Top o' the Mornin' to ya!

A Sneaky little leprechaun visited our house in the wee hours of the mornin' today. Miss Peanut followed his track around the house and found that he left his hat on her chair with some clues to follow to the end of the rainbow.

Along the way she found some four-leaf clover cookies, green milk in our fridge, green dishes for breakfast, and at the end of the rainbow clues she found a pot of gold and some lucky charms.








Happy St. Patrick's Day!

No place like home.

I knew that I wanted to do something more for officer because he would be turning 30 on his birthday, but wasn't sure that I could pull off a fabulous surprise party. Instead, I had this great idea that I would try to surprise him by taking him home to California to celebrate with his family. This played out pretty well until just a couple weeks before when he had all sorts of court subpoenas scheduled, so the surprise was gone, but we still made the trip! Unfortunately - I am the worst with taking the camera out and snapping lots of pictures so more pictures will come of the birthday party when I gather them from family. Officer loves this time of year out there and he and I haven't been out to CA in the early spring since we were engaged, so it was really great to go when it was so green and beautiful - this was a picture of the property where Officer grew up (a little fuzzy). It is really amazing how you can disappear down a small dirt, canopy covered, road just outside of a busy city and find this. Nothing compares.

Miss peanut was just thrilled with all the orange and lemon trees she saw, as well as turkeys, peacocks, and COWs. She is still taking about gramma and papa's house, and of course all her cousins, and Aunts and Uncles! We had such a great time while we were there, we always wish it wasn't so long in between visits.

Officer and I even got out for a kid free evening thanks to Grandma and Aunt Shannon! As a belated Valentines Officer took me to see Wicked in San Fransisco - it only took a small amount of hinting. We rode BART down into the city which was quiet in the evening time, with only a few exceptions. We walked around near City Hall, observing some of the local flavor then we had gyros at this little Mediterranean place just off Market street near the theater, so yummy! Wicked - I won't spoil anything by discussing it, but the music, costumes, talent was really enjoyable! We both liked it; it's been a while since we've come from a movie or show and could say that we really liked it. We tend to have mediocre shows that pass through home most of the time, so to see a production that had been running in one place for more than a night or two was nice.

We did have a birthday party because there were lots of birthdays to celebrate in Officers family in February! I'll have to post those pictures later. The only other thing that officer really wanted to do while we were out there was to go hiking in valley around their property. It rained so much during the week while we were there so everything was muddy, but we put on our rain boots and took a long hike. We went to what the called as kids "the mossland" where boulders and trees are are just covered in green. There is a creek that runs through the area and we got distracted by trying to redirect the creek. We kind of felt like we were 10 years old again - moving debris that was clogging up the creek and stratigically placing boulders so that it would change the flow of the creek. It was fun! And we got back to the house just minutes before another big rainstorm hit. We really wish we could have hiked back to see the creek after all that rain, but we left to go home the next day. Our kids are troopers - it is such a long drive for them, but they did great!

Playing around

Daddy's already teaching him to tackle.

Found his thumb! I'm debating - I'd almost rather he be a binky baby than a thumb baby because I can get rid of the binky.

Rolling around

Exhausted

New big bed for Miss Peanut - she loves to help daddy with the tools.

Giggles

I didn't catch him laughing quite as hard as he did the other day, but I just had to try to get some giggling down for posterity! I love playing with this little guy, he's getting to have such a fun personality!

So in love with this little guy - he totally big old belly laughed last night for a few minutes! Nothing better!



This is how he deals with the big sister's terrible two's - ears closed.

Miss Peanut has barely made it to dinner before this seems to happen...

No nap is not really working for her, but I'd rather not have her up all hours of the night because she does take a nap, so what do ya do? She has a quiet time, but even when I think she'll crash - she just keeps going and going until about 5:00 - when the meltdowns start. Oh, this too shall pass.

Not much going on around here except germs - hence the lack of blogs for the last three weeks. Miss Peanut had a stomach bug and then a week later caught a cold, I'm guessing from nursery, that has made it's way through our family and extended family. The little man had double ear infections in addition to the cold he caught from Miss Peanut's loving hugs and kisses. Officer and I have had a touch of it - but mostly just lack of sleep the last few weeks. Anywho we were finally doing better this week and then Miss Peanut got a runny nose again today, hopefully it doesn't turn into anything else - our fingers are crossed.

We spent a lot of days just hanging out in jammies at home, but we still have a few fun pictures to share from the last few weeks.

Daddy's boots are taking her for a walk.

Miss Peanut helped make the yummiest chocolate chip cookies for our family night.

These two are getting to be great buddies!

Miss Peanut is really a good big sister. The other night when I was tucking her in bed she says in a very sleepy sweet voice "Good night, go help my baby brother." She knows that I usually get him ready for be after she goes to bed.

I can't believe that he is big enough for this already, he loves to bounce!

This little man, just loves his daddy! And I just love how amused he is by Daddy's faces.

And the smiles that come with it are so great!

And finally Miss Peanut is getting really close to napping anymore, mommy is not that thrilled about it, but I would rather she be in bed at a regular time and be a little cranky, than have her up until all hours of the night especially when Officer is working. One day she crashed and by the time I woke her up it was too late - she would not go to sleep that night. I put her to bed later and then bathed the little man and got him ready for bed and seriously nearly 2 hours later I hear a whimper from her room. I asked her to come find me and this is what I found.

She came out of her room saying "I gettin dressed," she had taken off her jammies and tried to put on her clothes and kitty slippers...in the dark. If you enlarge it you can see that she managed to put on two shirts, one was a little off the shoulder and the other inside out, but not bad for a 2 year old...in the dark. Oh, how I laughed. Thats all for now.

Once there was a Snowman

I was suffering from a little cabin fever after being home most of
the weekend while Officer was working, so today after a storm brought about 4 inches of snow I got out and built a "Big Fwausty" with miss Peanut. Very theraputic for me!

Santa came...

Christmas morning was great the kids slept until 7:30am - and it took Miss Peanut almost 2 hours playing with her stocking goodies before she discovered that there were presents under the tree and that Santa came and brought her a kitchen! Here's her reaction:

And Daddy got a GPS (the clip is just of him searching for it - I figured family might get a laugh, but don't feel like you have to watch it - it's kind of long).

And the little man is growing like crazy and talking up a storm. He's weighing in around 15lbs at 3 months now. What a chubba! I love it, except when he has a rough night and I'm pacing the floor with 15lbs for hours...uh...yah. The rough nights are getting fewer and father between now, and once he gets to sleep he's sleeping about 7-8 hours which is wonderful and Miss Peanut is getting to be such a big helper now that she knows he's here for good. Forgive the awful singing on the video - eh - it's just for him. This is what I just can't get enough of.

As for myself...I'm adjusting, I wish I had more hours in a day, but I'm realizing that no matter how much I do...there is always more tomorrow, so I'm trying to do less.

Catching up...

A picture is worth a thousand words right? So I'm choosing pictures, over writing a lot - and that's what most people would rather see anyway.

I'll start with Miss Peanut's birthday, which happened to fall on Thanksgiving day this year.

I have been putting sponge rollers in her hair now that it's getting long enough and she asks that her hair be "so pwetty" most nights, so for her birthday we wanted her to have so pwetty hair.

And this is the 2 year old I woke up to the next day. Can you sense the terrible two's from this stance. Seriously - we're already getting a taste of them.

We squeezed in a little party with lots of her cousins just before pumpkin pie. I dabbled at making her a cake this year - Mickey Mouse Clubhouse has been a favorite of hers so I went with a toodles cake. I thought it turned out alright.

We gave a Cabbage patch doll and a stroller. She demolished the stroller in days, so we returned it and it has since been replaced with a much sturdier one.

And the Little man spent time just hanging out with his Aunt Mackenzie.

and hanging out with daddy.

Miss Peanut now loves hide and seek - I love the little nose you can see peeking behind the door. Her giggles give her away everytime daddy comes to find her.

And she is still a daddy's girl - and the two of them together is just perfect!

I was so excited to decorate now that I have a mantle this year. I don't know why, but I just love being able to hang stockings there. I have spent many nights up with our little man by the glow of the Christmas lights - it's just so magical to me. I love Christmas time!

First time really playing in the snow! She got to build a snowman - I thought it was in the picture, but it's behind her - it was just a little frosty since we didn't have much snow.

Love the cheeks! And she picked out the boots she is wearing - I gave her a choice between that pair and one other - that is what she picked and she hardly takes them off inside or outside.

We had some friends over and it has been fun to watch our kids becomes friends too!

I found these two sitting on the couch, sharing the bag of chips by the Christmas tree, both with one hand in the bag. By the time I got the camera they had finished the bag, but it was so funny.

And these two handsome kids are about the same size, our little man is just a few ounces heavier and couple months younger. What a chubba!

Miss Peanut is getting to be such a big helper and such a sweet big sister. He has started to grin from ear to ear when he sees her.

See! This just makes me smile from ear to ear too!

Anyway - we're hanging in there - we've had quite a few rough nights with him being colicky, but I think we're on the downhill side of it now. The Holidays have been busy this year with babies and birthdays and family gatherings, but we're enjoying the season! We wish you all a Merry Christmas and hope that you're doing well!

Frosty the Snowman

Frosty has quickly become Miss Peanut's favorite Christmas movie/song this winter and she is just starting to try and sing along with songs. This morning before church we were able to get her to sing a little for the camera. I love it, but it's probably one of those only a mother could love moments. Thanks for sharing it with me. I promise to upload more pictures and video this week...hopefully we'll see how it goes.

Addresses!

I'm sending out Christmas cards soon and I'm realizing that lots of you have moved! Please send me your new address if you would like a Christmas card. Happy Holidays!

I'm in need of some super powers...anyone?

I love my kids...I do and I still want to have more, but it is a never-ending battle for me to decide what really needs to get done. I like order - a plan - schedule - routine - (Miss peanut is a very routine child) and having the little man has thrown all of that entirely out the window. Between callings, church stuff, holidays, birthdays, bills, keeping up with my house, and taking care of husband, kids and occasionally myself, I am feeling stretched - kind of like elasti-girl on the Incredibles. I'm in need of some serious super powers! And I'm blessed to be able to be a stay at home mom - for crying in the rain - or at whatever card commercial comes on. For those of you who have to work - my heart goes out to you!
Trying to find a balance has been really hard because seriously - it's all I can do to just take care of kids and get dressed some days. With Officer working swings, he works most of the night and sleeps a majority of the day, so me having sleepless nights and then trying to function to take care of two during the day has been so exhausting and I feel like I have no patience with my children or myself. And the disorder of my house...anywho so, I decided that I need to stop praying for more patience. Yep, every time I do, I inevitably have several rough days that require more patience than I want to exert and in the end I guess I have more patience, but the process - a little overwhelming this last week. I gotta say - I am just tired of trying to make it seem like I have it all together, cause I definitely don't. People have babies all the time and they manage, but I just can't seem to pull it together. I just have to conclude that all the other moms are trying to make it seem like they have it all together too? I know I will never attain perfection in this life, I know that I will never have trials I will not be able to overcome, and I know I can do hard things, but I didn't expect motherhood to be such a challenge for me - and I don't have school age kids, or teenagers, or missionaries, yet!
Needless to say, lots of things have been neglected this past month, the blog pretty much bottom of the list, so one of these days I'll post some more pictures, but today I just need to send this out there and get it off my chest.
Oh - and any of you awesome nursing moms out there - any great nursing meal plan books or sites? I'm so glad that nursing itself has gone better this time around, but everything I find says don't eat - anything, pretty much it feels like - very frustrating, so please throw some ideas out there for me, because even the littlest things seem to upset this little man's tummy the last week or so.