a high school here in town. It has been so great to have him around most of the time to help with the girls. I really haven't had to go out too often by myself with the two girls. Boo really is great so it isn't usually too bad anyway but Little Miss can make things difficult.  I think I'm in for a rude awakening when GG has to go back to work everyday, with sporting events, and bishop stuff.  I'll try not to complain about it until it happens. :) But I do know I've been very blessed this summer to have him around.

Here are some more pretty pictures my friend took when Miss B was only a few days old. I do have to brag. My sister said that the Little Miss was in the top 5 cutest babies-and she said it quite definitely. Where Miss B ranked in that top 5? I'm not sure. Who else was in that list? I don't know that she even knows. But my baby made it. However, she came back to town to visit a couple of weeks later and apparently Miss B had fallen and only made it in the top 10. hmm. whatever.

 Don't you LOVE those feet. ..  however she got my feet and won't be so adorable when she older..but hey, what adult has adorable feet? Just sayin.

We had Little Miss B blessed when she was two weeks old. These are the only pictures I have so far- there were three cameras taking pictures but hardly any of them turned out super duper fantastic- we didn't know which way to look so we were often looking in different directions and then the lighting wasn't great. I need to play around with the rest of the pictures in photoshop someday so until then this is what I've got.

Boo with her cousins

 Love that yawn. Makes you want to yawn too huh?

 My sister in law whipped up these ADORABLE little shoes for her skinny tiny feet. Her heel at this age was less than half an inch wide....

 Mi padres.

Well, GG just came home EARLY, what?? Super surpised...so my blogging...or rather picture posting has come to an end. See ya all later.

we've got kid"S"!!!

Every time we say "our kids" or some else says "your kids" it sounds so weird to me. We've got KIDS! not a one child but TWO! I somehow just can't believe it.

So yes, we had the baby. I did not become a freak of nature and carry my child for 50 weeks, I'm just very slow posting. (some times I wish I was a good blogger again but I'm not and I will have to be okay with that.)  We had our precious baby which on the blog we will call Little Miss- I think that is what her pediatrician says and I like calling her that every now and then....I might even call her Miss B- not that her name starts with "B" but I like it.  So without further adieu, here is the sweet Little Miss

 Here's her...rather our story. 40 weeks, I was so completely miserable. I had my doctor's appointment, ready to set up a day to be induced. I did not believe that my body would start this process on its own. And I did not want to be pregnant for another day. However, my doctor did not want to induce me before 41 weeks. ugh. She said that she was too high and would rather we waited. double Ugggghhh. (not really sure how those letters are supposed to be pronounced just what I see in my head when I say ugghhh maybe its more uhhgghghghgh.)

Anyway, I digress (I love it when people say that, so I like to throw it in here and there for fun), Anyway..... I came home completely degrade-a-tated (not a real word but Amy from Little Women says it and has been a part of my vocabulary since I was a young girl). I thought, to myself, "how can I get this girl to drop...I'm soooooo past ready?" I texted my friend about walking. She organized the walking group and the next morning we went on a walk ....I did a shorter walk than what they did. We sat at the park as the kids played. I had a few pains and I thought, "my pants must be too tight". I had a few of them on the walk back. And when I sat down in the car and started driving I realized that these aren't just pains because of my pants being too tight, these were CONTRACTIONS. I went home got lunch for Boo and myself, called my mom and said, "I think I'm having contractions!" Completely thrilled with myself for starting the process myself.  Mom suggested I timed them and call the doctor. I was surprised because I thought this was supposed to be a long process. I timed them and took a shower. They were coming every six minutes. I called my doctor, not wanting to be too naive or ambitious, I asked if I should have my husband come home early from work today. She said, YES and you should go to the hospital. What?! Really? already? Super excited, that's when I realized this was for real and we were having a baby TODAY. Boo watched me have these contractions, concerned she asked if I was ok, and I just told her the baby is just hurting mom a little.  I LOVE LOVE that I got to experience this part of going into labor-painful but super exciting!

 GG comes home...he loved being pulled out of class by the secretary telling him his wife was in labor.. we drop boo off with some friends, check into the hospital. I was already at 6 cm with contractions 2-3 minutes apart. I made sure they knew I wanted an epidural. The delivery nurse said I was in active labor and it doesn't get much worse than that. I seriously contemplated for a few moments, "could I really do this without an epidural??" But realized I did not want to have to do this for very much longer. And I'm so glad that I got an epidural- i might have been able to handle the contractions for just a bit longer but I would not have been able to handle pushing a 9lb 14 oz baby out. I could feel her pushing against my pelvic bones WITH the epidural , could not have imagined what that would have felt like without the drugs.

They came to flip me over to my other side (editing a few things out that are probably too TMI) called the midwife and team and told them to get in here we were ready to go asap. After 15-30 minutes of slow pushing we had a beautiful baby...Little Miss was born around 6. 

 THE AWESOME BIG SIS!!!!- Seriously, she's great!

we love love our new addition to our family and LOVE LOVE our "KIDS". We feel so blessed and happy.

 maybe more posts to come sooner than later.  :) or this will be it for awhile. we'll see.

It's all relative....numbers

So I really don't think numbers mean much sometimes....scientifically they probably hold all the weight in the world but for me the numbers that define me are all relative.

The other day I was hanging with some friends. One has four kids, the other with her young baby.  Both of these ladies married when they were about 18-19ish. I thought the one with four kids was about my age but she is only 26.  And then they asked how old I was and I realized....for the first time really that I was turning 30 this year. 30! I know I don't look old, feel old (generally), or act old. In fact I feel like 23.  So to me age is all relative. Because there is no way I'm really 30 and I fit in with my supposed "younger" friends and don't feel any different.  And another reason age is all relative is because these ladies were able to get married at 19. I don't say "able to get married" as the accomplishment of actually finding someone that fast but in the sense that they were mature enough. Anyone who knows me knows that there was NO WAY in the world I was mature enough, or had a strong sense of self at that age. Heck, I don't think I had my first kiss until I was 19 or was it 20. hmmm. Anyway, age, totally relative.

Secondly, another way I feel numbers are relative are in the weeks of pregnancy. I'm 35 weeks right now. To some women they are done or about done being pregnant. For me I feel that I have another long 6 weeks ahead of me.  I feel huge, I look huge and am generally uncomfortable walking or standing for long periods or sometimes short periods of time. I still working one day a week for 3 hours. It's amazing how long customers have been commenting on my tummy and implying that I look huge and that I should be done soon. Today, they all seemed to be surprised I still had a month left. But I think pregnancy is helping out my commission- they seem to be buying more and some are more gracious in not having me bring out a billion shoes...but it is also the beginning of the season and the best customers usually come out then anyway versus the bargain and picky shoppers that come later (wanting to get a deal and but surprised their size is gone). I digress.

Anyway, after this long post here's a picture. 35 weeks...but I think these pictures make me look smaller than I really am and the one looks like I just have a basketball in there. These are the first pictures we've taken of this pregnancy so far.

Well,  I can only hope she'll come in a couple more weeks but I'm trying to prepare mentally for 6 more.

Until next time.