The Family

Fevers

2012-02-12T14:55:00.000-06:00

Etta and Lydia both have had fevers. Etta's fever today has been pretty high. so we have been watching her. She just grabbed the thermometer and told me "I'm checking my em-pa-chure". Then she pulled it out of her ear and said, "5, 6".

A few funnies...

2012-01-29T23:01:00.000-06:00

Lydia, found some bathing suits and brought them out to the front room where Etta was playing. Etta saw them and grabbed one and said "That's my bra". Then when we told her it was a swimming suit, she tried to pull it on over her feet and it was getting stuck and she started complaining, "It's my swimming soup".

Every night after I put Lydia down and Justin puts Etta down, Etta says to him "Go get Mommy, tell her to come in here." When I go in there she says she wants to sing a few songs. the songs we like to sing that she knows entirely are

When ever I hear the Song of a Bird..
I am a child of God
Popcorn Popping
ABC's
Twinkle Twinkle
I love to see the Temple
Wheels on the Bus

Lately at night when we are singing Etta has been talking about a pretend dinosaur that is trying to tickle her feet. I tell the dinosaur that he has to go to bed, then she likes to help me boss the dinosaur around. "No Dinosaur! Go to bed, in the corner!" "No, tickle my feet Dinosaur!"

Lydia is such a joy right now. Justin and I are constantly talking about how cute she is. She LOVES to dance to music, and will do a little stomping to the music... she also stomps her feet when she is mad. She has her opinions, and she lets you know about them.

About a two weeks ago when I was putting Lydia to bed we had just finished our family prayer and Etta and Justin were saying goodbye. Lydia, stopped nursing turned to them and said for the first time perfect as day (while waving) "Nigh-nigh", and turned back around to continue nursing. All three of us were dumbfounded! It was so cute!

She loves to try and use forks and spoons right now, and she actually does get some food in her mouth every once in a while.

Here are some recent pictures! (from last Sunday except the first one!)

This picture is sorta messed up, and she has chocolate drool all over her face, but I LOVE this cheeser she loves to flash at us! She does this whenever she knows she isn't supposed to be doing something...

Talking on the remote control!

Kitty is probably Lydia's favorite toy... poor kitty!

Lydia climbed up on our hearth and was dancing! It was really cute!

Etta found the harmonica, and Lydia was really impressed!

Lydia trying to blow on a harmonica.

Etta Dancing to Rapunzel.

Etta taught herself how to do a somersault

Funny Things

2012-01-12T22:36:00.001-06:00

Etta sayings:

My personal favorite : "I love you so much" she says it about everything. But it melt your heart when she stops looks and you and says "Mommy, I love you so much!"

"It'll be fun?!..." If she wants to do something, like watch a movie or go out side, she will say "Let's go outside?.. It'll be fun?, Okay- yeah- sure."

Call me back, kay? (Etta LOVES the phone, she always is impatient fer her turn, she doesn't care who she is talking to. Although Grandpa's might be her favorite.

She refers to Grandma and Grandpa as Grandpa and Grandpa.... She knows how to say grandma, but it usually comes out the other way! So funny!

"I wake up in two hours, alright?" I told her one day that she needed to take a nap for two hours, now when ever she goes to bed she says that... AND in the morning she will say "I wake up, I sleep two hours."

"I want some ice water." (it absolutely MUST have ice in it!)

Dogs "barf" (bark)

"Medicim" (medicine)

When Lydia is sad she will hold out her hands and say in a really loving tone "c'mere Lydia, I'n a hold you"

When Justin is at work she says "Daddy come home tomorrow?"

The other night when tucking Etta into bed she asked me to "Kiss my horefead." (forehead) (1/12/12)

We have an big huge sofa ottoman in the living room. Etta laid down on it on her stomach and was pulling herself across it on her belly. She said "Look! I'm climbing.... like a fish" (1/11/12)

She knows she is not supposed to say stop it, to mommy and daddy ( and pretty much everyone else since she yells it in a pretty rude way!) But she will catch herself saying it she starts yelling "Sto-" realizes she will get in trouble if she continues so she ends it in any other way she can... like Sto-(quitely and slowly) llk -it" and then smiles like she just got away with something that I didn't know about.

She really likes to draw. She is always asking us to draw hearts, starts, dinosaurs, sunbeams, happy faces and outline her hands, then ours.

Lydia:

Lydia, is such a sweet and funny baby.

She is very dramatic, and you can actually see her practicing her fake cry. If you respond to it, she will give a sly smile while trying to continue fake crying, but she knows at that point that she has already won, as she teeters her way over to you.

She loves to squeal with joy right now.

She loves to sing songs. If I sing, she will vocalize with me, and swing her hands and feet to the music!

She loves to follow Etta around. Today while I was making a treat for Relief Society I didn't realize Etta had swiped a box of cereal. But, it only takes about a minute of silence for me to know something is up. I found them in the back of my closet, trying to open the bag... Etta kneeling down and Lydia crouching over her waiting for the goodness to be shared! It was REALLY cute.

Lately when I get Lydia up from naps... from which she usually has at least a ten minute wait (you can call me a bad mother, but it is okay for them to play a little when they wake up before being "rescued!") Anyway, I come in and she is usually standing there with a HUG smile on her face, squeals with delight and then looks down at the floor around her crib, where she has been chucking all of her toys.

She absolutely loves lift the flap books right now. Every time I open a flap she happily screams with joy!

She knows what bags chocolate chips come in. If she sees me making anything with chocolate chips she will whine until she gets one...

She is still really light, but she is a really good eater. She loves food, and loves to rub it in her hair. And it is almost impossible to keep a bib on her.

She loves to cuddle her blanket and stuffed animals. Especially some little kittens that we have, she always shows me them when she finds them, she LOVES Kitty!

Here are some funny pictures I took of a tent I made for my babysitter. I mad ea pattern for my blog Remodelaholic. The girls where perfect models... and I didn't even dress them to match, but they both did, so it is even cuter!

Uh-oh!

2012-01-02T22:56:00.001-06:00

I've been meaning to write for quite a while. Lydia, has at least 3 new top teeth, they've come in the last few weeks, and also, her mouth has been pretty busy saying new words!

Smart little baby!!

Her first word is Mama! (Yea me!...except for the fact that she thinks her life is being wasted if she is not in my arms! maybe I should use that as an excuse to never do another load of laundry again!)

Her second word is Uh-oh! We were reading a book the other day and it says oops, every page. But I really like to read it as "Uh-oh!". This first time I read it, and had said uh-oh about 3 or 4 times. and then she started saying it along with me.

Lastly, she has been saying "No, no, no, no, no...."

She is SUCH a funny baby! She has the cutest gappy tooth grin!

Here are some pictures from October when we visited Mom and Dad. She was eating a carrot out of her garden!

(If we say smile she still closes her eyes, so I asked her to show me her teeth... and this is what she does, she points at her teeth!)

Christmas Reveiw

2011-12-30T21:09:00.001-06:00

( I wrote this for my other blog, but thought I would share it with my family since no one reads the other one.)

Well, we had a fabulous Christmas! I hope you all did too! I hope you don’t mind me sharing a bit of what we did this weekend…

Our friend Jenn from Asheville, who now lives in San Antonio came up to be with us for Christmas!

Friday night we had our traditional pizza by candle light dinner! (like here too)…. I didn’t get pictures! Whoops! After the girls were in bed, we decorated gingerbread houses.

Justin has been wanting to make an outhouse, and we had a lot of fun coming up with sayings like

“Have yourself a crappy little Christmas” or

“We hope you don’t have a crappy Christmas” sorry for the potty humor.

We had a visit from Santa on Saturday. I arranged things with the big man for a day sooner because church on Sunday was at 9:00 am and since the girls naturally wake up around 8:45… and Lydia takes a nap by 11:00 I knew that Sunday wouldn’t work!

We woke up and checked out all the wonderful things Santa brought! Which included a Rudolph stuffed animal, and he is one of Etta’s new besties now.

We decided on breakfast next, and our tradition is cinnamon rolls… but that has now been replaced with cinnamon roll pancakes, (much less prep time- same wonderful- calorific flavor!)

Then we went upstairs and opened all our presents… I should rephrase that, Etta opened all our presents. She was having the time of her life, and she pretty much assisted in the unveiling of each present until we were done (we do the take turns in order of age opening of presents)

(Lydia is a most adventuresome little girl, if she can get up on something she will, so finding her balancing on top of gifts has been a normal occurrence this month, This particular time was cute, cuz she climbed up to her toys all by herself and was quietly playing when we noticed her!

Gotta keep the husband’s tool collection well stocked, especially if I want projects to get done!

The biggest surprise was a Wii… and a Zumba game for me- I am really excited about this! Only 1 1/2 months to loose the rest of my baby weight before she is a year old!

By the end, Lydia was exhausted and ready for bed… and then I remembered the kitchen (Justin hadn’t forgotten, but I sure did)… Yeah, after 3 days of non-stop painting and sanding and everything else I totally forgot about the kitchen all tucked away in their playhouse. When I remembered it absolutely renewed the Christmas morning excitement.

The girls got busy playing immediately. Both of them, Lydia (10 months) loved it every bit as much as Etta. They played for 20 minutes straight as we just watched. SO SATISFYING!

Etta washed her hands and loaded the dishwasher (oven… oh well!) While Lydia got to cooking!

We asked Etta “Do you like your kitchen?” And her answer was probably one of the best pats on the back ever… she said and I quote “ I LOVE it!” And she totally put a huge emphasis on the word love!

We played and had a great Mexican dinner thanks to Jenn. Later we watched a few episodes of Once Upon a Time my current favorite show… that I hope makes it.

Sunday, we went to church first thing. Jenn had to be on her way home so we hugged her goodbye and sent her on her way home.

In the afternoon, we assembled and decorated one more gingerbread house with Etta, just minus about 90% of the candy options… besides, this girl cared for only one thing to go on her house, and that one thing was “sprinkl-ies” as she calls them.

We had one small incident, but humpty-dumpty was easy to put back together.

Lastly, (as if we hadn’t had enough sugar with breakfast… and no we didn’t eat the houses at least) I made a birthday cake to celebrate the Savior’s birthday.

Honestly people, this was probably one of the most fun things we did and my new favorite Christmas night tradition. Etta was in ecstasy singing the Happy Birthday song, and to top it off she got to blow out the candle… which she keeps telling us about. “I blow out the candle”. And Lydia got some good practice in for her first year birthday cake eating, she was rubbing cake all over her face and head, and licking her hands, it was really funny! ( I think I got 60 pictures of just her covered in chocolate)

Well, that was our weekend. I really hope you had a wonderful holiday!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T21:45:00.000-06:00

I finally got some pictures taken of the girls... I am not totally happy with how they turned out, and there aren't a lot of them. We might try to take some of our own, but at least I have these for now.

p.s. I love these little dresses I got them for a $1.00 a piece on clearance at Walmart last year! Score!

The Two Step

2011-11-20T21:44:00.000-06:00

We have been all sick again. I am getting rather sick of being sick...

But I had to write down a few of Lydia's highlights lately.

She got another tooth on Thursday November 10th (her top right center incisor), quickly followed by her fourth not sure exactly what day either Saturday or Sunday of the same week. So her smile is a little crooked, but it is cute to see her getting teeth!

We went to her nine month check up and her stats were as follows
95% height
11% weight
90% head

Cute skinny tall baby!

But the funnest news is that on Thursday the 17th. She officially took her first steps. Two to be exact, all by herself. She stood up, and took two steps, then lowered herself back down to lean against a cushion and walk the rest of the way. She did it three or four times.

Tonight she took a total of 4 steps by herself. She is getting pretty excited about it, and you can see how proud she is of herself.

I can't remember if I mentioned this but she waves really well, and when she wakes up from a nap or finishes nursing, she sits up and looks around and waves happily to everyone.

She also will give me 5 if I ask her.

And she knows what kisses are, although her version, would definitely be considered open mouth! (it is a very slimy event!)

We are having so much fun with her. She loves her big sister. It is funny to watch them play. Lydia has a grip of iron, so if she gets a hold of something, Etta doesn't usually get it from Lydia, until Lydia has been dragged 4 feet across the room on her tummy. In fact today at church Lydia was standing next to Etta, and she got a hold of Etta's skirt. Lydia, grabbed it and Etta started to walk away, so Lydia started walking with her about 4 steps, then fell to here knees (still holding on), and walked on her knees for a few feet (still holding on), then she got dragged for another foot or two before she finally let go! It was funny!

As for Etta news, today she asked if she could go potty (we gave up a little while ago) anyway, I thought okay, it won't hurt anything! She sat down and nothing happened, nothing again, then the third time she had a poopy! I screamed I was so excited, it scared her! Then sorry to be graphic but she pointed at her little doo-doo and said "Snake!". She was really proud, and I gave her a sucker, so that maybe the thought to try it again would come into her head!

Here are some recent pictures of the girls! First is the Christmas tree box. We got the Christmas tree out early so I could actually have it ready for my other blog to photograph... if I even do. Etta has been talking about Christmas for months. I have no idea where she got it. But if she sees a Christmas tree she lets us know about it.

We didn't actually finish setting up the tree til she had gone to bed, when she woke up Justin whispered to her, "Etta we have something to show you..." she whispered back "Christmas tree..." Needless to say she was excited!

And yes we've been watching Christmas shows. Etta loves Rudolph, and can almost sing the whole song. I need to record it since we have a recording of me singing that song around 2 years old!

This is a picture of "B" etta wanted me to take a picture of "b" her blanket.

Etta Singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

2011-11-06T21:06:00.000-06:00

Etta singing. It is funny cuz, she was so proud of the little "da-ddy" ad-lib, that she does it all the time now in other songs.

Wavy!

2011-11-03T08:41:00.000-05:00

Lydia started waving yesterday! Just needed to jot this down!

And Etta is talking in full blown sentences (although she has been doing this for a while) The other day she was picking out what cereal she wanted to eat. One of the boxes had a dinosaur picture on it and she said to me "Look, a dinosaur picture on there." I was totally impressed, keep in mind she is only 28 months... okay, maybe you aren't impressed, but I was!

here is a picture of Etta this time.

Standing Ovation!

2011-10-31T22:28:00.001-05:00

Well, it has been pretty busy the last few weeks making up for a trip to Utah and cleaning the house from a 2 month project that put us behind on everything.

But I had to jot down a fun new skill Miss Lydia has- she stands, on her own. She is so proud of herself, she has 2 little goose eggs, and a split open upper gum. This poor child just wants to RUN, not walk. She has some walker toys and she literally flies, smiling across the room after them.

I have to tell you a quick story to tell you about how good tempered she is. The other day I was changing Etta and Lydia, was climbing up beside me on the padded ottoman, but she fell and smacked her chin into the corner, and her two new bottom teeth slammed up into her upper gums. Justin grabbed her up trying to comfort her, and about 10 seconds later we saw all this blood gushing from her mouth. So, as soon as I had wrapped up Etta's diaper and washed my hands, I took Lydia from Justin and she immediately calmed down. But she still had this huge hole in her gums.

So, we called our (pediatric dentist) friend from the ward to make sure we didn't need to do anything to help her and he came over (thank you Nathan!). I just knew Lydia would freak out when he tried to open her moth, but she was just smiling at him as he checked out her little broken up gums. Calm as a summer day!

She is just such a sweet baby!

Anyway, she is so cute, here are some pictures of her lately.

You can see one of her forehead bumps in this picture below, she keeps hitting the same spot poor girl!

Lick-Stip, aka Lip Stick

2011-09-28T20:07:00.000-05:00

Etta says some funny things.

Today, I set the house alarm, and when it beeped she cried out "Christmas! Christmas is here!" I have no idea where this is from!

She loves chap stick and lipstick... and all things makeup. (I only wear makeup like two times a week, but she is usually right by my side and loves putting on mascara (although a little confused when there is black stuff all over her face!) She pulled out some chap stick today and was calling it lip stick but her name for it was Lick-Stip.

She loves to sweep and has her own little broom. She calls it "fweeping".

When ever we are leaving she likes to help me find mi "slip-slops"

She loves fruit loops and calls them Sroot Loops. (every time I hear it it reminds me of The Office, like Dwight made a new product called Shrute Loops (beet flavored cereal...)

Lately she has been asking for ice cream everyday about 30 times a day. We haven't had ice cream since like June. So the other day we had some with a brownie, but all she wanted was the brownie.

Potty talk-
So, we started the potty training thing, but since she has to take a daily laxative, we have had to give up for now. While we were potty training, I made the mistake of making a tooting sound (with my mouth- just to clarify!) to help her think about having a bowel movement. Well today, she asked her dolly (who she had stripped naked a few days ago) if she wanted to go on a walk in the stroller. But she said, "Oh, Dolly, is poopy in dare? Need to go Potty? Okay, yeah sure..." She walked the dolly over to the toilet and held her there over the oitlet and made farting sounds for a good 45 seconds. I was cracking up! (potty humor is sorta funny!)

That is it for right now. I will try to remember more soon!

Little Lyla

2011-09-28T17:21:00.000-05:00

I just had to jot down really quick two cute little Lydia facts, since I can't be relied upon to remember them if I don't.

First, in the last two days or so she has started clapping. Her little hands are so small but she does it really well, and actually makes a pretty decent sound doing it. You can tell she is really happy with herself. It is so fun to watch her! And all of us have been clapping a lot more. (What is funny about this little talent, is that I don't clap a lot, so she just figured it out for herself.

Secondly, she finally cut a tooth, probably today... No idea it was there, we hadn't noticed any particular signs of getting teeth. But I thought it would be fun to just see if i could feel anything in her gums, I checked the top and there was nothing, but when i checked the bottom, there it was, a jagged little tooth just coming through. I still haven't actually seen it, and I am not sure exactly which one (left or right) it is but it is a bottom incisor .

In other news, she is finally eating "real" baby food. She used to not open her mouth at all1 So frustrating... anyway, she is finally eating her favorite thing is turkey right now. She also eats a lot of table foods. And green beans would probably be her favorite there!

(I don't have pictures on this computer, so I will have to get some in this post later)

Out of the Mouth of Babes

2011-09-13T14:50:00.000-05:00

Etta has been a little character... she is learning to use her emotions to get what she wants! Fake crying, yelling NO very loudly, showing lots of love and concern for others, and all with in 30 seconds....

We have to remind her to speak nicely, or ask nicely a lot... which also reminds mommy to speak nicely so that at least is a good thing!

Today, she was playing with her friend Avrey, and they were needing to be reminded to be nice. Caitlin, told the girls that they were listening to some (primary) music to help them remember to be nice. She told Avrey that she needed to be nice, and Etta (the diligent first born, second mother also had a word to add...)

She said "Avery, be nice.... Jesus is coming."

(No I have not ever told her this....)

Last week the temperature that has been stuck in the 100's for the past 65 day s finally dropped into the 80's all week. We were outside A LOT. (they are back up in the hundreds today! Ugh!) And yes my almost 7 month old is having an otter pop too! Technically it was the first food she ever tried, Lydia LOVES them. She gets SO mad when we take them away!

Recent Family Pictures

2011-09-06T13:23:00.000-05:00

My friend Destinee took some family pictures for us while we were in North Carolina this summer. I am sorta downloading then here for back up... so there are a lot! She is amazing.l If anyone wants some great pictures taken and lives in or near Asheville... check her site out

Luscious Baby LOVE!

2011-09-02T10:15:00.001-05:00

I had to share these pictures of Lydia! I was cleaning out our stair closet, and got a little distracted by her sheer cuteness. Hope you like the pictures!

**she is starting to pull herself up on things... she is still only 6 months old!

** She goes a around talking, and growling and even making a raspberry-ish sound.

**I gave her a graham cracker the other day to buy myself some time... big mistake, baby food is just not that exciting after solid things that she can feed herself! She loves cheerios, the teething biscuits and graham crackers... I don't think she is going to last on baby foods for long. She is actually almost using her two fingers as pinchers to pick things up too! This baby is FAST!

Pant free zone...

2011-08-24T20:40:00.001-05:00

Some pictures ( I took on Sunday of the girls in their Easter dresses, Lydia is almost too big for hers)

Etta-
I knew it would happen but I wasn't encouraging it. Etta learned how to take off her pants... (she has known how to take off her diaper for months now, but as long as there were pants over it, we were safe). NO more... so last night we started emergency potty training. Well she went 4 times (i was loading her up on liquids) with no accidents.

Today only two accidents, but mostly a lot of good pottying! She even took herself to the potty and came and told me after she had done it all by herself!

Hopefully it will keep going well.

Here are some other funny things she has said lately:

I was telling her how much I like her, I said I like you Etta. And she responded "I like me".

Lately when we are talking she will tell me she wants to do something for example go outside. Followed by Yeah, sure, okay. So it is "Go outside mommy, yeah, okay sure."

She has been singing the abc's all by herself really well. In fact, she loves to sing all the time.

Lastly she loves to count, she always skips five and immediately starts over at 8. 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,1,... and so on!

Lydia
She is officially crawling! Not only scooting. She can move her hands now and really move. If she sees me she does all she can to crawl to me and be held.

She is so cute at night when I lay her down she sticks her thumb in her mouth and rolls over onto her left side all perfectly content.

She really wants to be where the action is, she does all she can to be with the big kids... the toy stealing has definitely begun already!

She is just such a joy!

We love them both so much!

What is up with us!

2011-06-23T15:12:00.000-05:00

I need to record some things, I am so behind in my family posts.

LYDIA-

At her four month Check up her stats were :
99% for height
47% weight
75% for head

Lydia, and has been rolling over both ways now! Cute thing! She is so proud of herself when she does it.

She absolutely loves to see herself and us in the mirror and smiles so nice and big when she does.

She is really starting to grab things and eat them or play with them.

She may or may not have had a bottle of water and cucumber shoved in her mouth a few times by her older sister... and who knows what else (Etta is really getting her "mommy" on right now)

She is starting a new type of talking lately, kind of gurgling. It is cute!

ETTA-

Her new favorite things to say:

I love you!
Where are you? (she says it Air Are You)
She can literally copy every word we say now.... better watch what we say!

She is counting now all the time by herself. She counts to eight and usually leaves out the 5.

At church she really likes to point out all the boys.

Today, she got up on a chair with kitty, who will not move she is so stubborn. So Etta, head locked her and was kissing the top of Kitty's head saying "I lub you Kitty" Kitty was really good about it.

She is all about mothering now. She asks her dolly's "What's the matter", or "I sorry" or "hoe-d'jew baby"

She just asked for a purse to go the the store with. And said I love you while shutting the door.

She is figuring out how to open doors... uh not sure i am excited about this one!

Here is Etta holding Lydia- It was hard to get a clear shot without the flash blasting them out of the picture.

Lydia trying to eat Etta's binky!

Etta "smiling" If you ask her to smile she closes her eyes tight.

Etta's First Prayer All By Her Self

2011-06-04T22:25:00.002-05:00

Etta said her first prayer by her self today. I was so proud to here it. She was on her knees, bowed her head, stated with,"father", then said,"Jesus" and continued with...owie, as she started to point to all of her little sratches on her legs. She then said, "knee" and pointed to both of her knees then ended with a strong, "amen!" She actually did this about three different times in a row.

She is the cutest little talker. It's been fun to here use all of the new words she is learning each day. I reminds me that I need to be careful of what I say around her.

Today's funnies

2011-05-30T22:53:00.000-05:00

Okay so technically this happened a few days ago but I am just getting around to writing it down.

When Etta has to uh.. relieve herself (#2), she usually likes a little bit of privacy. If we ask her if she is going poppy she will automatically say NO!!

Well we were hanging out in our room jumping and playing on my bed, and she all of a sudden had to do her business, she ran over into the corner, and at first I wasn't sure what she was doing, but Justin walked in room and asked "Are you going poopy"

She looked at him and shouted (while pointing her finger at the door) "GO!!"
"GO!!"
"Go -way!"
"GO!"

It was hilarious to see!

Then, today she and Justin were hanging out and Etta was telling him something but he looked away and she grabbed his cheeks and put her nose right to his and said "look-a-me" (look at me... )

This girl likes to be in charge! I wonder where she gets that?

Here are some fun recent pictures:

Etta put this frog on Lydia. So of course Lydia tired to eat it.

The funny thing is that whenever Etta puts something on Lydia and she tries to eat it Etta gets all upset and says, "no mouth"... (Etta still tries to eat things she shouldn't, especially crayons so I have no idea why she cares so much!)

Look how stinkin' adorable this little thumb sucker is! Look at her eyes!

I just find it so cute when I catch her sucking her thumb.

Baby thighs...! Gotta love some good rolls!

Etta likes to watch the tv at close range... (doesn't she look so grown up?!)

This pictures was fuzzy but it was too funny to not add,

she stepped in the wipes box, and got her foot stuck in it.

Fuzzy... darn it! This is still such a cute face!

Our Big Little Texas Garden

2011-05-29T18:01:00.001-05:00

I have been having a blast with my garden/back yard this year. It all started in mid February when the weather was very comfortable to be working and playing outside. I am especially excited this year because of my little Etta is walking and able to play outside with me. She is such a great helper.

I have organized the back yard quite a bit this year with a new deck, more mature plants and started an new path to the old chicken coop, from free bricks that I got from a friend. We like FREE!

So anyway, this year we purchased our vegetable plants at The Home Depot, since it is so close by (within a mile and very convenient). We purchased the plants around the first weekend in March, after the first last frost. This was months earlier than the first year that we tried planting and had little success, because we were too late. and the heat scorched our plants before they had a chance to produce veggies.

We purchased the following plants that are doing great and thriving:

Vegetables
(4) tomato plants: Patio, Grape, Roma and Celebrity
(2) zucchini plants
(2) yellow crookneck squash
(2) cantaloupe
(2) egg plant (first time to try these)
(4) strawberry plants
(2) burpless cucumber plants
(1) package of pumpkin seeds (I planted two different clumps on the side yard in back.)
(1) watermelon (planted in pot thinking it would do well, but has not grown at all. It makes me sad.)

Herbs in pots on the patio table
(1) basil plant
(1) sage plant
(1) rosemary plant

Preping the garden in February with my little helper.

Newly planted garden in early March.

Etta eying the strawberries.

Etta attacking the strawberries.

Garden at end of March.

Herbs on patio table.

Garden in early April.

Garden in May. Harvesting zucchini and tons of squash at this point.

Etta is showing off her Texas sized zucchini to her neighbor friend.

Some of the first harvested veggies during the last week of April.

Veggies that I picked today and last week.

We have given away about 15 other squash and zucchini to our neighbors and friends.

It's a great way to get to know your neighbors, as long as they like squash of course.

HAPPY GARDENING!

Runnin' through the Sprinklers!

2011-05-28T21:44:00.009-05:00

Etta loves to play in water! Luckily Justin doesn't mind it either! It is a nice break for Mommy too!!

Daddy's Garden

2011-05-19T21:39:00.006-05:00

Here are some pictures from May 19th, just a random day.

I love the pictures of Etta and her neighbor friend Kenlee chatting through the fence.

Expedition time...

2011-05-15T22:14:00.007-05:00

This isn't frosting or something crazy, it is homemade yogurt, so I just gave her a nice full spoon!

I love the big huge open mouth picture!

Another day, but still cute... (microwave smores)

Monster Book

2011-05-15T21:57:00.002-05:00

By Daddy

I love reading books to Etta. For the past month or so, I have been reading a couple of books to her before she goes to bed. It all started with a book that was in her room on the floor called,

"Go Away, Gig Green Monster!".

I thought that she would be scared to have a monster book read to her before bed. I soon found out that this was her favorite book that she wanted me to read to her every night before bed since then. This book is cool because you first see the two yellow eyes of the monster on the first page. As you turn the pages you see more of the monster, eyes, nose, , mouth and teeth, ears, hair, and then face. In the middle of the book it says, "I'm not afraid of you monster, go away!" As you turn the pages the monster starts to go away one facial feature at a time, until the monster if gone. At that point I say, "nigh-night monster and Etta repeats that and gets ready for bed. It's the cutest thing. So now she goes into her room and the first thing she asks for is, "Monster book!" She also mentions it throughout the day that she asks for, "nigh-nigh, monster book". It is so cute to listen to her talking.

It is now a nightly ritual that Etta and I have together. I really enjoy the time that we get to spend together. It's like a little daddy daughter date every night. It will be fun when Lydia gets to that age to want to read books before bed.

I remember all the movies and shows that I have seen throughout the years of daddy's reading stories to their kids before bed and wanting to have that experience of my own. It's now here and I really enjoy it, even more that I thought I would. These children of mine are so precious and I love every moment of being their daddy.

Random Cuteness

2011-05-12T09:14:00.000-05:00

Quick notes!

Etta-

She has been counting lately. She starts with 4 and then says 6 always. She gets really frustrated when I try to start at one. I say 1 she says 4, I say two she says 4, I say 3 then she throws a little fit, cause it is taking to long to get to four...

She fell down while running in the kitchen and took the whole fall in the forehead. She had an immediate goose egg. Just like you see in the cartoons... it was so sad. There was a panicked call to the doctor and we watched her for any bad signs, but she was happy after about 10 minutes.

She loves monkeys lately. While she is eating breakfast and she will casually drop the word monkey, or whenever she feels it is necessary. She loves the monkeys Jumping on the bed song. We sing that the monkey bumped his head, and now she gets very empathetic when we sing that part, she says is a really consoling voice, "Oh no". When we hit the second, third and 4th verse etc. she starts yelling at us NO! NO! (because the monkeys aren't supposed to be jumping on the bed, and she is really concerned that they are breaking the rules)

If she wants to be held she says "Hold You".

The other day, Lydia sneezed and Etta said, "Bless you Baby, bless you" She says it anytime Lydia sneezes or coughs, it is adorable.

We call Lydia -Lyla cuz that is what Etta says, I am not sure if I ever mentioned that.

She is starting to say yes to a lot of things. Like we will ask her if she wants something, she immediately says no, then she will say Yes, yes, and nod her head.

She loves Rapulnel. We watch it in Dutch, yesterday, she was saying some of the words in Dutch along with the movie. It is fun to hear her saying the words.

Yesterday in the tub she was saying 8 in dutch and it has a guttural sound in it, and she heard Justin say it, and at first she said it without. Then she made the sound perfectly, and you could see her practicing the sound, she said it several times to make sure she could do it, then kept on playing in the tub.. It is really fun to see her learning 2 languages so easily.

Lydia-
Lydia is sleeping through the night like a champ, she has been for the last month and a half.

She rolled over onto her side twice yesterday, so i think we will be seeing more of that soon. (she was on her side when I got her this morning too. She was quite proud of herself!

She is starting to laugh when you tickle her.

She LOVES to talk to you, and is so animated.

She is sucking her thumb. She is just getting good at finding it even when she is just on her back. It is so adorable to see her soothe herself with her thumb, she is just so happy with it. I realize it may be a hard habit to break, but since she has been doing it since she was about 4 weeks old, all through the night, and is the reason she sleeps a solid 9 hours a night... I am not going to change anything now!

She LOVES bath time and just sits there soaking and talking to us!

Okay, gotta go eat breakfast!

Yard Work

2011-05-07T22:10:00.005-05:00

One of the best things about when Daddy is home is that Etta can go out and play while Justin works on his garden! She has also acquired a taste for 2 things cucumbers off the vine, she grabs them and just starts eating them. And Ice cream....

P.s. She is soaking wet in this pictures and they both look a little homely but it is just so real life us!

Zoo time

2011-05-03T12:20:00.001-05:00

For our tenth anniversary this year, we were plumb broke... but don't worry we had zoo passes! So we went to the zoo and had a blast! Then we went to the botanical gardens for some self taken family pictures, which is basically impossible!

Pinwheel

2011-05-02T22:07:00.000-05:00

I made this little pinwheel hair clips for Etta i love them... hum I wonder where they are!

Sunday Best

2011-05-01T21:56:00.011-05:00

Here are some picture of the girls wearing their Sunday clothes! Lydia is wearing my blessing dress and Etta is wearing a dress that I made for her while I was pregnant with her from a pattern that was Grandma Garrett and possibly used for Judy. I re-sized the dress pattern so it isn't perfect but she looked really cute in it!

We have been Blessed! (Well Lydia has)

2011-04-17T22:24:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday on April 10th Lydia was blessed. She was absolutely adorable in the beautiful dress that Grandma O. made for her, while she was visiting. And we blessed her not a minute too soon, cuz that little child of ours has been growing really quickly!.. and she was already almost too big for it!

Anyway, the tradition to make a dress started with Etta. And with our second I knew that I wanted Lydia to have her own special "white dress". So, Mom and I looked through what patterns and inspiration pictures we had, and went shopping for what we needed.

Then mom worked on customizing the pattern, and made the most beautiful little dress you've ever seen and I embellished it with a few embroidered flowers. (I wanted to do silk ribbon embroidery, but I couldn't get the ribbon through the fabric... so maybe next time. Also, I still want to do a row of flowers around the bottom of the skirt- I ran out of time... I may still add them at some point)

Okay so on to my favorite part. PICTURES... I took about 200. Just like normal. She was making some of the best faces, and then there are the just plain beautiful ones! Enjoy. (I also have a few detail shots of the dresses, since they make me happy!)

Three Funny Etta Sayings

2011-04-11T22:15:00.001-05:00

1. When Etta wants to go outside she says "outshide". Which factors into this story very, very significantly.

The other day, Justin let me take a nap and when I walked down stairs the first word I heard out of my daughters mouth was a four letter word for poop that starts with and S-H-and ends with a -T.

Uh, back up the truck, what is going on honey? Well, Justin was talking to Etta and calling out the names or words for the things she was doing. He picked up Etta and sat her down on a seat, and said "Sit down Etta. Sit"

Well, our sweet little girl is repeating almost every word we say lately. So, she said, with her little lisp "Sh**".

We were laughing our heads off. It really was a funny moment. She said it a few times and we had to pretend we were laughing at the way she was lifting her leg up in the air so she wouldn't continue saying the word... good times.

2. Because Etta is now repeating everything we say, she is also disciplining our cats-constantly. Which unfortunately is about all she hears from me when speaking to our cats (usually because it involves me scolding them before the take her head off cuz she is driving them nuts). But it is sorta adorable. You see, she really only says Buddy and no, but she says it in the EXACT tone of voice that is say it, (lower Bu- and then higher ddEEE and hold out the eee.)

So she grabs the squirt bottle (our form of feline punishment) shakes it in their general direction, and say Buh-deeeeee NO! No! NOOO! and shakes the bottle again. Then for good measure, she usually starts drinking water from the squirt bottle... but that is another story!

3. We had a little birthday BBQ the other day, just to get a few people together. Etta was on cloud nine running around after the big kids. Getting her feet so caught up in kite string that she couldn't walk, fell over and I had to cut her out of them... (lesson : no kites in our back yard at parties)

Anyway, we had a bunch of random party food left over, including hot dogs, so that is what we had for lunch. Nutritious I know.... Anyway, I sat down at the table with the hot dogs on a plate. She say them on there and got all excited and pointed at the plate and said "Hot Doggies".

I think it is official after that very moment, hot dogs and now Hot Doggies in our family! Love it!

(4.)Okay one last one so I can show you some pictures....

We walked outside yesterday while Justin and I were talking and Etta came running out. The moon was out and she noticed it really for the first time. So I told her "look Etta the moon" and she said while nodding "Moot", and she kept saying Moot and pointing. She basically looked adorable so that was why it was so cute. (she is wearing a dress from Aunt Shirley in these pictures! Adorable!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CASSITY!

2011-04-07T10:28:00.000-05:00

For all that read our family blog I wanted to let you know that it is Cassity's BIRTHDAY today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY!

I want to let her know how much I love her. She is the love of my life and my best friend. She is SUPER MOM! She does so much for our family, our two beautiful girls.

I love you!!

Justin

Lydia Talking on Video

2011-04-04T22:38:00.003-05:00

As Sisters in Zion... a million picture post!

2011-04-03T00:18:00.000-05:00

Yes, our house is our own little Zion... and we even have sisters hangin' out together in it.

And if you think this is too many pictures... I took about 300, so this is nothing... but I have to have them backed up somewhere, and that is what this blog is for. Enjoy!

Quite possibly my favorite of the bunch... (above)

Okay sorry for the over load...

Lydia Lift Off

2011-04-03T00:17:00.000-05:00

Lydia is SO strong. She rolled over three times the first week she came home from the hospital. And this baby moves, she squirms her way all around her crib. In fact, we had to forgo any bassinets because she would wiggle herself right up to the edge and jam her face into the side... and it scared me too much.

Here are some pictures I caught of her lifting her head and upper body and some other generally cute pictures! This is about 5 weeks old people! Etta didn't do this until she was about 4 months old!

( Look, I finally caught one of her dimples in a picture! Yea!)

Etta's First Pony Tail

2011-04-03T00:10:00.000-05:00

Here is Etta's first pony tail by the way! Not sure why I've never tried it before...

I am sad this one if fuzzy, but I love it anyway. I asked her to smile. She didn't really know what I meant, so I showed her and this is what she did. (above, I thought it was so cute!)

Getting sick of pictures... so I moved on to a new target..

Come and Knock on my Door

2011-03-24T19:59:00.000-05:00

Lately Etta has been knocking on doors throughout the house. I don't know where she picked it up but she knocks and then says "Come in". It is really cute.

She even says it when she wakes up from her naps and is sitting in her crib. I will hear her say through the intercom, "come in" (a gentle reminder to get her out of her bed) It always cracks me up!

Lydia is getting really big. She is already 11 lbs! That was fast...

She wants to be held all day, and we are getting pretty decent sleep. A good 4-5 hour chunk and then 3 hours at least after that.

Here are some pictures from from February 18 th to about March 1st when my Mom visited.

(Tiff, these first pics are is for you!) We gave Lydia her first bath on the 18th. She fell asleep in the water, and was SO relaxed... cute little thing.

2/21/11

Here she is happily sleeping on Mommy!

This is her favorite place and sleeping position...on her belly!

2/22/11

This is the first time I laid her down on her little play mat.

Etta had to join her..., tried to steam roll her at least a few times!

2/23/11

While folding laundry I laid Lydia Down, and Etta, needed to lay down too.

I don't drink beer.

2011-03-10T21:09:00.000-06:00

I don't drink, and I think this song is hilarious!

Etta recently

2011-03-09T22:05:00.008-06:00

Well, Etta has been doing some funny, and new things lately.

Hitting.. urgh!
Walking down the stairs... yikes!
Singing (my favorite!!)

An example or two of the singing, she sings along with us during the hymns at church. Justin said (while i was still home with Lydia) that she even sang along with the choir! And just yesterday, I was folding laundry so I put one of our usual shows, Beauty and the Beast (or as Etta calls it) Beast. The last word of be our guest where Lumiere holds out guest with his arms out, she looked at me held out her arms and belted out Guest and held it like he was doing! I was so proud! Honestly, so cute.

She is recognizing almost all of her letters and can say the sounds they make. She points them out whenever we pass big signs on businesses, she calls them "A". Justin held up all the letters in the alphabet during her bath the other day and she was able to name more than half of their sounds. She also sings the ABC's quite often. it is not very clear yet, but she knows the timing and the way the notes move up and down and she has got that down pat.

She is starting to babble during prayers, like she is saying them too.

She is great at pointing out facial features. Tonight, she wasn't sleeping and I went in there to hold her and she pointed out, my nose, eyes and eyebrows naming each one.

Getting ready for her bath or as she likes to call it her "bubble"

Looking for binkies to steal from her little sister!

Quick update- Lydia

2011-03-08T22:05:00.000-06:00

I thought I would write really quickly how Lydia is doing. She is a sweet little sleeper. She sleeps about 22 hours a day. She would sleep on her stomach all day and night if she got to choose, but I can only stand to do it if I am awake to watch her.

When we left the hospital she had lost 8 oz. We had our 2 week appointment on Monday the 28th she had gained that back and more. She was already 9 lbs 4 oz. She is almost completely grown out of her newborn clothes.

Her belly button is all healed as of Thursday! Thank heaven, Etta's took at least 5 weeks!

Okay I only have one hand to type with, so here are some pictures....

Okay, a ton of pictures! ( I'll just add the first week-ish for now)

2/15/11

2/16/11

2/17/11

(you can almost see her dimples in this picture! Yes she had two dimples!)

Well, looks like she is all tuckered out, and so am I!

Lydia Talking With Mommy

2011-03-02T21:45:00.004-06:00

Isn't she sweet!

Speedy Delivery

2011-02-16T07:00:00.002-06:00

Hey Ya'll

I have a little bit of nap time going on- my husband and two girls are napping. This works for me, cuz I can't nap on demand, so I asked my husband to take his turn so that I can take mine when I actually feel ready to nap.

I thought I would write down the whole birth story and give you some pictures, sound good? Good!

So you have some perspective I should explain that with my first's birth story I was in "labor" for about about 16 hours- quick summary- I woke up at 5:00 AM to contractions 1 minute long, 5 minutes apart and counted that through the hour...we spent a few more hours at home. Went to the hospital, was put in maternal observation for a few hours. Submitted to labor and delivery around 11:30am had Etta @ 8:55 ish pm.

Get ready for a long post, but hopefully interesting.

Let me first explain that with Lydia's last checkup at my midwife's office, I wasn't dilated at all. Which I felt meant, that I probably wouldn't be going early this time like I had with Etta. I wasn't to upset about it, in fact I I had totally accepted it (also so I wouldn't be disappointed at the wait).

Besides, we were moving on projects and nesting hard core around my house, and I feel SO happy about what we were able to accomplish. And I was still sorta in that mode, since I figured I had time we could just keep going. I don't know about you but hardly anything gets done after they get home for a while (for me anyway).

Lets start with Saturday Feb 12th we were just working on the house, installing the baseboards and randoms. I also was really in the mood to eat out, and Olive Garden salad sounded really good- sounds good right now too! We went for lunch. While there, I had 3 or 4 contractions over the hour or so. This got me on the move to get home and wrap up loose ends, make sure the house was totally child safe so our babysitters would have an easy time with Etta. I was getting all excited and then they just stopped. I have never had Braxton Hicks with either of my pregnancies, so I just passed them off for Braxton hicks, was bummed a little and went on with the day.

That night at 2:00am Sunday morning I woke up to a big contraction that lasted a minute or two long. I tried going back to sleep but within about 15 minutes later I had another. From that point I didn't sleep I just watched the clock waiting for the "Golden- 1 min long, every 5 min for an hour contraction rule".

At 5:00 they were getting closer, but still sporadic in time between- and they really hurt. It woke Justin up with my breathing and so I asked him sorta half heartedly, "I guess you better get up and set out breakfast for Etta and do a few other random things... but don't call the babysitter yet, cuz I am not sure I am even in labor yet"

So, he did those honey do-s, meanwhile I laid in bed watching for the timing to get right, afraid to call the babysitter in the middle of the night thinking I wasn't really in labor. But now the contractions really hurt and were about every 5 -7 -4 -2 random minutes apart but closer together. So, I got up and told him to call, while I got dressed- hoping I wasn't one of those poor girls that gets sent home cuz they aren't really in labor and for heaven's sake you should know that 5/1/1 rule.

Justin called and guess what, she didn't answer, and that is when I began to panic!! I think it was the moment I realized I was REALLY in labor. My other girlfriend who was in line to watch was out of town til that afternoon. Instead, I had Justin call another sweet lady from church who I had casually mentioned to last Sunday that I might call if we were in a jam. And so he called Theresa I could call her Mother Theresa and I wouldn't be far off she is just so sweet.

Justin talked to her husband at first, who was kind-of confused by the hour and being woken up and I had to laugh (after when all was well and good) cuz his reply was that "She(Theresa) couldn't substitute in church that day..." I teach the some teenagers in Sunday school. Luckily she asked who was on the phone and upon hearing it was us, took the phone and said she could be right over. Within the half hour she was there.

At this point I was sitting in the van, crying and SCREAMING in pain. We took off, and I was a really starting to worry cuz I knew I was at least as bad as I was when I got my epidural the first time, and at the point I was dilated to like a five or six. So, I was thinking "Well I am at least that far along, so we have GOT to get in there so I can get my epidural before I get any further".

Well, we got to the hospital, Justin dropped me off at the emergency entrance and the guard wheeled me in. A nurse came down within a few minutes and started asking me how far along I was and began whelling me to the elevator. I answered and tried not to scream through the pain- I hate to bother people, or sound like a wimp or anything like that. (I know I sound like an idiot saying that- but these are the things going through my head as a healthy adult who shouldn't be complaining... anyway).

We get in the elevator and she takes me up to Labor and Delivery. I am so relived, I don't want to waste time in "Maternal Observation". Well she opens the door, walks in, then, turns around and starts back toward Maternal Observation.

I really wanted to SCREAM - NO YOU IDIOT.... but I just sat there with terror in my heart that I wasn't going to get my beloved epidural... but as she came up to the maternal observation door, she mumbled, to an unseen, by me, co-worker "She is driving me nuts".. turned back around and returned me to Labor and Delivery. I would have been even happier if I wasn't screaming through my contractions at the moment...

They get me in the room and the flutter began... about 10 nurses, two getting in the I.V., couching me to breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth..., asking me how far along I was, on and on. Justin arrived soon after, so he could help field a few questions thank heaven cuz I really wasn't in the mood to chat.

A nurse said she was going to check me... to my UTTER astonishment and horror, she said, she's complete. Meaning I was completely dilated! All I could do was ask if I could have an epidural and they were like no, sorry, you're going to have this baby right now. To add to my disappointment, it turned out my midwives had just switched being on call I missed it by like 5 minutes and the new one wasn't informed of anyone being there or even considering coming in, so she wasn't going to be there in time to deliver my baby.

I was still stuck on the no epidural thing and was asking repeatedly for some drugs- I am not usually a drug kinda girl, but seriously, I was hurting.

Right then I remembered that I had tested positive for a GBS or a type of strep test, that can effect the baby, and I told them. And they realized they had to get n antibiotic started, and in my system before I could have this baby.

So they drugged me. With stacol (no idea how to spell that or if that was the exact name) but all of a sudden I couldn't keep my eyes open, that was NOT what I had in mind for drugs, I should have asked for ibuprofen. But I guess they decided as I stopped screaming and slipped into a hazy dream world of semi-consciousness - still very aware of the pain of the contractions but about nothing in between- that they could allow the time for the anti-boitics to really get into my system. The biggest issue was they actually needed two doses of the antibiotic and couldn't administer the other for another 4 hours.

At this point they decided they could try giving me the epidural!

HALLELUJAH!

I felt like the heavens opened! (I didn't have the strep thing with Etta, I think I might have to thank heaven that I had it this time to help me get the epidural- but I will say that for sure when we know Lydia is perfectly safe from it)

I was so unstable from the drugs I could hardly move, but they said if I could sit cross legged and get the shot I could have i. I tell you- there was nothing in the world that was going to stop me.

I forced myself through the haze and unsteadiness to sit up and curled over and waited, through 2 contractions, and then the administrator got cut really bad by some glass breaking and had to clean that up while I waited through another contraction, basically squatting and full dilated -I can tell you the pain of NOT pushing was worse than the contraction, I could hardly fight the urge to push that baby right out- that was the most pain I felt. I didn't even feel the epidural being administered, I waited for it to hurt and she said she was already done.... I was in that much pain everywhere else.

They numbed me up good, my midwife was almost there and they thought I could have that baby in the next 20 or so minutes with my midwife! Yea! Because the time was going to be short they dosed me really high with epidural medication so that I would be numb in time.

Well, after 20 minutes I was totally asleep from the stacol junk and I couldn't even feel my lower half AT ALL, I had no feeling whatsoever that I was having contractions. So, they let me sleep and try to make it to 10:30 when they could give me the second dose of anti-biotics.

For the next 2 and half hours I just flowed in and out of consciousness listening to the heartbeat monitor from the baby. At 10:15, I realized that I couldn't hear the baby's heart beat. It sounded like just mine really slow (comparatively) and steady, I tried sorta pushing the monitor in and around a bit but couldn't find it, and in about 20 seconds the nurse and midwife were running in the room saying I was going to have the baby right then.

What happened was Lydia's heart rate had dropped as she moved lower. Lindsay, my wonderful midwife broke my water at this point and actually kind of reached in and tickled Lydia's head. Lydia responded beautifully- her heart beat shot right back up and stayed up there where it was supposed to be, thank goodness. They were able to just get the next anti-biotic set up and started too.

And, we started pushing, I was SO numb from my epidural that I still couldn't feel when I was having a contraction AT ALL. I also had to sort of imagine what muscles I was using to push her out. But the midwife helped me through it and in a half an hour we delivered a sunny side up (posterior positioned) baby. The midwife said this is probably why we had to push as long.. But she finally came at 10:56 am.

8 lbs 8 oz

20 inches long and

VERY PINK!

The final result? She is perfect.

Look at that wrinkly hand!

I guess the labor wasn't technically so "speedy" after all, but the only reason for that extra 4-ish hours was a heavily drug induced window for the medicine to kick in, or she would have been born around 7:00 AM. (so it would have been about 5 hours start to finish - yikes)

We moved over to my room and Justin went home around 2:00 to be with Etta. He brought her back at about 6:30. She ran to me to hug me (the midwife said it would be best to have my arms free and not have her spot taken up by the baby- so we were sure to have the baby in her little bassinette. )

Etta then looked over and saw Lydia and started very enthusiastically yelling and pointing at the "Baby" "Baby..." and had to jump off the bed immediately to go investigate for herself.

(the reason I don't like pictures of me in the hospital and you won't be seeing anymore!)

It was a hard night in the hospital for me. Mostly because I have never been away from Etta, and when I called Justin after Etta was in bed, I heard her wake up, start crying and screaming "Momma" from her bed, (this never happens, she always cries for "Daddy" [the name she uses for both of us, she only really calls me mommy after prompting]. So I sat and cried in my bed that I couldn't answer her call) but Justin comforted her and they got to pick me up the next afternoon.

Here is here little going away outfit, minus the tiny fake uggs I bought her, that are adorable, but since it has been 75 degrees outside, they were hardly needed!

I got home Monday at around 3:00 pm and have been so happy to be home.

Welcome to the family Lydia!

We are so excited to see you grow!

Bloggin' Time

2011-02-11T22:41:00.000-06:00

I try to stay off the computer when Etta is awake, but inevitably there are times things have to get done and she is my little companion.

Justin and I have our "blogging station" with our two computers, and matching office chairs set up right next to each other on the huge desk Justin built for me.! Go honey!

Anyway, so it goes that if I am on the computer I usually have a companion... and she is pretty cute if you ask me! But the sad thing is she is also looking SO grown up these days, and I heard that it is even worse when you bring home the new baby, your other "baby" is just gone. Sigh, I guess it happens that they grow up, and I love the age she is right now... but I am going to miss my Etta baby when she becomes my Etta girl.

Some funny things she has been doing lately...

Pointing out any and all moles she sees on my skin and saying "mole", "mole". I can't remember when I taught her that word, but it is now a favorite pass time.

She nods her head a lot. If she is babbling and you say something like "Really?" she will give you one clear head nod and go on like she is saying "Exactly I am glad you got it"

Just today she has been saying "No" to every question we ask her, and at the moment it is hilarious. We ask her if she can say No, and she says No. If we ask her to say Nee (no in Dutch, sounds like Nay), she will say Nay. If we ask her to say yes, she says "No". But her voice is just so darn cute when she says it... (i am sure I will change my tune about this someday but oh well for now it is cute.)

I can't think of anything else in particular at the moment, but we are really enjoying her!

I can't remember why we were making this funny face... but she was copying something.

Helping me plan for dinner... (she needed something to do and a cook book was the closest book we had!

Still waiting...

2011-02-07T21:39:00.001-06:00

I really need to show post some updates. Instead I have been going through closets...and rooms... and boxes... and drawers. I am on the biggest purging spree I have been on in years, and it feels great. I have moved furniture around about 30 times in all the different rooms of my house, (okay I have made Justin move that stuff, sorry honey!) the last few weeks.

But we still have about 1 .5 weeks till my due date, if this pregnancy is anything like Etta's I may have Lydia in the next couple days.... PLEASE, PLEASE, Pretty PLEASE!

Anyway, no post would be complete without a few pictures of Etta. These were taken in January. Her outfit is totally funny. It was Sunday night and she was wearing her tights and bloomers left over from church. But before her nap we put her in a warmer shirt, and for some reason Justin put socks over her tights. The overall effect is Superwoman meets baby. She was talking to Grandma and Grandpa K. and boy does she know how to jabber on the phone!

I call this pic the "squat and talk".

Hope you enjoyed these as much as I do!

A Child's Prayer

2011-01-20T14:45:00.000-06:00

Okay, so this is an older child I am talking about here... me.

I have to tell you a semi funny story. I say semi funny, cuz it is a lot funnier when it is not happening to you, and it is not one of those end of the world stories, rather a simple thing, BUT it was a HUGE deal for me.

It all started last March...

Well I guess I should step back a little further, and explain that my wedding ring or actually "rings" is a set of five bands. Like this:

1 small plain band
1 diamond band
1 large wedding plain band
1 diamond band
1 small plain band

I REALLY LOVE my ring, it is simple and yet have never seen anyone else with anything like it which suits me...

I choose not to have them sautered, because then it would be too thick to ever remove and/or bend my knuckle. Also I thought it would be fun to mix it up whenever I wanted to. I am still happy with this decision, especially as I have been pregnant and have been able to switch out to a tiny band that I can wear throughout the fat swollen stages...

Anyway, enough history of the ring.

In March of 2010, I was on one of those "mix it up" kicks and decided to wear the middle wedding band and a small diamond band on my right hand ring finger and three of the other bands on my left.

If you know much about ring measurements, you will know that the hand you use everyday is slightly larger than the other. Well, I am right handed. So, after wearing the rings this way for months, one day I noticed that it was stuck, I was able to remove the smaller band but the thicker band was there for the long haul!. My finger was swollen all around it and I didn't know how to get it off.

My skin is pretty sensitive to metals, especially when there is no room for it to breath, so I started having some major skin irritation. Not only was my finger swollen and the skin in major pain, but I started to majorly panic. It made me overwhelmingly claustrophobic, and irrational thoughts start entering your head about loosing the finger... On to p if that all, we were about to leave to go on a family trip to Utah too, so that made my need feel even more dire.

I made it through one night- then the next day I was so distressed and not knowing what to do (I had once seen in an urgent care in North Carolina a girl with a ring stuck on her finger having a major panic attack and hyperventilating and screaming for them to cut the ring off...) So, I started calling local urgent cares, to see if they could cut it off. One or two literally laughed at me like I was an idiot "you just pull it off your finger..." uh yeah dude- you are kind of a jerk! They said I had to go to the emergency room... I was panicking even more.

I was trying not to cry too, and hyperventilate in my car with my 7 month old baby strapped in her seat alone. Finally, I called my mom and she (thanks heaven for someone who knows what they are talking about) said to call a jeweler. Well it was 8 in the morning, I had barley slept and so I had to head back home and wait until 10 for the shops to open.

I found one who said he would be happy to cut it off, I went in and showed him and he was like, "yea this thing isn't coming off any other way." He was so nice... the ring cutter was sorta dull and they were having problems with it but after 45 minutes I was cut free.

I cannot tell you the relief that flooded through me. My finger was safe, I was free from the trap all was well.

All was well, except for my cut up ring...

So, they fixed it. I had them resize it a bit, so that we wouldn't have this problem in the future.

I picked it up about 4 months ago. Anyway, I stuck it on my right hand ring finger and it was a little loose. I left it there anyway... that is until about a month ago.

This is where the story gets annoyingly familiar.

We were on vacation, and the ring was loose, so I stuck it on my middle finger on my right hand, and since I am not really a jewelry girl, I totally forgot about it after that- in the meantime I have been putting on some extra weight and fluids. Then, last Saturday I was out with some friends and we were talking and I looked down and noticed that it was not on the proper ring finger....

I tired taking it off- and it was STUCK!

I tried not to panic... we hadn't even sat down to watch the movie.

I started praying internally that I could not panic. That I could be calm. I felt sick through the whole show, and felt like something wasn't right, but I knew I couldn't do anything about it at least until Monday so I just kept praying.

I prayed half the night through and continued through the next few days.

I didn't panic too often. Whenever I felt like I was about to panic, I would say an urgent little prayer.

But every once in a while the feeling of being caught in a trap would just seize me up in fear. (maybe this sounds melodramatic, but I promise if it ever happens to you, you will know exactly how I feel)

I prayed every night not to have a panic attack as I could feel my heart speeding up in fear and sickness that I couldn't get this ring off. I was seriously continually blessed with the ability to control my emotions.

Since the ring wasn't moving and I was starting to get stress-water blisters around my finger that hurt really bad. The skin behind my ring was trapping moisture and all water logged (gross but true and so it hurt even more).

I had pretty much come to the conclusion that Thursday morning when Justin was home he could watch Etta and I could go back and have it cut off again...

Well, yesterday I was blogging, cuz I do that a lot and I just tried the ring (mind you that very morning I couldn't even move it a 1/16th of an inch up or down it was that tight.) But it came right off.

I cannot express the relief that flooded through me, and I immediately teared up.

I couldn't even speak, I felt a flood of thankfulness and have felt the need to thank Heavenly Father about every 10 minutes since.

It may sound like such a silly thing to have such a stressful experience over, but I honestly can't explain the fear that takes over, luckily, the Spirit helped me to be clam daily and if you think I said one prayer morning and night that simply doesn't come close to the truth I had to ask for help about every 15 minutes I was that worried about it. Thank heaven for large and small blessings.

It reminds me of the scripture about the flaxen cords, how at first the bands of sin are so small and removable, and then they become like chains... and I think a 1/4 wide golden band stuck around a finger might be what those chains can feel like... only eternally much more stressful and extremely more important to remove.

But I really just had to write this down because it WAS answered so sweetly by my Father in Heaven that I can't over look it. The answer didn't come immediately and I HAD to rely on him daily just to make it through. I hope I can always be aware of the answers and blessing I receive daily for my little and big stresses a,d that you too can be aware of God's tender mercies.

Okay so I took a quick picture of me... in my painting clothes, no makeup- or in other words, one of those "hot" pictures but it is recent, feel free to tell me I look SKINNY.... a little less than a month to go!

Merry Christmas to US!

2010-12-25T16:39:00.010-06:00

Daddy setting up Christmas gifts!

Christmas Eve Pizza/ Candle Light Dinner Tradition

Christmas morning... we were excited and Etta was mildly interested, but not really. Either way we had fun.

Merry Christmas! 2010

2010-12-24T21:09:00.000-06:00

We took some pictures of Etta in a Santa hat today and I had to share...

Merry Christmas!

We hope you are all having a great holiday!

(Lately it has been so hard to get a smiling picture

because as soon as she sees the camera she wants to see the "baby" on the picture viewing screen)

Since we don't have any snow here... we got creative, and took some pictures in a bubble bath. We tired to give her a beard but she wouldn't cooperate, maybe next year!

Love you all!

The Two Towers

2010-12-23T16:35:00.006-06:00

Etta built these two towers all by herself. I wasn't even playing with the blocks with her, she did it all on her own. Of course, when I tried to take her picture she jumped up and ran over to "see the baby" in the camera... so this is the best picture I got of it!

She loves to stand with her hands behind her back, I thought this was especially cute...

and you can see her profile perfectly!

This week in review...

2010-12-19T17:52:00.000-06:00

I feel like journaling...

Wanna know something sad? I can't even remember what happened this week before Wednesday. No my brain was wiped clean when i woke up that night at about 5:30 am and had to take a quick trip to the porcelain throne... I got the stomach flu.

At first I thought it was food poisoning, from the "Taco Smell" I ate Wednesday night but alas, by Thursday night Justin had the flu too. IT WAS AWFUL people. No wonder I complain so much when I first get pregnant I really hate vomiting... Like REALLY HATE IT!

But holy cow, how does a mother, mother when she has the flu? Let alone when the hubby gets it... and if the kids are sick too. Luckily Etta did not get it., she had the flu shot. I was kicking myself for not getting it the week before at the doctors, she asked if I had the flu shot yet, I said no and she said, oh lets get it while you are here. Then we both forgot about it... URGH! That would have been so much better, I am now pro flu shots for myself, FOR SURE!

I can't believe that Christmas is this weekend. We have taken it REALLY easy this season, Only decorating trees and listening to Christmas music. We didn't get around to an ugly Christmas sweater party so that was a bummer, cuz they really are quite fun. I haven't even been Christmas shopping, I bought a few thing over Thanksgiving and that is all we are doing. No I haven't wrapped them, not sure if I really will, Etta isn't to into the unwrapping... so we'll see.

I am totally ready to have a baby. Technically we have hit the less than two months mark, but still, TWO months feels like forever. Especially since for some reason, unknown to me it has become socially acceptable to call a pregnant woman HUGE to her face. Seriously, and this happens every week. I feel like I have a sign on my saying "Please, tell me I am huge and then gasp when I saw I have two months left... It makes me so unselfconscious." I am going to have a major complex at the end of this- so please say nice things. It is not like I started this pregnancy at 115 lbs and 5'4. I am not a small person to begin with, I am taller than a lot of men I know, so don't expect me to get smalled when I am pregnant, okay?... I am maybe a little on the annoyed side right now.

A change of subject might be nice.

Etta is adorable as ever. Her vocabulary is really growing and hare Aunt Noelle bought her a movie with the letters of the alphabet's sounds and she is now repeating most of them, and sometimes recognizes a few letters and what sound they make.

She is talking a lot more and is just plain funny.

I am sure I have mentioned this before but i just love it, whenever I say (at nap time) "Do you wanna take a nigh-nigh?' She picks up her "B" (blanket) and walks to the door of her room to wait for me to put her to bed.

She also occasionally tries out having a tantrum. It is so funny to see. The other day she was pushing her baby-doll stroller, and something bugged, her so she screamed and got her "I am mad" face on and pushed down the stroller. Then tried to cry that it was on the ground (to get attention). I ignored it, so she stopped crying, looked around, picked it up and kept playing.... but it was funny!

She is using her good manners to get about anything she wants. She knows that if you say "Peas" (please) that you can get _____ fill in the blank. So, I must admit, when she asks for something and says please it is hard to say no.

Well, I might just run, I will see if I have any pictures to add to this post from the week... Here she is on a little CD case step stool watching a movie! I thought it was funny!

I got it!

2010-12-12T21:43:00.002-06:00

We had to pray twice tonight cause the first picture got cut off, but I got it in the second. Look how cute here little flayed out legs are.

Tonight

2010-12-12T21:43:00.000-06:00

We got some pictures of us just hanging out tonight I thought it would be fun to post. Justin was riding her around on her back and we watched part of Extreme Home Makeover, cause it always make me feel happy - and makes me cry!

Shelf Life....

2010-12-12T16:20:00.000-06:00

I organized my craft room, Etta wanted to be in the boxes, so she packed herself up!

She also had fun climbing up on the new shelves Daddy installed for mommy!

I kneel to pray...

2010-12-11T21:50:00.000-06:00

I love that primary song! (click the link if you haven't heard it.. click on words and music in the top left corner and it will sing the song to you)

I had to write this down so I wouldn't forget. About three nights ago when it was time for family prayer we called Etta over and said "Okay, let's say our prayer." Normally when we do this she just folds her arms and bows her head, (for approx five seconds- while we start our prayer, then returns to what she was doing or sees a cat the must be chased). Well this time she ran over right next to daddy and kneeled down, folded her arms and bowed her head, and stayed that way for the full prayer.

I almost burst into tears! It was the CUTEST thing she has ever done!

AND she had done it every night since, but I keep forgetting to hide the camera behind my back before we call her (the second she sees the camera, she now comes running to see "the Baby"- urgh). But I will get a picture soon -cause holy cow the cuteness is really too much.

Here are some pictures of Etta running around at the science museum in AZ. She looks so grown up in her little sparkle jeans and hoodie.

And here are some pictures of her trying to eat a pretty tempting nativity our friends made last year (which I love by the way!!- don't worry i saved the nativity after I took the pictures) You can see her face in these pictures a little better.

(can you tell why she was tempted to eat it? It is a little S'more Nativity! Cutest thing ever!)

QUESTION:

While we were in Arizona with my sister she was potty training her son. Etta was of course very interested in all the trips to the potty and usually tagged along when she could. I have no idea when she is doing number 1 but I can tell easily when she is doing number 2 (sorry if you are squeamish) Anyway, the point is that tonight she was sorta making a face, and she said "Poop" and sure enough a minute later that is what she was doing-so she told us that she was going. Should I jump on this and try potty training? Any tips on what to do? It would be so nice to only have one diapered child in the house at a time... Am I just a dreamer? She is almost 17 months.

A Sad Goodbye!

2010-12-09T16:27:00.009-06:00

We decided because of time constraints that it was time to pass our little hens on. I cried about it, I was so sad. Etta still misses them and she looks for them in the back yard. Someday we will get more, but for now it is a bit easier!

Buddy Love

2010-12-04T16:25:00.000-06:00

I took this picture of Buddy and I thought he looked so cute I had to remember it!

Fall Leaves, December style!

2010-12-03T16:21:00.001-06:00

There is nothing like playing in the fall leaves... in December! The leaves finally came off mid December, so we had to take some pictures. Justin was basically only excited to rake so he and Etta could play in the leaves. It is kinda like having two kids!

Lately

2010-12-01T11:46:00.000-06:00

I need to write a post about our family Thanksgiving trip to AZ, but I haven't downloaded the pictures yet- who knows where the cord is. So I will just type a few highlight so I don't forget. Also, I thought it would be fun to write a few of Etta's new things down.

Lately Etta is really talking. She makes all sorts of noises and babbles like crazy on an on in a full conversation.

She knows that if I say "What do you say?" That she needs to say "Please" Which sounds like "Peas"
Last night she wanted a cracker really badly and I had to remind her to say Please. Then the next time she said "Crakuh Peas". I was so proud.

She now has a name for her blanket, she calls it "B". I don't know where it came from but she will ask for B when she needs some extra cuddling, and she loves it if we put it on our shoulder and she can cuddle with us.

She has been imitating us A LOT lately. It is so cute. For example on our trip at a hotel, Justin grabbed a tissue and blew his nose like a horn. Now Etta grabs tissues puts it over her nose and blows a horn sound through her mouth, it is pretty funny.

Also, on the first few nights of our trip Etta had a pretty hard time falling asleep since it wasn't in her regular place. She was so nervous, she was ended up having to lay down and calm down between Justin and I basically til she fell asleep and then we laid her down. It was so sweet to see how much she needed us, and it reminded me of my childhood and when I would go to my parents for comfort when I was scared at night. She just laid there and rubbed my face with her hand until she fell asleep and I was just eating it up!

Speaking of eating, Etta is now completely weaned, I am a bit sad about it, but I guess we had to do it sometime. I decided it would be best while we weren't home doing our normal going to sleep routine. Now Daddy is putting her to sleep for the next few weeks to make sure that she doesn't miss anything. She is doing really well.

Another funny thing Etta does is call us all Daddy unless she is really upset, then she will cry for Mommy. Otherwise she just says "Daa-ee" for both us and about anybody. A few weeks ago she woke up in the middle of the night, and instead of just crying she just started yelling "Daa-ee, Daa-ee", and it was so sweet it melted my heart. Now she does it all the time, wakes up start yelling for Daa-ee to come get her.

O,h and I just remembered that she officially has said her first Dutch word (a few weeks ago). When we go up stairs we ask her if she wants to "Ga naar boven" And she will say "bova" now after we say it.

That is about all I can think of for now. Thanks for reading my little journal entry if you even did...

As far as the pregnancy with Lydia goes things are going well and we are getting excited. It feels a little like it did with Etta, we just don't know what to expect- sorta strange to think in less than three months we will have a new member of the family, and I will have my body back... sorta. Can't wait. (I bought a few new newborn outfits, for some reason, it makes it feel more real)

Can't wait for Christmas, I am almost done decorating the trees,which is about all I am planning on doing for decor. We have other things to worry about, I am totally in my nesting groove right now!

AZ Temple Christmas Lights

2010-11-25T16:03:00.010-06:00

We went to the AZ LDS temple Thanksgiving night so that we could see the lights. It wasn't officially open , so it wan't very crowded.. or in other words perfect. Etta had a ball running up and down the stairs. she was hard to contain... and hardly allowed us to try and take a family picture!

Time to Give Thanks!

2010-11-25T16:00:00.002-06:00

Thanksgiving dinner was delicious! We had so much fun! Etta had a plate on her tray for the first time... she had a LOT of fun with that thing!

Cousins!

2010-11-23T15:52:00.000-06:00

Joshy and Etta, had fun together. Joshy was learning to be potty trained, and I think Etta was pretty interested in the whole thing, she knows what a potty is and is pretty interested...

Kissing Cousins.. too cute!

Etta loved playing with Tyler too!

FHE in AZ

2010-11-22T15:48:00.006-06:00

Playing Scripture Charades for FHE!!

Etta was dancing in the middle of the floor... dang she is cute!

(no there wasn't any music... she is just destined to be a ham!)

Hey there!

2010-11-18T15:47:00.000-06:00

random picture... had to share

Lunch Time Randoms

2010-11-07T20:56:00.000-06:00

These are just some random pictures from 10/5/10

Why yes, I do like to take pictures of Etta...

Tent time

2010-11-02T15:40:00.000-05:00

I saw a picture of a tent like this in a magazine a few years ago and saved it because I really wanted to make it. Well I did it, and in plenty of time for Christmas... too early in fact I couldn't wait to show it to Etta!

She loves it, and loves to slide down the sides as much as run in and out of it.

(especailly if the cats are in there.. or Daddy!)

Halloween 2010

2010-10-30T20:40:00.000-05:00

To go where no man has gone before...

Live long and prosper.

This year we were Trekkies. Justin and I have been planning this one for years. It all came down to last minute though, like always but it worked out.

Etta is a Klingon (notice the front French braid, that is her forehead, and then she has the metal band thingy Warf always wore. That and she likes to Cling-on to us, so i thought it was appropriate.)

I was Dax. I have spots all over the edge of my face. I found the picture on line and thought that would be easy make up. Then our friend who remembered the name of the character said that she was the host of a parasite that was thousands of years old, and I thought it was even more appropriate, since I too am a host to a little sweet parasite!

Justin is the captain. He found that our hand winding flashlight were the perfect laser guns and he was happy.

All told a happy family and I must admit these were probably the easiest costumes I have made/altered. It only took about 2 days of random work here and there.

But the tradition of our first date (Halloween 2000) lives on and that is the important part!

Picture overload starts now.

Haunted Gingerbread House

2010-10-25T15:36:00.002-05:00

We bought a Gingerbread house kit for Halloween, and tried to decorate it for an FHE. Didn't pan out well, Etta was bored and eating way too much candy. so we gave up but we did take a few pics.

Mommy decorated this side...

Daddy decorated this side... it cracks me up. I laughed SO HARD I almost cried!