Is this thing on?

Well it has been FIVE YEARS since I updated the blog. As you can imagine, a lot has happened in the last five years. I now have FOUR children and have become a Board Certified Lactation Consultant. I will explain that process another day!

E will be turning twelve in two months. I can't wrap my brain around her being this old. She is very passionate, very intelligent, and very much a pre-teen. She is growing up so fast! She's an amazing big sister. She plays the trombone and has just started playing softball.

A is eight now. She is my little gymnast and artist. Her passion is being creative and she likes to cook. She's my most easy going kid now. She is smart, delightful, and flexible and really pleasant to be around. She's also my biggest helper.

J is five. This boy can TALK. He can hold intelligent and hilarious conversations with anyone, including adults. He's full of energy and loves to re-purpose things. He's a really fun kid to be around. He just started playing T-Ball, and let me just say, I think everyone needs a little T-Ball in their lives. It is very entertaining and sweet.

O is two. He has five times the energy of his big brother. He's curious, loving, funny, inquisitive, and resourceful. I am so thankful for him, even if I am exhausted every moment of every day. He loves Baby Shark, Paw Patrol, Mickey Mouse and Elmo.


My days can be chaotic. I take care of everything for my family during the day and work two evenings a week at the hospital. I am so incredibly thankful for my village of friends that helps me keep things moving and loves me so well.


I just returned home from a visit to Lawrence, Kansas. We lived there for five years while Jimmie worked on and completed his PhD. We made many amazing, lifelong friends there, and one of my best friends, Mary was visiting this weekend. I adore my brilliant and lovely friend Mare Mare. We had a very delightful day on Thursday full of food, pedicures, and many other fun things. I stayed with one of my other best friends, Sarah. Sarah also has four children. She's like a super hero. She amazes me with how she takes care of everyone. She has many of the same philosophies about parenting as I do. She is one of the most genuinely kind people you will ever meet. When we get our two families together it's like a huge, crazy group of siblings. These are some of my friends that I don't see often, but as soon as we do see each other we pick right back up where we left off. Our kids do too, which makes my heart explode with happiness.


I have been very weary lately. I needed this weekend more than I can explain. Taking care of everyone and every detail in a big family can be very overwhelming. My children are amazing, adventurous eaters, but they do.not.sleep. O still nurses many times during the night. I was able to sleep for two nights without children or a dog sleeping on top of me. I was able to eat what I wanted, not think about taking care of anyone else, have adult conversations, and RUN. Sarah and David gave me so much hope in how they are raising their children, and guys, guess what I learned? When your kids get big enough, you get to sleep in on Saturday mornings. I can't tell you how encouraging this was for me. I do not want to wish these days away, and it does make me a little sad knowing that my kids will soon be bigger, but I am looking forward to the day when I get real sleep again!


Do you know what else was wonderful? How excited the kids were to see me when I got home. They acted like i had been gone for months instead of two and a half days! It was so nice to come home rested and refreshed.


I have decided that a few things need to change in my life. I need to let some responsibilities go for this season, and make things like sleep more of a priority. It's kind of like they say on airplanes, "You have to put on your own oxygen mask before helping others". I need to put on my own mask. I can't take care of my family if I'm not first taking care of myself. I need to be ok with people possibly being upset with me because I had to say "no" or "not right now" to things. I did ok with this for a little while, but have slipped back into being the "yes" lady.


Hopefully I can keep up with this blog a little better now. The kids say and do such funny things. I also want to write about some things that are near and dear to my heart, like mental health, running, and breastfeeding. Welcome back to the chaos friends! It's good to have you here.

Here's a picture of my kiddos with my Grandmom. The girls recently had a Bible Quiz and we were very close to her apartment, so we stopped by to visit with her for a little while. I'm pretty sure she enjoyed the time even more than the kids did.

My life these days

My life right now is a little bit crazy. I have a six and a half year old, a three year old, and a four month old. Each of these ages brings different joys and challenges.

E is in first grade. She is reading, analyzing, and creating. Her newest interest is inventing. Like her daddy, the wheels are always spinning in that beautiful head of hers. She loves to tell jokes and wants to be anywhere that I am. She is in between being a baby and a big kid. Her sister knows how to push her buttons and she is figuring out her place in the world.

A has always been my fun, headstrong girl. She knows what she wants and will get it for herself. She climbs onto the cabinets to get herself snacks. She plays on her own, which is both a blessing and terrifying. She is very curious and can get herself in a whole heap of trouble in a matter of minutes.

J is so incredibly happy when he is happy, and so incredibly miserable when he is upset. He has had trouble gaining weight and consequently eats every couple of hours. At four months. Even at night. He refuses a bottle or pacifier and will cry the entire time I am at work sometimes. We recently  changed physicians and are hoping to find some improvement.

To say I am tired would be a gross understatement. Yesterday I loaded the littles up in the car and went to pick E up from school. A had to go to the bathroom, so I unloaded them, went inside to the bathroom, then came back out. I waited for E’s class. They all came out, but she did not. She tends to be the last one out, so I didn't think too much of it. The aide went back to look for her. After a few minutes the teacher that walks her out said "does she have after school art today?" Yes. Yes she did. Feeling very sheepish I loaded everyone back up and went home until it was really time to pick her up. My brain is mush right now. I am trying so hard to enjoy this time, but it is sometimes so hard when all I can think about is surviving the day. I know this time is so quick, but it sometimes seems so long.

The things that keep me going right now are the sweet things my children say and do, and the incredible kindness that my friends and family have shown me. The little voice saying "Mama, I just LUB YOU so much, you are da best mama!", or the slightly bigger one saying "when I grow up I want to be a nurse just like you. Did you know you HEAL people?! That is so cool!" The tiny hand that has just started reaching up to touch my face while he is nursing. These are the things that make the sleepless nights and the groggy days all worth it. Now if someone could just remind me of this when they are all three crying at the same time...

A few thoughts

I'm not quite sure how to begin blogging again. I'm not sure what it is going to look like or what I might talk about. I have recently been encouraged to pick it back up for myself, but hopefully  it can also be an encouragement for others. I'm going to do my best to be authentic and share what is going on in my life. That means sometimes I'm going to write when I am happy. Sometimes I will write when I am sad or angry. I used to try to please everyone around me. While I would prefer that everyone is happy, the focus of my writing is not going to be to please anyone. I will probably make grammatical errors. If that bothers you than you should probably not read my blog.

Here are some things I will probably be writing about, that I feel I can speak with at least some authority on, due to personal life experiences: motherhood, being a wife, running, being a spouse of a graduate student and professor, colicky children, spirited children, and learning how to "be me"

So buckle up and join me on this crazy adventure!

Harry Potter Blog Month Day 2

Day 2: What is your favorite movie?

I have been sitting here typing and deleting for thirty minutes! I keep trying to decide which movie I liked best, but keep changing my mind. This is going to be such a cop out, but I loved all of the movies. Each one was special in different ways. I can remember the feelings that I had watching each movie for the first time.

I am always a little uncertain when I watch a movie based on a book. They are never the same! I think there is definitely a place for each though. I love seeing what I have pictured in my mind come to life on screen. Sometimes it is entirely different than what I imagined, but sometimes it is spot on! I have been watching the first few with Ella, and watching them again through the eyes of a child is fascinating. She has so many questions and explanations that make me simultaneously amazed and frustrated!

So, I didn't answer the question exactly, but it is my blog, so ha ha! I can answer however I would like!

Harry Potter Blog Month Day 1

It has been a very long time since I have blogged. Part of this has to do with my lack of a functioning computer and weird internet. The other part is because I am so busy and I just forget to open up my computer and start writing.

My friend Tara over at Our Little Geekling has prepared a fun little challenge to jump start her blogging and has invited others to join in this adventure. Since I love Harry Potter and my blog desperately needs a jump start, here we are!

Day 1: What is your favorite book?

I really love all of them! I re-read them almost every Christmas. I didn't this year because time got away from me and I didn't even realize what was happening!

I have favorite parts of all of the books. I think my favorite book is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. By this point all of the characters are developed and things that have been building since the beginning are finally happening. I loved seeing the characters grow!

 I have always loved mystery and adventure and the hunt for Horcruxes sure provided that! I remember trying to race to figure out what each one was before Harry did. Silly, I know, but I get really involved in books that I read.

There were some surprises in the book for sure, but I really loved it. I cried when beloved characters died. I gasped aloud in several places. I gripped the book and held my breath when he headed into the forest. Funny, my heart is pounding and I have a pit in my stomach just thinking about it!

I really loved how she finished the series. I have always wondered how far ahead she planned everything. There are little things from early books that turn into very big things later. Did she plan them or did they evolve over time? However it happened, I am glad it did!

So, there you have it. My first post in a long time that is not about my girls or motherhood. I like writing about those things, but it's also fun to write about things that are just for me!

Did you miss me?

Test, test, test. Is this thing on?

I bet you thought I forgot about you. I bet you thought I was never coming back. Oh, no one reads this tiny little blog about the funny things my girls do? Right...

Well, since my last post in APRIL (and the only one this year), Jimmie finished his post doc in Connecticut and we moved back home. Sort of. We are now living in Stillwater, which is new to both of us, but we are so incredibly glad to be close to family and longtime friends again. We are about an hour and 15 minutes from my parents and sisters, 2 1/2 from Jimmie's parents and about 45 minutes from his sisters. Not to mention that we are about 3 1/2 hours from our "family" in Lawrence. We really miss our friends in Connecticut, but we are so thankful for the opportunity that we have here in Stillwater.  It is truly a God thing that Jimmie has a job at all, and for it to be one where he is doing exactly what he wants (teaching and doing research at a university) and so close to our family, well that is simply amazing. 

Readers Digest version of our move:

We got rid of a lot of stuff

We packed up what was left 

The movers came and picked up our stuff

We had to say goodbye to a lot of people that had become very special to us

We loaded up the car (I will explain my "road trip plan" for the girls in another post)

We drove across the country, stopping to see friends and family along the way

We finally arrived and learned our belongings were not coming as quickly as we had earlier anticipated

Jimmie had to head on up to Stillwater to start teaching a summer course. Meanwhile, the girls and I stayed with my parents.

I headed up to meet the movers (and some amazing friends from my home church came to help)

The movers got there and they were very unprofessional

Our boxes were CRUSHED. Literally! things were missing and poking out of the sides of boxes. Not pretty!

I spent the next couple of weeks finding all of the things that broke in the move

We started to get settled. We are almost done, except for a few boxes of things that we don't use all of the time and we still have to hang pictures on the walls!

I can't explain how glad we are to be here. It has taken some adjustment, and Ella and I have really missed our friends, but we are getting into the groove of things around here. We are going to have to learn how to be Cowboy fans. In the first world problems category, I lament the fact that there is no Target here. Stillwater is a much smaller town than I am used to, but it's growing on me. We are starting to make friends. Ella is in Kindergarten and I have done some volunteering at her school. Jimmie is teaching and setting up his lab. He just submitted his first grant. Aubrey is one of the funniest kids I have ever met and just rolls with the punches. She also gets into a lot of trouble. 

Here are a few pictures of our move:

All packed up and ready to go

Last family photo at our New Haven house

Having fun in the car

Almost home!

Our sad boxes. Most of them looked like this.

So many things broke, even with bubble wrap and towels.

Who needs toys when you have boxes?

The lake behind our house

Going Home!

Wow, it has been a long time since I have updated the blog! Because of computer problems and a baby that is STILL learning how to sleep at almost 16 months, I have been MIA. I am going to try to do a better job of posting.

Since November many things have happened in our lives. The biggest is that Jimmie was offered and accepted a faculty position at Oklahoma State University! That means we are going to be much closer to our families and our beloved Oklahoma sky. :)

I feel like my brain is going in 20 different directions at once. I have also been on a roller coaster of emotions. While this is exactly what we have been praying for since Jimmie started graduate school 7 years ago, it is still a little bittersweet for me. I am so ready to be closer to my family, but I am really going to miss all of my dear friends that have been so special to us these last two years. I don't even want to begin to think about saying goodbye :( It makes me sad to think that we are going to miss birthdays and births of new babies and seeing our littlest friends grow!

I am a little too emotional today to tell you all of the things that I am going to  miss about Connecticut!

I promise to try to do a better job of posting.

Latest Ellaisms

So I have not been doing a great job with the blogging challenge. However, I have been posting more this month than I have in a long time, so I would call that a success.

Today is Aubrey's 11 monthiversary. Yes, I made that word up. I like it and I'm going to keep using it! I should be posting about her and showing a picture of her in her 11 month decal ready to take on the world. However, my camera broke last week and I am going to have to take a picture on Friday when my new one comes. What I will tell you is that she took her first steps today! BIG GIRL! I wish I could slow down time, but it is also so wonderful to see her grow and change.

So, since I will be posting this weekend on Aubrey I will post today on Ella. It's been quite awhile since I shared Ellaisms. She still says funny things, but now it is a lot less about saying the wrong words and more about her creativity.

This girl knows how to work the system. She wanted to stay up late and watch a movie. When I told her no, she said, "Mommy, we could watch Harry Potter and snuggle on the bed and eat popcorn." If it were her dad she would have said "Daddy, we could watch Lord of the Rings and hang out and eat popcorn." It got a good laugh and she gets an "A" for effort, but didn't work as she planned. She had to go to bed without watching a movie.

Tonight was one of her funnier moments in a long time. I am in the Christmas Concert at my church and our director gave us each a CD to practice with. Daddy had to work late tonight so we took dinner to him and drove home to get in bed somewhere close (not really) to bedtime. I turned the CD on and started singing along. All of a sudden I hear howling coming from the back seat. I turned around and looked at Ella and she said "Puppy wants to sing along too!" We spent the next 20 minutes "singing" together. It was so sweet and so funny at the same time. I love her imagination!

She is such an interesting combination of Jimmie and me. She is very creative and imaginative, but at the same time very inquisitive and analytical. She will say "Tell me everything that you know about..." and quiz you about it when you are finished. The next moment though, she will be immersed into some other world and expect you to play along. If she is playing a repeat character I can usually jump right in and play along. Sometimes though, she starts pretending and I either don't recognize her characters or am too distracted to remember them. This causes chaos and frustration for both of us. I always have to be on my game with her. She is a firecracker! This fantasy can be very confusing for her very sweet, very literal friend Luke. He says "Ella, are you pretending?" and she looks at him straight faced and says "No, I'm really...(Ariel, Ron Weasley, Rapunzel)." I then have to turn to him and whisper "She is pretending". He then grins and plays along too. They are very good for each other! She makes him think outside the box and he grounds her. It's a win-win :)

She is loving preschool and has the two most amazing teachers! You can tell that they love their job and the kids. Preschool teachers do not get paid enough! Anyway, not surprisingly she just fit right into preschool. She goes to the preschool at our church and it is the perfect fit for her. It has just the right balance of exploration and creative play. She is meeting other kids her age and is learning to compromise and play with others. Her teachers had wonderful and kind things to say about her. Many of her strengths are mentioned above. They said she loves to do any activity as long as she can do it with her friends. That's my girl :) She does have some trouble playing when things don't go exactly as she expects them to or when she thinks that someone is wrong. That's Jimmie's girl :)

Both of our girls require an enormous amount of physical and emotional energy, but man, I wouldn't change them for anything. I love their fun and spunky personalities. Jimmie and I just keep saying that we are excited to see how these strong personalities are going to grow with them. I hope that we can continue to nurture Ella's creativity AND her inquisitive nature. I spent much of my life feeling very different from those around me. I want Ella to know that that's ok. I don't want her to change for the people around her. Hopefully we can help her become the best Ella she can be. It's sure going to be a fun ride!

I must leave you with this because I laughed out loud when I saw this on my camera. This picture has been floating around Pinterest. http://cynthiawc.posterous.com/what-i-feel-like-when-i-run-what-i-really-loo

I always laugh out loud when I see it, so imagine my delight when I found this on my camera:

A Good Mother

So I was trying to be good and slide in under the wire on tonight's topic for NaBloPoMo, but the site is down, so I can't get the writing prompt for tonight. I do remember looking at it last night and it was something about balancing family and work and such, so here are my thoughts on being a Mom.

Moms (and women in general) are much too hard on themselves. We expect ourselves to be superheroes. From the moment that we find out we are pregnant every decision we make involves another human being, what we eat, how much we sleep, the activities that we do. We feel guilty for everything, when we are at work we feel guilty for not being with our kids, when we are at home we feel guilty for not getting more work done. When we go to the gym we feel like we are being selfish for taking time away from our kids and when we are at home we feel guilty for not exercising more! When we are playing with our kids we feel guilty for not cleaning up the house, and when we are cleaning the house we feel guilty for making them play alone.

Now I am not stupid. I do know that there are some incredibly crappy moms out there. I have seen them in the hospital and you can already tell on the day that their babies are born that they better change their priorities or they are not going to take very good care of their babies. It is disheartening to see moms that do drugs or have other unhealthy behaviors that can have babies so easily and have 7 babies that have all been taken away from them, especially when there are women out there who so desperately want to be a mommy and have done everything right, but can't conceive or have had disrupted adoptions. That is a topic for another day though. The point is, I know there are bad moms out there.

What I am going to talk about is what makes a good mom. A good mom loves her kids and wants the best for them. Sometimes that means she gets the amazing privilege of staying home full time with them. Sometimes that means she works outside of the home so that they will have food on the table or clothes or a warm house to live in. Sometimes she works outside of the home because it makes her a better mom when she is at home.

I have things that I believe in strongly and do for my girls, but know that those decisions are not for everyone. I am a Breastfeeding Educator and obviously think that is important. I encourage my patients to breastfeed but realize that this is not realistic for every mom. I think that a good mom feeds her baby, either by breastfeeding or formula feeding, or by giving homemade baby food or store bought baby food. I think a good mother puts diapers on her baby's bottom and changes them often. That could mean that she uses cloth diapers or it could mean that she uses disposables.

A good mother reads to her children often! A good mother encourages creativity and curiosity. Some moms know that they can teach their children the best and choose to teach them at home. Some moms know that school teachers can teach their children the best and choose to send them to school outside of the home. A good mom knows her children and knows that the option that she chooses for her first child may not be what works for her younger children. A good mom finds every opportunity she can to teach and guide her children.

There are so many controversial topics surrounding motherhood and child rearing. Why do we feel the need to compete with one another? What gives us the right to impose our beliefs about parenting onto another mother? Why can we not just encourage and support each other instead of tearing each other down or trying to compare our children's accomplishments?

We can never truly understand what another mother is going through unless we get to know each other. Instead of looking down on someone because you think they are making poor decisions what would happen if we actually tried helping each other out? What if instead of saying, "Wow that mom does not have it all together. She is yelling at her kids and they are so unruly!" we offered to watch our girlfriend's kids so she can go to the store by herself. It may be the only quiet time she gets for the week! It could be that she's yelling at them because she is so tired that she is working all the time at home and outside of the home and she is still worried that she won't have enough money to buy groceries.

It's time that we stop trying to compete with one another and start helping each other out. A lot of moms are really lonely and tired. They love being a mom and they love their kids, but they get isolated because they don't have time to hang out with friends anymore and they also need someone to understand and encourage them.

The other thing we need to do is give ourselves a little bit of grace. Being a mother requires a huge amount of emotional and physical energy! We make up stories, wipe bottoms, change diapers, make meals, nurse babies, dress up, make up games, schedule and go to appointments, take kids to school, help them with their homework and the list goes on and on! Those are just the things that we do when we are with our children. On top of that a lot of us work outside of the home and have other responsibilities there. We must realize that we can't do everything and that taking care of ourselves is just as important as taking care of our children.

Pumpkin and Apple Picking

One of my favorite things about Connecticut, and one that I will miss very much when we leave is the abundance of fun things to do outside here, especially in the fall. Being from Oklahoma I had never really gone apple picking or pumpkin picking. We LOVE going out to Lyman Orchards.

There is something so satisfying about picking your own food. It is a real treat and so much fun. In fact we may go for one last trip tomorrow after Ella gets out of school because we finished off about 20 lbs of apples in 2 weeks! My girls really enjoy apples! I didn't even use them for any baking projects this time, they love them that much. It's really a shame since I have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to my apple picking bounty ;) I am glad that they like eating them as fruit though, instead of covered in sugar and flour! Aubrey likes them so much that she was headfirst in the bag when we got home. We turned around and she literally had her head down in the bag chewing on the apples. I had to put the bag up on the buffet because we kept finding apples with four little teeth marks in them!

We have gone to the orchard several times already. The last time we went with our sweet friend Maria. We picked both apples and pumpkins this time. I put Aubrey in the Ergo and we loaded up the stroller with pumpkins.

We were also able to take some pictures of the girls. There was some screaming and crying and squeezing of one sister, but overall it went pretty well and I was able to get a few good shots at least. Happy Fall!

Bathtime!

My girls LOVE bathtime! It is such an improvement from earlier this year when Aubrey screamed bloody murder if you put her anywhere near the water. I think she started to like it because she adores her sister and who has a blast in the tub.

Ella asked today if they could take an early bath. I always give them a bath on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday nights because Ella has school the next day and on Saturday nights because we have church on Sunday mornings. Sometimes they get a bath on the in-between days, but those are just bonus baths.

I am sitting in the bathroom with Ella as she plays with her toys in the water. We have been in here for at least 45 minutes. Her sister is now taking a nap. Aubrey has had two baths since we started. She got the second one because she peed on the floor when I was getting her clothes and diaper ready. Yes, a better, more prepared mother would have had them ready before they got in the bath, but I didn't today. I'm cutting myself some slack because I am so tired! I have already warmed the water up once because it was ice cold. Bathtime is good, clean (pun intended), creative fun that does not involve modern technology. I have been transported to far away lands to dine with princesses, had fashion shows, made up stories and learned many new songs about mermaids and other water dwelling creatures. I feel blessed that my girls like taking baths so much, so I will sit in here with her as long as she wants to play or decides she is too pruney!

My friend Sarah and I are in the process of gathering information to write a book about things we never thought we would say before we had children. Between the two of us we have 5 girls between the ages of  ten months to nine years. We were both blessed to have varying degrees of "spirited", fairly independent children, so you can probably imagine that we often say or hear very funny things. Today was no exception. While giving my girls a bath today I uttered these gems: "Stop trying to pee on your sister!" as well as "Get your bottom off of your sister's head!"

I have to admit that I can never, ever say that my house is boring. I love my job of being a mommy to these two silly, fun, (mostly) sweet girls!

November 3 and November 4th

So three days into the exercise and I already missed a day! I was pretty busy yesterday cleaning and doing 10 loads of laundry. Yes, you read that correctly, 10. That included diaper laundry, but man I was behind. I still have several loads left and then I have to put them all away :(

Anyhow, I kept thinking I will sit down and write a post and then nighttime came and it was time for work. So here we are today, having had 2 1/2 hours of sleep in the last 34 hours. Hopefully this post will make a little sense, as my brain is a little muddled.

November 3
Can you listen to music and write? What song did you hear today?

That really depends on my mood, amount of sleep and level of distractedness (not sure if that is a real word). I love music, all different kinds. I have at least 20 different stations on Pandora, ranging from Ingrid Michaelson to Vampire Weekend with some Cake, Queen, Josh Groban and Point of Grace mixed in there.

If I am trying to write something for fun I like listening to music with lyrics, but if I am doing something more serious it has to be lyric free. If I am really distracted or tired and trying to complete something, I have to turn the music off all together!

I heard many songs today, but currently I am listening to Diego sing about dinosaurs (not my first choice, by the way).

November 4
When you are writing do you prefer to use a pen or the computer?

I prefer using a pen, hands down! I LOVE using a pen and paper. I feel like I can be more creative. I am also a big fat nerd that really enjoys making lists just so that I can cross them off.

I love the beginning of school when school supplies go on sale. I love new notebooks and pens. I am  kind of picky about my pens. They have to feel right and I like different pens depending on the thickness of the paper, for example, I like a certain pen for writing in notebooks, and another for writing on loose paper. I need help, I know!

Because I know most of you are just coming to my blog to see cute pictures of the girls and not to hear my rambling thoughts, I will post a few cute pics.

Here is Ella with her friend Pearl at a carnival about a month and a half ago. They are silly girls and have a lot of fun together!

Daddy and his sweet girl at one of our favorite spots in New Haven, East Rock Ridge.

Mommy and her sweet girl on East Rock Ridge.

I turned around and found both girls in the same box in the living room. I'm sure glad they like each other!

Day 2 of NaBloPoMo

Well this is kind of cheating, because I just wrote Day 1's post less than two hours ago, but technically it is November 2nd and I am up feeding a baby, so here goes:

If you knew that whatever you ate next would be your last meal, what would you want it to be?

Well that's a little sad, don't you think? I don't know that I would want to know that my next meal would be my last, but I will play along and answer the question.

I would eat only dessert. Cake, the kind with beautiful, colorful, tasty buttercream icing. Whipped icing will not do. I would eat cookies: chocolate chip and sugar cookies with more of that scrumptious buttercream frosting. I would eat candy: skittles, now and laters, sour patch kids. I would drink Dr Pepper (the real kind, not Mr. Pibb).

Wow. That's making my stomach hurt and my head spin, just writing it! Maybe I should include some artichoke hearts and a big salad with strawberries, blueberries, chicken, almonds, parmesan cheese and raspberry dressing. Mmmm...that sounds good. Maybe I should make that now!

What would you eat for your last meal?

Months Nine and Ten

Did you catch that? Months NINE and TEN? Where in the world has this year gone?

Month Nine brought lots of new sounds and lots of movement! 

Aubrey learned how to cruise around the furniture followed very quickly by crawling. She is Little Miss Independant! When she wants something, she goes for it. While we are on the subject of wanting something, it should probably be made very clear that this one knows what she wants and when she wants something she wanted it YESTERDAY! She has learned to make noise and use signs in order to get what she wants. Food is a huge motivator for this little one. 

She can recognize and point to Mommy, Daddy, Sister, Max and Stanley. She even pointed to Nonna on the computer. She will say "Mamamama" for me and "Dadada" for Jimmie. She says "Eh" for Ella. 

She loves her dogs and she loves her sister. All three are fairly tolerant of her, but I have a feeling those days are numbered :) We have had many a discussion on "soft touch". I may have to pull out the "Pat Them Gently" book given to me at one of Ella's baby showers by a good friend.

She is a delight most of the time and most people say "Isn't she the most easy going baby?" to which I reply, "Yes, she sure is now, we are very blessed!" It really is the truth. I had heard that colicky babies turn into the most pleasant little people. She sure fits that mold.

Month Ten

And we're off! This one NEVER.STOPS.MOVING. EVER!

You turn around and she is in another room, in the trashcan, pulling things out of the cabinets, scavenging for food or other treasures. She is FAST! She is so incredibly close to walking. She stands up on her own and will take some steps while you hold her fingers. She will almost take steps in between things, but gets scared and sits down.

Everything goes into her mouth, including that decal you see pictured above. In keeping with the theme of most of the months before, this girl loves her food. She will eat anything and is starting to have preferences about what she likes. We are pretty much giving her most everything that we eat these days (minus anything with nuts or honey in it). It is kind of nice not to have to make a lot of baby food, because with Jimmie working ALOT and me working a couple nights of week I haven't had as much time to make food this time around. When we go out I have started giving her applesauce and those Ella's Kitchen packets from Target, something I never did with Ella.

The most surprising thing about this girl is her sense of humor. She is really funny! I never remember Ella trying to be silly like Aubrey does. She really wants to make us smile and laugh. She really really wants to make Ella smile and laugh, which she usually does.

She LOVES her sister. It is so incredibly sweet. She loves to take baths with her. She gets really excited if you talk about taking a bath or take her clothes off in the bathroom. She splashes around and plays with Ella. She also really really likes standing up in the bathtub. That stresses me out.

She has become such a delight and I am so blessed to have both of my sweet girls in my life!

NaBloPoMo

Well, inspired by my friend Tara, I have decided to participate in National Blog Posting Month or NaBloPoMo! I would really like to get back into my blogging, and not just for sharing fun stories about the girls, but to express myself as well!

The prompt for today is: What is your favorite part about writing?

I would have to say being able to say things without anyone interrupting me! I have two little people at my house and rarely get to finish a complete thought. I go on play dates and my friends and I have very broken, interrupted conversations, the kind where you have to regroup every few moments because you forgot what you were talking about. I love my girls, don't get me wrong, but it is nice to be able to sit in a quiet, dark house for a few minutes at night and just think like an adult.

I am excited about getting back into my blogging. We are in another transition phase at our house. It seems both so recently and such a long time ago that we were in the same frame of mind, not knowing where we were going to be or what we would be doing. Jimmie has sent his applications out to so many schools and we are both anxiously waiting to hear back. He is doing remarkably well, but I know that he is so ready to find out something, anything! He has worked so incredibly hard for the last 6 1/2 years! I am so proud of him and want him to get the job that fits him the best. Hopefully this will be the last time that we will be waiting like this. We want to finally get settled. For most of our marriage we have been in transition. In Kansas we were able to get settled and truly loved our life there, but in the back of our minds knew that we had to move on. Connecticut has been a different story all together. We are (hopefully) only here for two years. The first year was an absolute roller coaster ride. We couldn't even think about anything outside of our house and our little family for a very long time. Now that things have calmed down a bit and we have gotten involved in our church, we are getting a little more settled and I think we are really going to miss our friends here!

So anyway, I'm hoping that I can chronicle the transition to the next phase of our life. Hopefully it will be the settled phase and hopefully it will be many miles closer to Oklahoma and our families than we are right now.

Ella interview before Preschool

After seeing this cute idea on Pinterest, I thought I would give it a shot and interview Ella the day before preschool. Here are my questions and her responses, exactly as she answered.

1. What is your favorite show? "Uh...Dora"
2. What is your favorite color? "Hmm...All the colors in the rainbow and all of the colors of the world!"
3. What is your favorite thing to eat? Peas! (This one was news to me)
4. What is your favorite book? Book to read? Yes, Ella, book to read. Oh, ok. The Animal Alphabet.
5. What is your favorite thing to play with? Polly Pockets and Dolls. Avery is my favorite dolly.
6. What do you think school is going to be like? I think I'll draw pictures and stuff like that. I think I will eat snacks and play games, like board games.
7. What is your favorite treat? My favorite treat is candy! Chocolate chips!
8. How are you feeling about going to school? I feel worried, a little bit nervous. I feel eckskyted a little bit.
9. What is making you nervous? Um, making new friends.
10. What are you excited about? I'm eckskyted about what I am going to do at school, just not about making new friends.
11. What is your favorite thing to do? I like to play 'I'm the Mommy' and Doctor (yes she does!)
12. What is your favorite movie? Ratatouille, I like rats (that is honestly what she said)
13. What is your favorite season? Uh...Fall! Why? Because it has colorful leaves and I like colors and because I get to go trick or treating and I like tricks and I like treats.
14. What do you want to be for Halloween? A kitty!
15. What are you going to wear on the first day of school? The same dress I wanted (we already picked out her clothes) orange, orange, orange dress.

Pretty cute! Hopefully I can continue to do this every year along with her first day of school picture. She then turned the tables on me and asked me a bunch of questions and scribbled down my answers in a notebook with an orange crayon. Here are a few examples. I didn't answer how she wanted me to at first, as you can see:

1. What is your favorite thing to do? Play with my girls.2. What is your favorite thing to sleep on? My green blanket. No, no, no! What is your favorite thing to sleep on that is big and soft? I see, you mean my bed? Yes! Very good mommy!
3. What is your favorite thing to change that is a person? Do you mean Aubrey? Yes. Very good!

Daily Dose of Ella

My Ella is something special. She is strong willed, she is energetic, she is inquisitive. She loves to learn new things. Her new favorite thing to ask is "why is (whatever she is wondering about) called (whatever she is wondering about)". Usually I don't have any idea, I don't know why oceans are called oceans or horses are called horses. I'm not of the "make it up" camp, so I usually tell her when I don't know. She has started saying, "Well do you think you might even have a guess Mom? Think about it a little bit." She is always thinking and analyzing the world around her. Because of that, often I forget that she is just 4! Some days she acts so grown up, like the other day when she came in while I was making dinner and asked for a plate. I got her a plate and then she came back asking for another one and then repeated the cycle again. I thought she was using them to play with and asked her why she needed so many plates and she said "I'm just setting the table mom." She set the table without being asked! She followed that shortly with a fit of some sort and got sent to time out and I remembered that she was still a little kid.

She has recently learned how to play soccer. She really enjoys it. It was funny to watch her learn how to play. Our friend Stephanie taught her the correct way to kick a ball. She resisted kicking it with the side of her foot for a long time and then just decided that it was easier. The other day I overheard her teaching one of the neighborhood kids (that is at least five years older than her) how to kick the ball.

The other thing that is huge for us this week is that she has learned how to ride her bike! I haven't had a chance to take a picture of her on it, but she looks so grown up with her helmet on riding her bike with training wheels! She was so excited to show Daddy what she had learned. I'm hoping she can start riding her bike when we go running or for a walk around the neighborhood. She loves it. I am glad she is learning how to channel some of that crazy energy that she has!

She is fascinated by animals and insects and the world around her. We check out movies and books from the library on various subjects and learn about them more in depth. When Granny and Papa visited us a few weeks ago they took us to the Boston Aquarium and on a whale watching tour. It was really fun and Ella really enjoyed it. Now I get to answer lots of questions about Humpback whales and Blue whales and various other whales that she has studied. I often feel like I know nothing, but then have to remember that she is just excited and ready to learn about everything around her. Things that I may have known about once upon a time are brand new to her.

Her other new favorite thing to talk about is Spiders. We have several living on our porches that we have just let live there and make webs. It has been interesting to watch them grow. I think I'm going to have to start doing research so I can answer her questions!

The thing that I have most loved watching is her in her role of sister. She loves her sister so much. She is so helpful when I need things and tries to fill Aubrey's many many needs. She entertains her and soothes her and just plain makes that girl laugh. Aubrey has started imitating Ella (which is both good and bad). It really makes my day when one of them starts giggling and the other joins in until they are both shaking with laughter. It makes me hopeful that someday they will have the special relationship that I have with my sisters.

It is so much fun watching my sweet girl grow and learn about the world around her and accomplish new things. She is so fun and full of life!

Time is flying by!

I am embarrassed that my last post was her 5 month post!

At six months Aubrey was already proving to us how much of a mover she is. She scooted around everywhere and never sat still. She ate just about anything that you put in front of her and she wanted to do it BY HERSELF!!!!

At seven months she learned how to sleep in her OWN BED in her OWN ROOM! The heavens rejoiced on that one! She also learned how to sign "more" which she has now stopped using because she has found that banging on the table gets her what she wants as well. We could title this month "A Healthy Appetite" because she loves everything that you put in front of her. She doesn't care about textures or flavors or anything. She thinks that if you are eating it she needs to be as well. It's a good thing she is such a mover...

Which brings me to Aubrey's eighth month, the one which we will title "I've Got Places to Go". This kid can MOVE. She does not sit still. She can climb steps. She stands up. She cruises around furniture and cabinets.

She will take some steps while holding onto your hands. She constantly flips over when changing her diaper, which I don't remember Ella doing until a few months later, and then I just started changing her diaper standing up because it was easier. It probably won't be easier this time around with the cloth. We've kind of regressed with our sleeping, but I think a lot of that had to do with Mommy going back to work. During orientation I worked 4 nights a week. I am hoping it is going to settle back down only working a shift or two a week.

And there you have it folks. Aubrey's last three months in three short paragraphs! I can't believe how fast time is whizzing by. Jimmie is finished writing his proposals and will soon be applying for jobs. I can't believe we have lived in New Haven for over a year. I can't believe that (hopefully) this time next year we will be settling into new routines in a new state. I can't believe that Ella starts school in less than a week! Sometimes I think that time has flown by and others I feel like this last year has dragged on.

It's funny how life changes and you don't even realize it until you look back. This time last year I didn't know how I would even make it. I was lonely, I missed my family and I wanted to go home (to either Kansas or Oklahoma-either home would have worked a that point). I was pregnant and scared and unsure of how I could even begin to think of taking care of 2 girls, one was difficult enough. We have gone through a lot this last year, but as Jimmie reminded me the other day, we have always had all of our needs met. When we were lonely we met good friends. When Aubrey was crying and we didn't know if we would make it to the next day those friends were there again and He provided the strength we needed to keep going. When we were running out of money and unsure of how we were even going to buy groceries, I got offered a job. When I am tired and having a bad day, when I am feeling like a horrible mother, when I am lonely and just want to go "home" if I can remember to look to the one who has consistently and abundantly provided I can usually pull myself out of my wallowing pit and face reality again. For that I am truly grateful, because time is going to continue to fly by and life is going to continue to happen.

Watch Aubrey Grow: Catch Up

As evidenced by my last post we have sort of been in survival mode. I have neglected posting the last THREE months of Aubrey pictures. In less than a week I will be taking her 6 month picture! Time has really started to fly around here.

March 17, 2011

St. Patrick's Day

Three months and one day. I don't know if you have noticed before, but I'm pretty particular about certain things. I have picked out a onsie each month that matches the colors of the decal. I try to match her headband to the decal as well. Yes, I have problems. The first step is awareness. Anyway, I put on her little matching onsie and tried to get a good picture. She was just NOT cooperating. I took her onsie off and thought, we are just going to have to try this later. As soon as I did, Ella started entertaining her and she started laughing and cooing. At that point I grabbed the sticker and stuck it on her bare chest. I think this actually may be one of my favorite pictures to date and it happened way differently than I had planned.

 April 16, 2011

Four Months

After the last month I wised up and utilized Big Sis as Chief Entertainer. I would say it worked like a charm. See if you can spot the Entertainer in one of the photos below. Aubrey is getting much more fun and we are having better and better days.

May 16, 2011

Five Months

This girl has become sooo much fun. She babbles, coos, giggles, laughs and just generally has fun most of the time. She is getting close to being able to sit up on her own. She LOVES her bouncy activity chair. She gets up on her knees and starts to rock like she wants to crawl. She is eating lots of things. She hasn't met a food she didn't like (except rice cereal by itself). More about that in a coming post :)