Wednesday

I just had to post this sweet picture of my little Air Bear.  He just radiates sweetness sometimes! He is wearing his new little wolf hat from his Nana and Papadaddy.  He had a rough day today and seemed extra whiny.  But I suppose it has something to do with that top tooth coming in slowly.  Today I got a slow start on the day.  I wasn't sure what I wanted to do whether I wanted to get out of the house or clean.  In the end my laziness decided I would clean, because I didn't really want to take the time to look put together! Ha! So I picked up the kitchen and living room and then took the Christmas tree down.  I vacuumed which led to a melt down for Aaron.  I don't know why sometimes he acts like he is afraid of the vacuum, and other times not.  Weird.  Then we had lunch and I took as little of Grace's crib down as I could in order to get it out of her room and down the hall. (Which was difficult because her room was a disaster area and I didn't want to clean it for that task) My plan tentatively right now is to get the desk sold in Aaron's room and then put him in Grace's crib and the matching changing table in his room and then take down his crib to wait for the new little one. 

But after today and only partly taking apart Grace's crib maybe I won't care so much for his furniture to be matching.  And we will just move the crib to the garage for the next 4-5 months. 

Still not sure where I am going to put little baby girl when she is ready to move on out of the bassinet.  I am hoping she will be a good sleeper and be able to go into Grace's room.  But we will just have to play it by ear. 

Then after naps we cleaned up Grace's room and got it organized.  I have been going a little crazy and not wanting them to open up a lot of presents with little pieces because there isn't a system in place for Aaron's toys specifically.   I have to do some shuffling around of our coat closets and such so I have a place for their 'art' supplies.  Crayons, colored pencils coloring books and play doh need a new home.  Right now Aaron's favorite thing is to get into the cabinet were they are stored and dump the crayon bucket out and then put them in his mouth.  He colors a little bit but then Kayla starts eating the crayons-thus a big mess. So then I put the crayon bucket on the counter and then the counter starts filling up with 'stuff' and then I lose my mind again!

Daddy is having a guys night tonight and we have playgroup tomorrow morning.  Time for me to go read my new book,  The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo.  I probably should do some laundry, but think I will put that off until tomorrow.

Night! 

Christmas Stuff (Long Post)

I picked up this gingerbread house on clearance before Christmas and Grace and I had a great time putting it together,  It took some finangling and one broken wall but they gave us a bunch of icing so it worked.  Then she and Aaron had a blast eating the candy off!

 Aaron wishing he could help too! Just a drool bucket he is.  He is talking more, and walks up and down the halls following me saying, "Ma Ma Ma Ma!"

 The finished product side one.

 The finished product side two, with a cutie pie waving.

 This is Grace's new to her toddler bed.  Aaron loves being able to climb up into it.  I got it for $35 with the mattress and a pink fitted sheet.  It had some stickers on it and some paint scuffs.  We got all the stickers and paint off and the foot board still has some scratches but will work and Grace LOVES it.  Every night she is excited to sleep in her toddler bed.  And so far another added bonus she hasn't gotten out in the morning after two nights! In the morning when she hears me up with Aaron she calls out, "MOM!!! MOM!!!" K and I were pondering tonight whether she hasn't realized yet that she can get out, or what I think she is just is so behaved and used to routine. 

 After her first nap in her bed.  I have to record this funny story, on Christmas day Grace was acting up a bit and driving daddy a lil bit crazy with her constant sass.  We were getting ready to go up to K's grandmother's place and we were buckling her into her car seat and she was just being her lil spitfire self.  (Side note story) So at night we sing to Grace before bedtime and we sing You are my Sunshine.  One of the lines in the song is, "You never know dear how much I love you".  Grace runs around all the time saying, "You never know dear!"  Sometimes silly and sometimes full of sass.  The other thing she is always pointing out is who are boys and who are girls.  Like Daddy is a boy, Mommy is a girl and so on and so forth.  So anyways we had buckled her into the car seat and Daddy was getting into his seat telling her she needed to stop being so sassy or something to that effect.  She said something sassy, and K says, "I'm a warrior!!!!" in a boisterous voice.  And Grace replied as only she can, "I'M A GIRL...YOU NEVER KNOW DEAR!!!" K and I started cracking up at the underlining meaning.  It was the most hilarious thing and of course since we were laughing she thought she was just the cat's meow.

 

 We had a great Christmas with the kids.  They slept in till about 8am and that was perfect.  Grace was so thrilled and now that she can open presents a lot faster the morning spend by!  Which was great because last year it seemed to take hours and hours and we were just so busy.  This year we were able to spend some time just relaxing until it was time to cook and then head to K's grandmothers for the evening.  K also had Monday off after Christmas and so we spent another day doing nothing just hanging as a family.  Tonight we tried to take Grace to her first dance class but despite me calling earlier this afternoon to double check the instructor wasn't there.  Grace was a little disappointed but she had fun playing with daddy and singing with him on the way home and she quickly forgot.  We are going to try again next week. 

We are also planning Grace's birthday party.  I can't believe she is turning 3! My sweet first born is getting so big and articulate.  We are planning a joint birthday party at Bouncing off the Walls an indoor bounce house place with a little girlfriend of Grace's who is turning 4.  We went there a few times with playgroup during their 'open' bounce time, and decided to split the cost since our daughters birthdays are so close together and have the same friends.  It should be fun.

I finally am posting some belly pictures!!! I am 23 weeks along and hadn't taken any belly pictures of this sweet girl growing until tonight!  Another few more weeks and I will be in the third trimester.  This pregnancy has been pretty easy compared to the other two.  I am starting to feel the heaviness of pregnancy I suppose.  In the mornings my joints are creaky and I have my mattress topper on the bed which is great.  Still not a lot of heartburn or gas which is so great.  Today I did start to feel tired and took a shower when I put the kids down, then tried to take a nap.  It was great because both kids got great naps.  I have been working on transition Aaron to one long nap a day and today he did pretty well.  First this morning he slept straight through until 8am, no early morning fuss (he always wakes up on the wrong side of the bed), and he did wake up after an hour at nap time but then I settled him back down for another hour!!! WooHoo!

Tonight we are watching Cowboys vs Aliens which has been surprisingly interesting and not much alien footage which is good.  Hope you are enjoying your holiday as much as we are!

Merry Christmas!

Good morning everyone! I just wanted to do a real quick blog post and share our news.  K and I decided to wait to find out the sex of our last little one until Christmas morning and so officially we are annoucing we are having a...............girl!! We are so excited! Kind of funny too, because Grace kept saying she was having a little sister!
We are due April 21st, although I am sure she will come earlier, they all do! And besides I already feel as big as a house!
Wishing all my family and friends a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Happy Birthday to Jesus today.  Thank you for Your ultimate sacrafice!

What are you doing?

While I was in San Diego I went in to check on the kids during naptime or get Aaron, something like that and I found my sweet Grace had tried to climb out of the crib and had gotten stuck.  The picture of Aaron was right after, the flash kind of blinded him.

 Look at that face! My sister took these pictures for me because she kept getting mad at me for trying to take a picture with my cell phone! lol

 My kids snuggling together! I so love that, they are so precious.  Look at those baby feet!

So yesterday I was supposed to pick daddy up at the airport at 2:15pm and I needed to go to the grocery too.  So after Aaron woke up from his nap we headed out for an early lunch and then rushed through the grocery store (busy on a Saturday before the holiday).  We hurried home to unload the groceries and grab the dogs.  I had scheduled a 2pm dog grooming appointment for the dogs.  I figured since it was the holidays and I was pregnant I would pay to have them all clean for when K got home, and for the holidays too.  I had spent about 20ish minutes on the phone on Friday talking with the gal who tried to find me in their system.  They couldn't find me and I finally determined that I had fallen out of the system since it had been more than a year. (We had taken the dogs there to get groomed for the first time before Aaron was born when we were dealing with the MRSA fiasco).  So we scheduled the appointment and she told me that depending on what type of groom I got for them would depend on the cost.  And that was it.  No other information was given.
So I got home unloaded the groceries and loaded the dogs into the back of the SUV (normally they go in the truck, but being by myself they had to go in the SUV), I had planned to get there about 10 min early so that I had plenty of time to get to the airport, park and take the kids in to see their daddy! (Luckily we live close to this new Petco and close to the airport, otherwise I wouldn't have schedule it this way.) 
I get to Petco and take the dogs in.  The girl comes out to greet me and immediately asks me about the rabies certification.  I immediately have my hackles up because I know I don't have them nor was I told to bring them.  I think they will have it on their collars, but no the lady says that doesn't show a date.  So she tries calling my vet, like where did she get the phone number so fast too?? And of course they don't answer...so by law she CANNOT take the dogs.  I ask for the managers name and number and who was working the day before because they did NOT tell that information.  (Important information for someone who they deem a new customer don't you think??)
I was LIVID!  I now had to take my dogs back home and then go to the airport to pick up my husband.  I was pissed and pregnant!  I called the manager and was talking to her before I dropped my phone while trying to put the dogs in the backyard.  (So no resolution.)  Oh and then K had text me on the way home from Petco, so he had landed early. So not only was I pissed, but I was emotional too, because now I was way late.  One of the reasons I was so mad was because the woman in the grooming department was just so rude, and I think she was the one who took my call, because she told me that she worked yesterday and she didn't even OFFER an apology.  I worked in customer service for 10 years before I stayed home with my kids.  Sometimes you have to at least pretend to kiss some a$$.  This woman could have cared less that she had potentially done anything wrong.  I will probably try to call their corporate offices tomorrow, and be like a dog with a bone, because it was so upsetting and inconvenient for me, mom on the go, pregnant with two toddlers trying to get my husband from the airport.
Oh and I have to write this down before I forget.  Grace was so cute today.  She was talking with K and she was like, "Daddy your so beautiful.  Your chin is so beautiful.  Your eyes are so beautiful.  Your hair...I scratch your hair ok?"  Where does she get this stuff??
Then Aaron was cracking us up because he was blowing raspberries on K's tummy and getting it so slobbery but it was hilarious!!  He thought he was so funny, well he is so funny and cute too! Love my lil air bear!
     

Some more San Diego Pics

I know I haven't blogged in SO long.  Blogger made me update and it hasn't been as convenient as it used to be.  I decided to try to upload some pictures tonight and it actually went pretty quickly.  Unfortunately I don't have the patience or desire to do a long post tonight.  We had a great time in San Diego visiting with everyone.  A couple of pictures of Grace with her Papou on the carousel. And then some of the kids at the beach.  They had a blast playing in the sand.

 Of course I couldn't get them to both look at me at the same time.  Our flight home on Monday was a wreck.  We left my mom's house for the airport at 930am for a 11am flight.  The flight was delayed.  It was then delayed further while we sat on the tarmac waiting for a turn to use the runaway.  (It was pouring rain and we were a heavy flight packed to the gills.) Our flight was delayed an hour and an half total.  Suffice to say we missed our connecting flight.  On the way out of the bathroom with the kids, the flight attendant told me that if we were going to Salt Lake then we would staying on that plane in Oakland and going to Seattle (for a 2 hr flight) and then another 2 hr flight from Seattle to SLC.  I about died.  5 months pregnant with a 3 year old and a walking 14 month old on my lap. During lunch time.  Yeah they are not going to make it on peanuts.  I am not going to make it on peanuts! In Oakland they let me get off the plane and run and get some food.  Of course they only fancy schmancy food close by.  So I ordered $30 worth of sandwiches (not Subway) to take on the plane.  Which of course they just picked at. (I really don't blame them...I didn't think much of them either)  I only wish the Subway had been closer!  There was a sweet flight attendant that took Aaron and let him walk up and back down the aisle during that first flight.  Thankfully the two 2 hr flights were not full and we had the aisle to ourselves.  I had our stuff spread all over and boy did we make a mess, but after that first flight I really didn't care.  I was so ready to get off that plane in Salt Lake I had to choke back the tears.  Never flying Southwest again with young children.  They don't have straight flights from SD to SLC anymore, so it was supposed to be about 2 90 min flights and a plane change.  BUT... the kids were so good considering they were stuck on a plane and my lap mostly ALL day, because we didn't land until just about 8pm Monday night.  Then there was a nice lady to help me get all my stuff, I am so thankful for her too.

And now we are home safe and sound getting back into the swing of things here.  Had a prenatal appointment on Tuesday and apparently I gained 6 pounds while in SD...too much yummy good food! lol And my uterus is measuring ahead of schedule for how far along I am.  So that leads me to believe another early baby is on the way.  Wednesday we had playgroup and it was great catching up with my friends and letting the kids play.  Today I cleaned house a bit trying to organize day by day and pulled out some Christmas decorations.  We have to get the tree when Daddy gets back and of course we will have a million things to do with him when he does, but we will figure that out this weekend.  He comes home on Saturday afternoon and I for one am so excited to see him.  It has been 3 weeks and we need our daddy back home!  I think maybe some errands for tomorrow and hopefully some more packages will arrive.  It's funny Grace is so used to K getting packages delivered for his work that having 3 huge boxes in our front room 2 of which are for her and Aaron doesn't even phase her! Good thing she can't read they are from Amazon and not Daddy's work! LOL
Hope everyone is having a great holiday so far and I will try to get some more pictures uploaded soon.

Thanksgiving Camping Trip 2011

This year we got to go camping with my family for Thanksgiving.  We loaded up the kids and all the dogs (there were 7, 4 of which were German Shepherds) and headed out past Glamis.  We had 4 big rigs and 1 tent.  We had 18 people total. We had a blast, sitting around the campfire and playing Mafia and Catchphrase and just chit chatting with everyone.  The stars were beautiful at night and it was a great trip.

 

 Daddy and Grace having fun playing in the sand.

 Sisters who like to camp...

 Mom and Bruce

 Daddy snuggling with his babies.

 My newly married brother, checking the light for me, by striking a pose.

We headed back from camping the Saturday after Thanksgiving so we could get the RV cleaned and returned.  Then Daddy had to head back home.  He was home all last week while we stayed out here, and now he is working hard this week out in Rhode Island doing his training for his new job.  He will be there for 2 weeks and I am heading home with the kids in a week.