Eggs

Staycation 2011

This past week during spring break my mom decided she would treat the kids to a little staycation. She booked a room at the Red Rock Hotel for two nights and took the kids for a ton of fun. It was so much fun that I couldn't even stay away for long, even though my Mom had also intended it to be a break from the kids for me. The first night was check in, and the room was fabulous! Awesome view, huge comfy beds and not to mention a jacuzzi sized tub! After scouting out the room Mom ran off to school and I took the kids bowling. That was fun but the girls got lazy because they wouldn't let them use the ramp. After bowling it was dinner and hanging out in the room with Grandma and of course the girls had to test out the tub. Lots of fun, best part I got to leave with Natalie and go home!!Day two was super windy so the pool was not that much fun but Grandma and Auntie Sam took all the kids to see the movie Rio , then later after I left with Natalie they all went out to dinner at the buffet. Day three was pool day, the weather was finally nice enough to stay out there longer than a few minutes. We just lounged away while the kiddies got to play in the water. Everyone got to work on their tans and it was a lot of fun visiting with my mom and sisters. The kids are so lucky to have such a giving Grandma, she always thinks of fun things to do with them. I know they will always remember this awesome spring break!!

7 Months

Natalie turned 7 months this Wednesday and we celebrated at the Dr.'s office with a double ear infection. Poor baby girl just can't catch a break. It has been four in a row and now we are headed to an ENT and most likely she will need to have tubes put in her ears. I am not happy about another baby needing to go under anesthsia but if it will prevent her from having more infections or hearing loss it is worth it. Besides the ear issues Natalie is a pretty happy busy 7 month old. She started crawling a few weeks ago and has been exploring her space ever since. Just today she decided that she could stand up next to the stairs. Natalie is still waking up at night and even though she now has her own room, she still ends up with mommy most every night. It is hard to make a sick baby cry it out in her own room and I am a sucker for that baby girl! Other fun things are her finding her voice and yelling all the time, finally getting excited for daddy because she loves how he plays with her and how she loves seeing her siblings. Not so fun things is she has turned into a pincher, that girl gets me behind my arm every time I nurse her! Her fingers are like little tweezers and it hurts!

Super Baby

I am so mad at myself for not running down stairs and grabbing my real camera. Now I all I have are blurry pictures but they are still cute. Natalie's big sisters thought it would be funny to put the cape on her and it was pretty cute. She didn't even care she just wore the thing and went about her busy business.

Surprise Date

Zach asked me to get a babysitter for Monday night and told me he had a surprise date planned. I am not one for surprises, I need details so I know how long we need a sitter, so I know what to wear, ect ect....but after bugging him for a bit and getting no answer I decided to just go with it and let him surprise me even though I was a tiny bit worried we would be spending the evening watching a fight of some sort or some annoying action movie. Turns out Zach got some tickets to see Girls Night Out, a big country shindig that honors the women in country music. It was AmAzInG!! Rascal Flatts, Carrie Underwood, REBA, The Judds, Vince Gill, Jennifer Nettles, Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton, Sarah Evans..I was in country music heaven AND I got to spend some much needed alone time with the hubbster, something we never get to do. It almost felt like we were dating again. I had a great night and it was the perfect start to another busy week.

LUCKY

I am pretty sure that I am the lucky one here. May not always seem like it but at the end of the day when it is quiet in the house I feel extremely lucky. We had a great St. Patty's Day this year just spending time with friends we are oh so lucky to have!

Six Months Old

We did some fancy pics for Natalie at 6 months but this is just her hanging out everyday. Things I love about her right now are how she touches my face while nursing, she laughs so hard at Maile (only Maile), how she thinks our bed belongs to her, how she is already trying to escape the crib and most of all the slobbery kisses she gives all day long.

Park

We love the park. If everyone is feeling good and the weather is nice, we want to be there for sure.

Quality Time

I spend lots of time with my family, but not all of it is good quality time. What I mean by this is that all 7 of us were together, no kids were fighting, Daddy and Mommy were happy and we just had a good time. With so many attitudes and feelings to contend with on any given day I can assure you this time is hard to come by. It was a great day, we had a really fun lunch, and then came home and worked together to accomplish a task. It was a great day!

Thing 1 and 2

I can say that these two beautiful girls, whom I love so dearly are teaching me a lot about myself. I have never in my entire life been pushed so close to the edge than I have been lately while dealing with them. I can appreciate and am very happy that both of my little twins have such strong wills, but it is not making it easy to parent them. I am hoping that this testing mom stage passes soon and we will find ourselves in calmer waters, but until then I am going to continue to persevere and cherish the moments that are good and continue to better myself in the bad. I took this picture in 2009 and I have always loved it.

Happy 1/2 birthday!

At six months old Natalie is busy as ever. She is now sitting up on her own, she is crawling backwards and rocking on her knees trying so hard to get forward motion. She reaches for Mommy now when she wants me and she is attached to my hip. She is also a great eater, her favorites are Pears, Squash and Bananas and she really doesn't care for apples and peas. Natalie's personality is really shining, she is such a happy baby, that is unless she is getting frustrated at her toys, they sure make her mad especially if they are too big to get in her mouth. I will say it again just how blessed we are to have this little sweetie in our life. Oh and I want to give a shout out to Grandma Liza for taking these beautiful pictures!

Cousins

Valentine

I am pretty sure I know who everyone's Valentine is in our house this year, it would be safe to say that we are all just smitten with our Natalie!

My Girls

Love spending time with my girls.

Milestones

Enter proud Mama...Ok, so my super smart and extremely advanced 4 month old (4 months and 12 days if you want to get technical) decided that she was just going to be awesome and impress everyone with her outstanding capabilities! So are there any collage scholarships available for rolling over?? Toy grasping?? Cereal Eating?? Oh did I mention she typed this??

My Many Resolutions

I just had all the reasons why 2010 was such a difficult year all typed out and then I remembered that one of my resolutions was to be more positive so I decided not to rehash the last year! So my resolutions for 2011 are as follows....there are a lot so hang with me!

1. Be more positive...I have been feeling doom and gloom for a while now and I want to find the best in situations instead of the worst.
2. Be a better Mommy and stop yelling. I can admit that I did my share of yelling at my kids and I need to turn that around. I keep telling myself it is not working but I am a slow learner apparently!
3. Take time for me. I put everyone before myself and if I want to be able to accomplish all these great resolutions I need to become a priority.
4. Start living healthy. I don't want to just drop weight that hopefully with just be an added bonus but I want to learn to eat better and feed my family better. I want to get active daily and make sure the kids are too and do things that benefit our family's overall heath.
5. Go back to school...this looks like it will happen in the fall now, was hoping for spring but I just didn't get it all together in time!
6. Enjoy the hubby... we can certainly use a little hubby-wifey time alone this year. I have to make him a priority also so date nights here we come!
7. Go back to Church...I know that everything will be easier if we make room for our faith and I have been missing feeling the spirit so much.
8. Everything else I have been slacking on such as cleaning, saving, organizing, and just plain enjoying life!

I am really looking forward to this year and hopefully I will be able to stick to all of these resolutions.

Natalie is Four Months!

At four months old Natalie has tasted rice cereal and likes it, she has officially found her hands and figured out that she can make them do things, she is trying very hard to roll from her back to her tummy, loves when Mommy talks on the phone (she thinks I am talking to her), still wakes up once a night and loves all her new toys. At four months old I am still just in love as I was the day she was born, even more so. She is a funny little baby and still has the most awesome head of hair!

Christmas Cheer!

This holiday season came up super fast and I was really really unprepared this year. That being the case I wasn't very excited, more like dreading the whole thing. That was until we received some unexpected holiday cheer. For 10 nights a secret Santa delivered treats, gifts, a turkey! and most importantly the message of what Christmas is all about. Day by day I felt more and more of the spirit that comes with Christmas. It was so fun each day and the kids couldn't wait for the doorbell each evening. So whoever you are out there who was so generous, we thank you and appreciate you.

Christmas Eve we spent at my sister's home and enjoyed a great dinner and time with family. As usual my sweet children were spoiled rotten and brought home a gazillion new toys to play with. Natalie seemed to want to sleep rather than enjoy the festivities but she sure looked pretty all dressed up!

Christmas morning was just more toys and fun, and preparing a turkey dinner for Zach's family. We had another great day just hanging out with family. The holiday turned out great and we are so thankful for our families!!

Natalie is Three Months!

Time needs to slow down now, this is all going too fast! Natalie is three months today and I am not ready for her to get any older. I absolutely love this age, all the smiles and the cooing. She is so sweet and even if she is crying it makes me smile. Natalie at three months is a tummy time pro, she loves her mobile, she loves to be talked to, she loves to coo, she has found her hand and can bring it to her mouth and suck her fingers, is still nursing great and will sleep 5 hour blocks for mama. We are so lucky to have such an amazing baby for our last, it is making this so enjoyable and I am so loving every single second!

Natalie is Two Months!

Natalie is already getting too big, she started smiling at us around 7 weeks and quickly started cooing right after. She is a whopping 13 lbs already and loves to eat, so much so that she still wants to wake up 3 times a night to nurse. I love how she is spending more time awake and alert during the day she loves watching her crazy sisters! Natalie has been such an easy baby hardly ever crying, even during a long weekend away from home! We really are lucky to have this little cutie in our home!