SD's Blessing

Sunday was SD's blessing. She did well and was quiet through the entire blessing and daddy's blessing for her was beautiful! We are so blessed to have this little girl in our lives and I pray that she has a healthy life full of success, happiness, and love:)

Do they look alike?

I get this question a lot. What do you think?

Christmas 2009

Dancin' Diva (old pic)

She was 4 months old and I have always loved this picture because you see all of her chubby little face:)

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!!!

Sleeping Beauty, PB&J, and smiles:)

So I'm no writer by any means, but this title is what came to mind when I went to get DD from her nap.

When we decided I would stay home with the girls I knew I would love it, but I knew it would be work also. I knew that I would need to make sure I taught my girls life lessons, that I would need to make sure they were learning, and that we would need to have lots of FUN:) I also knew I would have tender, sweet, ordinary moments that would stick with me and them forever!

So today's ordinary moment was going to get my toddler from her crib. I do this everyday, twice a day, but today touched me differently. She took a 3 hour nap (longer than she normally does, but she didn't have a morning nap) so part of me missed her running around because she slept for so long. When I went to get her I was ready!!! Ready to see her smile, ready to see her reach for me, and ready to feel her little hand pat me on the back as I walked her down the stairs to get her PB&J sandwich and chocolate milk.

Today, as I made her sandwich I felt like I was back in my master's degree program training to be a school counselor. I FELT the importance of staying at home with my children. It's not that I didn't think it was important before today, but I FELT it today and it was strong and I wanted to document this moment. I wanted to post this here and shout to the world that I LOVE BEING A SAHM!!!

Yes, she's in the drawer. She's climbing in EVERYTHING now!!!



Now for the smiles part of this post:

I love these girls!!!

Thinking about...

Running!

Yes, I'm thinking about running a marathon...eventually. I want to start with a 5k, then a half marathon, THEN a marathon. For those of you who don't know when I was in college I was on the dance team. However, we would joke that we were the NC State TRACK team, not dance team because we ran sooooooooo much. We would run AT LEAST 3 miles, 4 days a week and then we would practice for 3 hours. We also had to do timed miles in under 7 minutes and 30 seconds in order to dance at any performance.

So when I think about getting back into shape in addition to my pilates DVD I also want to run. Wow! I thought I would never say that, but it was always a great workout and it maintained the college figure I was so proud of back in the day:)

I've looked up some training schedules and I've found that if I never actually enter into a race the workouts are excellent running schedules.

Anyone got any tips before I embark upon this journey?

Moments

Sorry, but November has been a blur as far as "Moments: go. We celebrated my birthday, DD was with Grandmom and Granddad for almost two weeks while we awaited SD's arrival, and then SD came. So we didn't witness many DD Moments. She has blossomed this month though. She has all kinds of words in her vocabulary, she's eating better, and she LOVES her little sister. Hopefully I'll be better about DD Moments in December.

Nov - DD likes to put her head down on the ground and get into a tee pee position. This lets you know she wants to flip. Well Grandmom was giving her a bath and she mentioned one of the toys flipping. DD then proceeds to put her head down...in the water!!! A little shocked, yes, but she kept doing it! She's so silly:)

11/17 - DD can now tell me when she wants to get "up" and "down" from anything. Everyday she gets more words!

11/18 - DD finally got her first tooth!!! Apparently she cannot be outdone by her sister who's still not here yet.

11/26 - Me, Grandmom, and daddy were at the dining room table talking and eating Thanksgiving lunch when DD tells us to shhh. We can't figure out why until she gets down, heads over to Granddad (who has Singing Diva, who is sleeping), looks back at us and repeats shhh. Apparently we were too loud:)

11/29 - DD has a book that she "read" all by herself. She says her own version of the word and then does the sound for each. It's adorable:)

Here are some cute pictures to enjoy of both girls:)

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We are so blessed to have family in town so we still got to have the two Thanksgiving meals we're accustomed to:) We figured it was not the best thing to take a four day old out around lots of people, but we really wanted the food because Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.

Candy and Rick came over and brought us lunch and hung out for a bit. Then later on that afternoon my mom brought dinner and took DD to visit with my family. It was a wonderful day! We still got to see some family, eat really good food, and relax.

Welcome Singin' Diva

My labor experience again was awesome!!! I think in a lot of ways it was better actually. At 11:30pm Saturday night (Jeremy's birthday) I started timing contractions because I was getting a little uncomfortable earlier in the day. Nothing too bad though. So they were coming, but I knew we weren't "in labor." So the night goes on and around 1:15 am I wake up from a little nap watching TLC and feel like I maybe had gone to the bathroom...maybe my water breaking (sorry if that's TMI)! When I go and get freshened up it happens again so I call the midwife that's on-call. She wanted me to lay down for 30 minutes and then walk for 30 minutes to see if it happened again (another gush happens as we talk by the way). She also reminded me that the contractions could start to come really heavy if it was indeed my water. So not even 10 minutes after hanging up with her the contractions were coming 2-3 minutes a part, then 1-2 minutes. I went through this for an hour because she wanted me to call back in an hour. When I did call back she asked me to come on in. So at this point I'm going through some good contractions but didn't want a false alarm like with DD.

So once we get to the hospital the midwife checks me and I'm a 5/6 and it was my water!!! Yipee:) I know I'm not going home now. So to make a long story story...I got to Women's at 3:00am, to my room by 3:30am, epidural was in and working by 4:15am, and when I got checked at 5am I was 9 and a quarter!!! Oh my goodness!!! The Midwives switched out and the only reason I didn't start pushing sooner was because she was trying to discharge 3 other women. So when she finally got to me I started to push at 9:55am and SD was here at 10:35am.

I was very proud of myself. I could have totally stayed home for at least another hour or so but after being a week overdue I was excited to do something. It was an awesome experience and I can't wait to do it again, but I am going to enjoy the two that I have for a couple years this time...ha!

Side note: Isn't it funny how at the end of pregnancy you can't wait to be done, but as soon as labor starts and that baby is here you can't wait to do it again. Hilarious!!!

SD and the proud daddy:)
Weight 8lbs 12 oz
Length 20 in
Time 10:35 am

I love my girls!!!

Erika's Journal - November 2009

November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving! I am so blessed to have such a beautiful family:) My in-laws came over to bring us Thanksgiving lunch, DD is with my mom enjoying Thanksgiving with the extended family, and SD is sleeping. It's quiet and it's given me a moment to really think about life's blessings and who and what I am thankful for. I love my life and am happy I get to live it with such wonderful people. I am grateful for the fullness of the gospel, that I have it in my life, and that I can share it with family and friends.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody:)

Happy Birthday Jeremy!!!

Daddy and his girl on his special day:) Hopefully his other girl will join us soon!!! We love you!!!

Our cutie!!!

Reading her "ook" (book) while she "ock" (rock/rocks) in the chair.

Playing with daddy's hat:) She's such a funny girl!

Awww! There's that sweet smile:)

Momma, why are you flashing that light in my face while I watch my show and drink my milk?

Now SD can come:)

I FINISHED THE TWILIGHT SERIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now SD is free to come join the family:) The house is ready, I've got a fresh haircut, and I'm FINALLY done with the Twilight series. It's almost as though I've got this imaginary list in my head and slowly, but surely items are getting checked off. I'm too excited!

Now on to Coraline...

I'm 30!!!

So today is the big 3-0 for me so I wanted to post 10 things that I want to accomplish this year:

1. Starting date night with my sexy husband;)
2. Getting back into shape with a consistent workout plan.
3. Working on having FHE every Monday night.
4. Taking better care of my hair.
5. ACTIVELY LOOKING for opportunities to serve others.
6. Adding some classics to my reading list.
7. Drinking more water!
8. Making up my bed everyday (strange, yes, but I'm telling you when I do that first thing, the day is more productive).
9. I want to do Christmas shopping throughout the year so that I don't feel like we go broke trying to have a decent Christmas.
10. Having relaxation time for me everyday.

So there it is. These are the things I want to focus on this year. Wish me luck:)

Moments

10/2/09 - DD's really quiet in our bedroom so I send Jeremy in to check on her and she's on the step looking into the tub. Five minutes later M's quiet again so I go in the bathroom and she has climbed into the bathtub. (I watched her do it later that day and she actually knows how to climb in properly)

10/6/09 - DD and I were playing with her frog Taz that sings. She was done with him and when you don't touch him for a few seconds he says "bye bye." She walked away and said "eye yi." It was too cute!

10/9/09 - DD has a new word. It's "uh oh." Anytime she drops something or toots :) she says it now and it's the cutest thing ever!

10/12/09 - At the park today DD saw an Elmo stuffed animal and I heard her say what I thought was "e-mo" but I just went on because I wasn't sure. Well tonight J and I were talking and DD brings over an Elmo DVD and gives it to us and says, "e-mo." We both stopped and were, of course, amazed!!!

10/15/09 - We always say our prayers before we eat, but when DD eats before or after us sometimes we don't get one in with her. Well today I decided that we pray so much with her that she probably knows what we're talking about. Sure enough I say, "DD we're going to say a prayer." She proceeds to fold her tiny arms and gives me this big 'ole grin like she was so proud of herself. J and I were both really happy!

So daddy and DD have a workout routine that they do when I'm at the cheer gym...pull ups. When I came home tonight and J told me that she did 3 pull ups!!! Now she goes around the house trying to do pulls ups on everything...even the stove! We had to have a little conversation about that one.

10/19/09 - DD said "ball" today!!! She's known what a ball is for a while now, but she actually said the word. Where did my infant go?

10/21/09 - On the way home from story time today I gave DD a cracker and her milk. I was talking to my friend when I heard a little voice say, "ca- ca, ca-ca, ca-ca." She was saying cracker!!! I cannot believe how just all of a sudden she's saying words.

10/26/09 - DD is repeating everything we say and remembering the connection to the actual object. She said shoes, socks, and hi today!!!

10/30/09 - DD has a song that Grandmom sings to her that involves dancing and snapping fingers. When you sing it to her she goes in complete dance mode, hips shaking and all. She also snaps her little fingers when you change up the words. She IS my child:)

11/1/09 - During sacrament meeting when the sacrament was passed J whispers to DD about how we should think of Jesus. DD looks at him and repeats, "Jesus." If we weren't in church I think we would have both screamed.

Fall Festival

We had a fall festival at our church this past weekend and we had a blast. Dancin' Diva was here by the time Halloween came around last year, but she was just a little blob:) I knew she would be cute as our little bee, but as I started to dress her I was overcome with excitement. I knew it was the start of getting all mushy over future Halloweens and anytime, for that matter, our children get dressed up for anything.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Patch

Last week we went to a local pumpkin patch with our friends from church/Joy School. DD had such a good time at the pumpkin patch with her friends! She loved the freedom to run around and play in the patch. I guess I need to take the hint and let her run around in the backyard on the days we aren't already out and about.

The little pumpkin in her hand was the first one she picked up when we got there. We were a little early and were waiting on friends so she carried this little pumpkin around the ENTIRE time. It was adorable! So even though the price came with one pumpkin DD went home with two!
The 2.2 seconds DD actually sat down the entire time we were there. She just wanted to play in the patch:)

This is me, DD, and Grandmom on the hayride. (DD rarely ever smiles in pictures these days because she's always "talking.") The workers were singing songs with the kids and I was trying to help DD with the actions, but she was running towards the pumpkin patch...again.Here's DD and some of her friends coloring.

Finally, here's my "big" girl trying to pick up a huge pumpkin. She's so funny!

She had so much fun and I'm so glad we have this memory together as mother and daughter:)