Seriously Slackin!

So my blog background is still Christmas. I think with the new addition of my cute baby boy, it's time to give something up, seasonal blog backgrounds is getting voted off the island! Hopefully sometime this week I'll fix it and leave it. Plus we just took an awesome trip to Mexico and I've got fun pictures to post.

During my relaxing and wonderful vacation, I had lots of time to reflect on things. Sure enough what I thought about is worse than I thought. After being home for 3 days I feel it creeping back too quickly. I've been having a blast being a mom but am having a hard time with the balancing act of what's really and truly important. I have a really hard time sitting down and relaxing for "me time" because my "to do" list just got longer with another kid but my day didn't get any longer. The first thing to go has been anything for me, which often has included necessities such as showers, my potty breaks, and meals on MANY occasions. Mike asks me to sit and watch a show with him and all I can think about is the dirty shower or the floor that needs to be mopped or the pile of socks that need to be matched and I often say no. Even when I'm taking it easy on the phone with someone, I'm still bustling around the house doing stuff. I do spend alot of time playing with my kids, but that still is not rejuvinating me. At the end of the day, my family is well taken care of and the house is usually cleaner than when I woke up, but I haven't done anything for me. I can't remember the last time I picked up a book even for a few minutes or worked on my sewing projects. I usually have 10 minutes of quick email, blog check, or facebook and that's the extent of anything quiet and rejuvinating. Even dumb things like painting my toenails have disappeared. I'm perfectly happy to give those things up if it means I get to be a mom. The sacrifices a mother is willing to make is absolutely shocking to me! Until I had children, I never realized how many things moms are willing to give up for their kids. I'm so grateful for the chance we've had to be parents, but I know the road I'm on is a road for future disaster. Mom's that don't take care of themselves eventually lose it and their family suffers way more than 30 minutes of mommy alone time daily. I don't want that to happen. I'm trying to remind myself to take care of myself not only with food and showers, but to do something for me, so I have a mother left to offer to my sweet kids and a wife left for my ever loving hubby.

Mike has been so patient with this crazy lady! He's getting jipped in all the crazy. What used to be a mad dash to dog pile dad as soon as the alarm goes off has turned into "Isabelle make your bed," changing a diaper, or something else "more important." I used to make time to hang out with him even if it was sitting on the floor of the computer room while he played a game. No longer, I'm back to the pile of socks or the cluttered closet. That is the road of getting divorced with the last kid leaves home. So tonight, it's 20 minutes on my blog. Sure enough at the end of this I'm ready to tackle another closet, get ready for bed, relax with a book for a few minutes, and a great big hug and kiss for the hubby! The vacuum will be there in the morning!!

Our Sweet Cheeks

I had to write a little blog about Isabelle because I think the world of her. We've started calling her sweet cheeks, because she gives us the funniest smile when we do. She really has been a great kid up to this point. Sure she gets disobedient and attitudy when she's tired or hungry, but so do I, so I can't blame her. She's really a little person now. She speaks in complete sentences and is potty trained. There's nothing baby left about her now. She's been such a great help since Michael has been born. She's so patient when I'm taking care of him and can't help her immediately. She will often get diapers, burp clothes, wipes etc. She'll even pick out his clothes.

We have so much fun together. She helps me get the chores done in the morning so we can play later. She helps with laundry, she makes her bed, she cleans up whatever I ask her to, and loads and unloads the dishwasher. She also loves to brush her teeth. When I get ready in the morning she asks for "Oderent, chap stick, and bug spray." (Translation: Deodorant, lip gloss, and body spray.) After the work is done, we play play play. She loves music, books, coloring, painting, "Go Away Monster" (ie the Monster game), puzzles, and most of all her babies. She also absolutely LOVES nursery and playing with her friends. She asks me every day to have a friend over or to go to someone's house. She's going to be a little social butterfly.

She had her 2 year check up last week. She's in the 56th percentile for height and 51st for weight. She's totally average so far. I often call her my tank because she's so solid, but she's just built like me. She's an awesome eater and still hardly drinks anything other than milk or water. She loves cucumbers, tomatoes, clementines, whole wheat bread, meat, still flour tortillas which she always has to have with a cheese stick, applesauce, and her favorite snack is raisins and goldfish together. She can't have one without the other.

She's a happy kid with a great imagination. It's so funny to watch her play. She copies me all the time. If you ever don't know what your quirks are, have a 2 year old and watch. You'll see them really quickly. All the phrases you say too much, your mannerisms and bad habits. She's a silly little girl in general and I love her to pieces! I'm so glad I get to be her mom!

More Sleeping Pictures

Isabelle has been moved from a toddler bed our guest queen bed. We just have the mattress on the floor for a while just in case...



Isabelle's cousin, Sydney, came for another visit (along with the rest of my brother's family. We had so much fun.) We let the girls have their first sleep over in the same bed. It actually wasn't too much of a disaster. When we all went to bed we checked on them and found this...


Michael isn't a huge paci baby, but every once in a while he really wants it. This was last night, he was holding his paci in with his finger which he managed to get out of his swaddle blanket.

Merry Christmas a few weeks late!

We spent the night at Mike's parent's with his sister, Sharon and her family. We had so much fun! The pictures are out of order, get over it. We had to wake Isabelle up at 8:30 and after we looked at Santa stuff, she said, "Nap time." I let her take a nap. It was only 30 minutes or so, but then she was ready for presents. She took another nap before all the extended family came over.

Here's the kids at the top of the stairs in their new jammies. Jonathan's holding Michael, David, Isabelle, Sarah is not looking, and Aaron. This was the best we got with all 6 of the kids. They were just too excited. Oh well!


Little Michael's loot. What more can a kid want?! Diapers and wipes!!! Whaaa Hoo!


Isabelle got this cute doll swing and a doll that goes in the bath tub, a book and another snap and style doll. She's in heaven!


Mike got one of those remote control helicopters. I don't know who was more fun to watch, Mike and his toy or Isabelle and her dolls! He loved this thing! Unfortunately, in Jake's rebellion of us bringing home a new baby, it got destroyed this week. No need to mention, the dog got in more trouble than I have seen since he was a tiny puppy and ate my carpet.


Isabelle and I hanging out on Christmas Eve.


From Mike's grandma on Christmas Eve, Isabelle got a pack and play for her dolls. He is in heaven!


Isabelle and David waiting to open presents, surprisingly, patiently.


Isabelle got one of those plastic cars from Mike's parents. She only had it a few hours before we found her with a package of wipes, "washing" her car. That girl is a cleaning monster! She loves to drive that thing around our house and it even has a garage, behind the Foosball table.


My little Christmas Cheer! She was all ready for the extended family to come Christmas evening and was so festive! We had a great Christmas with lots of Mike's family.

6 weeks already?!

My tiny baby is already 6 weeks!!! I can't believe how fast it goes. He is still so little! This outfit is a newborn outfit, and still big on him . I think he just finally hit the 8 pound mark (just a rough estimate on my scale at home). He's starting to get some rolls and fill out a bit, but he's still little. Overall, he's a really good baby. He's starting to smile regularly and we're getting a few little coos out of him. He sleeps 6-7 hours at night, eats and goes right back to sleep for 3 more hours, and then takes great naps during the day. He's starting to act like he doesn't like to be swaddled anymore, but I'm scared to mess with what's working. :) Isabelle loved to be swaddled and so I did it until she was 6 months old! We'll see.

He really likes to play on the floor and reach/swat at toys. Isabelle loves to sit close and supervise his floor time, which means I am also always close to supervise. He has been rolling over since he was 2 weeks old. He really likes to arch his back and neck which make him roll over. The very first time I ever laid him down on his tummy he rolled over. I thought it was a fluke, so I did it again. That first day he did it 4 times in a row. Over the next 2 weeks, I did it every day and every time he rolled himself right over. He's starting to tolerate his tummy so he either doesn't roll over every time, or it's after a few minutes now. He loves his bouncy seat, but doesn't care much for the swing yet. It scares him. He also loves to watch Isabelle, even when she is REALLY in his face. These kids are so much fun and there's never a dull moment! Christmas post yet to come.

No crying = Not hurt

Since Michael rolls over, I don't lay him on things anymore. I was putting away laundry and laid him on the floor outside Isabelle's closet. When I turned around like 45 seconds later, I found this....


Actually first I saw an empty floor and freaked out for a second! I asked Isabelle where Michael was and she showed me. There he was all snuggled in Isabelle's bed, covers to his chin, complete with Abby and Sarah (those are the dolls that aren't much smaller than he is). It was so cute!!! I didn't hear a peep, so apparently she didn't hurt him. I asked her why she moved him and she replied, "Michael SUPER tired mom! Michael cold." Isn't she so considerate?

Isabelle loves this little guy. She is still really good with him for the most part. We have had to create two ground rules with baby Michael. She's not supposed to touch him if he's in his car seat or his eyes are closed. She is obsessed with putting the paci in whether he needs it or not. He'll be out cold and there she is trying to shove in a pacifier in his mouth. Also when getting ready to go, I often put him in his seat and finish getting stuff together and once again, she just mauls him. He can't defend himself strapped in and completely helpless. Michael is starting to smile and coo a tiny bit and he loves to watch Isabelle.

My Little Pink Marshmallow

We've had some good snow over the last week or so. We went out to shovel the driveway and Isabelle got all suited up. I think kids look like marshmallows in snow suits. Isabelle is no exception. She loved playing in the snow and eating it mostly. I asked her what the snow tasted like and she said "Ice." She refused to wear gloves and so periodically she would ask Mike to warm up her hands. "Cold hands, Daddy. Warm up!" She would say. It was cute. She didn't want to come in when we were done.



Yep, we start em young in this house. Gotta earn your keep around here! She loved pushing the broom and using a dust pan as her shovel. Time to invest in a smaller snow shovel. :) She LOVES the snow. She must be Mike's kid!

Gingerbread House

One of my family traditions growing up was gingerbread houses!!! We didn't do the lame graham cracker ones either. While my mom was here, I learned all the nitty gritty that I didn't ever have to do growing up so I can do it with my family. Matthew and Casey and Jill and Tommy came over and we each made a family gingerbread house. We had a fun evening. Isabelle sat in her high chair and just ate all the candy.

"Mismas Tree"

We decorated our Christmas tree. It was quite a funny experience. What was supposed to be a time of family togetherness, turned into family irritation. However, after the initial 30 minutes, things settled down and we had a great time. Michael was snoozing on the couch, Mike was the photographer and I handed out ornaments while Isabelle went nuts decorating. She loved putting all the ornaments on the tree. She did a decent job spreading them out. Since then, she hardly touches the tree, and hasn't touched the presents underneath! Once again, SHOCKED! Last Christmas she never touched the tree either, even after helping decorate. My mom helped me decorate the rest of my house and it definitely looks better than in years past.

(Yes, Isabelle and I match. It seems to happen alot, and I don't even do it on purpose. Apparently that day I was in a brown mood.)

The Whole Family FINALLY

We finally got a picture of the whole family. We haven't even gotten a snapshot of the family, until now. Pretty pathetic. Anyway, we blessed Michael last Sunday with just a few family members and we actually got a nice picture of all of us.



The proud big sister. She still thinks she has a new doll. Just yesterday was the first time she tried to carry him though! We made it over 2 whole weeks! I was shocked it took so long. She even got her arm under his arm and she wasn't just carrying him by his head.



I had to add this cause I thought it was cute.