Life is great

This morning while I was watching my babies play together, I realized that I have been taking a lot for granted. I am extremely lucky to have a husband that loves me and puts up with the person that I am. We are lucky to be the parents of two incredible kids that make us laugh and smile more every single day. It is so easy to get caught up in life's every day problems and forget the things that mean the most to you.

Like this:

Brotherly/sisterly love that happens on its own.

And this:

Spending time coloring together after an afternoon nap.

A sweet baby that pays attention the the world around her:

And a little boy future rock star that puts on daily performances:

Life is good, and it sometimes feels great to stop and remember that. 

Baby Layla

Soon after my wedding in October of 2007, I joined a website/message board called The Nest. Josh and I had lived in our house for almost 2 years, but we weren't happy with the way we had decorated it, so I was looking for ideas. I started frequenting the message boards pretty often and found some really great insight. When I got pregnant in January of 2008, I quickly moved to the parenting version of The Nest called The Bump. There were several message boards for (mostly) women in all stages of parenthood. There, I 'met' a lot of women experiencing the same things I was going through. It goes without saying that after going through so much together, people eventually form bonds.

Over the next 4 years, these girls and I have experienced just about everything life throws at us. We've had a lot of laughs, a good amount of sadness, births, deaths, divorces and new relationships. A lot of us have even branched out and met the other girls in real life. It is always nice to know that if I ever need to get something off my chest, or share exciting news, or find the greatest pins on Pinterest, I have those girls.

This brings me to the point of this post. Baby Layla. Jeni is a fellow poster on the message board I am (proudly) a part of. She gave birth to her daughter Layla on October 28th, when she was just 24 weeks, 2 days pregnant. Layla weighed 1 pound 8 ounces. The first few days were scary. We didn't know whether or not Layla would survive. She was almost 16 weeks premature. Over the past 15 weeks, we have witnessed just how strong Layla is. Today is such a special day for Jeni and her family, because little Layla finally gets to go home. Every time I think about everything Jeni has gone though, I cry. She is such an amazing woman. She not only spends as much time as she can with Layla, but she has another daughter at home too. She has been so strong throughout this experience. She is someone to look up to.

Anyway, so join me in celebrating this awesome news. We are so happy for you, Jeni, and so thankful that this day has finally come.

Back in the saddle again.

Now that you've got some Aerosmith in your head, let's start this post.

I had made it a resolution to work on my blog a lot this year for a few reasons. One, because there are 4 people that read it and secondly, I pay for the domain, so I should be taking advantage of the outlet. Well, life has gotten in the way, and I have been seriously slacking. Please forgive me. :) School is in full swing. I am overwhelmed. Exhausted. My brain hurts. As if 13 credit hours isn't enough, let's throw in two crazy toddlers. You know, the kind that get into EVERYTHING and for some unknown reason, didn't come with a mute button. There is a reason college comes right after high school, and I should have taken advantage of the opportunity to get it over with then. Don't get me wrong, these kids are amazing, and I'm very lucky to even have the support of family to get me through the weeks, but it is hard to focus on school when you walk into the living room and are overwhelmed by the smell of syrup. Um, what? Breakfast was over at least an hour before this. That's right, I am the lucky person that got to dig syrup out of the creases of the couch. And clean the smeared stickiness off books, the floor and the coffee table. I still haven't even found the bottle that created this nightmare. Perhaps I should look for that.

Anyway. So that is my life right now. Hours, upon hours of homework (this is for real. my classes this semester are very demanding). And two small tornadoes that know the perfect (er, not so perfect) times to strike. Sigh.

In other news, I am back on the wagon. What wagon, you ask? Well, it's been a year and a half, and I'm still struggling with the weight loss. I have come so far, and let my self slip right back into old habits. I was 5 pounds from my goal. 5. And then I decided I was tired of being restricted, so I let myself go. And now I'm back up where I don't want to be. Sure, I know what to do to ditch the pounds, but it takes time. I am in it for real this time. This is it. I am back on Weight Watchers and this time, I'm going to reach my goal. When I started yesterday, I was about 30 pounds from my goal. It broke my heart into a million pieces when I saw that number. I was disgusted, angry and mostly sad. I am hoping that I will have the willpower and motivation to get rid of the weight and keep it off.

My biggest motivation right now is this:

My brother is getting married in October, and I will be a part of their wedding party. His fiancee has tiny friends and sisters, so I refuse to be up there next to them and feel self conscious. Plus, summer is right around the corner, and I want to wear cute clothes! So anyway, bear with me while I complain about missing Taco Bell and Coke. I won't be missing out on too much Chipotle though. I will gladly use my weekly points for that burrito-bowl deliciousness.

Valentine's Day

Wow, the month of January is almost over and Valentine's Day is already upon us. I remember Valentine's Day as a little kid. Picking out the cutest Valentines at the store and making sure each kid in class got one. It was usually a fun day in class too, a little party, some snacks and we usually got to watch a movie. Of course, this was elementary school, and once you left there, you left the parties behind as well.

Anyway.

For the past couple of years, I have let Cameron pick out a box of Valentines at the store and passed them out to his friends and family. This year, we are taking a different approach. Enter Tiny Prints. Right now, I am leaning strongly toward this design:

Ahoy, Valentine! : Paradise

Cameron is a wee bit obsessed with Pirates, so I think he would love that one. Hannah is probably old enough, so she could pass some out too. For her, I love this design:

Enchanted Princess : Lilac

Too. Cute!

Check out their other designs here:
Valentines Day
and here:
Valentines Day Greeting Cards

If you love Tiny Prints as much as I do, you can follow them on
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Pinterest

Stop by again! I'll let you know which design we went with. :)

Snowy days.

It seems that the snow hasn't stopped falling since we were graced with almost 2 feet at the beginning of this month. So instead of going out to join the crazies on the roads, this is how we're spending this snowy day inside.

Hope you're staying warm and cozy! It's time for me to head out and shovel the driveway. 

Until next time.. :)

Hannah's 18-month check up.

Excuse me, what? 18 months already? Since she has been 18 months old for 2 days already, she's technically closer to 2 than she is to 1 and that makes me want to cry. My baby is not a baby anymore. The only things that keep her a baby are her pacifier and her crib, and I'll be darned if either of those things go away anytime soon.

She had her 18-month check up this morning, and she has finally started to slow down a little on the weight front. At her 12 month appointment, she weighed 25 pounds, and this morning, she weighed 26 pounds. 1.5 oz. So in the past 6 months, she's only gained a little more than a pound. This is quite different from the 3 pounds she gained between every appointment (the appointments were 3 months apart) before now. She is also getting taller. Today she measured 32 inches, up 3 inches from her 12 month appointment. She has jumped from the 50th to the 75th percentile in that category.

And because I like graphs so much, let's take a look at how she's grown in the past 18 months.

And just for comparison, at Cameron's 18 month appointment, he weighed 24 pounds, 8 ounces and was 33 inches tall.

A post in which I whine about potty training.

Cameron is a little more than 3 years old. I've been working with him on learning to use the potty for a LONG time now. We have tried the 3-day potty training, which was an epic fail. Since then, I've become really chill about the subject. "He'll do it when he's ready," blah blah. Yeah, I'm sure he will. But there are many reasons that he needs to use a potty.

• Preschools around here won't take him until he is potty trained
• Buying diapers for 2 kids is becoming a huge PITA.
• He's old enough to tell me what is/isn't in his diaper, he can learn
• We've purchased a ton of 'big boy underwear' that he refuses to wear, and has now outgrown
• Because I want him to

I feel like those are all legit reasons. So what is he doing now, you ask? After watching 10 minutes of the Elmo potty movie, he decided he wanted his potty in front of the TV so he can watch Sponge Bob and sit on it. He's been there for close to 20 minutes and refuses to be moved off of it. Sigh. I will pay someone to come potty train this kid for me.