Whale of a Tale

Farm

2012-01-27T19:40:00.000-08:00

Before our trip to Phoenix, my mom took Natalie and Philip to the farm. Even though it was very cold, they still had a great time feeding and petting the animals.

Philip, One Year - take two

2012-01-27T14:25:00.000-08:00

For Philip's birthday we were in Phoenix. I had a work conference to attend, so Phil and both kids came along. We flew down on Sunday and stayed through Thursday. We stayed at the Arizona Biltmore, which was a very nice hotel. We didn't see many other kids or families the entire time we were there, even though the hotel was sold out. The weather was nice enough that Phil and the kids were able to swim almost every day, wear shorts and no jackets and play on the playground outside! Coming from the freezing cold to the sort of warm was very nice - especially for Natalie who has been cooped up inside.

The first day we arrived, we checked in, got sort of unpacked in the room and went for lunch (got to love the $16 small salad). After lunch, Phil watched a little football in the bar and I took the kids back to the room and put them down for a nap. By the time Phil got to the room, I had to leave to meet a colleague, so I tried to keep Philip asleep, but didn't work. Unfortunately he woke up and would not take a nap for Phil. I came back to the room for a little while before having to leave again for the evening festivities. I finally made it back to the room around 8:30 (which was over an hour later than I was expecting), Philip was only mildly upset and Natalie was quietly watching a movie in the corner. We decided to push one bed against the wall and Philip and I would sleep there and Phil and Natalie would take the other one. Well, that was what we wanted, what Natalie wanted was both beds pushed together against the wall - so she got what she wanted. We moved the nightstand, pushed the beds together and all crashed at 9:30.

I was up early on Monday to attend some conference activities, only stopping back in on the kids and Phil every few hours to feed Philip and say hi. Monday night, Phil and the kids ate left overs for dinner and went evening-swimming and I went to an off-site event. I returned to a sleeping Philip (on Phil's shoulder) and a happy Natalie. I got ready for bed and again - we all crashed in the giant bed.

Tuesday was Philip's birthday and I had arranged to stick with the family for most of the day to celebrate. Best laid plans...I ended up having to attend another off-site event for most of the morning, followed by an afternoon presentation. I finally made it back to the room at 3:00, just in time for Natalie and Philip to have a nap. When Philip woke up, I took him on a walk and had some mommy and me time with him. At 5:00 we all caught the shuttle to the local mall. We needed more water, beer and lottery tickets, so we left the mall and walked a few blocks to the 7-11. We walked back to the mall so we could catch the 6:00 shuttle ride to the hotel. When we got back, I quickly changed into my party dress, fed Philip and left again for the last evening event. Just as I was getting ready to pass Philip over to Phil, the alarm on Phil's phone went off reminding us of the exact minute that one year prior we welcomed Philip to this world. I guess you could say that me leaving at that moment was my reward for a year of hard work! I went the work party and stayed way too late! I finally got to the room around midnight, and found Phil had both kids sound asleep in their own beds. Yea!

Wednesday Phil decided to get a nanny service for a few hours so he could go golfing. She came to the room at 9:00 am and the kids weren't too sure about it. Everyone got ready and went for breakfast, I left them at 10:00, and Phil shortly after. Phil decided he wouldn't pay over $200 to golf, so he just enjoyed some time to himself after a few days of daddy time, it was deserved! I met him at noon in the bar and we ordered some lunch. We met the kids back in the room a little while later and relaxed, took a nap, went swimming and went back to the mall for dinner. Dinner that night was the best of the entire trip, we went to True Food and it was AWESOME! Philip fell asleep at dinner and didn't wake up when we left, during the drive back to the hotel, or walk to the room.

Thursday was our last day, we got up, packed the suitcases and had some breakfast. After that, we walked the grounds, played a round of championship miniature golf and left for the airport at noon. The flight home was uneventful, and after being picked up and brought home, we enjoyed a mini family party for Philip's birthday. My mom brought a small cake, we sang, blew out the candle and went to bed early.

It is hard to travel for work, hard to be away and hard to have babies with you; but for this trip, at this time, I'm so thankful that we were able to bring everyone, that Phil was able (and willing) to take care of the kids full time and make this all possible.

on the flight down to Phoenix

The kids taking a stroller nap.

Phil put them in the stroller and walked them around the hotel room until they both fell asleep

In the evenings when I was at work events, Phil would take the kids to the Wright Bar. On the patio, they had large fire pits and Natalie would get a hot chocolate and Phil would get a vodka tonic and enjoy some fire time. She looked forward to it every day (and I'm sure he did to)!

Classy Bathroom Glamour Shots...Me prior to the final event at the conference

Natalie at the playground

Hotel grounds

There were orange and lemon trees all over the property - so here I am stealing some oranges

Birthday cake

Party with the family

First bite

For his third party for his one year birthday, Natalie and I baked a cake and we invited Melinda, Darin and Kai over for dinner. Although the cake was slightly dry (we made it the day before), it was so much fun to celebrate again with friends and Philip even got a chance to touch the cake this time.

One Year

2012-01-16T10:57:00.000-08:00

Wow, Philip, I can't believe it has been a year since you joined our family. I joke that this year has been the longest and shortest of my life. You were a complete shock to our system and a total change to our routine, but don't know what we would do without you now.

For the first 10 months of your life, mama and you didn't sleep very well - you better than me, but still not great. Because of that, I feel like I spent a lot of those early months in a fog and honestly, wishing you older. I would imagine that if only we could make it to six months, you would start crawling and things would be easier, and then six months came and you were happy to stick close to mom and not crawl, so I thought, if only we could make it to seven months, eight months, nine months, or, or, or...things would be easier. The longest and shortest year of my life. It was easy at times and hard at others, but in the long scope of things what a short year it has been.

It feels like just yesterday that you were born, that we were in the hospital, that I held you close to my chest after we welcomed you to the world. It seems like yesterday that we came home to a welcome home baby brother sign from your very excited big sister, that we were greeted by family dinner at our house for days and days to make the transition from one to two easier. Seems like yesterday that you fit comfortably on my chest, like it was a shelf made for you, that you slept almost all day, only waking to eat and look for mama. Seems like yesterday that I thought I might pass out from exhaustion - oh, wait, that was yesterday!

In this short year of your life, you have made many trips with mom, traveled many miles in cars and planes. Seen many new places, met new faces, seen the cottage for the first time and visited the castle a few more times. We have found what you like and what you don't. What makes you smile and what makes you cry. We have found how to work our routine and your routine together and how you are SO much different than your big sister.

This next year will bring many more firsts and we are so excited to welcome them together. I miss you being small, but can't wait for what being bigger brings. I love you more than you know.

Christmas

2011-12-28T12:25:00.000-08:00

Christmas came so quickly this year, in fact, this whole year has flown by!

We started by decorating the tree right before we went to Boston.

Philip playing under the tree, up to this point, he could only crawl backwards

Natalie decorating the tree

A few weeks later, it was Christmas eve. Every year since we had Natalie, we have taken family photos in front of the tree. As she grew it got harder and harder to get a photo with everyone looking at the camera at the same time. This year was probably the hardest.

Almost everyone was smiling and looking at the camera...

Thankfully we got a few, although, we might try again, to see if we can get a better one.

Christmas eve, Natalie spread the Reindeer food all around the yard, we put out cookies and a mug of Sprite for Santa and three carrots for his reindeer. Well, it worked and Santa came and there were presents for everyone to open.

Here are the presents after Santa wrapped and arranged them under the tree.

Christmas morning, Philip woke up at 7:00 and Phil took him to play downstairs until Natalie woke up. Natalie woke up at 8:30 and was happy to watch Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer until the rest of the family showed up to watch the unwrapping.

Opening presents

Philip was SO tired by the time all the presents were open and passed out on Phil's shoulder. He has turned into a total cuddle bunny.

There is Christmas in a nutshell

Ballet

2011-12-28T11:26:00.000-08:00

The last day of November, Natalie had her big holiday dance performance. We got her dressed in her jingle bell costume and made our way to the festival she was performing at and waited for it to start. She had a great time running around the open space while we waited and was very excited to get to wear lipstick and blush for the performance.

pre performance

sort of dancing during the performance

It was so fun watching her get up on the stage. She saw us sitting in the front row and immediately ran over to us and tried to sit with us instead of being on the stage. The teacher got the girls lined up and the music started and Natalie was mesmerized by the audience so she just bounced up and down instead of doing the dance. Then towards the end of the dance, she sprang into action and finished the dance with the other girls. It was so funny, and because it was so funny, the video we have of it is too shaky because I was laughing so hard watching it.

Can't wait for the spring performance!

Christmas DIY

2011-12-27T08:34:00.000-08:00

For holiday gifts this year, Natalie and I made a few different things. Last year I did a lot of baking, this year, very little baking, more use of the hot glue gun.

First up is the Tea Wreath. I cut circles out of cardboard and Natalie and I covered them with scrapbook paper. Then we covered clothes pins with more craft paper and glued them to the circles then added little holiday-ish decals and added tea to every clothes pin and a bow.

Tea Wreath

Next up was vanilla cranberry vodka. I took a big bottle of vodka and split it between three smaller ones. I decided to add a little sweetness to the vodka, so I made a simple syrup, and added the cranberries and vanilla beans to that to soak up the sweet. Next I put the cranberries and vanilla into the vodka and shook it up. Put the label on it and tied a bow - bam, gift. Oh, and it is yummy. Christmas morning my brother made a delicious drink by adding some of this vodka to crushed ice, orange juice and a peach from some home-canned peaches and stirred it around. So good!

Vanilla Cranberry Vodka

I also decided to make S'more's kits too. I put a can of sterno, a bag of marshmallows, bag of graham crackers, two bars of chocolate and a few skewers into a box and wrapped it up and added the tag to "enjoy S'more holiday time together".

Lastly, Natalie and I mixed up a few packages of reindeer food that we gave to a few friends, and forgot to give to a few others...Natalie enjoyed sprinkling it around our yard on Christmas eve to lure the reindeer to our house, and it worked!

**Side note - the vodka and wreath photos were taken with Phil's iPhone...the others? our camera. Remember when photos taken with a phone were deemed "crappy phone photos"? no longer

Christmas Spirit

2011-12-22T10:36:00.000-08:00

Over the past week and a half, I've been spending way too much time making crafty presents, shopping for presents, wrapping them and trying to spread Christmas cheer to everyone. Well, Christmas cheer smacked me in the face yesterday. I was reminded that it doesn't have anything to do with presents you buy - it is the joy they bring. It isn't the stuff you make, it is the love you give away to the recipient. It isn't the wrapping, but the light in the eyes of someone who sees you care.

I've spent a lot of money and time on gifts and really, it is the simple act of washing the dishes, or taking someone to a movie, hanging Christmas lights for your sister who can't or investing in your brother when he needs it. Don't get me wrong, I love creating gifts, I love shopping and I know that I couldn't tell Natalie that Santa didn't bring gifts because love is all we need and he knew that spending time together is really what Christmas is about. But, honestly, it is. So, while I'll continue to wrap, buy and make in these last few days before Christmas, I'll also try and remember what this time of year is all about and enjoy more of the excitement and joy that comes along with the wrapping, buying and making.

Merry Christmas

Houston, we have a crawler

2011-12-08T13:15:00.001-08:00

Philip has been toying with the idea of crawling for a while, but he officially started over the weekend. It is funny, Natalie first crawled to get to a cell phone, Philip crawled to the stroller so he could play with the wheels. Difference between boys and girls?

This all happened on a trip for work to Boston the first few days of December. My mom and Philip tagged along with me for the quick trip, but there wasn't enough time to do much other than hang out at the hotel and there was too much flying within the span of three days. We left Sunday, traveling from here to Cincinnati then on to Boston. Philip was wonderful on the plane, slept a little, played a lot, and made nary a noise. We got to Boston, took a taxi to our hotel and were greeted by a friend of mine who lives near Boston. She brought us a platter of cheese, hummus, carrots and grapes, crackers, lemon drop martinis and a bottle of wine. OH, and presents for Philip, Natalie, me and my mom. It was the best welcome I've ever had.

The next day I worked and then my friend met back up with us for dinner and more chatting. Once again, she outdid herself. She picked up dinner, brought wine and was fine to just sit in the hotel with us so Philip could play - much easier than trying to drag him out to a restaurant. The next day, I worked a half day, then picked up mom and baby and drove to the airport. We left in plenty of time, fearing lots of traffic and a busy airport...well, we encountered neither of those and were at the gate with two hours to spare. We were able to let Philip take a cat nap, get some food, buy some water and then board the plane for the LONG flight home. We took a direct, just over 5 hour flight. That is a long flight sitting in first class, but put you in coach, with a baby? Makes it feel like 10 hours. But, as he always is, Philip was SO good on the flight and it was actually a pretty empty plane, so we had an entire row to ourselves, which made it easier. He had his own seat, although he could be found more often either sitting on my lap or nursing. This is the main reason he likes flying - he gets to sit on my lap and nurse whenever he wants. He only slept for about 30 minutes on this flight, right at the beginning, and by the end of that 5 hours he was ready to be home and asleep!

My dad picked us up at the airport, drove us home and we crashed. It was a great quick trip and I'm so glad I was able to see my friend Maria! Only wish it had been longer, so I could have made it to her house to see her adorable dogs.

10 Months

2011-11-23T11:21:00.001-08:00

WOW! Philip is already 10 months, actually older, but it took me forever to post these photos

10 months

three years old!!

At 10-months, here are your stats:

You have three teeth, with one trying it darndest to pop through
You roll over from belly to back and back to belly - regularly!
You scoot on your bottom, but haven't crawled - although you are close
You (at this point) were still sleeping in my arms...more on that change later
You coo and say mama and dada. Otherwise, you babble LOUDLY

can't believe you will be one soon...

First Haircut

2011-11-23T11:17:00.001-08:00

Right before her third birthday, Natalie decided to take me up on the offer to take her for a haircut. We ended up at a kid-friendly place where she got to sit in a car while her hair was cut. Made the first snip less painful.

Getting her hair washed and trying not to look freaked out

Blow Dry

All finished!

In all, only about 1 inch was cut off

Walls

2011-11-23T11:08:00.001-08:00

Over the weekend I took on two projects - hanging family photos and putting the yarn letters I made for Philip's room on his wall.

In the main living room, I took down the painting that was up and tried a few other things on the wall...finally settled on family photos.

To make sure I liked where they were hung, I cut out frame sized pieces of paper and hung them on the wall

I forgot to take a final photo - hopefully that will happen soon

Next was hanging up the letters I made for Philip's room. I cut out letters and then wrapped them in yarn. Figured out where to hang them and slapped them on the wall.

Halloween - before I forget

2011-11-21T14:56:00.001-08:00

I can't believe I forgot to post these photos.

Here is Natalie as Ariel and Philip as Sebastian:

Day before Halloween at Grandmas

Also, my parents took Natalie to the farm the day before Halloween, where they were having a trick or treat event. Natalie loves the farm, but getting candy at the same time? Really cool

running through the corn maze

Here we are looking at all the candy we went trick or treating for:

Here we are sharing candy. Natalie enjoyed making me "try" almost every piece she got. And Philip loved the candy in crinkly wrappers that we let him crunch on

Let's Party!

2011-11-18T09:28:00.001-08:00

The Saturday following her third birthday, we held a "friends" party for her at the local swimming pool. We had a room reserved that opened to the swimming pool, only to find out when we showed up that there was a screw-up with the reservations and the room we booked was double booked and we weren't going to be able to use it. GREAT - total Seinfeld episode where Jerry and Elaine show up to get the car they reserved and they don't have any car and Jerry says that he has a reservation and the lady behind the counter says, "we have the reservation but no car" and Jerry says "You know how to take a reservation, but you don't know how to hold a reservation." This is EXACTLY what happened.

Well, they put us (or tried to put us) in a board room with a ton of junk and no room for fun - and the invites specifically stated that there would be pizza, cake and fun. So, I talked them into letting us have an open children's gym with a ballet bar, play mats and a large mirror instead. They set up a few tables that they had and some chairs and we covered everything with table cloths and balloons. It worked out pretty well.

Cake Table

Strawberry cupcakes, Natalie's 3 candle cake, and two layer strawberry cake

Food table

Mermaid chips and salsa

Starfish Crackers

Mermaid Pizza

Mermaids get thirsty :)

Birthday girl in her birthday shirt

Gift table for the kids who came to the table

Singing Happy Birthday

New bike for the 3-year-old

Other than having to take two 1/2 days off work to complete all the handmade items, I'd say our first outside of our home party was a success! All worth it for that sweet little girl!

Actual Birthday Party

2011-11-18T09:03:00.001-08:00

On Natalie's actual birthday we hosted a small family party at our house. We had roasted chicken, spaghetti squash, and salad followed by a yummy strawberry cake.

My parents took Natalie to the new natural history museum prior to her party and she really wanted this kitty to come home with her

After dinner we brought out the cake and Natalie couldn't help but take a lick of the frosting

We moved on to opening presents - first the non-exciting presents from mom and dad

She got a "learn to tie your shoes" kit and some clothes

Then she moved on to the present from Godfather - which was VERY exciting.

Meet our new puppy, G.G.

The back story on this dog is this: The night before her birthday, Natalie and I ran to Target to get birthday dinner and cake ingredients. Well, as we were strolling through the isles she saw this dog and had her first in-store meltdown. And she didn't hold back, there were tears, screaming, and begging me to go and buy her that puppy. It was embarrassing. Seriously, embarrassing. I said "Natalie, stop crying, we don't cry in the store" which made her cry louder. Well, we made it to the check out and she finally stopped crying when I explained that maybe Godfather would buy it for her birthday. This is always my excuse when she wants something I won't buy for her - maybe Godfather will buy it. Well, Godfather stopped by that night and Natalie promptly asked him "Godfather, you buy me that puppy for my birthday?" He explained that he had already bought her a present...which prompted this tearful response: "he...said...he...already...buy...me...a...present."

Well, leave it to Godfather to make a special trip to Target to buy her the puppy she desperately wanted. That puppy is with her ALL THE TIME. He sleeps on the floor next to her bed in a make shift dog bed or in the bed with her and she is constantly asking everyone to pet her doggy.

Three Years Old

2011-11-10T12:42:00.001-08:00

Three years ago today I was sitting in a hospital bed. Three years ago today I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of my baby girl. Three years ago today we became so much more than just two people, we became a family. Seems so cliche to say, but wow, the past three years have been the best and quickest of my life.

Until I was a mom, I didn't know how much you could truly love a child. The fact that I'm her mom and will forever be is one of the biggest privileges of my life.

love you baby bug...

Florid-ahhh

2011-11-03T13:44:00.000-07:00

Back in October (seriously, it's November already?), we turned a Florida work trip for me into a mini vacation. My mom, Philip and I flew to Florida for my work conference and spent a few days at a resort.

Philip at the hotel

First time Philip's toes touched the ocean

Enjoying the warm weather

First dip

Beer, ocean, sand, warm setting sun, what more can you ask for

view of one of the hotel pools

The last day of my work trip, Phil, Natalie and my dad left for Florida -supposed to get into Florida that afternoon. Supposed to... They got to Atlanta and Delta put them through quite the day. One and off planes, terminal to terminal, delay after delay and finally a cancelled flight about 7 hours of crazy airport and airplane time. Through it all, Natalie was probably the best behaved person on the flight. Phil said that a lady sitting behind them on one of the stalled planes they were on demanded that a first class flight attendant give Natalie a bag of chips because she was doing so good. Once their flight had been cancelled, they got on the flight to Florida the following morning and headed to the Delta-provided hotel for the night. Luckily Phil had packed an extra outfit for Natalie.

Ready to go

Waiting for the plane

While all that was going on with them, my mom, Philip and I left the resort and headed for the house we had rented.

I unpacked in the living room, because we were still unsure of where everyone would sleep

Pool and view from the backyard

Dock in the backyard.

That night, Godfather and Auntie left on the red-eye headed for Florida. They had a layover in Atlanta and they had no idea that Phil, dad and Natalie hadn't made it to the house. Next morning, Friday, Godfather and Auntie were waiting for the flight and were spotted by my dad who sent Natalie over to give Godfather a hug. He describes it as standing there and all of a sudden he feels little arms wrap around him and he looks down to see Natalie's smiling face. Pretty nice surprise. They got to Florida that morning and we started to relax and enjoy the vacation.

Getting her hair fixed the morning in Atlanta (thank goodness for Auntie)

Natalie arrived and couldn't help but get right in the pool - clothes and all

While we were there, we did a lot of dock fishing {morning, noon and night}, ocean swimming, relaxing, exploring, birthday celebrating, and all around fun-time-having.

A belated-birthday celebration

fishing

first catch

First catfish catch

this is the "kitty that swims" as Natalie says

dock diving

one of the biggest catches

a video version of dock diving

Godfather's puffer fish

warm ocean swimming

ice cream for the little girl, margaritas for everyone else

birds that visited every morning

beautiful sunset

"playing" in the backyard

sleeping baby and warm ocean

nap time

family ocean time

sunset time

Get your motor running

2011-11-03T11:55:00.000-07:00

I grew up going tent camping, riding motorcycles and quads and loving it! Last year, we took Natalie on her first camping trip and she loved it. One thing we didn't take on that trip was the motorcycles, she was and is still a little young to ride. However, a few weeks ago, my dad was getting ready to go on a quick camping trip with the motorcycles, so he had them all set on the tailor when we arrived for dinner. As a special treat, he let Natalie go for a little "ride". She got on, got to hold the handles and he even got the motor running so she could get the full experience.

Born to ride!

Sleep, blessed sleep

2011-10-27T15:13:00.000-07:00

I spent my first night away from Philip on Tuesday night and although I knew it was going to be hard, I was actually looking forward to one night of uninterrupted sleep. By the time I got to Minnesota and to the hotel it was dinner time. So I ordered room service, and relaxed while doing some work. I was asleep by 10 and I don't think I moved all night!

Ah sleep, how I've missed you

Pumpkins

2011-10-27T08:45:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we met up with our friends to visit the pumpkin patch. It was a lot of fun picking out too many pumpkins, playing on the playground equipment and then grabbing lunch afterwards

Here the men and babies are playing on the teeter-totter

Natalie steering the pirate shop

Monkey hanging

Natalie and Kai hanging

Climbing on the huge tire

Playing in the airplane teeter-totter

Pumpkins picked and loaded up - now let's start pulling

After we convinced them to push and pull at the same time

Once home, we dug into the pumpkins - they are SO slimy

Here they are, cleaned and carved

Bat-Kitty

Ghosts

The wort filled pumpkin we had to have

All the little pumpkins Natalie picked out

We saved the seeds and roasted them - YUM!

These are salt and butter

These are vanilla sugar - so delicious

9 Months!

2011-10-25T18:52:00.000-07:00

WOW - time seems to be flying by. It was just yesterday that Philip was born, right? I mean, I'm tired enough to know it was 9 months ago, but really? I'm starting to forget how small he was...

At 9 months:

You sit up very well and you enjoy it
You are starting to creep and swim on the floor
You are still a mama's boy and sleep in my arms every night
You like your toys and are starting to not hate the car
You love your sister and get so excited when you see her.
Sister still loves you and likes to mother you.

And here is Natalie on the month before she turns three! Lord help us, we will soon be dealing with a very strong willed three-year-old

Fixing her hair

Sitting pretty

Baking with my little helper

2011-10-25T18:42:00.000-07:00

Natalie loves to help me in the kitchen, so put her to work, I say.

Here she is prepping the dough to make cheese sticks

Sprinkle the flour so it won't stick

Spread it around

Roll it out

Now we are going to make cake pops

Crumble the cake

Looks good

Now let's wash these hands

Ballet Class

2011-10-25T18:33:00.000-07:00

As I've mentioned, Natalie is taking a ballet class, but they only allow parents to watch the kids from time to time, because they tend to get stage fright when parents are there. Well, back at the beginning of October we were able to attend the class and see all the dances she has learned. It was SO cute! I couldn't stand it and I think I had a smile on my face all day.

At the ballet bar

Getting ready

Doing the Mickey Mouse Dance

Seriously, it was SO stinking cute! Phil took videos of every dance and we watched them the other night on the TV - Natalie thinks she is famous now...so cute

Circus Time

2011-10-25T18:25:00.000-07:00

We started our anniversary festivities by going to the circus with Natalie. I think Phil and I might have been more excited...

We started with a trax train ride to the circus - this is the photo Natalie took of us

Pre-show with the Elephants

Pre-show with the tigers

Pre-show trying on the outfits

Pre-show, getting a temporary tattoo

tada!

It was a fun show and Phil found us awesome seats; however, all Natalie wanted to do was ride or pet the animals so she didn't last until the end of the show. We left before the end of the second act, but while we were there, she got a circus lemonade and cotton candy, so she had a great time!

County Fair

2011-10-25T18:14:00.000-07:00

Back in early September, before my trip to New Jersey, Philip, Natalie, Phil and I went to the county fair. This fair is the same fair that Phil and I had our first date to, so we always try and make a trip, so it was nice to return with two kids. Ahh...life begins with the fair.

This is the mommy pig that Natalie got to pet - all the babies were eating at the time

This little goat escaped right after Natalie pet him. The little rascal was caught and tied up again

Natalie got to ride a pony - it was SO exciting!

This is us on the HUGE yellow slide

another shot - it was so much fun, we had to go three times

Natalie on the only ride she did alone - the little train

On the ferris wheel with Phil

Getting ready for the roller coaster

Going around the coaster track

It was a lot of fun! We went pre-nap for Natalie and Philip slept while we were there. Looking forward to next year when we might be able to go in the evening.

Family Photos

2011-10-02T08:36:00.000-07:00

We had the lovely Kirstin Roper take our family photos once again, over the summer...it just took me a while to get them on the blog. We met her at a local park back in late July, and we are very happy with the results. If you remember, she took the photos back when Philip was a little peanut and also back in July 2010, when we were still a family of three and Philip was still cooking in my belly.

Here are a few favorites - and believe me it was hard to choose these few - we had hundreds to choose from!

Philip

2011-09-30T20:19:00.001-07:00

Two random phone camera photos of my little guy.

One is of him in his carseat having a happy moment. These are few and far between.

One is of him in his walker. A friend of mine gave this to me and WOW does Philip ever like it. Natalie also thinks it is pretty cool to ride in...

Dinner

2011-09-30T20:15:00.001-07:00

I really out did myself with dinner the past two weeks. Something different each night and not the same old standbys.

This is a photo of the roasted chicken and pea and basil risotto. Yummy. We also had cheeseburger soup, whole roasted chicken and Veggies, beef ragout with creamy polenta, spaghetti, and enchiladas. I've started a dinner calendar so hopefully that will help with the planning and preparing ahead.

Photos Grandma took

2011-09-23T11:01:00.000-07:00

Natalie and I went downtown to meet Godfather and Grandma for lunch. While walking to get a sandwich we came across a fire hydrant that the city had left open for some reason. Natalie is fascinated with fire trucks & hydrants so this was extremely exciting to see! Godfather got her close enough to the water to put her hand in it - pretty awesome for a Monday afternoon!

Another cute photo of my prima ballerina

Cute Natalie with Horatio the horned toad

5 years in a blink of an eye

2011-09-23T09:30:00.000-07:00

Five years ago today I was getting my hair done while sitting in my condo with friends...it was wedding day and in a few short hours I would be a Mrs. and no longer a Miss. Seems like so long ago, and at the same time like it was just yesterday. I loved my wedding day, but what I love more is where that one day got me to. I'm a very happy wife and a blessed mother of two. I have the life I have always wanted (except more sleep would be nice) and know how fortunate we are.

Just Married!

Baby #1

Family of Four

Today we are celebrating with a trip to the circus with Natalie, followed by a wedding reception for a friend followed by dinner with just the two of us. Five years is a good start at a long happy life together...

Ballet Class

2011-09-21T13:19:00.000-07:00

We enrolled Natalie in a Ballet/Tap class that started in September and goes until May. I'm not sure who is more excited about it - her or me?

We went to the dance store and she got to pick out her own leotard - the purple one with the low back and sparkles - her shoes and tights. She also has a cute tu tu to match the leotard. It is rocking. And the little tap shoes? I die

Here is a cute phone photo that sort of captures the cuteness of Ballet Natalie

Oh, and she is performing at Festival of Trees this year. I can't wait!

8 Months

2011-09-21T07:14:00.000-07:00

Well...traveling once again got in the way of the monthly photo...so we will skip month 8 in photos and talk about the other changes going on:

You have two bottom teeth and I think there might be another one coming because you really like to bite
You sit up like a pro, even though there are times that you get really excited and toss yourself backwards, so we still put pillows all around you on the floor
You love your sister so much and miss her when we travel. In fact, Grandma was asking you to say "dada", then "mama", then "sister" and at the word sister, you started to cry. As soon as we saw her at the airport you couldn't get enough of her
You are eating cheerios now and pretty much anything else we give you. You have a huge interest in eating everything on our plate!
You still sleep in mommy's arms, but when we travel you insist on being on your own next to me and not in my arms
You wear size 3 diapers, 6-9 month clothes, although some things aren't long enough for your legs
You sit in the high chair now and love it
You still talk ALL THE TIME
You have just started doing the motorboat with you mouth and mostly when you are tired

Those are the highlights. Let's hope that next month we can get a photo!

Traveling

2011-09-21T07:08:00.000-07:00

We (Philip, my mom and I) just returned from a business trip back east. New Jersey, specifically. We left on Sunday, September 11 and stayed through Friday, September 16. It was the longest trip I've been on since going to Europe last summer and it was hard to say the least.

Traveling in general is hard. Not only do I have to pack everything I might need on a business trip - the clothes, shoes, stuff to make me pretty(ier), etc. - but I also have to pack everything for Philip. My suit case is large and in addition to packing that, I have a laptop bag stuffed full of work stuff, my pump bag full of bottles and pump parts, a diaper bag of toys and my purse. Oh, and the car seat, base and stroller! I roll up to the airport and people probably think we are traveling for a month and often it is just a few days. But the packing isn't the hardest part of the traveling. It is leaving home. It is leaving my first baby and my husband and my comfortable bed, my surroundings, my routine, my life. That is the hardest part.

Don't get me wrong, I like having a job and I'm not looking to quit. There are days, like everyone else has, that I wish I could live in a perfect world where I wouldn't have to work, because money wouldn't be a factor and I would have perfectly behaved children and we would play all day and dinner would magically be on the table at 6:30...ah, the American dream. But, that won't be happening any time soon, so work I do and my work involves some traveling. Last year, I started to really travel for work. It started in February and occurred almost every other week through November. It was a lot! I was lucky that I didn't have to skip a night with Natalie until she was 16 months old, but at 16 months I started being gone a lot. I missed a lot of nights and at first it was actually nice to be gone (gasp!), but it just got harder and harder as time went on. Now, every time I travel I remember all the nights I missed last year and it makes me sad. Which is why, I tote Philip along with me. I'm lucky enough that I have a mom that is willing to travel with me and that I have the means to get her where we are going. However, taking Philip and my mom doesn't ease the harder part of leaving everything else behind.

Motherhood in general is hard, then you toss in all the other decisions that you have to make as a woman and it is even harder. Working outside the house, being a stay-at-home mom, traveling, not traveling, the list can go on and on. And I find it amazing that men don't put themselves through it. Even when Phil travels for work, I know he doesn't want to go, he misses us and would rather be home; but he doesn't have this huge sense of guilt that I have when I have to go. Not only do men get to pee standing up but they don't put all this guilt onto their shoulders about raising a family. I'm not going to be able to pee standing up (without getting all wet) any time soon, but I guess I can start to work on the amount of guilt I feel for traveling...

Balancing motherhood and a career is hard - it isn't so much balancing as juggling, and I'm learning to juggle better and better each day. I recently had a conversation with a very close friend, one who I didn't call on her birthday, just sent her a text message as I was chasing kids and cleaning the house. I called her the day after to explain that I'm really not a bad friend, just a late friend. She, and here is the reason she is such a close friend, said to me, "You're doing a wonderful job, you don't need to call me on my birthday I know you were thinking of me and that is what matters." Without bursting into tears I explained to her that she has no idea how much just that simple sentence meant to me. She doesn't have kids yet, but she already understands that we as women can't put more pressure on each other. It takes a village to raise a kid? I think it takes a village to keep a mom sane while she is raising her kids.

We are all home for a few weeks and then back on the road we go...until then my suitcase is unpacked and things can get back to some level of normal around here.

Horatio

2011-09-08T13:47:00.000-07:00

We spent Labor day in southern Utah. It was a lot of fun, except for the over priced pedicure and the complete-waste-of-time horrible massage.

Phil golfed, we ate dinner, drank drinks, swam in the pool, went to the splash pad, the park and the local fair. It was a great getaway and we are looking forward to the next trip.

Oh, before I forget, let me introduce you to Horatio (see him on Natalie's shirt). This is the horned toad that Godfather found on the golf course and gifted to Natalie. She was in LOVE instantly. She wanted to let Horatio sleep in the bed with her and carried him around on her shirt or in her hand for the last day and a half of the vacation. My parents packed him home and he was reunited with Natalie last night. Absence only made the heart grow fonder.

Capture the Memories

2011-09-08T13:33:00.000-07:00

A little while after Philip was born, I found a journal where you write just a little blurb about what you have done each day. I write things like "Philip broke through his first tooth!" or "man, rough night last night. I wish Philip would sleep better!" or this gem "Natalie loves to cuddle. Keeps saying 'keep me warm'".

I've been pretty good at writing every night; although there have been a few times that I've had to play some catch up. The book has space for five years of writing and I'm so looking forward to rounding the first year and thinking back about the day-to-day activities that go on and remembering how special that new tooth, missed night of sleep, or cuddling really is.

Mirror, Mirror on the High Chair

2011-08-17T13:48:00.001-07:00

My parents have kept a lot of things my brothers and I used as children, cribs, toys, clothes and a high chair. The high chair is the first high chair that Natalie sat in and she loved it.

Last night, my mom brought out the high chair for Philip to sit in, he had the same reaction as Natalie.

when you are this good looking, it is hard to not get lost in your own reflection

7 Months

2011-08-11T10:39:00.000-07:00

7 months already?

WOW!

Philip is sitting up better and better and is trying REALLY hard to crawl. He climbs up you when you hold him, loves playing in the activity center and is getting more and more aware of the world around him. His tooth is breaking through more each day and the drooling continues. He still loves his sister and she loves him, but mom is his first choice. In the sleep department, he is sleeping better each night - often getting 8 to 9 hours between feedings. He is also getting better and better about not having to be held to sleep. He likes being close to me, but will sleep next to me for a few hours at a time. He likes to have his belly rubbed in a circular motion to get him to sleep and has started to stretch his legs out and put his arms above his head while he sleeps.

He is so much fun (except for the days that are hard). He loves to smile, laugh and talks (babbles) all the time. Even more will change over this month, I assume he will start to army crawl soon - possibly before the 8 month mark.

Actual 7 month birthday!

day before 7-months...because I didn't realize it wasn't the 10th

Minnesota and other things

2011-08-11T10:16:00.000-07:00

The last week of July, Philip, grandma and I went to Minnesota. As usual, Philip was great for the flight there and back and was a good boy for Grandma while I was in meetings.

The first night there we went to a great place for dinner - and they were having a "date night" special, which included a full bottle of wine, two starters (we had pizza & salad), two full meals (we had artichoke- chicken pasta & roasted half-chicken with risito & mushrooms), and two full desserts (we had chocolate mouse cake & butterscotch brulee) all for $50! We each had a glass of wine and took the rest to the hotel, along with 1/2 of each of our meals and both desserts. So we had a few meals for the next few days.

The rest of the time we stayed pretty close to the hotel, going swimming and on short walks. The morning of our flight, everything was conspiring against us and we were very close to missing the flight, but then the Hertz rep told us that he would drive us to the check in counter to save us time and didn't even charge me for not refilling the gas tank. He was the best part of the day. We got home shortly before Natalie was waking up from her nap, got settled then stayed home that night as a family.

I shouldn't have to go anywhere until September, but September will bring a week long adventure to New Jersey and at least one night in Minnesota. Bring on the fun!

Here are a few photos from Minnesota in July

Down South

2011-07-29T09:30:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago we went to my parents house in Southern Utah again. This time, rather that having us all drive down, Philip and I flew down and Phil, Natalie and Godfather drove down. The flight was super quick. Basically you take off, are in the air for about 30-45 minutes and then land. And Philip was a perfect airplane baby. He fell asleep as we took off and slept the whole way down and woke up while we were landing. While we were getting off the plane, the person sitting in front of us said, "Wow, I didn't know you had a baby, he didn't make any noise."

The only downside to flying down is the airport is about a 30 minute drive from my parents house. The upside, was that Philip fell asleep in the car and didn't cry! Score!

Phil, Natalie and Godfather got to the house shortly after Philip and I did and we started our vacation. Phil went golfing every morning we were down there, we spent some time at a friends pool and a lot of time just being together and trying to relax. While down there, we held a small get-together for my parents 40th wedding anniversary. We made fondue and other appetizers and enjoyed time with friends. The morning of their anniversary we made breakfast then packed up to leave. It was a nice way to spend a weekend. Unfortunately, my camera didn't make the trek down, but my mom captured a few shots with hers!

Natalie in the backyard pool

Sister and Brother

Cheese

LP - such a sweet boy

6 Months

2011-07-29T09:11:00.000-07:00

One day after Philip's 6 month birthday, we had his 6 month well baby check up. He is doing great and growing (although more about his weight in a minute).

I'll start by saying that we were excited to get his measurements. We don't have a baby scale at home so we had been guessing that he was about a pound heavier than the last visit and we were pretty much right on with our guess.

At this appointment he weighed 16 pounds 6 ounces (29%) and he was 27 inches long (54%). After the weight check, the doctor started talking to us about the fact that he has dropped in his percentile on the weight chart, and although it could be because he is getting more and more active, she was concerned that he wasn't getting enough to eat. This totally shocked us! He eats ALL THE TIME. The doctor asked us how much he was eating during the day and I said that he has around 2-4 ounces with each bottle, plus cereal and a fruit or veggie. She said that kids his age normally eat 7 ounces of formula at every feeding. I was SHOCKED. Not only is there no way he could finish a 7 ounce bottle, there is no way I could produce that much milk. Even though we are not planning on using it, she sent us home with a bottle of formula, just in case we decided to try it. Nice to have a freebie, but hopefully we won't need to use it any time soon.

Here are some photos from the doctor's office

Following the appointment, we took the monthly photo of Philip in his rocking chair. He was less than thrilled.

He looks downright scared!

Breakthrough

2011-07-29T08:42:00.000-07:00

I'm working on a few posts to update the blog on what we have been doing over the last month, but before I do that, let me make a HUGE announcement...

Last night while Phil was holding Philip, Philip bit him - with his just-broken-through-TOOTH!!

That's right, at almost 7 months (how did that happen, by the way??) he has officially started teething. What is sort of surprising, is that he hasn't been overly upset. If you remember with Natalie, we never knew she was teething until she actually got her tooth, Philip is somewhat the same. However, he does drool A LOT - like he is hosting his own wet t-shirt contest.

Cabin Fever

2011-07-05T11:56:00.001-07:00

We decided to spend some of the fourth of July weekend at the cabin. It has been a while since we have been up there, mainly due to sleep or lack there of. See when we were there back in April, Philip didn't sleep all that peacefully which meant that I didn't either, which makes it hard to function as a mother of two. Also, in April and May Philip put me through my paces with a lot of not sleeping, which made me not want to go back to the cabin and experience what little sleep I was getting on an uncomfortable mattress. When and if he let me sleep I wanted to be in my own bed! Well, since everyone around here has been sleeping a little more (most nights) these days we decided that heading to the cabin for one night would be a nice change. So, on Saturday we drove up the canyon and spent the night at the cabin. As normal, there was a lot of playing outside, a few walks, and as not-normal, some sleep. We saw a deer on the drive up and a squirrel came to visit Natalie and her food while she played on the deck - which she was thrilled about.

While we were there, it was extra warm! Even though it was cooler than in the city, temperatures were above 80 - which is TOO hot for me! So, we decided to get the kids into the pool, a very small pool that we filled with warm water and put in the shade. Natalie loved it, and so did Philip...then Natalie decided that spilling water out of the pool and playing in the mud was much more fun that just playing in the pool water. Because, after all, isn't dirty water more fun than clean? Once she got the water dirty she decided to "wash" baby brothers hair because it wasn't clean...makes sense, right? That hair washing led to us leaving the swimming pool about 10 minutes after we filled it up. But it was fun while the we were out there for 10 minutes.

After our swimming adventure we decided it was pretty warm, so I left Philip pretty naked so he could be cooler than the rest of us. He was SO happy, and you can see his spiky dirty hair in these photos.

Trying to crawl

Mini push Up

There is a photo of my dad at almost the same age

so my mom insisted on taking this one to compare

By the time 4:00 rolled around, no one had taken a nap and everyone needed one, but rather than a nap, we decided to pack everyone in the car and take a drive down to a local resort that was hosting a fair for the 4th. By the time we got down to the resort and realized that the fair was over for the day, both kids were asleep in their car seats so we decided that rather than stop and play at the play ground or go back to the cabin we drove around so they could get some sort of a nap and make our evening a little better. While driving around the local town we found a BBQ place and screeched our tires turning around so we could pick up some brisket. Phil got a pound of brisket and as he told us many times that weekend, "The guy just pulled out this huge slab of meat and cut it in front of me" (he said it while drooling). I will say it was some of the best BBQ I've ever had and it was CHEAP for what we got. That night we enjoyed the BBQ and some brats. Everyone got some sleep and Phil was able to golf 18 holes the next day with my dad. We stayed up at the cabin until about 4:00 on Sunday then drove home. It was a pretty fun one-night adventure. The best part is that when we got home we had 4 red strawberries waiting for us.

Give me Liberty or Give me...another park?

2011-07-05T10:48:00.001-07:00

My mom took Natalie, Philip and Melody to Liberty Park about a week ago. There is a wading pool/lake area and old carnival rides and a lot of space to run around. Natalie was in heaven! She went on every ride twice and my mom says they basically dragged her away because she did NOT want to leave. My mom took 60 photos and 2 videos, here is a small sample.

Getting on the Ferris Wheel

Riding in the blue car

First time in the airplane

Second time, this time in the yellow plane

First ride on the merry go round

Sitting on the rock in the pond

Can you tell from her face that the water isn't that warm?

Cold or not, she loved it!

She had so much fun that Phil and I took her back a few days later. She remembered every ride, telling us what car and plane she had already been in and then requested to go on every ride twice. After the rides, we ate some cheese fries and got her some "candy" (fruit snacks). After the rides, we went over to the water and played for a while and then decided to get home for lunch and nap time. Natalie and Philip were both sound asleep before we got out of the parking lot. Unfortunately we forgot our camera, so there is no photographic evidence of all the fun we had.

****

Funny fact, or photo, below is a shot of Natalie on her one-year-birthday trip wearing the same suit she is wearing in the photos above. Keep in mind she is two-and-a-half now. Skinny minny

Milk

2011-07-05T10:38:00.001-07:00

Natalie loves going to the farm, and has gone a lot over the past year (see here & here). Last week my mom took her again, but this time, they went at cow milking time.

I love this face, "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

She was fascinated by the entire event! She couldn't stop talking about how she got to milk the cow and who got to drink the cow milk, for the record, the "Kitty Kitty, baby cows and little pigs".

And not to be out done by the cow, the fake horse, was also a hit. My mom said Natalie knows where this saddle is and ALWAYS likes to ride.

Don't worry, it will just happen

2011-06-28T08:14:00.000-07:00

Most days, it seems like just yesterday that we brought Natalie home from the hospital, some days I feel every one of the days and nights in the two-and-a-half years since we brought her home. She has always done things on her own time and we have learned that we shouldn't force her when she isn't ready for something.

One thing that we had been thinking about starting for a long time is potty training. It is the "next thing" that parents start asking about, you know, "Oh, she isn't potty trained, yet?" with that somewhat disapproving look, but we decided that we didn't want to force her to do anything she wasn't ready for. Also, we were worried that once Philip was born she might want to go back to being a "baby" and we would have to fight the battle all over again. SO, we figured we would start gradually and go slow. Plus, my mom had said that no matter when you start, girls will most likely be day trained by 2 and a half and boys will be by three, so we had some time.

When Natalie was about 18 months old, we bought her a potty seat because our nanny said she would start working with her, which she did, which was great. So by about 20 months old Natalie was pretty much day trained, during the week-days. Evening and days? That was another matter. I think Phil and I were too lazy or didn't want to deal with accidents. Who knows, whatever the reason, we just kept her in diapers in the evenings and on the weekends. Then I decided one day that she was ready to make the jump to pull ups - so I bought a big box of them at Costco and brought them home to a very excited Natalie. She wanted to wear them RIGHT NOW and immediately took off her diaper, then immediately peed in the pull ups. I explained that these were big girl panties and she can't pee in them. But basically, she can, because pull ups are just more expensive, less absorbent diapers. So I put the pull ups away and decided that for Easter, the Easter bunny would bring her some big girl panties and a potty book. But then she was showing some major interest in using the potty, so we decided to give her the panties and book before Easter and it pretty much worked for a while...until she decided that she could pee in the panties and not worry about it. Such a struggle, so we decided to give up...so we did for a few weeks. Then we started again and whenever she wasn't wearing a diaper we would say "do you need to potty" or "be a big girl and remember to potty" about 500 times an hour. Which then resulted in Natalie responding to the "do you have to pee" question with "NEVER", so again we decided to stop, stop with panties, asking and prodding her to potty.

Flash forward to last month, when again we decided to start (gluttons for punishment) again. And something seemed different, she seemed ready, in some way. She was day trained in no time and then one evening while Philip, Natalie and I were playing and waiting for Phil to get home she had an accident and by accident I mean, she knew she had to use the potty and rather than going to the bathroom, she hid in the closet and peed on the floor. I grabbed her and raced to the bathroom and something in me snapped. Mean mommy made an appearance. We don't like mean mommy and I try to keep her hidden...but sometimes she is stronger than me. I told Natalie that clearly she was a baby and she would now have to wear diapers because she wasn't a big girl. Well, that sparked something in Natalie and through her tears (see, mean mommy) she told me that she was a big girl ("I big girl, not baby" - breaks my heart that I made her cry!) and she wouldn't wear the diaper. Well, clearly mean mommy gets results that calm rational mommy doesn't get because since then we have had (knock on wood) no accidents, and no need for diapers, except for night time.

Night time...ugg...the next diaper/potty training battle. I guess it is a good thing that she is so skinny, she can wear diapers for a while if needed!

So, long story short, she is basically potty trained and she has made one step farther away from being my little baby, because she is now a big girl.

because he is so cute

2011-06-24T14:34:00.000-07:00

Farm

2011-06-17T11:15:00.001-07:00

Natalie loves the farm, and my parents took her for a little outing the other day.

She loves telling me all about the animals she got to see and she thinks it is hilarious when I ask her if she saw animals that I know aren't there - like a turtle or elephant. Her response after I ask her? "Noooo mommy"

One Year Later

2011-06-17T11:02:00.000-07:00

Last year while my mom and I were in Paris & London, Natalie and Phil spent a lot of time at my parents house and while they there my dad took this photo.

June 2010

The other day, my dad took this photo, just a little over a year later

June 2011

5 months

2011-06-16T13:34:00.001-07:00

Alright, I'll admit it...I forgot to take the chair picture on Philip's 5 month birthday. I remembered when we were about one hour into our trip south. Too late to turn around, so I figure that taking this photo at 5 months and one week is good enough.

Pre chair shot

Natalie trying to get the camera

These are the best photos I can get...

He is so intent on getting the chair arm in his mouth he can't sit up straight for mama

You get the general idea, right? He is growing.

This is the actual 5-month-day

Things to remember about this past month

You giggle more
Your sister loves you and kisses you all the time
Your sister still likes/insists on calling you "Baby Brother"
You seem to have grown, but I haven't called to make a shot appointment, and therefore don't have your exact measurements
You still want to sleep while being held and will generally only sleep for the night while in my arms. Although, over the past weekend I was able to get you to sleep alone for about 20 minutes at a time!
You are a great eater! You love oatmeal cereal, bananas, pears, mango's and tomorrow we will start prunes. I think if I gave you steak you would be happier, but soon enough...
You are sitting up more and more and have almost mastered the back to belly roll over.
You are constantly moving, kicking your legs, waving your arms, and you talk all the time!

We were home, then we left and now we are back

2011-06-08T14:50:00.000-07:00

Philip, Grandma and I returned from Minnesota on Friday (two weeks ago) and enjoyed a nice relaxing weekend, followed by a very full week of work, cleaning, unpacking and then some re packing...

Repacking?

Yes, repacking for the trip to southern Utah.

My parents recently purchased a vacation home down there and we have been anxiously awaiting a trip to see it. So, we decided to use some vacation and left last Friday afternoon. I got the car packed full of all the stuff that we might possibly need for the two day adventure, loaded the kids and Phil into the car and set out. We left a little before Natalie’s nap time, so we were hoping she would sleep in the car, and lucky for us, Philip was asleep when we left the house. We had to make a stop at Target to grab organic milk and some OJ and then stop by and pick up the Godfather so we could car pool. Natalie fell asleep as soon as we left Target and slept until we picked up Godfather, a total of about 7 minutes. Philip also woke up as soon as we stopped to pick up Godfather. So we left for St. George with two wide awake kids, three adults and a car load of stuff.

after one blue m&m

We hadn’t made this trip in a long time – the St. George trek – not since Natalie was a baby in fact, so we were all a little nervous about taking not one but two kids in the car for the 4+ hour drive. Natalie didn’t concern us as much as Philip. She doesn’t really mind being in the car and has always been very good about long drives, but she is now old enough to ask "Are we there yet" the entire way down and we all know or can imagine how annoying that can be. But, Philip, man oh man does he ever NOT like the car, not even a little bit, not for long drives, not for short drives, not for any drive at all. So, it was bound to be an adventure.

In an effort to keep Natalie entertained, Phil picked up a few DVDs from the library for Natalie to watch. So, we popped in Dora and crossed our fingers. She put on her headphones and happily ate some goldfish crackers and drank some orange juice for about the first hour of the drive. Philip is another animal all together. Luckily I was sitting in the back seat and for the most part was able to "shssh" him to sleep, so after playing for the first 45 minutes of the drive, I got him to sleep for about another 30-45 minutes, then he woke up and played a little more. That awake, asleep plan got us to the small town of Fillmore (about two hours away) where we decided to stop and grab food for everyone one and a diaper change for some. Once everyone was fed and appropriately changed, we loaded back in the car and set out again. Again, Dora was keeping Natalie pretty entertained and I was able to get Philip to sleep and play on and off…until we were about an hour away from the final destination and all hell started to brake loose.

Now, Natalie, to her credit had been wonderful. Played with a few toys, drank some drink, spilled some gold fish, watched some Dora, but she hadn't had a nap – except for those 7 minutes – and she was tired of being in the car, so she started asking, "mommy are we to ‘George yet?" I would say, "not yet, but soon" and she would reply, "Why Mommy?" so I would explain that it was a very long trip and that if she would just take a nap that we would be there when she woke up and it would make the last hour of the drive go very very quickly, to which she would reply, "No nap mommy, it sunny outside not dark." You can try and argue with that logic, but you won’t win.Now, Philip, again, is a different animal. At the hour-to-destination mark he started to let us all know, loudly, that he was done being in the car. D.O.N.E. He wasn't going to sit by and just let us drive on our merry way; no, he was going to cry. And cry he did, until I couldn't take it any more and told Phil to pull off the side of the freeway. I promptly pulled him out of his chair and tried to calm him down; but, it wasn't until we got out of the car that he finally stopped crying and calmed down. We all took a few deep breaths, Phil volunteered to get into the back seat and I took over driving.

That last 45 minutes of the drive were the longest of the entire five-and-a-half- hour trip. But it was all worth it once we got to the house.

The house is great and surpassed our expectations. When they first started looking, my mom wanted to buy a double wide trailer, so when we pulled up and saw a brand new three bedroom house in a new development community, we were very surprised. In fact, when my mom sent us the photos we didn't exactly believe our eyes. Now we believe.

View from the patio

We spent Friday night hanging out at the house, Natalie played in the blow up pool out back, and after dinner Phil, Godfather and Natalie walked to the local Walmart, which happens to be just down the street. They came back with a bunch of little purchases and a movie to watch. We were finally able to get the kids to sleep, on their own...which meant that I was able to pee and brush my teeth before bed, with the lights on and while not holding Philip. I was also able to sit with the other adults at the house and chat before Philip woke up and needed me to hold him so he could sleep.

We don't have a TV hook up, so here I am trying to get the antenna to work so Phil could watch the hockey game. It didn't work...

This is Natalie after no nap on the ride down

Saturday the boys went golfing and the rest of us stayed home. There was coffee drinking, pool playing, donut eating, and all around good fun. The boys came home and we drove to Costco for lunch and to buy Godfather a bed, then home to eat and try and get Natalie to take a nap. She, Phil and Godfather all ended up taking naps while Philip, Grandma and I went to Walmart. We browsed the aisles and eventually made our way back to the house just in time to welcome guests for cocktail hour. We spent a few hours with friends, then snacked on left-overs for dinner.

After dinner, we decided we should add a bunch of hot water to the blow up pool in the back yard, which was full of cold water, so we could all get in and relax a little. Our make shift hot tub... After filling up many, many, many, buckets of hot water and pouring it into the pool, it was still pretty cold, but we had gone to so much work we decided to get in any way. Grandpa and Godfather were the first in, followed by Natalie. By the time I had passed off Philip and changed into my swim suit, Natalie was shivering, but was game to stay in the pool a little longer. We sat in the water about 15 minutes before getting out. Once we were out and changed into bed clothes, we got everyone down for an early night.

Sunday the boys golfed again and Natalie and I made waffles. Then we packed our stuff up and decided to leave shortly after the boys got home. The trip home was pretty similar to the ride down, except that Philip only cried a few times and slept more. We made two stops along the way to feed and change Philip and get snacks for everyone else. We stopped to drop of Godfather and stayed and played for a while before going home. Got home, watered the plants and ate pizza and salad for dinner, followed promptly by bed!

It was a wonderful trip and the experience taught us a few things. One, don’t try to add hot water to an ice cold pool of water expecting it to be warm after the addition. First empty the cold water out COMPLETELY and then add the warm water. Two, we need to either bring the extra bed in our basement or not expect the best night of sleep on air mattresses. And three, taking Philip in the car for over 4 hours is not the best plan one can have, so we will be flying down for our next trip…

Cute Philip

Natalie built a "nest" on the couch for her and "baby brother"

Did I forget to mention

2011-05-31T11:24:00.000-07:00

That Philip started eating cereal? Well, he did and he loves it, although the first time he ate it he didn't think it was for him. In fact, after two bites he refused any more and then spit up about 20 minutes later. But the next day, it couldn't get enough. He eats about three servings a day and is getting ready to move on to fruits and veggies.

Real men wear pink!

We also had his four month check up. He weighs 15 pounds 2 ounces (40%) and is 26 and 1/2 inches long (95%). Another string bean, just like Natalie, only she was string-ier.

Tomorrow we are off, once again, to Minnesota. I'm hoping this trip is a smooth as the last trip. Last week Philip didn't want to sleep at night, but over the weekend he was a peach, sleeping 8-9 hour stretches most nights. Hopefully that will continue for this trip! We will be back on Friday night, just in time for the weekend!

Painting

2011-05-25T11:26:00.000-07:00

Natalie loves to color and draw and recently we started doing more painting. I decided that when she was painting on my watch, we should only paint outside. Well, with the weather being what it is, painting had to happen inside the other day.

So, I tore some paper and laid it on the floor in the kitchen and opened up some paint. Natalie started off fine, painting on the paper and enjoying it. Then she accidentally stepped in the paint. So, she took off her now dirty sock and then accidentally stepped in the paint again, but now with her bare foot. She looked at me with this horrified look - so to make her feel better, I said, "don't worry it will wash right off when we are done".

Little did I know that would prompt her to start painting her foot, followed by her leg, followed by her arm, then her belly. By the time Phil got home she was pretty much covered. So Phil decided to join in the fun and he painted her back for her. She LOVED it and then allowed us to wash her off in the shower and pretty much all the paint washed right off...but there are still a few spots.

Knitting & Pram Rides

2011-05-25T11:22:00.001-07:00

My mom is a fantastic knitter and recently knitted Natalie a cute dress for the summer.

Super Cute!

My mom also has an old fashioned pram at her house that we used to take Natalie around in. The other weekend it was nice enough to go on a quick walk to feed the horses and Natalie didn't want baby brother to ride alone, so they both crowded into the Pram and off we went.

Tummy Time

2011-05-25T11:17:00.000-07:00

Philip is really starting to enjoy tummy time...for a few minutes at least. Every time I put him on his tummy he immediately pulls his legs under him and kicks. I think he knows how to crawl, his body just isn't strong enough. He has also started to put his arms under him and pushes himself up. He will be moving soon!

Starting to lift up

Lifted and starting to move

Thinking "um, that camera is mine"

"Give it to me"

Many faces of Philip

2011-05-25T11:13:00.001-07:00

Posting more later, but here are some recent photos of Philip:

Don't let the pink blanket fool you - he is all boy

spending some time in the cradle

My own little blue eyes

Special Treat

2011-05-25T07:50:00.001-07:00

U2 was a BLAST! And we all had a great time - especially Natalie! Although, we were a little worried she wouldn't want to stay once the music started, she actually liked it more once the music started.

In the spirit of a bed time story, here is the story of "The night we went to see U2"

The night started off with pizza dinner with Auntie, Godfather, Daddy, Mommy and Natalie, yum! Once dinner was finished, Natalie got changed into her "(RED)" shirt to match mommy and we all got ready to go. We piled into the car and drove to the trax train. Once we had tickets we jumped on the train and headed towards the stadium. Man was the train a crowded place! There were also some pushy people - banging into each other and yelling. What an adventure! We got to the stadium and made our way into the general admission line, where our bags were searched and we were given our wristbands. We were able to enter the stadium at that point...pretty amazing for little 2-year-old eyes! There was music playing, but not loud enough for Natalie to keep her headphones on.

We found our friends and our spot for the show and then decided to make our way to the back area to wait for the band to make their appearance. Once we made our way to the waiting spot, the music started to play and Natalie put on the headphones and got on my shoulders. At this point she was attracting quite a crowd of onlookers - people were smiling and pointing and taking her photo. There were about 10 people gathered around her and everyone had their cell phones out taking photos of her. We should have charged, we could have made a killing! We cheered as the band came on and were thisclose to them as they walked on stage...pretty cool! Once the music started, we decided to make our way toward the front of the stage.

Natalie loved all the lights, music and the opportunity to dance! She started bouncing on our shoulders, clapping with the crowd and then decided she wanted down so she could dance. And dance she did - through 3 songs! Phil and I decided that it was a great decision to bring her with us and we were all happy to let her experience her first concert at 2 :)

By 10:30, Natalie decided she needed a sleep break and fell asleep on my shoulder. We swayed and cheered to the music and then decided we should get home to little brother. We left before the encore, strange I know. We decided that getting home and beating the huge crowd to the train would be the best option. We made our way to the train, waited the 20 minutes then started on the journey home. We got home around 11:30 and were all in bed by midnight. What a way to spend a Tuesday night! It was such a good time. We had friends and family all around us and I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Waiting for the train

Waiting for the band to come on stage

The show starts!

Enjoying the fantastic music

Many more photos were taken by members of our group, many photos were taken of Natalie by people who weren't part of our group too...I'll post the photos I can get my hands on soon.

Again...only this time with a 2-year-old

2011-05-24T16:47:00.000-07:00

We are off, in mere moments, to the U2 show. That show that didn't happen last year, but is ON this year. And, as a special treat or complete mistake, we are taking Natalie with us. Report back tomorrow with photos and the answer - treat or mistake...

100%

2011-05-20T08:43:00.000-07:00

Just when you think you aren't giving anything 100%, you get caught in a rainstorm outside with your daughter. While tucked under her little umbrella to stay dry - nose to nose and eye to eye - she blinks and says, "I love you mommy".

And just like that you can conquer the world

Fixing it up

2011-05-19T13:06:00.001-07:00

We have been busy around here, namely Phil has been busy around here. First project was to install a new ceiling fan in Philip's room, which took a few days longer than expected due to unforeseen circumstances...like a chipped ceiling, an old very rusted light fixture brace and Natalie REALLY wanting to be involved in the process. But, after all of those impediments, Phil got it set up and it is great. Provides something for Philip to look at, air circulation in the room and doesn't look half bad!

Second project was to install Natalie's new bedroom tent. We bought her a cute over bed mosquito net contraption thing at Ikea a few weeks ago and finally decided to hang it up. She loved it and although we need to move the puffs I put up when she was still in her crib, it is pretty cute! Once I get a chance to paint her bed white, it will be even better!

Last project was to plant our garden. It has finally been somewhat warm enough that we decided to plant all our fruits and veggies last weekend. We planted tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, peppers, a few different squashes, strawberries, basil, and rosemary. I also re-potted my thyme plant because it had grown so much since last year that it needed more space. This weekend, I'm hoping that it is warm enough to plant some flowers. I have a bunch of pots that are begging for pretty flowers.

Four Months

2011-05-19T13:04:00.002-07:00

Philip turned four months old while we were in Minnesota, so the chair photo on his actual birthday didn't happen. But, I did take a hotel bed photo on the four-month-mark, followed by a chair photo two days later:

You can see by his face that he was in NO mood for a photo op

At four months, here are a few things we want to remember about LP (little Phil)...

You still sleep in mama's arms every night, just like you have since birth.
You have been smiling and cooing and even started laughing recently.
You have totally mellowed out at night, except for the occasional crazy fit, but a big improvement from the first few months of your life.
You want to be bigger or older than you are - always trying to sit up when you are in your bouncer chair, trying to crawl when you have tummy time and looking at Natalie while she runs, as if you wish you could be running around too.
You have turned into a cat napper, just like your sister used to be. Napping throughout the day for 30-45 minutes at a time...but you like to sleep while being held in the ergo carrier and you don't like being moved once you are a sleep.

Can't wait to see what new developments appear this month!

Mothers Day

2011-05-19T13:04:00.001-07:00

Mother of two...wow how things have changed since last year. Adding Philip has increased the crazy around here more than you might think!

For this Mother's Day, I asked Phil for one thing, one extra hour of sleep - alone. My plan was that once the kids woke up, he would take both of them downstairs and leave me to sleep for another hour. That was my plan, but not everyone agreed with this plan, especially Natalie. She was still asleep in her bed when Philip woke up. So I fed Philip and casually suggested to Phil that he should take Philip. That casual suggestion didn't spark any movement, so I said, "If I will have any chance of going back to sleep today, I need you to take Philip now before I'm totally, fully, completely awake." This direct approach got him moving and he took Philip with him. A few minutes after they left, Natalie woke up and and promptly came in to our room to see why mommy was still asleep. "Mommy, you awake yet?", "No baby, mommy asleep", "Why you asleep?" After that question, Phil came in and said "Natalie, let's let mommy sleep." After which, everyone left me in peace.

About 5 minutes after they left, the bedroom door comes flying open and Natalie loudly announces "I'm a super hero mommy, come play super hero". I asked her if I needed to get out of bed, to which she responded "YES!" with a very adamant tone in her voice. So I got out of bed, sans the extra hour of sleep, and made my way downstairs. When Phil saw me he said, "Couldn't fall back to sleep huh?" to which I answered, "I probably could have, but Natalie really wanted me to play super hero." The best part was, Phil didn't even know she had made her way back upstairs or that she was in our room.

Once I was downstairs, Phil told Natalie to go get my present. She ran downstairs, where she had hidden my present the day before, and pulled out a cute card and CD that was hidden in her kitchen. So sweet. Phil also had a special gift for me hidden in the entertainment center - a lovely locket that he had already put photos of Philip and Natalie in. He has a way of buying me gifts that I would never expect or even choose for myself, but turn out to be my most favorite things. This locket allows me to carry my babies with me all the time. After the gift giving was over, Natalie and I went outside to play and do some yard work and then back inside to make breakfast and feed Philip. The rest of the day it rained, so we all stayed inside. I started to pack for my work trip, we all played, and then went to dinner at my mom's.

Motherhood is a total adventure! There are days (and nights) that I think I can't take much more...and then one smile or laugh from either of my babies makes every late night, scuffed knee, missed nap, or other catastrophe all worth it. Over the past few months, I've had to stop and remind myself what an honor it is to be a mother to these two precious gifts that have been entrusted to me by some higher power. What a blessing it is to be their mother and get to enjoy every minute of their lives. Lately my "mother-worries" have strayed from the common worries of falling down or getting hurt to the worry that I might miss one second of their lives. The thought that I won't be here to see, feel, and experience every moment, every I love you, every smile, every wink, every laugh, every cry keeps me up at night. Being here and getting to be in their lives is something that I wake up for, that I look forward to every day and night. Phil and I have regular conversations about how lucky we are to have what we have and these two littles make it that much more exciting!

Airplane Ride

2011-05-18T13:18:00.000-07:00

Last week I had to fly to Minnesota for a two night work trip and couldn't bear the thought of leaving both my babies behind, so Philip got to come with Mama (because he still flies for free). Because I would be working, my mom came along to take care of Philip during the day.

Our flight was on Monday at 9:40, so we left our house at 8:00 and by the time we got our luggage checked, through security and to the gate they were already boarding our "zone". I quickly bought a bottle of water and my mom ran to the ladies room and then on the plane we got. I had used miles to buy my mom's ticket, and for some unknown reason they assigned a first class seat for the flight there - for no extra miles, strange but wonderful. My mom graciously gave her first class seat to Philip and me - what a woman. I sat down in first and said to the woman sitting next to me, "I'll be honest with you, he is four-months old and I've never flown with him before, so it could be ugly, but we are hoping he enjoys it." She had a look of mild displeasure on her face after that statement.

Once we were on the plane, there was an issue with a seat in coach, so on came the fix-it crew, which led to a 20 minute delay and while we were waiting for that to be resolved, Philip decided that he had waited long enough and needed to eat. I had been trying to hold off as long as possible because I wanted to feed him as we took off...no go. While I fed him, the fix it crew left, the door closed and we started to taxi and get in line to take off. As we took off, Philip was a peach, and sucked on his pacifier and didn't make a peep. About 10 minutes into the flight, he messed his pants, which required a change in a airport lavatory with no changing facilities. That was tricky! Once we were back in our seat, he decided to sleep for a little while (30 minutes), while I had 1/2 a sandwich and some chips - first class lunch! He woke up, allowed grandma to hold him so I could use the bathroom, then went back to sleep and slept through the entire landing. What a peach!

At the end of the flight, the lady sitting next to us said, "Wow, he was perfect." To which I responded, "Yep, which means he can travel again."

Once we got to the car rental spot, I decided to wake him up and feed him before making the trip to the hotel. Which was the smart choice because he was hungry! We got the car loaded with all our junk. With a stroller, the car seat, diaper bag, computer bag, purses, and two large suitcases, our little Corolla was filled to capacity! We decided to stop and get lunch before getting to the hotel, and as soon as we made this decision, Philip decided that he wanted out of the car and started to (loudly) let us know. Luckily for us my mom spotted a Subway right off the exit to our hotel - so we stopped in and picked up a sandwich and traveled quickly to the hotel.

The hotel we stayed at was where I stayed last year whenever I would travel to Minnesota - which was a lot - so I got to know a lot of the people working there. When we arrived to check in, two of the valet's recognized me and were happy to meet Philip. Felt good that after so many months people still remembered that I had been there before. We got checked in and up to our room quickly. We ate our sandwich, played with Philip, checked email for work and then we all took a short nap - which we all needed!

That night, we went to the bar for a beer and an appetizer, took a walk around the hotel which was so nice! Once we got back to the room, I ordered a sandwich for dinner and we crashed pretty early! Philip was wonderful - went to bed at 9:30 and didn't wake up until 6:30 the next morning, too bad I kept waking up all night!

The next day I went to the office for a presentation and my mom played with and took care of Philip all day. Her report to me was that he was a perfect little boy and didn't even seem to mind when she kept saying "you are a good little girl" to him. That night I got to see my wonderful Minnesota friend, Andrea. She came to the hotel so she could meet Philip and it was wonderful to see her and get a chance to catch up. It was so good to see her and even though it had been such a long time it felt like no time had passed. She is super easy to talk to, loves Bravo TV as much as I do, and is hands down one of the most hilarious people I know. That night, again, Philip was pretty awesome - only waking once or twice to eat and was a perfect baby on the flight home the next day.

The hardest thing about being gone was being away from Phil and Natalie. The night before we left Natalie kept telling me she didn't want me to leave and when I told her I had to she started suggesting that I take her rather than Baby Brother, which turned into her telling me that mommy, daddy, Natalie and baby brother should all go on the trip. The Monday we left, I almost started crying telling her good bye. The struggle of a working mother...saying good bye - for a day, a night or many nights, isn't an easy thing to do. The entire time we were gone, Natalie kept asking "Where is my baby brother? I sure do miss him"...so sweet!

I'm off again in two weeks and once again will be taking my mom and Philip with me. Luckily I never put away my suitcase, so I don't have to dig it out again - I just have to pack it.

On the way to Minnesota

On the way home

Coming Soon

2011-05-18T13:05:00.000-07:00

A work trip last week has me totally side tracked and feeling like I'm not doing anything at 100%. So, I will post about Philip's 4-month birthday and his first airline ride, the garden Phil and I just planted, the fan Phil just put up and all the other things going on around here...but today I'm hoping to just get one of the three piles of clean laundry put away (aim low I say) and dinner on the table.

Wish me luck...

Oh, and if you are interested in going to the U2 concert in Salt Lake next week, let me know. I have 4 GA tickets for sale.

Thursday Thoughts

2011-05-05T14:01:00.000-07:00

One of the blogs in my Google Reader, posted the below "Lovely Advice":

Health:

Drink plenty of water.
Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.
Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
Live with the 3 E’s – Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy
Play more games.
Read more books than you did in 2010.
Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
Sleep for 7 hours.
Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

Personality:

Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
Don’t have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
Don’t over do. Keep your limits.
Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip.
Dream more while you are awake.
Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
Forget issues of the past. Don’t remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don’t hate others.
Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.
No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
Smile and laugh more.
You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Society:

Call your family often.
Each day give something good to others.
Forgive everyone for everything.
Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
Try to make at least three people smile each day.
What other people think of you is none of your business.
Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:

Do the right thing!
Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
However good or bad a situation is, it will change.34. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
The best is yet to come.
Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

Things to think about. There are areas above that I can improve on, so I'm going to take the challenge and make some changes to improve. Take my own "lovely advice".

king size bed

2011-04-27T20:03:00.001-07:00

What can I say? They really are enjoying the big bed.

Snow Chair & Bounce House

2011-04-27T14:47:00.000-07:00

Because the weather has been anything but predictable and it has been snowing more than I would like, Natalie got a new toy for the house. Blog world, meet "Jump-o-lene", "jump" meet the blog:

Yep, our house is a fun house, now equipped with toys - I'm next going to invest in "skinny" mirrors.

Now, back to that snow issue - not too long ago there was enough snow in the back yard to build a snowman and a killer snow chair. This is Natalie's "Queen" chair. She also has a little crown she likes to wear and when you say, "Natalie are you a princess?" she says, "No mama, I Queen!" We are all just living in her world.

3 Months

2011-04-27T14:38:00.000-07:00

Philip is already 3 months old, well actually he is closer to 4 months now, but figured I would post these photos anyway.

As a "birth" present, my Aunt gave Philip this adorable little rocking chair. I decided that it is the perfect chair to use to take his monthly photos.

At 3 months, he weighs 13 pounds 2 ounces and I'm not sure how long he is because he is always either being held or kicking his legs around too much for me to measure him. And he is super cute and fun and I love him!

This whole monthly photo thing is something I had wanted to do with Natalie, but forgot or didn't have time or something. Now, she is at the age where yearly photos make more sense - so starting in November, I'll try and remember to take her photo :) Until then, here she is in all her 29 month glory. It just so happens that she and Philip were both born on the 10th of the month (as I planned, ha ha ha - cue wicked laugh).

Wine Box

2011-04-27T14:36:00.000-07:00

After my recent trip the liquor store, Natalie found great joy in playing with the empty wine boxes. I guess this what people mean when they say kids have more fun with the boxes than the toys inside? Because Natalie doesn't like playing with wine, but loves these boxes. And I guess I'm not a kid any more because I don't get as much joy from the boxes, but man do I love me some wine!

Cabin

2011-04-25T20:05:00.001-07:00

Two weekends ago, before I got sick, we made the trip to the cabin for an over-nighter.

Natalie went up with my parents earlier in the day on Friday and Phil, Philip and I came up once we were both done with work. We had a great time, Natalie "played" chess with Phil, went on a few walks around the cabin to explore, played in the little bit of snow that was left, carried fire wood, got slivers, and very little sleep. All in all a pretty good time! Plus, Phil got to play golf on Saturday morning, which is always a treat.

Sitting in the chair together

playing chess

Chilling in the bouncer

Once we got home on Saturday, we "washed" the car. It was covered in mud and after I decided to wash it at home rather than the car wash, we realized that we didn't have soap, so I used dish soap, not such a good choice, but most of the mud came off.

That night we went to dinner with friends and then got some much needed sleep!

Flu

2011-04-25T10:20:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago, I had to go into the office to work. After a few nights of very little sleep, two very long days, being couped up in a room with a sick co worker, coupled with forgetting to take my vitamins I started to feel sick. By Tuesday of last week, I was feeling pretty off, so I made an appointment with a new doctor, but by later that afternoon, I had convinced myself that it was just a cold and didn't need to go to the doctor, so I cancelled the appointment. That night we had Godfather and Auntie over for dinner and I felt a lot better. Now I see that was the calm before the storm.

Wednesday morning, I woke up and literally couldn't get out of bed. Phil took the kids and I stayed under the covers. I had the chills, but I knew I had a fever, my head hurt when I moved my eyes around, and I had to cough, but my chest and throat hurt so bad when I would. I finally decided to drag myself out of bed and down to get coffee...which was sure to be the cure. Well, standing up I realized that I was so achy I could barely stand, which meant that I had to hold on to the wall to stand up. Perfect! I got some coffee and promptly called the doctor and scheduled an appointment at 1:45 that afternoon. After two meetings, I cleared my schedule, and decided i needed a shower and sleep. I showered in the hottest water I could stand and then tried to fall back to sleep. Woke up 30 minutes before I had to leave for the appointment and tried to put my shoes on without falling over. I joked to Phil that if you had seen me you might remark, "how did that homeless woman get such a nice coat". I looked pretty much like a street person.

I got to the doctor, got back into the room where the nurse took my temperature, 103, and then took my pulse rate. She stopped, looked and me and said, "wow, that is one of the fastest heart rates I've ever taken." Pretty much at this moment, I thought they were going to rush me to the emergency room. However, they didn't - they made me wait for the PA to come in. She said she felt like I had a lot of things going on, but most likely the worst symptoms were being caused by the flu. So they swabbed me for that, which involved sticking a long brush thing up my nose - I don't recommend it. And even though I had gotten a flu shot while pregnant, the swab came back positive. The doctor gave me Tamiflu and I went on my merry way.

I went home, started taking the Tamiflu, and tried to fall back to sleep. Phil got home and wiped everything down with Clorox wipes and we waited for my parents to bring us dinner. They came over, my mom helped me change the sheets on the bed downstairs and get it ready for me to sleep. We ate dinner, I fed Philip and then everyone left. The next day, I had two meetings then took the rest of the day off and tried to sleep...but couldn't, so I rested my eyes. My parents brought us dinner again and helped us wipe everything down with Clorox once again. By Friday, I was starting to feel a little better, so Phil and I decided to get take out and stay close to home. We had a nice night, until I realized that the reason my nose was hurting so much was because I had fever blisters all inside my nose and around the edges. It pretty much broke me, as if the flu wasn't bad enough, now I had to deal with this. Not only are they painful, they are contagious - one more thing to protect the kids from and they are not attractive. It was a blow I wasn't expecting.

I crashed that night and felt much better on Saturday. Other than the fever blisters and an occasional cough, I'm pretty much back to normal. The crazy thing is that I normally don't get sick. In the over 5 years since I've know Phil, I've only had a handful of colds and I've never had a fever and now in the course of two months, I've been sick twice. Clearly, this is what lack of sleep will get you!

Good Weekend

2011-04-05T08:58:00.000-07:00

The weekend started with a trip to the liquor store and ended with a trip to Ikea. At which store do you think I spent more money?

******Update******

The liquor store beat Ikea by about $10 - or a six-pack for Phil.

Belated Birthday

2011-03-29T15:30:00.000-07:00

We celebrated my mother's birthday on Friday, again on Sunday and we are going to be celebrating again tonight. Can't celebrate her too much!

She is a wonderful person, one of my best friends, an amazing mother, sister, friend, wife, grandma...the list could go on. We are so glad we live so close to my parents and I'm extremely happy that my kids get to spend as much time with Grandma as they do. I can only hope that Natalie and Philip love me as much as I love her and that they want to hang around me as much as I want to hang around my mama.

Happy Birthday mama!

Tasty apple cake I made - I knew I was forgetting to add something, then halfway through the cooking process, I realized I left the nuts out...which is why they ended up on top.

Getting the candles lit

Action shot

love this look, like "seriously mom, another photo?"

Smile!

2011-03-29T15:21:00.000-07:00

Philip started smiling and talking a few weeks ago, but this is one of the first smiles I caught on the camera. He can be so sweet!

This is mid "coo"

almost a full smile

There it is

And in other big news, he rolled over on Sunday night. He was enjoying some tummy time and started to tip, rolled to his side and just kept kicking and moving his arms until he finally made it to his back. Natalie rolled from her tummy to her back when she was three and a half months old, so Philip is clearly going to give her a run for her money in the milestone department.

I mean, seriously...could he be any better looking? I think not

DIY Spice Jar

2011-03-29T15:14:00.000-07:00

I was scrolling through a bunch of DIY websites and mommy blogs the other day and came across a mom who made a bunch of spice jars for her daughters play kitchen. This mom bought cute little jars and printed cute little labels and filled each jar with beads that matched the color of the spice. Well, I knew I could do something just as cute and special for Natalie all while helping the environment. Yep, I was going to make "green" spice jars.

While we were at the fabric store buying the headboard fabric, I picked up some little fake pearls that would act as the "spice" in the jars. Next was to figure out what jars to use, which is when the green idea hit me. Whenever I use the last of a specific spice in my spice cupboard I put it to the side of the cupboard to remind myself to buy another bottle of it. I took these empty spice jars, filled them with some fake pearls and then used my hot glue gun to glue them shut.

We now have fake Cloves, Garlic Powder, Cinnamon, Oregano, and Cinnamon Sticks in our play kitchen. And I have enough pearls left over for a few more bottles once we use up the existing real spice.

DIY Headboard

2011-03-22T14:43:00.000-07:00

After we got our new bed we needed a headboard and I didn't want to spend hundreds of dollars to buy a new one, so I decided to DIY one. I found a few online guides and decided that for this first project I would just make a basic rectangle headboard, easy peasy.

Here is what I did:

1. Taped out the outline on my wall so I knew about how big it would be, then put the pillows on the bed and sat back, was it tall enough? YES. My headboard measures 2 inches wider than the actual bed and is 36 inches tall.

2. Bought the supplies: 1/2 inch plywood (which my dad bought, cut to size and sanded), fabric and batting (which was wide enough & on sale), D hooks, nails & screws . I decided to do two rolls of batting and no foam, only because the store didn't have the foam they had advertised and I wanted to get it done that day. The batting was thick enough so I was happy with it.

3. Lay out the fabric on a big surface - I used my kitchen island, but you could use the floor or a table. Also, iron the fabric if it isn't ironed already. Then lay the batting/foam on top of that and then the plywood on top of that. Here is where I made a slight mistake. I forgot to make sure I had enough fabric on all sides to wrap around the batting and to the other side of the fabric - don't make that mistake.

4. Now, get the staple gun out. Or in my case be glad your dad brought his because you can't figure out how to put staples in your gun. We stretched the fabric around all sides and started to staple every few inches. We stapled the sides first, then the top and then the bottom.

5. After we got all the fabric stapled in place, we placed the "D" hooks onto the back of the headboard. My dad then measured where, based on the "D" hooks we should place the nails for the hooks to hang on. He hammered the nails into the wall, we took a deep breath that the measurements were right and lifted the headboard towards the wall. We hung the headboard on the first try!

6. Take a step back and admire your work; or lay down and rest your head on your wonderful headboard.

So there you have it, a great looking (if I do say so myself) headboard, all made in a few hours.

It came, we fought, it won

2011-03-22T14:25:00.000-07:00

No amount of Lysol could keep that little cold Natalie caught from grabbing a hold of Phil and me and dragging us through the mud.

It started two Thursdays ago...

Phil had mentioned that he thought Natalie had a lisp when she was talking, and that night I confirmed that it was a lisp, but it was a cold induced lisp. Then that night, she couldn't fall asleep because she was having trouble breathing through her nose and it really bugged her. She would almost fall asleep and then wake up screaming because of her nose. Phil took the first two hours holding her, then I spent two hours holding her in the recliner while Phil held Philip, then I traded him Philip for Natalie and it was morning soon after that. The next night was better, I bought a new humidifier, baby chest rub, gave her tea and honey and we had her take numerous hot showers so she could take deep breaths of steam. On top of that, she let us suck the gunk out of her nose once or twice and she got pretty good at (finally) using the saline nose spray. While this was going on, I kept repeating, "we won't get sick, we won't get sick" all while spraying anything that could be sprayed with Lysol.

Once Natalie was sick, she ended up sleeping in our room where she was most comfortable, and I took Philip to the basement bedroom, to keep him away from the germs. About four days later, Phil said he felt he was getting sick. Oh no! I immediately started taking Zicam, drinking gallons of green tea, gargling with salt water and drinking plenty of other fluids too to hopefully avoid getting the cold. A few days after he got sick, it hit me too. Now, I don't remember the last time Phil had a cold, and I haven't had a cold in over a year (February 1st 2010 to be exact), so I guess we were both due, but seriously I would rather have the 24 hour stomach flu than have a cold. I was miserable! And to make everything worse, I was still bound and determined to keep Philip healthy so I kept cleaning and started to wear a mask to sleep so I wouldn't breathe on him while I was sleeping. SERIOUSLY, I sleep in a mask. I need to have Phil take a picture so I can show Philip later in life, "This is what I did for you...eat your vegetables".

We are almost all better and knock on wood, Philip still hasn't gotten sick!! Guess the mask is working, that and all the Purell and Lysol we have been using.

Sharing

2011-03-12T14:24:00.000-08:00

Our poor little bug has caught a bug...

Natalie has a cold, lucky for her and us it is only about the third cold she has ever had. It hit like a ton of bricks on Thursday night and now we are hoping it leaves as quickly as it came. I've cleaned all the sheets and washed every handle and light switch in the house in the hopes that everyone else, namely baby brother, stays healthy.

Poor Natalie doesn't understand why she can't hold baby brother or why sneezing on him isn't the best idea. All she wants to do is share...

Two Months Old

2011-03-10T10:28:00.000-08:00

ALREADY??

Wow, time flies! Philip is two months. We took him to the doctor Thursday morning for his check up and he is growing like a weed! He is 11 pounds 11 ounces (51%) and 23 & 1/2 inches (72%) long...which means that he has gained almost 4 pounds since birth and grown 3 inches!

Before Natalie was born, I asked Phil what type of personality she would have and he said "well, hope it is like mine, because I don't think I could handle two of you." Gotta love his honesty. And he was right, Natalie has a pretty easy going personality, just like her daddy. Which means she is pretty much up for anything, anytime. Stay up late? Okay, sleep in? Okay, No food while we travel? Okay...and we don't have to deal with tantrums (knock on wood). So easy...

Well, I think the opposite is true of Philip...He is totally MY son. He is developing a schedule and let's you know when you aren't doing what he wants when he wants it. If he is hungry - don't mess with him, when he is tired - don't mess with him. He wants to eat, take a bath and go to sleep by 8:30 or 9:00 pm...which is VERY difficult for us, because that is when we are putting Natalie down. He doesn't care, he wants us to accommodate him, which we are trying to do.

I was telling my mom about this schedule he is trying to put us on and how the doctor told us to be ready for tantrums. I said to my mom, "The doctor said that he will throw himself on the ground and freak out...seriously I think he is like me!" My mom said, "yes, sounds like it. When 10:30 rolled around I knew to feed you, otherwise you would scream. When you didn't get your way, you would throw tantrums...in fact there are still marks on the wall from you kicking it." I guess she is telling me what goes around, comes around??

Hope we can adjust our schedule to meet Philip's needs, or that he adjusts his to meet ours :)

love how high his pants are

Back to work

2011-03-10T10:24:00.001-08:00

I decided to go back to work when Philip was 8 weeks old, which meant that I started back on Monday. Luckily for me, my boss is great and I'm able to work part time, from home. AND as if that wasn't awesome enough, I get to sort of pick and choose my hours. So basically, I work when I have stuff to do and when I have meetings. This has worked out to be about 4-5 hours a day and is awesome, because I'm still able to take a break when needed, so I can hold Philip or play with Natalie.

One thing I wasn't expecting to happen was that I would have to travel so soon...my first trip is three weeks away. I'll be gone for four nights, and my plan is to take my mom and Philip. I don't think I could leave him at his young age for so long and honestly, he probably wouldn't want me to. I'm hoping to book our tickets some time today...travel with a baby, haven't done that in a while. Hope it all works out.

Sleep

2011-03-03T13:56:00.000-08:00

The new king size bed came on Monday and in a word it is heaven! There is finally enough room for 4 people in one bed. When I get around to making the bed again, I'll take a photo to show you the amazing-ness. Also, my dad and I are going to DIY a headboard, which should be exciting. I have measured, found the shape I want, and now I just have to buy the fabric, foam and wood. But, my dad said he is excited to get to work on the project...his retirement has been good to my DIY projects :)

Here are a few of the other exciting things that have been going on around here:

Natalie clearly has my dance gene :)

My parents took Natalie swimming again on Sunday, before she went we braided her hair so it wouldn't get in her eyes. This is the only photo I could take of her...she got SO shy when I pulled out the camera

For good measure, here is a cute (relaxed) Philip in his car seat. Those gorgeous big eyes get me every time.

Feel like a Real Housewife

2011-02-23T19:14:00.000-08:00

Do you watch Bravo TV? I'm addicted to a lot of the shows, but one in particular is on my DVR a lot! The Real Housewives of name the city...I watch them all

Well, I'm having a Camille moment - Last week and this week, our nanny has needed to take half days and let me tell you, it is hard! I feel silly saying it, but seriously taking care of Natalie and Philip is a lot of work! On a normal day we don't get out of our PJ's until noon and yesterday Natalie stayed in her pj's ALL DAY.

One blessing has been our new baby carrier, the Ergo Carrier, which allows me to hold Philip all morning while playing with and chasing Natalie around the house. We only stop playing every few hours so I can feed Philip. I figure if I was going to be making a career change which involved being a full time stay at home mom we would eventually get into a routine which would involve getting dressed before noon on most days and maybe even leaving the house.

Swimming

2011-02-23T19:09:00.000-08:00

The past few Sundays my parents have been taking Natalie swimming. She LOVES it!

Last Sunday it was really snowy, but they are such good grandparents that they dredged through the snow to take Natalie. Well, you might wonder what one should wear swimming when it is cold and snowy...

This is what my fashionista decided on. (plus the hat and coat mom insisted on)

yes, I think she is posing

The Plan

2011-02-23T14:42:00.000-08:00

So, we have been on the "plan" for 7 days. One week and multiple doses of medicine later...

A N D...

We might be on to something here! So far, Philip seems do be doing much better. He is happier after he eats and fusses less at night, which is making all of us happier too. We have also discovered that he had/has trouble falling asleep on his own, but if I can rock him to sleep before he gets overtired, he is much more agreeable. In addition to all of this, he has started to smile, which makes all of the lack of sleep, rocking, bouncing, singing, etc. worth it.

For now, I'm not going to try the final step of the plan, dairy elimination; although, I did buy a bunch of soy milk at Costco only to find out that most kids with a dairy allergy also have a soy allergy too...oh well.

Who knew

2011-02-16T19:46:00.000-08:00

Who knew that babies cry? I know I have a daughter and we added a son, so you would think I would have a leg up on this whole parenting thing, but there are days that I'm lost in the weeds.

We are over 5 weeks into this baby business and I still don't feel like we things figured out. The only thing I know for sure is that he really likes mom. I seem to be the only person who can calm him down, which is really nice, but at the same time really hard!

I finally trusted my mothering instinct (after reading many many online articles on everything that could be wrong or causing him to cry) and took Philip to the doctor. Turns out that he has thrush, possibly acid reflux and maybe (you know, for the cherry on top) an allergy to cow's milk, which is in my breast milk because I eat dairy ALL THE TIME. The doctor put us on a 2-3 week plan. He said we can combine week one and week two (which we are doing) so this week we are trying a few things. First is the medicine for thrush, which involves not only a dose of medicine that we rub in his mouth, but also a cream that I rub on my boobs (tmi?) to combat the thrush on both fronts. In addition to this, I'm sterilizing everything that goes in his mouth and will continue to sterilize everything until the thrush has left the building (which I hope is within a week). In fact, today I picked up some baskets to keep in the kitchen, one for the "needs to be sterilized" baby stuff, the "sterilized and ready to use" and one for his medicine.

The second step of week one (or if we would have waited, week two) is medicine for acid reflux. When Philip was born the doctor mentioned that she thought he might have some reflux, but by his second week check up he was gaining so much weight that she said it probably wasn't something to worry about. Well, skip to present day and I'm now begging for medicine. So, he is now taking a twice-daily dose of zantac and a once daily dose of prilosec. Yes, they actually make these medicine in "baby version". We hope to see improvement

Now, on to the third step. The doctor said that it is possible that the thrush is causing Philip pain and that is why he has been fussy and if it isn't that, it is possible that it is truly acid reflux; however, if in a week we aren't seeing any improvements I'm to start "phase three". This is the step in the plan that I'm dreading...It is the "TOTAL dairy elimination". You see, although no one (that I know of) on my or Phil's side of the family has an allergy to milk, there is a chance that Philip does and the fact that I drink milk or eat dairy and it is getting into my breast milk and upsetting Philip's tummy.

Now, to know me is to know how much I LOVE cheese, milk, and basically anything dairy, so the thought of having to give up dairy for the entire time I'm breastfeeding is a not-so-tasty pill to swallow. It is also breaking my heart to think that it is something that I'm doing that is causing Philip discomfort. Every time he cries I think "this is because of me". To top it all off, I'm producing too much milk, so much so that poor Philip gags when he eats...so I'm now working on tricking my body into not thinking it needs to produce so much milk.

Seriously, if it isn't one thing, it is another. With Natalie, breastfeeding was so hard in the beginning, but then that is all she wanted. With Philip, breastfeeding has been a breeze until now when we realize that we have all these other issues. Parenting is totally a guessing game, just when you think you have things figured out you realize that every baby and every situation is different. Add to that all the pressure we as parents put on ourselves and other parents. I remember thinking, when Natalie was little and never fussed, what is wrong with those parents of fussy babies? Well, now I know there is nothing wrong with them. I'm going to try and put less pressure on myself and project less judgement on others; here's hoping I can.

So lucky you found me

2011-02-15T10:36:00.001-08:00

This post is a day late, but this week I'm playing stay-at-home mom to two children and WOW is it exhausting and time consuming! The only reason I'm posting right now is because my mother and father came over to help me take care of the kiddos.

My super sweet husband sent me an email yesterday morning that said "I'm going to order the new bed" the new KING size bed. If you remember from a previous post I explained that the solution to our sleep "crisis" would be a king size bed. Well, that sweet husband solved the crisis and ordered the bed. It should be delivered in the next few weeks and hopefully we will all get more sleep by then. Of course, Murphy's Law suggests that by the time we get the new bed set up, Natalie will no longer want to sleep in our room and Philip will want his space too...but I'm glad we have it just in case ol' Murphy is wrong.

What a Valentine's day gift! On top of that he came home with a card for me that was super sweet...and said exactly what I needed it to say. Because forgot to pick up a card for him or make him one, here is my electronic card.

Phil, I love you, love the life we have together and am so excited for what the future holds. I'm so glad you found me :)

Bouncy House Madness

2011-02-08T21:29:00.001-08:00

Last weekend we were all invited to attend a birthday party for the son of one of my friends. The party was held at a place called Kangaroo Zoo. Basically it is a giant room that is full of all these giant inflatable bounce houses and slides. Natalie was in heaven!

She was fearless and climbed even the biggest slides in the place, even when I (the over-protective, worried mom) was saying, "Are you sure you should climb that...maybe just the small slides..."

climbing the slide ladder

on her way down

Jumping on the inflatable crab

Giant slide teeth

Bottom of slide

Family of four

2011-02-08T21:18:00.001-08:00

We had some family/newborn photos taken before Philip turned two weeks old. Kirstin Roper took the photos and we couldn't be happier! I love that they were taken in our home, and I think show how we live and who we are.

Here are a few of my favorites. We had over 500 photos to choose from, so it was hard to find favorites!

And here is the post Kirstin did on her website: http://kirstinroper.com/blog/?p=1206

One month

2011-02-08T10:40:00.000-08:00

We have made it to the four week mark!! And, knock on wood, things are starting to fall into more of a groove. For the past few weeks, Philip has shown signs of what the doctor called "a form of colic" in the evenings, which really meant that he liked to be held, walked, bounced, etc. As long as you were moving and he was in your arms he was fine. It also meant that he seems to have more gas in the evenings, so feedings normally resulted in a lot of burping and a lot of tooting. There were nights I thought I had reached my breaking point and after not sleeping much at night, mornings were harder and harder and crying seemed to be part of my daily routine. BUT, things have started to turn around! Philip is less gassy at night, which means he is in less discomfort, which means we are all in less discomfort. We also (finally) moved the crib out of Natalie's room and into Philip's room, and although he has never spent the night in the crib, I'm hopeful that will happen eventually.

Philip is a good eater. I seem to nurse him about every two to three hours, even at night - which is really hard. My life is now broken into two hour chunks of time. I think, "what can I accomplish in the next two hours", or "holy crap, it's already been two hours?" One great thing has been the fact that he will actually take a bottle. After the fiasco with Natalie never taking a bottle we decided that we should get him on the bottle early, and keep giving him a bottle every day so he would continue to take them once I went back to work. Lucky for us, he loves to eat and has taken to the bottle (again, knock on wood).

Because he is such a good eater, he is growing like a weed! I've already started to put away clothes that he doesn't fit into. Nothing that says Newborn on it will fit him, so does that mean he isn't still a newborn? Any way...to give you an idea of his growth, when he was born he weighed 7 pounds, 15 ounces, when we left the hospital he weighed 7.10, two days later he was 7.12 and one week later he was 8 pounds 15 ounces! A pound in one week? Phil weighed him about a week ago and he tipped the scales at over 9 pounds. So, growing like a weed! I fully expect him to out weigh Natalie soon :)

Here are photos of him, taken at the one, two, three and four week mark.

One week

Two weeks

Three weeks

Four weeks

Now, I'm off to nurse my sweet boy

The sleep confession

2011-01-31T13:18:00.000-08:00

It all started when we brought Natalie home from the hospital...well, maybe a little further back than that. When we got married we bought ourselves a new bed frame and mattress, a Queen...which felt very large because we had been sleeping on a full. Everyone at Phil's work told him that he was crazy to get a queen and that he should have opted for a king, but we didn't need the room and when we traveled and had a king size bed it just felt too big. We usually only slept on one side, so the queen made sense to us. Fast forward to the birth of Natalie.

I was never someone who thought I would want kids in my bed. After all, my parents had never allowed us kids to sleep in their bed, even when we were little, so why would I want to. Old thinking seemed to be my thinking at the time. I spent countless nights sleeping in the recliner holding Natalie so she would sleep, nursing on and off throughout the night and then napping in our bed (with Natalie) after Phil had left for work. Not only was I (socially bullied into being) opposed to letting Natalie sleep with us, I was also terrified that we would smother her or crush her while sleeping. So, to the recliner I went.

This continued on for months after she was born and then one night it all changed. She came into our bed to sleep and she never looked back. We all slept fine, no one was smothered and the queen size bed seemed to fit us. When I would travel, she would end up in bed with Phil around 2:00 am and when Phil would travel, she would end up with me in our bed. It became a habit and was easier to let her go back to sleep in our room than to fight her back to her bedroom. We caved...because we needed sleep more than a middle of the night argument. We were also totally opposed to letting her "cry it out" or figure it out on her own. She was a baby and needed me, so I couldn't let her cry - I would rather be tired than let that happen. Which only added to our assertion that we weren't doing anything wrong letting her sleep with us.

Fast forward to the arrival of Philip...the first night home from the hospital I slept in the recliner, and for the life of me, have NO idea how I spent so many nights in that chair with Natalie. By morning, my back hurt so much I could barely walk and was TIRED...more tired than I should have been. I decided on the second night to try and keep him in the bassinet next to our bed, but that didn't work, because every noise he made I thought he needed me or was going to wake up. About an hour into the night, he was in bed sleeping on my chest and we both slept for 4 hours! Over the next week we spent time in my bed, the recliner, and the basement couch. But, my bed was the most comfortable and I seemed to sleep better and we all know that a well rested mommy is a happy mommy.

The problem with our bed, as comfortable as I might be, is around 2:00 am (most nights) Natalie joins us...Phil, me and Philip. Four people in a queen size bed doesn't work so well. Especially when one of those people (Natalie) doesn't realize that it isn't nice to do pinwheels in bed and kick the people around her. So when she comes in, Philip and I are out. Which means I'm not getting the sleep I need which isn't goof for anyone. Last week in a moment of desperation I almost drove to Costco to buy a king size bed; didn't know how I would get it home or inside the house or where our queen size bed would go...but I didn't care. I'm still working on the logistics and have warned Phil that he might come home one day to a new bed.

It is pretty funny that my feeling that kids shouldn't sleep in your bed has so dramatically changed. I no longer have a problem with it...in fact, last night Philip and I went to bed, in my bed at midnight and slept for 4 hours, I fed him, then we went back to sleep for another four hours...and it was GOOD sleep. Natalie joined us around 6:00 and Phil left us around 7:00. I'm not ashamed, because I'm well rested. If it works for you, do it, if it doesn't then don't, but I for one will not be judging others for co-sleeping or not co-sleeping.

Now, if I could just figure out how to fit a king size bed in the back of my car...