A Joyful Girl...

Sydneygrams

2012-02-18T20:11:00.000-08:00

This sweet little nugget hasn't had enough face time on the ol' blog lately....

An oldie...I found this in my phone the other night and Instagrammed it.

Oh, she was so little.

Handmade shoes her Daddy brought back from Venezuela.

#iheartbabyfeet

Yes, I let her sleep on me. This precious time goes by too quickly for me not to.

First taste of real food.

I just love her!

And a Magnum for good measure...

#34

2012-02-17T18:07:00.000-08:00

If you realize what I'm referencing in that title besides the number of months in Olivia's age, you are probably one of my best friends. And, I love you for it. {Jilllll.....}

So, yeah, back to Olivia. Thirty-four months! Today! Which means we have two months left of the terrible twos and two months until the tumultuous threes. It's kinda like that groundhog. Either way he looks at it, it's not spring!

Ahhh, but those not-so-fun moments are not the stuff that good Olivia lovin' is made of, so I'm going to share some of the awesome things that makes being her mother so great. {And, it is, you guys. It really is.}

+ Olivia is quite the little hoarder and it all ends up in her crib. It is not unusual for her to go to bed with 5 stuffed animals, 3 blankets, 2 light up books and an assortment of her little figurines. We clear out her crib on a regular basis, but she just keeps piling it back up. I have no idea how she manages to find room to sleep. {And, yes, she's still in a crib. For now. Until she's 21.}

+ The girl loves to be naked. Like na-ked. Mom and Dad came over for dinner last night and she was riding her tricycle in the house with no clothes on. She came around the corner to greet them and it was all, HELLO! Here I am. I'm not shy.

+ I am sure I say this all the time, but her vocabulary is just off the charts. She knows and understands so much and is just such a social butterfly. As long as it is on her terms, she has no problem approaching people and talking to them. It is so fun having a conversation with her and hearing what she says. When we picked David up from the airport on Tuesday, she immediately said to him, So, Daddy, how was Venezuela?!?

+ She does have a few conversational things that remind us that she's still a toddler. The other day she said she needed to get on her baby suit, you know, how Sydney is a baby. Her "th" words still come across as a "f" sound, thus her favorite snacks are chewy fangs.

+ It's not always easy getting Olivia to do the things we want her to do - get dressed, brush her teeth, let us wash and brush her hair. The best solution for this {that my wonderful mother came up with} is role playing. So, we are constantly playing beauty salon, dentist office and modeling agency.

+ She is really good at getting her big girl panties and pants/shorts on by herself. Today, David was starting to help her get her ~~bathing~~ baby suit on and she said, Remember, Daddy, the words go in the back. Those are the rules and you have to follow them. The words go in the back. Funny that she can remember some rules.

+ I'm not sure how or why, but for some reason she is really in to spelling these days. She wants to know how to spell all sorts of words. If we are reading something or talking about something, she'll ask me to spell the word. Maybe she's trying to figure out what I'm saying when I spell things I don't want her to understand. Smart little cookie.

+ For everything we give her, she almost always says, I want TWO of them.

+ One of the cutest things happens when she is watching a cartoon on TV {yes, I'm human, she watches cartoons} and something scares her. She will either run into the playroom or into the hallway, so that the TV is just out of view and will peek around every so often until whatever it is that has scared her is gone. {Jungle Pete, she's not a fan.} She did this same thing at Christmas time when we watched the Elf on the Shelf show.

+ While staying at Mom and Dad's over the last couple of weeks, Olivia managed to sort of memorize the book Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. Honestly, it only took a couple of readings before she had it down. I took a little video of it and looking at it now, I see how much better she got at it.

Oh Olivia Cole, you have the ability to turn my hairs gray, but I still love you SO much. You are such an amazing little girl and I am so blessed to be your mommy. Happy #34.

Love, Love, Love

2012-02-14T08:06:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope your day is full of love!
David comes home today!! Yay! We survived.

More Pictures Than Words

2012-02-13T14:51:00.000-08:00

I have two napping babies - one in a crib and one in the Ergo. {Ahhh, peace and quiet.} Can you guess which one is where? Here are those pictures I promised you...

Tadpole Swim Lessons

Thanks, Jill, for her hair inspiration!

Desert Breeze

Swimming with Poppy

You guys, it's FEBRUARY and she is swimming outside!

She loves to jump off the side of the ladder and into Poppy's arms. She goes under a lot and it doesn't phase her at all!

Sending you some sunshine today.

Happy Monday from the Valley of the Sun!

My Baby is Crying and I Can't Think of a Title

2012-02-12T19:01:00.000-08:00

Well, we have made it through to Day 12 without David and now that we've finally gotten into a little routine and are all feeling sort of comfortable with our new situation, he will be returning home in a couple of days! We have been really fortunate and have been able to Skype with him a few different times. On one of our last conversations, however, he told me that his dad told him that this was just a "preliminary" trip down there and that they would get more done on the next one. You've never seen a face get so close to a webcam before. You can tell your father that I don't plan on having you leave for two weeks again ANYTIME SOON. This Mama needs a vacation of her own.

Like I said, keeping busy and getting out of the house is KEY for surviving these days and after a couple of days of not doing that, we've been out of the house a lot over the last few days.

On Thursday, we went to the playground in our neighborhood and packed a lunch for Olivia. Last Thursday, we met a little girl and her mom who have lunch there every Thursday and invited us to join them this week. Unfortunately, the mom was called in to work, but the grandparents still brought the little girl for her lunch date with Olivia. She is super shy, but that didn't stop Olivia from asking her a million questions and encouraging her to play.

This girl could swing for hours!

I think I've mentioned that Olivia's current naptime is way too late and it's been difficult getting it moved up. Well, we must have worn her out at the playground because when we went back to our house she napped around 2. That's progress! In all, we gave Mom and Dad about a 6 hour break which I'm pretty sure was glorious - when we got back to their house, Mom showed me the million things she had gotten done for the day!

On Friday, we met up with some friends at the zoo! It sure is nice having friends AND a membership to the zoo! Olivia was great all morning - we played in the treehouse, rode the carousel {three times} and walked around a good part of the zoo. We even ended up staying a little later than the rest of the crew, but I figured if I was going to do the zoo by myself and drive 30 minutes to get there, we were going to stay as long as both girls were being good. Sydney took a nice long nap in the Ergo and Olivia stayed in her stroller while we moved from animal to animal. I couldn't have begged, bribed or bargained for better behavior from either of them! Olivia was properly rewarded with a small container of zoo animals from the gift shop on the way out. This girl is LOVING animal figurines these days.

It's really sad that this is one of the few pictures I have of me and the girls.

But, I have about 100 pictures of her on a carousel.

My favorite part of the zoo - I love this open field where multiple types of animals roam free.

While I fed Sydney, Olivia played zoo keeper in the car.

We came home and Olivia took another glorious nap! I really don't want to have to give up her naps if I don't have to. Mom and Dad had dinner plans that night, so they ended up having almost 11 hours of free time! Ha ha. Knowing that, we headed out for a late afternoon trip to the playground for some more swinging.

With these precious kiddos as my view, I could push Olivia in the swing for hours too.

Olivia had her swim lessons again on Saturday. I wanted her to understand that while she was at the lessons, she was to have fun, but also to listen to the teacher and follow her instructions. We practiced several times through the week and a lot on Saturday morning. She had fun playing pretend and kept saying, "You be Miss Melody!" All that playing/practicing paid off - she was SO GREAT at swim lessons. She listened to everything Miss Melody said and never wandered off. I was so proud of her.

I have a few more pictures of swim lessons on my camera, so they may show up on another post as well.

She is such a water bug! After swim lessons, we met up with Poppy who had just played in a golf tournament AND WON! Woot Woot! We celebrated with pizza and an early night!

Umm, yes, I'll take that wine off your hands.

And, this morning we met up with Mom after church at one of our favorite parks, Desert Breeze. I took tons more pictures with my camera, but here are a couple cute ones from my phone. Looking forward to having David come back home, but am SO thankful for friends and family who have helped make this time fly by! (And so much easier)

A Little Bit of This and A Little Bit of That

2012-02-07T20:27:00.000-08:00

Guess what?! It's another random post! With random cell phone pictures!

+ We are still camped out at my parents' house. I can't believe they haven't kicked us out yet. I probably would have given us the boot by now if I were them. #wearelucky

Newsflash Magnum - that's not a bed.

Ha ha - neither is this.

+ We are still trying to keep busy, but the last couple of days have been tough. I am at a loss as to what to do about her naps right now. She fights an early nap, but if she goes down at her normal time (3), she is up until midnight. So far, the lesser of two evils has been to let her skip her nap so she's down for the count by 8. Unfortunately, that means her behavior isn't always the greatest in the early evenings.

This, can quickly turn into....

this. OY.

So, we got the heck outta dodge!

+ So thankful for my parents. Olivia helped her Poppy make grapefruit juice the other morning. YUM.

+ I have tried my best to help out around here and keep the place somewhat clean. I made Southwest stuffed bell peppers last night and ended up substituting the brown rice for quinoa. It was so good.

+ This little baby officially has her second tooth. Bless her little heart - two teeth back to back.

+ We went to a little Mexican restaurant tonight. It was nice not having to fix dinner - even if it meant taking two kids with us. We took this picture of Olivia by the ducks. We did the same thing when she was there after she turned 1. You can see that picture here.

+ We've been able to Skype with David a couple of times. You have to love modern technology because I was able to answer a Skype call from him while sitting in the dentist's chair getting my crown put on. I'm sure he loved seeing that.

+ Sorry for the random post again. I just wanted to get some of these pictures up and my brain is pretty much fried.

Keep Calm and Go to the Playground

2012-02-05T17:18:00.000-08:00

Day 5 and our motto is Keep Calm and Go to the Playground. We are trying to keep as busy as possible - the house gets less messy and Olivia gets worn out. We've pretty much moved in to my parents' house and I'm so thankful they haven't given us an eviction notice yet. Here are a few pictures from the last few days.

I love this picture!

On Saturday, Mom and I took Olivia to her new swim class. In this class, she swims without a parent in the water and we were a little worried on how she might do, but she was awesome! I'm not going to say she was the best listener ever, but for this being her first independent class, I think she did great! She is just like a little fish in the water - she loves it. After class was over, she got out and the she went right back and tried to get in again. Not until next week, baby.

She went up to this girl and said, "What are you wearing?"

Blowing bubbles

SO happy

And, we aren't the only ones worn out with all of our running around...

Happy Super Bowl Sunday from the Valley of the Sun

Crafty McCrafterson

2012-02-02T15:37:00.000-08:00

So, Day 2 of no husband...we are barely surviving. I'm kinda joking. Kinda not. The days are okay - the nights are TOUGH.

Anyway, we've been trying to keep very busy during the day, so yesterday morning {after giving Olivia a nice little sugar buzz}, we decided to make some Kool-Aid playdough. Oh, it smells so delicious. We ended up making five batches of it and almost attempted a 6th, but I just could.not.handle.anymore.mess. But, if the point was to take up time AND have fun, well, we achieved both!

Look Mommmm, I'm MIXING!

Can you see that there is FLOUR all over her shirt too? And Kool-Aid powder.

Thank you, Oxy Clean.

Black cherry, orange, strawberry, grape and pink lemonade

To make the Kool-Aid playdough, mix 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 cup salt, 4 teaspoons of cream of tartar, and 2 Kool-Aid packets in a bowl. Mix in 2 cups boiled water mixed with 3 Tablespoons oil. Mix until cooled and then knead together. Store in ziplock bags.

It's so pretty when you pour the water in and see the colors come to life. Olivia really liked that part. We haven't played with it yet because it was too hot when we made them and then she ended up spending an hour playing in the bath tub while I cleaned up. {Gotta love that!}

And, if you wanted to know how to do the colored rice that I blogged about the other day, here's what I did. I found a five pound bag of white rice and since I had 8 different food coloring gels, I divided it up into 8 bags - it was about 1 1/2 cups of rice per bag. I did one bag at a time and poured 1 teaspoon of rubbing alcohol in the bag and then Olivia squirted the food coloring gel. I'm assuming the more gel, the brighter the colors and I wanted them bright, so we used a lot. I zipped the bag and she shook and mixed to her little hearts content. I then put them out in the sun to dry all day. One of these days we'll get to using them!

VOILA!

Miraculously, both girls are napping. Although, now that I type that, one of them is bound to wake up. Once they are up, we are off to my parents' house. Here's hoping Night 2 is a million times better than last night. I don't think it can get much worse. I'll spare you the details, but let's just say sleeping with both of my girls in the same bed with one of them not going to sleep until midnight and then waking up at 3 asking for a snack and then again at 7:30 telling me it's time to get up does not make for a good night.

Just Keep Swimming

2012-02-01T15:03:00.000-08:00

One of the things I loved about living in the central coast was the San Luis Parent Participation classes that Olivia and I took. I swear those classes made me a better mom. Not that they necessarily taught me tons of things, but they gave me a social outlet, they gave Olivia socialization and play time and, yeah, they did introduce some new topics to me. It was so wonderful having other moms and dads to bounce ideas off of and, as I've mentioned before, I made some really really wonderful friends through that program.

It was important to me that I find something like that out here for Olivia and me to do together. And, in the future, for me and Sydney to do as well. Well, I found that something before we even moved. And then we came out here and the program book kept sitting on my desk, month after month after month. You know, stuff happened. Moving in. Settling in. Thanksgiving. Christmas. January. Well, enough of all of that stuff. I need it. And Olivia needs it.

My wonderful husband went through the book and picked out some classes for him to do with Olivia {he needs those Daddy/Daughter dates too} and helped me find some that would work for her and I to do together. Hip hop dance anyone? Mmmkay, maybe not this go round. But, I am signing us up for a class or two and David signed up for a few for them as well. Their first class was last Saturday and if you can't tell from the title, it was a swimming class.

I stayed home with Sydney, but my dad went with them and took some great shots with my camera. Thanks Dad!

I guess she got voted Best Dressed.

Yes! Outdoor swim lessons. In January!

Apparently our little water bug is too advanced for the beginner's swim class, so this Saturday she will be in the advanced class! She loves it - look at that smile!

And, I just absolutely love my husband for taking the initiative to sign up for these classes. He is such a wonderful father and Olivia is so lucky to have such an active and involved dad. I have such fond memories of my dad taking me to my swim lessons when I was younger and I know Olivia will have wonderful memories of her daddy/daughter time too.

Bits and Pieces

2012-01-31T21:05:00.000-08:00

Oh Wow. Another completely random blog post two or three days after my last one. Sorry folks, it is ALL sorts of craziness up in this house these days.

+ David is leaving tomorrow for Venezuela for two weeks for a father/son trip with his dad. So, yeah, my parents are pretty much moving in with me and vice versa. Beyond thankful that we are out here to have their help. And, sort of freaking out because TWO WEEKS is a long time. It's the longest we've ever been apart.

+ And, speaking of the husband, we got to go on our January date on Saturday night. BDubs, y'all! It was sooo good, too. David and I have always loved going to BW3 for their wings and trivia. And, we seriously kicked some trivia tail Saturday night!

This looks so gross, but tasted SO good!

Why yes, I did take a picture of our winning name on the screen.

+ Sydney is cutting her first tooth. Yup, a whole two months before Olivia ever did. {Not that I'm comparing.} It's her bottom tooth on her left side. She is hardly sleeping, has a runny nose and a cough {that I thought was what Olivia had, but since she never spiked a fever, I think it is due to that nasty little tooth} and literally wants to be held all the time. I feel so bad for her because I know she is miserable. You can just see it on her face. Pobrecita.

+ Olivia is saying the funniest things these days. She keeps asking for "a handful of UH-tella" instead of Nutella. I've got her hooked. Her favorite new song is Bare Necessities from the Jungle Book, but she keeps calling it Bear A Sesames. I've had to have a little chat with her about my Do Not Disturbs. They are now completely off limits and are not to be disturbed. She has done a lot better with it than I originally thought. The other night she asked if she could hold them and I reminded her that she's a big girl now and that she can't do that. So, she said, "I'll just look at them." Then, she took her nose right up to them, sniffed and said, "Mmmmm, your boobies smell SO good." Oh goodness, she's gonna hate me for this when she's older. I love you, Olivia!

+ We dyed rice yesterday and it turned out really cute. I'll try and put a tutorial up in the next couple of days, but it was super easy. Rice, rubbing alcohol and food coloring. It's going to hurt me when it gets mixed.

+ So, the other night, I was sending my brother some video messages of Olivia. I was trying to get her to say hi to "Aunt Hala" and she couldn't remember what to say and this is the little outtake. I swear I have watched it 100 times whenever I need a laugh. The way she says, HOLLLAAA and the look on her face afterwards is priceless. Love that girl. {And, I love OxyClean. Those blueberry stains came right out!}

+ And, just because she's so dang cute. Oh man, I just love her so much.

Can you believe it's the last day of January? One month down, eleven more to go!

Happy Tuesday from the Valley of the Sun

Oh Tiny Prints, You Know the Way to My {Valentine's Day} Heart

2012-01-30T09:14:00.000-08:00

Okay, so if you know me very well, you will know that I love all things Tiny Prints. I've created both of the girls' birth announcements from there {just browsing that section makes even this sleep deprived mama want another little baby}, Olivia's birthday invitations were from Tiny Prints, and our Christmas cards were from there this year as well. During all of my recent organizing, I found a cute Valentine's Day card that I sent out when Olivia was around 9 1/2 months old. Oh Tiny Prints, you know the way to my Valentine's Lovin' Heart!

So, of course, I felt a little pang of, So is Sydney not going to have a Valentine's Day card with her picture on it to put in her memory box? And, my fingers magically made their way over to....you guessed it:

http://www.tinyprints.com/tiny-prints-valentines-day-cards.htm

Talk about swoon. I'm ready to decorate the house in heart garlands and cupids & arrows! Wanna see a couple of my favorites? Sure you do.

Love, love, LOVE this one.

And, that precious family? Just so happens to be from one of my favorite blog reads!

And, I just LOVE this photo collage.

Their Valentine's Day greeting cards are gorgeous too!

http://www.tinyprints.com/greeting/shop/valentines-greeting-cards.htm

I mean, what grandma and grandpa wouldn't love a personalized greeting card?!

Especially one like this.

Now, if only I could get both of my girls to cooperate for a picture!

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Brain Dump {and a little TMI}

2012-01-27T18:17:00.000-08:00

Sydney has gotten whatever it was that Olivia has/had and her poor little nose is running like a sugar train. As a result, she is not sleeping unless she is attached to me, so little has been accomplished around the house and the Ergo has been my best friend. David is currently wearing her and Olivia is eating dinner, so while I stuff my face with the yummiest pollo borracho I've ever made, I'm going to dump whatever's in my brain.

+ I haven't pulled out my actual camera in at least a week. Therefore, all pictures in this post are from my iPhone. And, I did my best to jazz them up with one of those fancy phone apps. But, they're still pictures from my phone.

+ My parents have been absolute lifesavers for me this week. I blogged about Tuesdays being wonderful, right? Well, my mom came over on Wednesday, or at least I'm sure she did. To be honest, I can't remember what Wednesday even looked like, but I'm pretty sure I've seen her all week. Oh wait, now I remember. We took Olivia to a new playground and then multiple tantrums occurred. But that may be a different bullet point. Anyway, yesterday, she called to say that Dad wasn't golfing and he would take Olivia to the park if we wanted to go walk Sydney. Hallelujah. An actual walk that didn't involve us stopping every ten minutes to encourage Olivia to stay in the stroller?! Yes, please. As if that wasn't enough, we went to Wendy's for lunch where he treated us to a Frosty, we ran to the Dollar Tree, and then we came home and he MOPPED. OUR. FLOORS! God love that man. He is too good to us. {Mom too!}

Toddler boot camp. It's going to be the latest trend. You just wait and see.

Having too much fun at Toddler Boot Camp.

+ Speaking of Wendy's - have you all seen the new "freestyle" coke fountain machines? I wanted to take a picture of the one at Wendy's, but there were too many people around and I was embarrassed! But, there are over 100 drink options - you use the touch screen to choose diet coke and then you can choose all sorts of flavors to go with it. I want to go back to Wendy's today just to use it again!

+ I can't remember if I have blogged about this or not, but we were doing really well with Olivia's potty training and then we had a little set back. Long story short, I think Olivia wanted something to control and, well, she chose pottying to be that thing. More specifically, pooping on the potty. {Hey, you never know what you are going to get when you read this blog, do you?} We were pretty much at our wits end, trying a zillion different things. Well, when we were out looking for stuff to send to Jill in Guam, I found these little Mickey Mouse figurines at the Dollar Store and put them in the "Poopy Reward Box" and within two minutes of her seeing what she could get, she put a poopy in the potty. Within the past 4 days, she's earned all four figurines. {Thus, our trip to the Dollar Tree yesterday to get the Toy Story, Winnie the Pooh and Disney Princess figurines.} Whatever it takes.

I will hold something back {like the picture of it}, but let's just say she earned Mickey while at the playground with Poppy!

+ We went on a short tricycle ride {YES, Olivia can ride a tricycle really well now} and had some fun at the play structure that's super close to our house. We met a really nice mom with a little baby just a couple months younger than Sydney and, small world, she works with my other friend who we go on play dates with.

+ This just in: Sydney is asleep! And in her swing! And, Olivia earned Belle from Beauty and the Beast! {Too far?}

I cannot handle her cuteness.

+ I got these heart freezer trays in the dollar bin at Target a few weeks ago and they have turned into Olivia's new lunch plates. It's so fun arranging the food in them and it's a lot more fun for her to eat them.

+ Another Dollar Tree find were these foam letters and numbers. I bought a large bag of rice and Olivia had fun ~~throwing rice~~ finding the letters and putting them back in the puzzles.

+ This just in: Sydney's awake. So, I'm off. Happy Friday, y'all!

Sydneygrams + Somebody's FIVE months old

2012-01-25T09:28:00.000-08:00

My sweet little Sydney,

Please, please, please slow down on your growing up! I may be excited for the days when you and Olivia can play together {or maybe even the days when I know you can defend yourself against her}, but I'm not ready for you to outgrow my lap and the comfy little nook in my arms. So slow it down.

I can't believe that you are already big enough to sit and play in your excersaucer! You love it. And, I'm so glad to have an extra spot to put you while I am working away in the kitchen. You really like your new bouncy seat too. Seems like only yesterday you seemed so tiny even being in your car seat.

I'm making tummy time more of a priority for you these days. I woke up in a sweat the other night thinking you might never learn to crawl if I didn't give you more practice. We can't have that now, can we?

Oh, dear. It seems you are going to turn into quite the tolerant baby. Your sister can be awfully touchy with you - she loves to take your socks off and roll you over onto your belly. Nothing is scarier than hearing her say, "Mommy, look what I did to Sydney!" The other day while we were doing tummy time, she drove her Little People SUV right over you. And, you didn't bat an eyelash.

Here it comes.

BOOM.

You are getting to the age though where it's time for me to start putting you in hats, so get ready. We started with this one on Saturday and I think you rocked it like a super star. Trust me, there's plenty more where that came from.

You are still pretty darn easy-going. And, for that, I thank you. However, there are times that your screams can rival that of your sister's when she was a baby. I apologize if it seemed I was insensitive when I took this picture, but I just couldn't resist. I didn't want the world thinking you were too perfect.

And let me apologize again, sweet baby. It seems you've inherited my thighs.

I still just want to nibble on those all day.

Last night, you were boobze'n it up at the open bar ALL. NIGHT. LONG. Here's a warning - that late night bar is going to be closing up shop real soon. But, thanks for paying your tab with extra cuteness.

I love you forever and a day, my dear. Thank you for letting me be your Mama. Happy 5 months.

Tuesdays With Nana and Poppy

2012-01-24T17:54:00.000-08:00

Tuesdays just may be my very favorite day of the work week! {So, that doesn't include weekends, even though, let's be honest here, every day is a day of the work week when you are a mom.} But, back to Tuesdays. I love 'em. Wanna know why? Because we get out of the house and head over to Nana and Poppy's house where the adult to child ratio goes from 1:2 all the way up to 3:2!! Dad doesn't play golf on Tuesdays {he is either golfing or volunteering every other day of the week} and Mom doesn't have any of her singing commitments. So, it's just us and the kids. Two extra adults not only means two more sets of hands to hold them, but it's four more hands for fixing lunch, changing diapers and cleaning up messes. Plus, we can be as loud as we want around here and don't have to worry about disrupting David while he works. {And, it's an added bonus that we don't mess up our house...}

Today was wonderful! Dad played with Olivia for a couple of hours while Mom and I went and ran some fun errands for my friend Jill who is living in Guam. She needed some craft supplies and fun trinkets for her reward box {and it would cost about 5x as much for her to buy it there}. We had a lot of fun searching for things that we thought the girls would enjoy. It's always more fun spending someone else's money, isn't it?!

Dad had lots of fun playing doll house, pretend zoo and sleepovers with Olivia. He's such a good Poppy! And, did I mention that Nana is in the kitchen making all of us dinner?! We are truly blessed.

A Very Happy Tuesday from the Valley of the Sun

Go Take a Hike

2012-01-23T15:33:00.000-08:00

We have been a little under the weather here the last several days - and poor Olivia has been the one suffering the most. After our play date last Tuesday, she started getting some sniffles and a barky cough. Those sniffles have turned into a full-on snotterfalls {get it? like waterfalls, but with snot. gross, right?} and that cough has not given up. Throw in her spiking a fever every once in awhile and you've got a whiny little toddler on your hands. Bless her heart. We've tried keeping her down and trying to make her watch movie after movie, but we are all getting a little stir crazy.

On Saturday, we decided to head out to San Tan Mountain Regional Park for a hike with the girls and mom and dad. We ended up hiking up to the very top of Goldmine Mountain. It was a perfect day for a hike - the sun stayed behind the clouds for most of the day keeping it just the perfect temperature. Olivia was such an awesome little hiker - we were all so proud of her. She walked a lot of the trail, but when it came to the really steep parts, she was bound and determined to climb those rocks all by herself!

A huge shout out to my mom for doing such a great job on the hike!

David stuck right with Olivia the whole way.

Our little rock climber!

I look like I just got finished with boot camp.

Sydney did great the whole trip - slept almost the entire time!

This picture was taken about 1/2 mile from the very top.

My dad climbed to the very top, but Sydney and I stayed down on solid ground with David and Olivia.

On the way back down the mountain, we took a slightly different trail to get back to the parking area and I'm so glad we did. We encountered the sweetest lady who was taking "Pepper" out for a ride. Olivia asked the lady nicely if she could pet the horse and the lady even offered to let Olivia sit in the saddle with her. I guess Olivia noticed that a horse is a little bigger than a pony and decided to stay in Nana's arms instead.

And, then onto Poppy's shoulders.

This little love bug woke up right about the time we were exploring the snakes and gila monsters in the park museum. We gladly opted out of that part. Thanks, Syd.

All in all, it was a great day. We stopped by San Tan Flats for a late lunch and then felt zero guilt in being completely lazy the rest of the day. I LOVED the hiking and can't wait to do it more often.

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend.

Happy Monday from the Valley of the Sun

33 Months is 3 Months from 3

2012-01-18T16:10:00.000-08:00

It is mind-blowing to think that in three short months, my first born will be turning THREE! And, if what most people say is true and the threes really are harder than the twos?! LawdHaveMercy, we need to brace ourselves!

It was a rough week last week in the Michelson household. Was it a full moon? Because from everything I saw on Facebook or Mommy Blogs to IRL Friends, it was a hard week for everyone. David and I have really been trying to crack down on some of the behaviors that we see that we don't really want - some days are easier than others - and those days where almost everything is a battle with her can be really difficult. We have been using a lot of methods from Parenting With Love and Logic and the tantrums {knock on wood} are shorter and less frequent. Yesterday was tantrum-free and today has been thus far. Thank you, Sweet Baby Jesus. It's been tough on us, not giving in to every whim or desire that Olivia has {not that we always did in the past} and even tougher not using bribery all the time. And, I'd say it has been tough on Olivia too. But, she is learning. She threw a fit last week because she didn't want to pick up a mess that she had made. And, by a fit, I mean she screamed and cried for at least an hour. But she picked it up. And, later that evening when she dumped a basket of laundry over, she immediately picked it up. On Friday, we were going to meet up with Mom and take her to a new playground, but she fiddle farted around and wouldn't get ready after breakfast by washing her hands & face and cooperating with getting dressed. And, I got {without going into detail} pissed off. I took Sydney and we left. And Olivia had to stay home. It was hard on both of us. I am thankful that David saw that I needed a break and saw that a learning opportunity presented itself. When I came back, I told her about how much fun Sydney and I had at the playground {when in reality, we went to Mom's and I vented for 2 hours}. The next day, my dad wanted to take her to the playground and she started to pull the fiddle fart routine when I reminded her of what happened the day before. She came right over and cooperated with getting dressed. She is learning.

But, enough of the rough stuff, because when I look at the big picture {which can sometimes get clouded over}, it is such a SMALL part of who she is. It is typical behaviors in this critical time of learning. She is such a wonderful little girl who constantly amazes us with her memory, her creativity and her talents.

Livi is really into imaginative play these days. We saw the start of this before Christmas {or maybe I should say the growth} and some of her gifts really brought it out. She LOVES playing doctor and veterinarian. She has been the doctor, the patient, the patient who is scared to go to the doctor, the big sister of the patient, the veterinarian, the person calling the veterinarian, and maybe even once or twice has been the animal being doctored.

Playing grocery store

Her grandma and grandpa got her a mini Ergo carrier for Christmas and she absolutely loves it. She wanted to take it and wear it at Target the other day and not only did she get a ton of compliments on it, but it was the best Target trip we've had {just the three of us} in ages. If there's not a baby in it, there's a stuffed animal.

She's playing a lot with her dollhouse and we play pretend a ton at night before bed. She likes to play Santa Claus and always has to say, But I don't wanna sit on his lap! She likes to play baby where she crawls inside our shirt. We pretend paint the crib and get ready for the new baby {just like in one of her books}. We've rescued little animals and put them inside small boxes with burp cloths used as blankets. For awhile her favorite thing to do was to have someone leave the room and knock on the door. God Bless her Poppy because he will play pretend with her for hours - something I have a hard time doing sometimes.

Last night she was awake in her crib until 12:15. Yes, past midnight. And she went to bed around 9. OY. I've got to figure out a way to get her to nap earlier than 3:30. Anyway, she must have sung "Ari the newborn king, pa rum pum pum pum" at least 400 times. She still loves to listen to the Little Drummer Boy. And, she likes to pretend she is him too.

We spent yesterday morning at the playground with her new friend, Michael. They really give each other a run for their money.

Looks like somebody is hogging all of the toys.

Love these little overalls.

Olivia's latest obsessions are some new Olivia apps - painting stickers and learning magic tricks - and reading about dinosaurs. You guys, I HATE dinosaurs. And, I need to watch it because I think she is picking up on it. She told David the other night when he put her to bed, "Mommy doesn't like that story." The thing is, it's NOT a story. It's a book of big dinosaurs whose names I can't pronounce. So, usually I hide the book in her closet. But, one afternoon I read through it with her and when we came to this page, she said, "Look Mommy, that dinosaur has to go pee pee!" Sort of made it worth it.

Oh, Olivia Cole. You make us work so hard every day and you are constantly teaching us. We love your little bits to pieces.

Mother's Guilt

2012-01-12T09:19:00.000-08:00

To say that I carry around a lot of guilt each day is an understatement. I swear a day doesn't go by that I don't compare Olivia's infancy to Sydney. Statements like, Gosh, with Olivia, I did tummy time ALL the time and with Sydney, I'm lucky to squeeze it in a few times a week go through my head on a DAILY basis. I haven't written ONE thing down in Sydney's baby book. Not one. Not even her name. Hey, at least she has one already, right? Her stocking was mostly filled with Olivia's old baby toys {not that she cared} and 98% of her clothes are hand-me-downs {still with lots of life left in them}. She never had a baby shower. She spends a lot of time in her swing. I'm not even thinking about doing solid foods with her yet. Guilt, guilt and more guilt.

On the flip side, I am positive that I tell Olivia, Hang on baby, I need to feed/change/take care of Sydney first at least a dozen times a day. I read somewhere that if both kids are in need you should attend to the toddler first because the baby won't necessarily realizing that you are "choosing" the other one and I try to keep that in mind. But, no joke, at least three times a day they are BOTH crying. And I can only get to one of them at a time. And, I, often times, feel exasperated. Guilt, guilt and more guilt.

It is tough being a mom and it's even tougher being a mom of two. {Moms with more than two? LordHaveMercy, I don't know how you do it.} And, I feel guilty a lot and not good enough. I feel like I fail on a daily basis. And, sometimes I feel like I fail more than I succeed. I try to remind myself that what each of them lacks in one area, they make up for it in another. Olivia slept in our room until she was a month old. Sydney is still in there at 4+ months. Sydney gets all of Olivia's old toys, plus brand new ones. And, Olivia? Well, she gets a beautiful baby sister to push and boss around!

One thing that weighs heavily on me is pictures! We had professional maternity pictures and newborn pictures done with Olivia. I hated having my picture taken when I was pregnant with Sydney. The newborn pictures of her were taken by me {and beautifully edited by my sweet SIL, Marissa}. I took a kazillion pictures of Olivia every day when she was a baby and with Sydney? Well, we do Sydneygrams with pictures off of my iPhone, right? Ugh, not quite the same.

So, yesterday afternoon, when Olivia was napping and Sydney was wide awake, it was the perfect time to snap some quality pictures of my sweetheart. She was a happy little camper and as you can see from these pictures, her whole face lights up when she smiles. Oh yeah, and she's found her toes! Mercy sakes, I sure do love this baby girl.

My latest obsession is onesies + babylegs.

Say WHAATTT? These babylegs were Olivia's?

Wheeeeeeeeeeee

I am sure the battles of who has more of this or that will go on for years to come, but I hope both my girls know that there is no end to the amount of love I have for both of them. Guilty as charged.

Happy Thursday from the Valley of the Sun

Out and About

2012-01-10T08:47:00.000-08:00

The temperatures out here this last week have been in the mid 70s and it has just been absolutely gorgeous. Four years of warm winters and I still don't know how to dress myself or my kids. I always think it is going to be much cooler than it actually is so we have a habit of heading out the door in long sleeves and pants and then end up being a little toasty while out, but you are not going to hear me complaining!

We've walked to the playground on several occasions and were lucky enough to meet this sweet boy who had gotten a motorized jeep for Christmas. He very willingly took Olivia for a nice long ride, and fortunately, took her almost all the way home!

And here, ladies and gentlemen, we have bribery at its finest! I was trying to get some pictures of the girls together and told Olivia she could have a lollipop if she sat still and smiled at the camera. I stripped her down as to not get sticky lollipop juice all over everything and she dragged her bean bag out into the {dormant} grass to eat it and soak up a little sun.

Saturday was another gorgeous day and I wanted to put our bikes to good use. My mom came over and watched Sydney {and folded and put away two loads of the girls' laundry} while David and I took Olivia out for a ride. I'm excited for the two of them to be able to ride in the chariot together while we go out for rides together as a family. And, can I just say that I love riding around our neighborhood?! NO HILLS!!!

Here's hoping there's some sunshine in your neck of the woods!

Happy Tuesday from the Valley of the Sun!

Christmas is Over? Yeah, We Missed That Memo.

2012-01-08T09:24:00.000-08:00

Even though our tree is down and our decorations are mostly put away, Christmas isn't over around here yet. Our lights outside are still up {and may stay that way for awhile} and I still have the girls' ornament tubs out to organize. We went to Target the day after Christmas and got two ornament containers that will house each of the girls ornaments from now until they are older. On Pinterest, I found a printable form that we printed out. I'm filling out the information that pertains to each of their ornaments and attaching a picture. I'm glad that this will be with their ornaments because I want them to know the story behind each one as they pull them out to decorate their trees when they get older {something I have forgotten about many of mine}. I also love that they will be nicely organized in their own little box!

I have everything printed and ready, I just need to get them all filled out and cut out and put in a small photo album. {Eeeks, sounds like I have lots more work to do!}

I was also able to finally put together all of our Christmas cards from this year so that we can have them to look through for years to come. This was another Pinterest idea. If you haven't gotten bitten by the Pinterest bug yet, just wait! I'm sure you will.

Thursday night, we decided to take the girls to Zoo Lights at the Phoenix Zoo. We have a membership now {Thanks Coopers!} and so we scored $1 off the price of admission. David had never been to this zoo, so it was neat for him to explore it, even if it was dark! I didn't know what to expect with Zoo Lights, but they really were pretty. We even got to see some of the actual animals and walked away with two little giraffes for the girls {for free}.

Still sort of crazy to walk around and see Christmas lights and only need a sweatshirt.

Sorry for the not-so-great iphone picture!

Here's to getting all the Christmas stuff done before Valentine's Day rolls around!

Happy Sunday from the Valley of the Sun!

Sydneygrams: The First of 2012

2012-01-03T08:29:00.000-08:00

Yes, the first of 2012! But, some of these were actually taken last year. Can't believe it's 2012 already.

Opening up her teddy bear from the Oberlin family

Hand in the mouth = favorite thing

"Wait, why does she get REAL food?"

A happy baby with a really wet bib!

Such a big girl

Morning snuggles with Mama

Sweet baby

Watching the ball drop {in New York}

Midnight

12 Dates for Christmas

2011-12-31T15:58:00.000-08:00

David is one of the hardest people to shop for. EVER. It's nearly impossible to surprise him with any gift because if he wants something, he'll either buy it for himself already or just tell you what it is that he wants. And, trying to just buy him some sort of electronic gizmo? Well, he has to Consumer Reports everything and that just takes the fun out of EVERYTHING.

Well, a couple of months ago while browsing Pinterest, I stumbled upon this and thought it would be a great thing to give to David. I'm too impatient to wait for the beginning of each month for David to open up the envelope, so I made him open each one {wrapped in bags or boxes and mixed in with all of our gifts} on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day.

Each time I was out without him grocery shopping/running errands, I would try to pick up a little gift card that could be used on our dates. I didn't want every date just to be dinner out, but I also knew that with a baby under the age of one {for most of the year} who doesn't take a bottle, we would be sort of limited on some of the dates that we could do.

If you saw yesterday's post, you saw what I did for January. Buffalo Wild Wings is one of our favorite date night activities. In fact, it's the only date we've done so far since being out here.

Each one of the 12 envelopes follows this same pattern. There's a cute little {Sanrio} sheet of paper with the month written on top and some sort of cutesie phrase describing our date plan. Most include a gift card of some sort, except for one or two that are actually free dates {a hike and a museum trip - we can check out free passes from our library - how cool is that?}

I worked really hard at coming up with different, fun things to do and also tried to think about the time of year when we would do them. I mean, really, who wants to go for a hike in August when it's 115 degrees? Definitely not me! Here's a list of our dates:

+ BW3, $25 gift card

+ Couples pedicure, gift card included

+ Trip to the movies, Fandango gift card

+ Picnic/airplane watching, Jimmy John's gift card and a map to the local airpark

+ Hike, trail map included

+ Mini Golf & Arcade games, gift card for golf and arcade money

+ Museum

+ Staying home and making dinner*, grocery store gift card & Trivial Pursuit cards included

+ Wine tasting at local winery, gift card for 1 bottle included

+ Bowling, Gift card for several games included

+ PF Changs, $25 gift card

+ Starbucks date, gift card included

And, here are a couple of my favorite descriptions:

* One of David's favorite things is to cook. Unfortunately, it's not something he has a lot of time to do now. {He is a sloooow cooker.} When we were dating {and before kids came along}, he would cook dinner for me while I quizzed him with Trivial Pursuit cards. Is he a nerd? Yes. But, I'm not and even I thought it was fun. We haven't done it in forever, so I thought it would be fun for one of our dates!

I have to give a special thanks to my parents too because this gift is also sort of from them. If it weren't for them offering to watch the girls, I know I would not be as willing to leave them and go spend some quality time with my husband. So, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU.

I'll do my best to blog after each of our dates as well. I'm looking forward to each month and I love that this is a gift I get to enjoy myself as well!

Hope you all had a wonderful NYE! We stayed in and feasted on, ahem, Buffalo Wild Wings.

Happy 2012 from the Valley of the Sun!

Christmas Restocking, err ReCAP

2011-12-31T15:32:00.000-08:00

My goal is to get this Christmas post done by New Year's. So, here I am starting this on Friday night {woot woot, this is how I par-tay!} and I have one day to get 'er done! David has Olivia at the gym and is picking up Vietnamese for dinner and Sydney is snoozing in the Ergo. I am currently uploading 33 pictures from Christmas, and yes, that was me weeding it down a bit. I'll try to pick through some of those as well so there aren't so many pictures Or would you rather have more pictures and less words? Anywho, on to the post:

Awww, this Christmas was absolutely wonderful! I wondered how it might top last year's seeing as how we were in Hawaii for two weeks, but it was honestly VERY nice just being HOME. Was it hectic leading up to Christmas? Of course. But, seriously EVERY day is hectic around here. As much as I would have loved to pull out all the stops for Christmas - name plates, gorgeous table setting, etc - I realized it was way more important to enjoy doing some of the fun, crafty Christmas things with the girls because those would be remembered more.

We ended up going over to my parents' house on Saturday {Christmas Eve morning} for a scrumptious breakfast casserole after Ryan & David did some last minute shopping. It was SO incredibly nice to just RELAX at their house after breakfast. Ryan and Mom ended up taking Olivia up to one of the outdoor malls to do some more last minute shopping {let me tell you, that brother of mine is a GOOD last minute shopper} and Sydney ended up falling asleep on me in Dad's recliner. So nice and peaceful.

We did let Olivia open two presents early - she got a new baby doll with lots of "mommy accessories" and a new dollhouse with some furniture in it. David took her out for a quick walk while we got it all set up with her Strawberry Shortcake dolls and she was so excited when she came in and found it.

Mom put Olivia down for a nap and made her yummy chili for dinner. Once she was up, we all got ready and went to the Christmas Eve service up at the clubhouse. My uncle did an amazing job leading the service and my aunt did a fabulous job on her solo, despite being very hoarse. It was a pleasant surprise seeing my cousin's family there as well. It would have been nice if we had gotten a family picture before or after the service, but that would have just made 34 pictures being uploaded.

We went back to Mom and Dad's after the service and got down to business! We didn't take our presents over there, so it felt a bit one-sided opening their presents without being able to give any from us. But, it was still lots of fun!

Opening her Charlie Brown book narrated by Nana and Poppy.

Mom in the shot!

And, how happy am I that one of my gifts from Santa is a trip to the salon?!

Sydney opens her first teddy bear, Cooper!

Uncle Rhino got Olivia some of the coolest gifts! He got her a veterinarian kit with all sorts of tools, two stuffed animals and a medical bag AND a veterinarian jacket with even more tools. So, even when she opened up other gifts, she naturally assumed that her Uncle Rhino got them for her! We got zero credit!

After opening our gifts there, we loaded them up and headed over to our house for Round 2! We had a few snacks - a punch and some Oreo cake balls {in regular and candy cane flavored} - at our house to re-energize ourselves.

Giving Cheers!

In hindsight, I think I would have suggested that we open up some more of the presents in the afternoon because we didn't get to finish the ones at our house before I called a postponement around 11. We still had to get our kiddos to bed AND play Santa!

We all got some really great gifts from each other! Mom, Dad and Ryan got our family a membership to the Phoenix zoo! We are so excited to be able to go there whenever we want. My brother got me a book, a gift card to get some new clothes and Felicity Season 1 {which I have already finished}. David got me my much-coveted Erin Condren life planner, a camera coat, some new day clothes {aka pajamas} and a new fleece jacket. He really made out with some fun stuff like a new electric toothbrush, a Magnum/Olivia/Sydney calendar and some house shoes. Ha ha, but I also got all creative {by stealing an idea off of Pinterest} and put together 12 pre-paid dates for the two of us. I promise to go into more detail on that on another post.

Here's to getting more organized in 2012!

And, to some alone time with my husband!

The girls {well, to be honest, mostly Olivia} seriously hit the jackpot this Christmas! But, as David so geniusly pointed out, Sydney gets all of Olivia's old toys PLUS new ones, so she really is the lucky one! Olivia got lots of fun toys that I am excited to play with. She got a cash register, her doll house, a new baby doll, the vet kit, cookware for her kitchen, books and new clothes! And, that was just from OUR family. That doesn't include what Santa brought her or what she got from her Grandma/Poppa and her Aunt Marissa. Sydney got a new bouncy jumper from her Uncle Rhino {can't wait to hang that up!}, some new clothes and TONS of new bibs!

After the girls went to bed, we ended up moving our stockings into the playroom {which is right off of the family room and has doors that can shut} so that it wouldn't be tempting for Olivia when she got up. If I do say so myself, Santa did a fabulous job stuffing those stockings!

Sydney's stockings

Olivia's stockings - yes, that IS a pink dinosaur!*

Eyeing her goodies for the first time!

Loving all over her pink dinosaur. *She talked about asking Santa for a pink dinosaur for at least a month. I was about to buy a stuffed pink dinosaur from Etsy for $25 when we stumbled on a plastic dinosaur in the dollar bin at Target. A few days before Christmas I took some pink spray paint (that we already had) and turned him pink! She plays with that dinosaur every day!

A harmonica

Sydney stayed awake for everyone opening their stocking, but was asleep by the time it was her turn. Poor thing had slept through almost all of the gift giving the night before too.

I finally got smart and fixed her hair a little bit. All I could hear in my head was a 20 something Olivia looking back at these pictures and saying, "Thanks, Mom, couldn't you have at least brushed my hair?" Done and done.

Sharing some of her new barrettes with everyone.

She loves the microphone attachment to her new keyboard.

Let's see how Arizona wines compare to California ones!

Pretending to be a vet

After Sydney woke up from her {super long} nap, she got to open up some of her presents.

Checking out the goods in her stocking.

Mommy loves you!

We ended up lounging around for most of the early afternoon and then had a delicious dinner with Honeybaked ham, green bean casserole, hashbrown casserole, corn pudding, and our favorite overnight salad.

Believe it or not, we still hadn't opened up all of our presents! We still had presents from David's family and if you don't know already, let me just fill you in: Irma is one of the best gift givers around! The girls got some really fun gifts from her and Poppa Peter! My favorite is probably the mini Ergo carrier! Olivia LOVES it and has been carrying her little animals and babies around all over the place. She likes being just like her mama. Olivia even got her own electric toothbrush - a Hello Kitty one - and I honestly have to say this might actually be a gift for me! It has made toothbrushing FUN! She has also been loving her Hello Kitty flashlight and has gone on many a scorpion hunt with her daddy. Stay tuned for some fashionista posts with the cute little outfits that each of the girls got. {Olivia is especially loving the bright pink tutu from her Aunt Marissa.} We also got a new picnic blanket and a wipe warmer. I have to admit I was a bit skeptical on the wipe warmer, but I am LOVING it! I feel like I'm at a spa every time I change Syd's diaper!

Love that Ergo!!

I was really disappointed that I didn't get any shots of the girls in their Christmas pajamas opening up their gifts together. By the time Sydney woke up from her nap, Olivia was already dressed in regular clothes, but I was lucky enough to get a couple of pictures of them together before bed. Ooooh, they just look so cute together! And, I love how they are almost always doing the same kind of thing/making the same facial expressions in each of the pictures!

To say that we were exhausted by the end of the night is an understatement. I'm pretty sure I crawled into bed around 9:30 and watched the first two episodes of Felicity while snuggling with Sydney and putting her to bed. But, it was such a wonderful, fun day. I'm already looking forward to next year when Sydney will be older and will enjoy opening presents even more. This was such a fun age with Olivia - seeing the excitement and wonder in her eye. We are so blessed to be able to experience Christmas with family - either in person or via Skype. We hope you had a wonderful Christmas as well and best wishes to you and your family for a fabulous 2012.

Thank you for sticking with me through this long and picture-laden post! I'm sure half of it doesn't make much sense and it's probably out of order. Such is life in this household! ;)

Time check: 4:30 on NYE! Mission accomplished!

A Most Special of Birthdays

2011-12-29T18:42:00.000-08:00

Christmas Day was especially sweet for our little family as it also marked Sydney's four month birthday. It was exactly one year ago on Christmas morning that I found out I was pregnant with her. We were in Hawaii, packing up out of our condo and getting ready to fly over to Oahu where we would spend our last day on the islands.

What a blessed gift it was and has been ever since. We love her SO much and I truly can't picture our family without her in it. She is {most often} the calm to our storm - the one who keeps me sane when chaos abounds. My friend Sarah once said that breastfeeding is God's way of forcing the busy mom to sit down and there are times that I appreciate that opportunity so much. The craziness may go on around us, but in those moments, we are at peace.

We are hitting such a fun time - this 4 to 6 month age is one of my absolute favorites. It seems like Sydney has grown up so much in just the last week. She is awake for such long stretches, is sitting up in her Bumbo and is LOVING her playmat. She is drooling like crazy and smiling up a storm. Where it used to be just me that she wanted all the time, she will now happily let others hold her and play with her. Her favorite {besides me} is probably her Poppy. She loves to just hang out with him and let him hold her. Not surprising since I was my Pappaw's girl as well.

Looking at her in these pictures, it just blows my mind as to how grown up she is. I know that sounds crazy - she's only four months old - but she has lost so much of that newborn look to her. As much as I love this new stage we are entering, my heart can't help but break a little at the one that has passed. My sweet, beautiful, precious baby. I love her so...

*I took Sydney in to the doctor for her 4 month check up on the 23rd. She was 25 inches long and weighed 13 pounds 10 ounces.

Traditions + Holiday Decor

2011-12-23T22:11:00.000-08:00

Ooooh la la! It's Christmas EVE!! And, what better time than now to talk about some of our Christmas traditions. I love having our own little family to begin new traditions with and to continue some of our old ones.

In addition to making Olivia cry at Santa, here are some of our other holiday traditions:

+ Each year I've purchased Olivia a new set of pajamas as her first present to open up. And so far, they've been footed pajamas. I continued that this year and even got Olivia and Sydney matching outfits. So excited for them to open them up and wear them together. Since we'll be going to church on Sunday before opening our stockings, I'm not sure if I'll put them back in the pajamas for opening the stockings or not. {I think I will though...}

+ I have also ordered Olivia a pewter ornament each year from Shutterfly with her picture on it. I ordered one for her again and one for Sydney and they both turned out SO cute! I hope Shutterfly continues to make these ornaments because I plan on getting the same style every year. I can just imagine a small tree when they get older with only these ornaments on them. My goal is to get them engraved with their names and the year as well.

2009

2010

2011

(Excuse the crappy phone picture of these two)

+ Growing up, my parents gave my brother and I our own ornaments and now I have my own collection that I put on our tree. In addition to the picture ornaments, I've gotten the girls their own ornaments this year (and Olivia in years past). This year I went with two different Elf on the Shelf ornaments to signify the first year that we brought him into our home.

+ And, speaking of the Elf on the Shelf, obviously he's a new tradition for us. I'm so excited to bring him out again next year - he's been so much fun. I'd love to continue the Elf on the Shelf breakfast like I did this year and plan on having the girls write letters to Santa Claus each year.

I framed Olivia's letter this year. It says, "Dear Santa, We listen to Christmas music in the car. Thank you Santa for getting me Bunky the Elf! I want a pink dinosaur, please. Are you going to bring Mrs. Claus? Please tell Mrs. Claus that I am going to be a good girl. Love, Olivia"

+ I'm really loving doing the advent with the Christmas books and will continue to do that each year, but will more than likely change out some of the books as the girls get older.

+ I don't know that this is necessarily a tradition, but we've all got matching stockings from Pottery Barn Kids. We all have our names embroidered on them except for Sydney. I figured it was more important to have it hung than have it away for a week or so to get her name on it. I'll have hers embroidered after Christmas.

+ For as long as I can remember, we have watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation in the days leading up to Christmas. I actually have it on right now as I finish up this post.

Favorite line: If I woke up with my head sewn to the carpet, I wouldn't be more surprised than I am now.

Second favorite line: Shitter's full!

+ I know some people do this, but we always open our Christmas presents on Christmas Eve. All the presents that are from our family get opened after we go to Christmas Eve service and our gifts from Santa and our stockings are opened on Christmas morning. I should note that it's also tradition for my mom to to suggest we wait until Christmas day to open up all of the presents, but it always gets vetoed!

+ Like I mentioned above, we go to Christmas Eve service every year. The last two years have been the only exception with us being in Hawaii last year and having a new baby the year before. But, that's not stopping us this year and we are going to take the whole family to the clubhouse to watch my uncle lead the service and my aunt sing a solo.

+ We may be starting a new tradition this year - we'll see if it sticks - but we will be having my mom's chili for supper after Christmas Eve service {and my dad's amazing toasted cheese sandwiches}. When I was in high school and college, we would pick up take-out from Mark Pi's and take it back to our house after church and hang out with our good friends the Caldwells before opening our gifts. {That gives me warm fuzzies thinking about that...} My mom always makes a different punch for us to drik while we eat cookies and open presents. So excited for that this year as I've made some yummy Oreo cookie truffles.

+ Growing up, my grandparents would always get a Bartles & Jaymes wine cooler in their stockings. They weren't drinkers at all, but I think they would sometimes partake in these drinks just once a year. A couple of years ago, I started the tradition for my parents and have a 4 pack in the fridge just waiting to be stuffed in their stockings. {Hope this doesn't spoil the "surprise."}

+ David and I have sent out picture Christmas cards since our first Christmas together as a couple. Each year I keep a copy of the cards and have kept the ones with Olivia in them in a special box for her full of her keepsakes. I'll do the same for Sydney this year as well. I've also decided to hang onto all of the Christmas cards we've received from year to year and pull them out at Christmas. It will be neat to see how the families have changed over the years!

We have some beautiful friends and family!

I'm sure I'm missing some, but I'm glad to have these down for us. What are some of your holiday traditions? Anybody bake Jesus a birthday cake? I was thinking we may do that too. (As if we need more sweets in the house!)

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Keep In Mind That I Wrote This Last Night

2011-12-23T14:37:00.000-08:00

Ahhh! Christmas is getting SO close!! There are so many things to get done and I'm always thisclose to finishing things up and then something {like a fit-throwing toddler or a diaper-pooping baby} comes up. And, then, you know, I decide I'm going to throw in some extra crafts along the way. Just for giggles and all.

Olivia and I decorated a few "Christmas trees" Wednesday evening and it was such a quick, fun activity. I turned four ice cream cones upside down and covered them with green frosting and let Olivia decorate them with various toppings. We used crushed up candy canes, Nerds and two different types of sprinkles. They look super cute on our kitchen island.

I've also wanted to make some salt dough homemade ornaments and have seen tons of cute ones on Pinterest, but you know my stuff never turns out quite like what I see on the computer! We succeeded in making a mess, but we did have some fun too. They've been baked, but we haven't had a chance to paint them. I don't think Olivia will care if that happens after Christmas.

She helped out by blowing a spit bubble! (Her new favorite thing)

We have done really well with our Christmas book advent calendar and have failed miserably at our little trinket one. We have opened every book each night, but I don't think we've checked the pocket on our advent tree since the last time I blogged. A few of the books that Olivia has opened recently are I've Seen Santa, Gingerbread Mouse, Corduroy's Christmas Surprise, The Biggest Christmas Tree Ever, The Christmas Story, Santa Claus and Frosty the Snowman (narrated by my parents).

Bunky has been flying all over the place and Olivia still talks about him all the time. I've seen so many hilarious places online of where the frisky little elves end up each morning - many of which are getting into trouble. David and I decided that our little elf wasn't going to be a trouble maker...sort of defeats the purpose if he is supposed to be watching HER behavior and reporting back to Santa.

Inside a gorgeous boxwood planter our friends sent us as a sweet surprise!

In our advent calendar.

In between Olivia & Kendall in the cute BFF frame Kendall sent her for Christmas.

I love that Olivia talks about Baby Jesus just about as much, if not more, than Santa. We got into a little discussion yesterday about where Baby Jesus lives and I said he lives in her heart. Then she wanted to know when he would come out. I told her that whenever she was sweet and loving and kind, Baby Jesus came out. Mom and Dad brought over the creche that we had growing up (so special that she has it in her room right now) and she has been playing with the little figurines non-stop. She calls Mary "Mary mild" because one of the books we read says Mary the mother mild.... She has been singing Christmas carols like CRAZY lately and I've gotten a few cute little videos. {See here} Some nights she will just lay in her crib singing them. I'm not sure how she's done so well learning the words because it's not like we've sat down and tried to teach her the lyrics, but that girl is like a sponge.

Today I was telling David about telling another friend of mine how Olivia likes to hold my "you-know-whats" and Olivia chimed in and said, "They're your boobs, Mom." Yep, they are. Emphasis on the YOUR, please.

Ahhh, I know this is such a random post, but it is MIDNIGHT and I am writing this as a draft email because our internet isn't working, but I know I have to get this down so I can post it in the morning. Sydney is snoozing and I was able to get some wrapping done. It's so hard to find the spare time in the evenings because Sydney stays up later than Olivia and usually falls asleep in the bed with me. She is such a Mama's girl and sometimes I am the only one who can hold her. Me & Poppy, actually. She will usually let him hold her the longest.

My brother flies in tomorrow and Olivia is so excited to pick him up from the airport. My brother wants to take her to see Santa again, but she is NOT having it.

Happy Thursday Night/Friday from the Valley of the Sun!

Up On the Housetop...

2011-12-21T16:28:00.000-08:00

I feel like it was just December 1st - I can't believe Christmas is only four days away! And, for our family, we open our presents on Christmas Eve {more on that soon}, so that's only three days away! This month has been busy to say the least.

On our refrigerator, I keep a monthly calendar where I write our planned play dates, doctor's appointments, etc. This month, I also listed all of the "extras" that I wanted to do - see Santa, do the Zoo Lights, see the lights at the Mormon Tabernacle, drive around our neighborhood and see the lights, etc. Well, we finally got to see Santa yesterday. We've actually "seen" him a couple of times since Thanksgiving and have really been talking him up to Olivia. Remember her Santa experience from the last two years?

In case you've forgotten...

{8 months and 19.5 months}

The first time we saw him, there was no one there and she actually said hello to him and showed him her bracelet and he gave her a little book. But, David wasn't with us and I didn't want to do the whole experience without him. Not to mention, just one picture was $25! I was hoping for a picture of Olivia with Santa, one of Sydney with Santa and maybe even one with both girls. And, I most certainly was not going to pay $75 for that!

I found a place called Bass Pro Shops (which is like a Galyan's on steroids) where you could get your picture taken with Santa for free! So, we all {the four of us + Nana and Poppy} headed out yesterday afternoon for the visit. Olivia rode with Mom and Dad and they did their best to encourage her to sit on Santa's lap, but apparently she just kept saying that she wasn't going to do it! When we got there, we got passes to come back at a certain time so we didn't have to wait in line for hours. It was so nice to be able to browse the store - they had a carousel and a huge waterfall that Olivia loved as well as other Christmas activities - and they even had a restaurant where we sat and had lunch.

She loves her carousels!

I was honestly most worried about Sydney, thinking she would cry once I put her in someone else's lap, but it was Olivia who really chickened out once we got there. I sat Sydney down and they snapped the picture really quickly (as did I) and then we did what we could to get Olivia to even get near Santa.

Nothing says Merry Christmas like a Hello Kitty onesie!

The girl was NOT having it. After a minute or so, with Santa dangling a candy cane in her direction, she finally agreed to let David walk over by him. I told the man taking pictures {as I have for the two previous years} to snap the picture even if she cried. Thankfully, she didn't. So, maybe she'll sit on his lap next year, but for this year, David got his turn to be in the picture.

On Monday, I pulled out some stampers that I got from Hobby Lobby and had been wanting to do. Seriously, art teachers must have some EXTREME type of patience. I hate painting - it's so messy, no matter how much you prepare for it and expect it to be messy. It's just not fun to me. I LOVE to get my craft on, but my fingerpaint? Notsomuch. Olivia had fun and I guess that is all that matters!

But, I guess she'd rather be hanging with her Uncle Rhino than finger painting!

It was a beautiful afternoon and I took the swing out for Sydney to sit in while we ~~made a huge mess~~ had fun. Love my little cutie, but she is growing up way too quickly!

I'm still hoping we can go see either the zoo lights or the lights at the Mormon church, but at the rate we are going....

Happy Wednesday from the Valley of the Sun!

She is 32 Flavors and Then Some

2011-12-18T16:35:00.000-08:00

I had every intention of getting something written yesterday, on Olivia's actual 32 month birthday, but a late morning/early afternoon shopping adventure and a post-shopping nap with Sydney ate up a good chunk of my day. Then, last night, David got sick, which left all the nighttime duties up to me. OY. I have to thank Olivia for rolling with the punches and letting me put her down for bed and allowing Sydney to encroach on her usual one-on-one time.

Within this last month, we have seen such a growth in Olivia's imaginative play. It is so wild to think of what all is going on up in that pretty little head of hers. By far her most favorite thing to play is doctor. She watched an episode of Berenstain Bears where Sister plays doctor and my brother got her a doctor's kit awhile back, so we have all been ill, have had to call the doctor and have been "stetherscoped" until we can't stetherscope anymore! She's also obsessed with going into rooms and having someone knock on the door so she can let us in (or vice versa). The last couple of days she has really gotten into drawing with dry erase markers and sidewalk chalk. {The dry erase markers have since been stored WAYYY up high as she decided the carpet needed a little blue. Thanks Mom for scrubbing that out with baby wipes!}

We met up with our new friends on Wednesday at the Children's Museum and I just feel so thankful that we have met someone for Olivia (and me) to play with! Michael is such a sweet little boy - he is all the time wanting to hold my hand, but I LOVE that he will give it back to Olivia when she dishes something out to him. She needs that!

They had so much fun playing in the cash register/grocery store section of the museum and I can't wait for her to open her cash register that we got her for Christmas. David and I have been saving up food containers lately so she will have lots of items to scan!

On Thursday, my mom came over and we made some holiday treats to send to friends. Olivia had such a fun time helping out and she actually WAS helpful! Sometimes when we bake together it is more of a hassle because I am trying to keep her from eating things or she becomes disinterested easily, but she did such a great job unrolling all of the Rolos to put on top of the pretzels and then she actually put them on herself. Towards the end though, she said, "Mom, will you help me? My arm is getting hard." Slave labor at its finest!

In case you haven't picked up on this yet, the girl is S-T-U-double B-O-R-N! Case in point, this picture.

I wanted her to wear her cute brown boots with this outfit, but she was bound and determined to wear the purple pool sandals - even through her tights. After about 5 minutes of explaining/begging/negotiating, I finally just let her wear them. We weren't going anywhere and it just wasn't a battle I wanted to fight.

Earlier in the week, we attempted to take pictures for our Christmas cards. Lord Have Mercy, that was a feat in and of itself! Blood, sweat and TEARS, I'm telling you. Oh, and a lot of bribery. Wiggle pants couldn't sit still and after about the umpteenth round outside and the promise of a lollipop, she sat still and Sydney didn't.

Black eye and a crying baby, anyone?

I kept trying all night and FINALLY got a winner with her. This, honestly, may be my most favorite picture I've ever taken of her. She looks all sweet and innocent. Hee hee. Looks CAN be deceiving.

Happy 32 month Birthday, Sweet Baby Girl!

We Shopped Until We Dropped

2011-12-17T21:11:00.001-08:00

And now it's nap time.

Hoosier Hysteria!

2011-12-11T20:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a HUGE day in Hoosier basketball history! After a few years of struggling with coaching issues and losing streaks, we finally showed we were making a comeback with a beautiful win over our big-time rivals, the University of Kentucky.

Growing up and while I was in college at IU, I always pictured myself having season tickets as an adult and taking our little Hoosier kids to the games. Obviously, that's not happening anytime soon, so the next best thing is having the Big Ten Network {or like yesterday being able to see the show on ESPN} to watch the games.

I got the girls all decked out in their Hoosier gear and even Bunky got in on the action. Olivia napped through the game, but Sydney and I cheered them on and the last few seconds of the game were THE BEST!

{Anyone else see a mini Meg Ryan there?}

I'm SO proud to be a Hoosier and regardless of where we live, I will always be one. And, yeah, I plan to raise my girls as Hoosiers too. And, if our girls decide to go to IU, we WILL be moving there because there's no way I can be so far from them for their entire college career!

Little Mermaids

2011-12-09T17:31:00.001-08:00

Honestly, I haven't given the girls a bath together in ages. It's a really tough job to do by myself because I have to sort of guard Sydney from the splashes of her sister and getting them both out at the same time is nearly impossible. Sydney LOVES the bath, but she typically cries {hard} when I take her out.

Last night, I decided to give them both a bath together and it went great! Olivia was so good and Sydney was just as happy as could be, both during the bath and after.

Laughing at her sister.

Totally fake smile!

Happy Saturday from the Valley of the Sun!

Sydneygrams, Volume 3

2011-12-09T16:49:00.001-08:00

It's about that time again...

Sydney's all, "Who me?!"

Neither of my girls took pacifiers. They found more joy in chewing on them than anything else.

Early morning grocery trip with Mama.

This girl is drooling like crazy these days. We're talking soaking through 5 or 6 bibs a day. That makes for a lot of laundry. Again, why can't that elf help out with that?

Catching Up on our ADVENTures

2011-12-09T06:49:00.001-08:00

I'm typing this post on my iPhone while snuggled up with my baby girl in bed. It's 6:50 in the morning - entirely too early to be awake, but in all honesty I'm still half asleep.

I wanted to do this post last night, but the same bedmate I'm currently snuggling with had other plans for me. Sorry load of laundry that's been waiting five days to be folded and put away, I was going to get to you too.

I wish I could say that every advent activity is a mini party, but that's not always the case! Sometimes it's an, "Oops, we forgot to get our treat out of the calendar yesterday," OR an, "Oliivvviiaaa, hurry up and open your book" kind of night as we rush to get her ready for bed.

She has finally realized that she can choose any of the books from the stack and after choosing the three musical ones in the first four days, I've finally figured out what she did after the first one - the thicker books are more appealing because they may play music! She has moved on from Silent Night in her crib to Oh, Little Town of Bethlehem and played it at least 25 times last night before falling asleep. Y'all, buy stock in 1130 batteries. (Because by the time I was done typing this, she had run the battery down.)

So far she has opened up the following books: Silent Night, Christmas in the Manger, Oh Little Town of Bethlehem, Snow Shakers Snowman, Jingle Bells, Olive the Other Reindeer and a Treasury of Christmas stories. She got a real kick out of last night's book because it was the 'Twas the Night Before Christmas that my parents got her for her first Christmas where they narrate the story. She was totally captivated by it!

From our advent calendar she has gotten another mini stamper, a Hello Kitty ponytail holder and barrette, a mini candy cane, a Frosty Chapstick, and she pulled out a note last Saturday letting her know we were going to a Christmas parade and tree lighting.

Which brings me to last Saturday...we've had a bit of a cold spell around here, but we all bundled up Saturday evening to head to downtown Chandler for the Christmas parade and lighting of the tumbleweed tree. Olivia got front and center for the parade and was loving it, but unfortunately about 30 minutes into it we had a downpour of rain and had to call it a night.

Speaking of parades, Wednesday night I took the girls to Mom and Dad's so we could ride with Dad in their annual Holiday Golf Cart Parade! A lot of his friends and neighbors decorated their carts with lights and bows and once it got dark, we paraded through the community and the golf course. Olivia had a blast wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and she even through in quite a few Ho Ho Ho shouts as well! Sydney was as good as gold and about ten minutes in, fell right to sleep all bundled up in my lap. Such a fun night for us.

And, finally, Bunky has made his way all around the house (which reminds me I need to move him before she wakes up this morning). Her two favorite things to say about Bunky are, "Bunky sure has magic!" and "That Bunky sure is a great watcher!" So great, in fact, that she has either napped or played quietly in her crib every day during nap time!! Thank you, Bunky!

{From this morning...}

Now if only that elf could fold the laundry!

Happy Friday from the Valley of the Sun!

Advent Calendar: Days 1 & 2

2011-12-02T20:15:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was the first day of our advent calendar and after Olivia woke up from her nap, she was able to check what was inside the Day 1 pocket. It was a little Hello Kitty stamper. She loves the little stampers and already has several so this was nice to add to her collection. And, of course she had to get right to it!

Before bed she selected her book (the one on top, the one she had been trying to open all week) and it was Silent Night...that's not so silent since it plays music. I'm not even sure I was able to read it without her hitting the button and hearing the music over and over.

Hello my name is Amanda and I'm addicted to Instagram photos.

David let her sleep with the book and, no joke, she played it over and over for at least 30 minutes. In fact, this morning the battery was dead. David just replaced the batteries so I have a feeling she'll do the same again tonight.

This morning, she pulled out a little note out of the advent calendar that said we would be decorating a gingerbread house at Nana's. So after a quick stop at the store for some supplies, we were off to decorate (and eat).

(I have better pictures from my phone that I hope to post tomorrow, but I wrote this post from my phone if you can believe it and am just on my computer adding the pictures before I go to bed.)

Tonight's book was Christmas in the Manger. I don't think she gets that she can choose any book she wants because she went for the very next one in the stack. Luckily, this one doesn't play music!

Our elf has been very busy today and has made an appearance all over the house. She napped again with him in her room so I have a feeling he will be there every day until Christmas!

This morning we did have an incident where she got a little carried away and touched him. He was in her toy car and she was rolling him back and forth and just went for it. The second she did it she ran to me in the kitchen sobbing!

We watched the show again tonight and there is a part where the older boy in the family touches the elf and he falls to the ground. As the scene was beginning, Olivia shot up from her little chair and ran to the hallway where she couldn't see the tv and didn't come back out until he was flying back to the North Pole. Such a sensitive little thing.

Oh, and another funny elf story... In the book it says that you may hear a bell when he flies back home at night. So while David was putting her to bed, I grabbed her jingle bells from her music kit and gave them a ring. David said she moved so fast and ran out the door chasing after me. Yeah, I totally got busted!

We have big holiday plans for the weekend with a parade and the lighting of the tumbleweed tree. And if we are lucky, we will get our tree decorated and our lights up outside!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Friday from the Valley of the Sun!

That's Bunnnnkkk...y

2011-12-01T15:51:00.001-08:00

You guys, it's December 1st! Can you believe it? This time last year we were frantically getting ready for our trip to Hawaii so we didn't do much of anything when it came to holiday decorating. We did gifts for our extended family and a few gifts for Olivia, but didn't do gifts for us. Our gift was spending the holiday together as a family in Hawaii.

For the ten days that we were here, we started the tradition of the Christmas book advent calendar. I knew I wanted to do that with her again this year and have been adding a few more to my stash over the last couple of months {and when I was doing all of my nesting/organizing}. A few nights ago, I wrapped all of them up and they have been tempting her ever since.

In addition to this tradition, I knew I wanted to bring the Elf on the Shelf into our home this year. I think it is such a cute idea and thanks to Pinterest, I've noted lots of fun places for him to perch each morning. I knew I wanted to do something special to introduce Olivia {and Sydney} to our scout elf and when I saw Meredith's breakfast, I knew it would be the perfect thing.

After watching the Elf on the Shelf program on tv with Olivia, I stayed up late Wednesday night decorating the playroom and getting the breakfast materials all laid out. I printed off a few printables from the TomKat Studio {woohoo for a Cyper Monday sale} so we could send a Letter to Santa and then wrote the girls a little note from their new elf.

I woke up early this morning and prepared our mini donuts. While this was fun, it definitely was a labor of love! Those pretzels don't always break where you want them to and the black gel I used didn't want to stay on the powdered donuts, but I think they turned out great!

My parents came over once Olivia woke up {love, love, LOVE that she slept in until after 9} and she was so surprised to see them here as well as seeing her playroom all Christmas'd up!

She opened up her present that was waiting in her chair and was so excited to see that she was going to have her very own elf. If you know much about The Elf, you'll know that if you touch him, his magic may disappear, so she was very leery of holding him or getting very close to him. We reassured her that he didn't have his magic until we named him and if she wanted to look at him, now was the time to do so.

{She got that shiner yesterday when she was attempting to get a mini candy cane on the shelf in her playroom. Perfect timing for family Christmas photos, don't you think?}

To be honest, I was a little worried about how naming the elf would go. Olivia LOVES to make up nonsense words and I was afraid we were going to year after year have an elf named Awoobywa. She asked us for some help and quickly decided that our elf would be named Bunky. But then, a few minutes later, she said, "No, his name is Elf on the Shelf!" So, for awhile he was referred to as Bunky the Elf on the Shelf.

I read the book that comes with the elf and then we all enjoyed our breakfast of donuts, hot chocolate and milk. Then we did our best to write Santa a little letter, but she quickly lost interest in that and we are still working on Sydney's letter. ;)

Afterwards Olivia said, "That was a gooood party!"

Olivia is all excited about Bunky flying around and wants to see him fly. If you know the story, you'll also know that he's supposed to land in a new place each morning, but we've been so excited about it, especially seeing Olivia's reaction to him being in a new place, that he's been in quite a few different spots already.

On her Christmas tree in her playroom...

In the kitchen on the pot-hanging rack...

On the chalkboard in Olivia's room....riiiight by her crib.

I'm not sure Olivia has enough self-control all of the time to behave perfectly, but once Bunky was in her room for naptime, she was as good as gold. {Knock, knock, knockin' on good ol' Bunky's wooden head.} When she first saw him in there, she said, "OH, Bunky doesn't want to be in here. This isn't a good spot for Bunky." Ha ha, smart girl. Smarter parents.

Bunky made his way from Olivia's room to our mantle and she looked up at David and said, "He really IS magic, isn't he?" Goosebumps, I tell ya. Goosebumps.

We have one more advent calendar hanging up and haven't opened anything up on that one yet today. There are a few trinkets already placed in each day and I plan on just writing out some holiday activities for us to do in some of the other dates and pulling that out each morning. I'll do my best to post the book/trinket/activity for each day.

If you've stuck with me for this whole post, God Bless You. You must really love my kiddos.

Happy Thursday from the Valley of the Sun!

My Hipster

2011-12-01T15:43:00.001-08:00

My friend Jill sent me out a package from GUAM, ya'll, with some of her girls' clothes for my girls. This may sound creepy, but I sat there for at least five minutes smelling the clothes. I miss that pretty lady deep down in my bones and it just took me back to fun times with her and her precious little ones. Small tears, for reals.

Anyway, David dressed Olivia on Tuesday in this outfit and she came into me and said, "Look, Mama, I'm a hipster." Indeedy do, baby girl, you sure are.

Love this little outfit too.

Thanks, Jill, for thinking of us and sharing your fashions!!

Miss you to bits.

Desert Breeze, Makes Me Feel Fine...

2011-12-01T13:36:00.001-08:00

I wanted to try and get this post out last night, but it was sort of a hustle and bustle getting some very special things done for this morning and so this sort of fell by the wayside. If I'm a lucky girl today and Olivia decides to nap for only the second time this week, then I just may be able to get two posts out today. This one and the other about our special morning. Will you cross your fingers with me? Because I really need her to nap.

So, after our yummy Thanksgiving feast on Thursday afternoon, we pretty much relaxed for the better part of the evening. Mom, Dad and Ryan had to get back home to pack up because they were going for an overnight trip to Las Vegas the next day. {So, yeah, Mom went two whole days without seeing the girls. I think she had the shakes from going through withdrawals by the time she saw them on Saturday!}

We really had no intentions of doing anything Black Friday related the next day, but desperately needed a new refrigerator, so we headed off to an appliance store to get one of the door busters! We were in and out of the store in less than 10 minutes with a new fridge waiting to be delivered the next day. That's how I like to do business! There was a Wal-Mart right down the street so we decided to hit it up and see if there was anything worth getting.

We ended up getting Olivia a couple of things for Christmas even though she was right there with us. She's forgotten about them now, but I've got money on the fact that she remembers seeing them when she opens them up on Christmas Eve. {Yes, we open our presents on Christmas Eve. We are impatient like that.}

On Saturday, David wanted to take Olivia out to the park or playground to give me some time to relax on my own, but I decided to strap Sydney up and make a family day out of it. Unfortunately, by the time we got everyone out of the house and to the park, we only had about an hour to spend there before we needed to head back for the delivery of our new fridge. Still, we managed to have tons of fun.

Desert Breeze, although about twenty minutes from our house, has become my new favorite park to take Olivia. It's where we met up with our new friends a couple of weeks ago, but on the weekends the carousel and train rides are open. We got a bracelet so that Olivia could ride as many times as she wanted and we were all able to get on and ride with her.

Of course that arm goes up...

I love how she is looking at her Daddy.

They have a pond where you can feed the ducks. Scares me to death every time she is throwing the bread to them though because there is no ledge at all between where she is standing and where the pond begins.

We had such a fun time there and plan on putting that park into our regular rotation.

On Sunday afternoon, Mom and I ran some errands together {we got Sydney's angel stocking} and we left Olivia with Poppy. When we got back to their house, this is what we saw:

Olivia was watching cartoons and Poppy was passed out! {And, the cabbage patch doll was apparently napping too.} We stood there a good two minutes before she noticed us and it took the door squeaking closed before he realized anyone was there. So much for being an alert babysitter!

Ohmyword, I'm all caught up. AND, I'm not going to write it down and jinx it, but let's just say I'm getting ready to start post #2 for the day!

Sydneygrams: The Series

2011-11-30T09:47:00.001-08:00

Seems this is going to be a regular thing here on the blog. Enjoy yourself some Sydneygrams this morning.

The Woombie.

A best of collage...

I don't think I've adequately expressed just how much I love this little baby. She has brought me so much joy and happiness. I am truly so blessed.

Gobble Gobble

2011-11-27T19:36:00.001-08:00

For Thanksgiving this year, we hosted the dinner for my side of the family. We ended up having 14 of us {including my two littles} over to the house. We had so much delicious food and have been enjoying the leftovers for days. My aunt and uncle made an amazing turkey, sweet potato casserole, tossed salad, and cranberry/marshmallow salad. My mom and I made corn, mashed potatoes, Paula Deen's green bean casserole, and a not-so-delicious Chocolate Coke Cake {not sure where we went wrong on that one}. My brother got a yummy Honey Baked Ham and made some of my mammaw's southern spoon rolls. As if all that wasn't enough, we had some fruit and veggies for appetizers and my cousin's wife made the most delicious cheesecake I've ever eaten. And, of course there was pumpkin pie.

We got to eat outside!! How amazing is that?

Of course Olivia wasn't going to eat much of the things that we made, so I made her exactly what she requested - a quesadilla. Except, I tried to make it a little more festive.

Her turkey breakfast.

Before we feasted, the men enjoyed a couple rounds of cornhole in the backyard. I wish I had gotten some pictures of Olivia because she had a blast playing with the bean bags after dinner.

Sydney slept through most of the day - but we did get a little lovin' from her once everyone had left. She was able to Skype with her grandma and poppa, her Aunt Marissa and her sweet cousins. We were grateful that we could see them for a bit too.

I know it's a repeat, but look how sweet!

Post dinner!!! Look at those cheeeeeks! Love her!

Love this little turkey too.

We have much to be thankful for!

The Best Things Come in Threes

2011-11-26T17:07:00.001-08:00

On Friday, our precious little angel baby turned 3 months old. Knowing that she will {most likely} be our last little baby makes each passing day bittersweet. I'm eager for her to grow up so that she and Olivia can play more with each other, but I also want her to stay small and super cuddly.

This little turkey slept through most of Thanksgiving, but I was so grateful to be able to eat using both hands!

This is me when I was about 3 months old. Any guesses where Sydney gets those scrumptious cheeks?

Sydney is truly SUCH a good baby. But, she is the happiest when she is in her mama's arms. I love that she is a Mama's Girl, but it sometimes makes it hard when I need to do something else. I guess it just means that David will need to be the one to do the dishes instead of me!

Out of habit, Sydney takes most of her naps either in the swing or in the Ergo if we are out and about. I'm really lucky to have such an adaptable baby who will sleep on the go. When she was a newborn, I would put her in her swing out in the main area so that I could keep an eye on her and so now that's where she sleeps for naps. I know it's against what most baby sleep books say, but Olivia did it until she was 6 months old and now that girl sleeps past 9 almost every day!

She is sleeping great again at night. We had a little bout with her sleeping right after she turned 2 months. She came down with a cold and was having trouble sleeping. She ended up being snuggled up with me for most of each night and really liked that much better than sleeping in the bassinet right next to me. She's back to giving me at least a 6 hour stretch of sleep per night. {Knock on wood} One of the hardest parts of my day is when I have to put her in the bed each night. I usually nurse her in my bed and then once she's asleep, I transfer her to the bassinet THREE feet from my bed, but it's so hard because I want to stay snuggled up with her. But, it's not a very good sleep for me when she's in our bed and I know it's better for her to be in her own bed too. Once morning comes, she's back in bed with me for her morning feeding and we get to snuggle some more. Love her to pieces, I really do.

Sydney is getting much better at riding in her car seat, but we definitely have trips when she is crying for much of it. It's usually after we've been out and she's been sleeping in the Ergo and then gets woken up only to be put in her car seat instead of being able to nurse. We had one of those situations this afternoon. Breaks my heart...

Lord, she looks like her sister when she cries.

Since she is awake for longer stretches these days, she's discovering more and more about herself and her surroundings. Her little arms and legs are constantly moving and the more excited she gets, the faster they go. She's smiling lots more and we've even heard a couple giggles come out of her. She's talking and cooing like crazy and loves sitting in my lap or her Poppy's lap and looking all around.

I already have a huge amount of guilt because I've probably taken 1/3 of the pictures that I did with Olivia when she was a baby, but I just don't have the time to pull out my camera and snap pictures all the time when I'm juggling everything else. So, I snap them when I can and a lot of times, it's with my cell phone. Thankfully, there are some cool apps that let me make the pictures look sorta fancy.

We are so blessed to have this sweet little baby in our lives and with each passing month we are more and more excited to see what the future holds.

I've managed to take a couple videos of her over the last couple of days. You can see those here and here.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Baby Girl

Skipping Ahead Just a Bit...

2011-11-21T20:06:00.001-08:00

I know we haven't hit Thanksgiving quite yet, but our neighbors have already put up Christmas decorations and I heard Christmas music on David's Pandora today. And to top it off, on Sunday, Mom and I found the girls coordinating outfits for Christmas pictures! {Squeee! This will be the first time for me to dress them in complimentary attire!}

I was SO pleased with the Sydney's birth announcements from Tiny Prints {you can see them again here} that I knew I wanted to use Tiny Prints again for our Christmas cards. I've had so much fun checking out their site and trying to decide which will be our holiday cards this year.

Here are some of my current favorites {although it seems to change daily}!

This one is called Joyful Heart.

I LOVE the bright colors in Holiday Rainbow!

Naughty or Nice seems to be a running theme in our household!

This Behavior Blocks card seems to sum it up nicely.

Even though it's 70 degrees here and sunny, I'm going to pour myself a cup of hot chocolate, turn up the Christmas music and search for some more holiday cards. I suggest you do the same!

Lonely Little Pictures

2011-11-20T20:16:00.001-08:00

Mama's tired...

A Few Pictures to Sweeten Up Your Friday

2011-11-18T10:56:00.001-08:00

She sleeps longer and longer each night,

she smiles more and more each day,

she dances with her arms,

and cuddles with her whole body.

I could not love this girl anymore...

Happy Friday, Y'all!

31 Flavors

2011-11-17T15:08:00.001-08:00

Actually, one flavor and 31 months, but that will all make sense in a little bit. Or maybe not. I'm a wee bit tired. And while I could be napping {since both of my girls are asleep! At the same time! In the same house!}, I desperately need to do a blog for my {mostly} sweet girls 31st {month} birthday! I have also been wanting to blog about the discipline/rewards system that we have been doing with Olivia and update you on her potty-training SUCCESS! So, you're getting all of those rolled into one big post.

Last night, when I realized that Olivia was turning 31 months today, it really hit me that she is growing up. In five months, she will be THREE! How can that even be possible? Yet, at the same time, she is still such a little person who I think we sometimes expect too much out of. Is it fair for us to expect her to sit quietly in a restaurant for 2 hours or to walk through the mall while we go shopping? I really don't think it is, yet we do it and get frustrated with her when she acts like a two year old! As a mom, I really need to adjust my expectations of her or else I am going to end up getting really frustrated all of the time. When we are busy with toddler activities, she is typically really good and so I have been trying to come up with things for us to do to keep us busy.

We went to the playground twice on Wednesday and then met up with some new friends at a different park yesterday. Today we went to the library and got new library cards and checked out some books. {Even Olivia got her very own library card!}

To combat some of the problem behaviors we do have {sassiness, refusal to do things like nap or pick up her toys, and whining}, I started a rewards jar for her very loosely based off of the one here on Lullaby Lubbock. David finished off a small jar of olives a couple of weeks ago so it was the perfect time to start. I bought a couple of bags of craft pom poms at the Dollar Tree and we were set. I explained to Olivia that whenever I saw her behaving well or doing something nice, I would reward her with a pom pom. Since filling it all the way up might be too much of a delay for a reward, I decided that once it was halfway filled up, she could do something special with me. For a couple of weeks, she got pom pom after pom pom for using nice words, cleaning up, obeying, or any other thing we saw that was deserving of praise. She got {and continues to get} so excited every time she adds one to the jar.

By the end of last week, her jar was about halfway full. So on Sunday, she and I went on a solo Mommy/Daughter date to FroYoNa for some yummy frozen yogurt!

Mama got rewarded too!

Do you remember these games?? I want one now!

The system seems to be helping and it's a lot easier to bribe, errr remind, her about the pom poms than it is some other special treat.

One of the big issues we were having after we moved out here was her refusal to take naps. We got in a really bad habit {but, oh how I loved it} where I would rock her to sleep for her naps when I was pregnant and I would enjoy a little nap with her before I put her in her crib. Well, once Sydney was born, that wasn't really a possibility, so she was really struggling with her naps. SOMETHING had to be done because I could not go a day, especially multiple days, without her napping. And, she was a Crankopotomus Rex by early evening.

So, one day, I pulled up Microsoft Word, "drew" a table with five boxes and slapped on a piece of Clip Art and printed off a few copies. I told Olivia that every time she took a nap {or at least laid quietly in her crib} without crying, she would get a sticker. Once she filled up the chart she could get a special surprise from Target. Well, knock.on.wood, it has worked! She has completed her collection of Strawberry Shortcake miniature dolls and is about to go pick out a new toy after filling today's chart.

As far as the potty training has gone, it has actually been pretty painless! We started with the big girl panties exactly one month ago today and have only had about 3 or 4 minor accidents. She wears her "nighttime panties" which are really pull-up/training pants for naps and at night, but is probably dry about 90% of the time. The last couple of nights she has woken us up asking to use the potty and if she is wet in them, she does not want to keep them on. {Which is not how she was when she was in diapers. But, gosh, think about it. It probably feels so much better now for her and now that she knows the difference, why would she be okay sitting in a wet diaper?}

The biggest issue we have had with the potty training is {TMI ahead...} going #2. At first, she would hold it until her naptime or bedtime and go in her pull-ups. When we went in for Sydney's 2 month check-up, I asked the pediatrician for some advice. She had me get some Miralax (which is a powdered laxative) and told me to put it in Olivia's juice/water/milk in the mornings and it would basically force her to go so that she couldn't hold it anymore. Well, of course my girl is about as stubborn as they come, so it took several days of doing that before she finally went on the potty. We were offering double jelly beans, double pom poms and I even bought her a bigger Strawberry Shortcake doll to reward her thinking that would do the trick, but we were still struggling. I read somewhere that you shouldn't pressure them to go, which I totally was. I felt like all I was doing was asking her if she needed to go poopy on the potty. They said that it needed to be on her terms and to explain that her body makes a poop a day and it is her job to put it in the potty. I printed off a calendar, hung it by her potty and bought her a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse sticker book. I told her that she could put a sticker on the calendar each day that she went on the potty and she has gone every single day since then!

Who knew stickers could be so motivating?! She has even done great with going potty in public places. I am SO proud of her every time she goes. It's so amazing that someone so young has caught on to it so easily. {I know most kids are around her age when they are potty-trained, but when you think about it, it is a BIG DEAL!}

David and I are going to read the Love and Logic book again to work more on a set discipline system with her. We really want her to be well-behaved and we know that the more effort we put into it now, the easier it will be for everyone in the long run.

*I hope this doesn't come across as sounding like Olivia misbehaves all of the time because that isn't the case at all. She acts like a very typical two year old who thinks the world is all about her, her, HER! But, she is also so incredibly smart, funny and loving too. And we are so incredibly blessed to be her parents!

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

Sydneygrams

2011-11-09T19:37:00.001-08:00

When Sydney gets older, she's going to be all, Wait, did you only take pictures of me as a baby with your cell phone? And, then you used an app that made it look like you took them in the 1970s? And then she's going to ask for a car.

Then I'll remind her that I gave birth to her without an epidural. Because I can.

I CANNOT get enough of those cheeks!

Happy Thursday from the Valley of the Sun!

And a Magnagram!

My Little Love Bugs

2011-11-08T10:34:00.000-08:00

I'm just now getting a few minutes to post some pictures from Halloween and Halloween weekend. I will feel all caught up once these are up!

Last Sunday, we went to the Fall Festival at my parents' church in Tempe. We got the girls all dressed up in their costumes and got to spend the evening walking around the campus. They had games and bounce houses and food, so naturally we had a good time. I even met another potential friend whose kids were born within weeks of each of my girls.

Sydney's always a bit hesitant when her big sister is holding her!

Love my little bugs.

He was asked several times where he worked!

I think her favorite part of the night was dancing on the steps. Dance party of one.

Slightly scary picture of David - he had just climbed all the way up the rock wall and was the envy of all the kids!

I didn't take too many pictures at the festival because it was hard lugging around my beloved diaper bag, wearing Sydney AND snapping pictures.

On the day of Halloween, I did a couple of outfit changes for Sydney. I put her in a onesie that Olivia wore for her first Halloween and then also her monkey suit.

Hat courtesy of Ron and Debbie who always send the cutest knit gifts!

Mama's little monkey!

David wanted to get into the costume changing spirit and pulled out his old Superman costume from our first year of dating.

Ready for a little back story? Well, David had just moved into his new house in Indiana and it was going to be his first year to hand out Halloween candy. He called me around 4:30 on Halloween day and asked me to meet him at Meijer to pick out a costume. Of course there was nothing left, so we ran across the street to WalMart to see if they had anything. David spotted this Superman costume and was sold. It was perfect because Magnum had a Superman costume too. The only thing was, this costume was a Child's XL. We figured it was a stretchy material and we thought we could make it work. We got home just as the kids were filling the streets, so I manned the front door while David changed. Not two minutes later, I heard him screaming for help. I run in to see him squeezing himself into this costume {the chest was made of a hard plastic to make it look like he had abs}. It wouldn't even come close to tying in the back and the feet covers that were supposed to be at his ankles were above his calves. But, that wasn't the worst of it! Without going in to details, let's just say that it was not an appropriate costume for him to be wearing, especially in front of children.

Aaaannnddd, this just in...my awesome husband just found the pictures from that Halloween, so here are a few flashbacks!

When Olivia woke up from her nap, my parents came over and we got her dressed, had some pizza and got the driveway set up for the trick-or-treaters. Since it was still warm outside, it was nice to be outside watching all of the kids go by. Most of the people in the neighborhood were actually sitting outside passing out candy. A few people turned it into parties - we went down one cul-de-sac where everyone on the street was stationed at the first house and you could just grab something from each of the bowls set out on a table. Then there was another table full of crockpots, chips and cupcakes!

My parents stayed at our house and passed out the candy, while David and I took Olivia {and Sydney snuggled up in the Ergo} down a few streets. The first three houses she went to started off a little shaky. The people would say, "Oh, you are a cute little bumblebee," to which Olivia would reply, "I'm NOT a bumblebee. I'm a bumblebee." She got a little scared of the people, but by the fourth house she had it down pat! It was all, "Trick-or-treat. Thank you. I want to go to another house!"

I managed to stick with them for about 2 1/2 streets and then had to come home to feed the ladybug. Olivia emptied her till and Dad ended up going with them for a couple more streets. She came home with another full bucket of candy and was allowed to enjoy a few treats {which she gobbled up like there was no tomorrow}!

Overall, it was a fabulous Halloween. I know Olivia is looking forward to trick-or-treating again and doesn't quite understand that it's a once-a-year kind of thing!

Happy Tuesday from the Valley of the Sun!

Our Day at the Fair - In Instagram Photos

2011-11-05T21:01:00.000-07:00

We made it to the Arizona State Fair today! The Santa Barbara County Fair is still our favorite {well, to be honest the Bartholomew County 4-H Fair is my all-time favorite}, but this one had the petting zoo and the pony rides {our main reason for going}, mini rides and fair food. It was a gorgeous fall day here, which was perfect for walking around especially when I'm carrying Sydney. Here are a few {errr, a lot of} pictures from our day.

Mom in the shot!!!

Ha ha - I love Ryan's face in the background. He's ready for an ambush!

You guys, in the petting zoo, a llama farted at me and a pebble of poop shot right at the Ergo! It literally FLEW in the air!

If I was a real hipster, I would have also included pictures of my curly fries from the fair or my yummy wings from Buffalo Wild Wings {aka B-Dubs} or my froyo with Lucky Charms {they didn't have Fruity Pebbles} from Froyona. But, I'm not a hipster, I'm a mom. So you are getting some more pictures of my precious baby who slept through all the fun at the fair.

Happy Saturday from the Valley of the Sun!

We Be Illin'

2011-11-04T14:24:00.000-07:00

This week has been rough on our household and I wish we could blame it on the crash from our sugar highs, but I'm pretty sure that's not the case. {Especially since I didn't eat that much candy!} When I nursed Sydney after trick-or-treating Monday evening, I noticed {that's the nice way of putting it} that it was slightly painful. During our 4 a.m. feeding, slightly upgraded to excruciating. Fortunately, I had an appointment with a new OB on Tuesday afternoon and she diagnosed my pain as a case of mastitis. Now, I have had plugged milk ducts with Olivia, but I don't remember every having all of the accompanying symptoms. By Tuesday evening, I was laying on the couch, my body aching and feverish, under a mound of blankets. Sydney didn't sleep well that night {what I now know was the start of her cold} and so I was pretty miserable.

Mom took Olivia on Wednesday and Sydney and I were both able to get some rest. Good thing because Wednesday night was not fun either. Not only did Sydney not sleep well, but she kept hacking and coughing and I could just tell she didn't feel well. Oh, and did I mention that Olivia threw up before bed? Well, she did. So, Thursday morning, Mom and I took Sydney and Olivia in to see the pediatrician where she basically diagnosed them both with colds. Olivia takes after her Mama where she can handle illnesses with just a little crankiness. Sydney takes after her Daddy and sort of wallows in it.

And, speaking of her Daddy, he called yesterday on his way home from a doctor's appointment to tell me he wasn't feeling well. So, that makes all four of us sick.

So, on this crisp November day, I am thankful for the NoseFrida Snot Sucker {which totally grosses me out, but works} and having my parents around to help out. Sydney and I have pretty much been attached the last couple of days with the exception of the time she is being held by my mom. So, it is nice having some help with her and Olivia.

My brother is in town for the weekend and we are going to buckle up and feel better for tomorrow's trip to the State Fair. We've been waiting two weeks to go! Did someone say pony ride?

Happy Friday from the Valley of the Sun!

A Case of the Schnepfs

2011-10-31T10:57:00.000-07:00

Am I behind in blogging or what? This post is about something we did LAST weekend {not the weekend we just wrapped up}! I'm thankful for a napping baby and a toddler who spent the night at Nana and Poppy's house last night so that I can try and get caught up.

{I love that she can still wear this outfit from last year!}

Sooo...last Saturday, we loaded up the crew and headed over to Schnepf's Farm. This place is a typical pumpkin patch times ten! They have TONS of stuff to do and even with the 100 degree heat, we did most of it.

We started off the morning with the pig races and Olivia actually got chosen to be one of the pig "cheerleaders" and got to go down front for one of the races. Her pig didn't win, but she won a huge lollipop as a consolation prize. I'd say she was pretty darn happy about that.

The pig races were right next to the pony rides, and well, you know our love for pony rides! I swear, I could have just done this all day. And when I say I, I mean she. {Actually, I mean WE}

Just like a cowgirl!

Sweet little Oreo. Of course she chose the pony whose name was a dessert!

After that, we headed over to the carousel where she went on another "pony ride." Girl loves her ponies, what can I say?!

The farm had a petting zoo, two corn mazes, roller coaster rides, a train that went all around the farm, a hay ride, a pumpkin patch, and tons of food!

She met a little friend and asked him to tag along!

The farm is fun for adults too!

Olivia saw the flying bumble bees when we stopped to grab a drink and she just HAD to ride on them! She got a little scared climbing in, but loved it so much that she wanted to go for seconds.

But, we took her over to the airplanes where the line was much shorter!

I was really grateful that the farm had a guest services house with a room especially dedicated to moms who were nursing. It was so hot and Sydney was snuggled up against me in the Ergo, so it was nice to be in an air-conditioned room to let her stretch, cool down and eat!

Train ride with Daddy.

Self portrait on the hayride

By the time we got around to going to the actual pumpkin patch, little Miss Olivia was WORN OUT! She barely wanted to look at pumpkins and most of the shots I got of her were of her showing off her big girl panties.

We had an awesome time at Shcnepf's Farm and definitely plan on going back again. Apparently they do all sorts of seasonal things out there and it looks like they have ice skating this winter! {Which, with 90 degree temps still a regular occurence, is hard to believe is right around the corner.}

Stay tuned for a post about our fun at the Fall Festival at Nana and Poppy's church from this weekend!

Happy Halloween from the Valley of the Sun!

Instagrams

2011-10-26T21:04:00.000-07:00

When they make a DSLR that fits in the palm of my hand, I'll start taking more pictures with it than my iPhone. Here are a few instagrams from the last couple of days.

Happy Wednesday from the Valley of the Sun!

The Birthday Where Mama Cried More Than Baby

2011-10-26T16:32:00.000-07:00

Happy Two Month Birthday, Sweet Sydney! You are such a wonderful addition to our family and we all just love you to pieces! You are such a good baby - you eat, sleep and poop like a champ! I never dreamed I would have a baby who slept so well, but then you arrived and blessed me with 6-7 hours of uninterrupted sleep a night. Love you and your sleep habits so much. I also never thought I would have a baby who loved being in their carseat, and, well, let's just say that still holds true. If I can make it the two miles from our house to Nana and Poppy's without fussing or tears, I feel like we've just hit the lottery. You LOVE being carried around in the Ergo and to be honest with you, I much prefer having you snuggled up against my chest. I LOVE my babies. Why would I want to PUSH them away from me?*

This morning, I took you to the pediatrician for your two month check up. I can't believe how much you've grown in just two short months. You now weigh 11 pounds, 6 ounces and are 23.5 inches long! You had to get your vaccinations today and it was hard on both of us. Not only did we have to wake you up from a comfy nap, you got the shock of your life on both of your sweet little thighs. I cried the second I saw the pain on your face. I hate that you have to go through that, but I know it is what's best for you.

Lately, you've been taking your baths with your sister and you absolutely love them. You just watch Olivia splash & play and you smile at her non-stop.

Happy Two Months, Sweet Baby Girl

I wrote this post yesterday, but didn't get to publish it until today.

* From the movie Away We Go

Family Visits

2011-10-24T21:55:00.000-07:00

Last week, the Michelson grandparents came out to Arizona for a visit! We were SO excited to have them come out and spend some time with us. We hadn't seen Peter since the Strawberry Festival and we hadn't seen Irma since our quick trip up to San Jose last June. It was really great to have them out here for an extended period of time. We tried to pack as much in as we could while they were here.

We hit up the Children's Museum in Phoenix (which we are so excited to have a family membership to now) and Olivia had a blast playing in the "grocery store" and the "pizza shop." And, leave it to her to find the little library too. Sydney was as good as gold snuggled up in the Ergo with me.

My mom and I had a great time doing some quality shopping with Irma - she had never been to a Hobby Lobby before and I think Peter is kind of lucky that the closest one to her is 150 miles away. I know she could do some serious damage there!

One of the highlights of their trip was having Irma make her famous spaghetti bolognese. Ohmyword, I never knew spaghetti could taste so good! It is definitely a labor of love and I'm so glad she made extras for us to freeze because I know I won't have time to make that anytime soon and I'm pretty sure going back to plain-ol' spaghetti won't be very easy!

The girls really loved spending time with their grandparents and we had a blast catching up with them. Our fingers are crossed that they will be able to come back out this spring with some of Olivia's cousins!

Thanks again, Peter and Irma, for taking the time to come out and visit us.

We love you both!

Sisters!

2011-10-19T22:06:00.000-07:00

Today was a good day -- not one temper tantrum from my two year old {thank you, Jesus, Mama needed a break} and very little crying from my {one day away from being an} eight week old. Lord, give us another one like this tomorrow!

Mom and I ran some errands and got the cutest vintage doll house today {Christmas present} and I can't wait to jazz it up for her. She's going to LOVE it!

Today is Day Three of Operation Big Girl Panties and we made it through the entire day with NO accidents. We were even out for most of the morning and early afternoon. I am SO proud of her. And I just can't believe how my little girl is growing up.

I love seeing my girls together. The other night I gave them their first bath together. Sydney couldn't take her eyes off of Olivia - it was so cute!

Love these pictures of them together!

Skyping with Uncle Rhino

And a few of just Sydney...