Happy Anniversary to my husband of 4 years, and my sweetheart for life!
Who knew we would be where we are today only 4 short years ago, but I am excited to see where the rest of our lives will take us!
I love you!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Evan's Birthday Party
Yep, that is SEVEN girls with Evan!!(5 cousins + 2 sisters = 1 lucky dude when they are teenagers and have friends)
(easy to decorate when the theme is balloons!)
(easy to decorate when the theme is balloons!)(hard to keep decorated when the theme is balloons!)
Despite the downers of a cold and rainy day and Evan having a pookie tummy, we had a lot of fun celebrating Evan's 3rd birthday on Saturday with a balloon theme party! Thanks to everyone for making it so much fun!!!!!
Monday, April 27, 2009
12 Weeks
Avery & Brynn are 12 weeks old today. As I read back what I just wrote, it's a little hard to fathom - for a few reasons:
1. Holy cow, it's been 12 weeks!
2. If I were returning to work, today probably would have been my first day back.
3. Looking at reason #2 brings up a whole world of emotions about "officially" being a stay at home mom (SAHM).
So, with that, here are some of my thoughts about being a SAHM vs. being a Working Mom:
1. I am grateful to my husband for being able to stay at home with the kids. There is no way that I would have this opportunity without his support. Keep in mind, a lot of the decision to stay at home was made for us when we found out we would have 3 kids (daycare is EXPENSIVE), but there was a big part of me that really wanted to stay at home. Looking back, I am grateful the decision was "taken out of our hands."
2. It's a lot of work. There is no break. It's 24/7, and extremely demanding. To be totally honest, there are a lot of times I think it would be easier to be at a job. (Except for managing schedules and commuting and traveling and on and on...) Hence, for the time being, I am staying at home.
3. The guilt doesn't go away. When I went back to work after Evan was born, I felt so guilty about leaving him with "strangers." Now that I am at home, I feel guilty when I do laundry or dishes or anything other than spending every waking moment with my children. But the reality is, those things have to get done and if I actually spent every waking moment being 100% attentive to my children, I'd go crazy, and they wouldn't learn to be independent.
4. Who am I now? I would say I was a career driven person, I was happy with my last job, I was happy with where my career was headed, and I felt like I had an identity other than "Mom: butt wiper, diaper changer, meal preparer, kleenex-er." [Don't get me wrong, being called "mommy" is one of the greatest things on this earth]. I guess my new challenge (and I love a challenge) is figuring out the "new me" and how to balance that with being a wife and a mother. It's the same as every new stage in my life, I was a different person in the working world than I was in college, likewise in high school, etc., etc. Different because of my priorities, my goals, and what I find important.
5. What are my goals? When I was working, I had expectations and goals I needed to meet. That largely determined how successful I was. Well, what are the expectations and goals of motherhood? How are they determined? By society? By your children? By your family? By yourself? I understand why a lot of mothers feel like failures, because at the end of the day, it sort of feels like dinner should be on the table, the house should be clean, the kids should be happy, and you should be out of your pajamas. And when those things don't happen (most of the time in my case), you feel as if you have failed. So, I suppose my next challenge (remember, I like a challenge), is setting realistic goals.
[I should clarify that I have never been in my pajamas by the time Dan gets home from work, however, throwing on sweat pants and a t-shirt and wearing no makeup is a frequent thing now]
6. When do I go back to work? This is a question I often ask myself. I won't go into depth with all my thoughts on this (especially since this post is much longer than I thought it would be), but I am excited about the possibilities. It's one of the unknowns that I am looking forward to discovering (if you know me well, you know I have a fear of the unknown, so this is big), whenever the time is right and the opportunity presents itself.
7. Lastly, THANK GOD all 3 children nap at the same time! I have achieved at least ONE of my goals! I wasn't sure it would be possible, but I have managed to get them all sleeping at roughly the same time. If I didn't, I would never be able to have a blog. :)
1. Holy cow, it's been 12 weeks!
2. If I were returning to work, today probably would have been my first day back.
3. Looking at reason #2 brings up a whole world of emotions about "officially" being a stay at home mom (SAHM).
So, with that, here are some of my thoughts about being a SAHM vs. being a Working Mom:
1. I am grateful to my husband for being able to stay at home with the kids. There is no way that I would have this opportunity without his support. Keep in mind, a lot of the decision to stay at home was made for us when we found out we would have 3 kids (daycare is EXPENSIVE), but there was a big part of me that really wanted to stay at home. Looking back, I am grateful the decision was "taken out of our hands."
2. It's a lot of work. There is no break. It's 24/7, and extremely demanding. To be totally honest, there are a lot of times I think it would be easier to be at a job. (Except for managing schedules and commuting and traveling and on and on...) Hence, for the time being, I am staying at home.
3. The guilt doesn't go away. When I went back to work after Evan was born, I felt so guilty about leaving him with "strangers." Now that I am at home, I feel guilty when I do laundry or dishes or anything other than spending every waking moment with my children. But the reality is, those things have to get done and if I actually spent every waking moment being 100% attentive to my children, I'd go crazy, and they wouldn't learn to be independent.
4. Who am I now? I would say I was a career driven person, I was happy with my last job, I was happy with where my career was headed, and I felt like I had an identity other than "Mom: butt wiper, diaper changer, meal preparer, kleenex-er." [Don't get me wrong, being called "mommy" is one of the greatest things on this earth]. I guess my new challenge (and I love a challenge) is figuring out the "new me" and how to balance that with being a wife and a mother. It's the same as every new stage in my life, I was a different person in the working world than I was in college, likewise in high school, etc., etc. Different because of my priorities, my goals, and what I find important.
5. What are my goals? When I was working, I had expectations and goals I needed to meet. That largely determined how successful I was. Well, what are the expectations and goals of motherhood? How are they determined? By society? By your children? By your family? By yourself? I understand why a lot of mothers feel like failures, because at the end of the day, it sort of feels like dinner should be on the table, the house should be clean, the kids should be happy, and you should be out of your pajamas. And when those things don't happen (most of the time in my case), you feel as if you have failed. So, I suppose my next challenge (remember, I like a challenge), is setting realistic goals.
[I should clarify that I have never been in my pajamas by the time Dan gets home from work, however, throwing on sweat pants and a t-shirt and wearing no makeup is a frequent thing now]
6. When do I go back to work? This is a question I often ask myself. I won't go into depth with all my thoughts on this (especially since this post is much longer than I thought it would be), but I am excited about the possibilities. It's one of the unknowns that I am looking forward to discovering (if you know me well, you know I have a fear of the unknown, so this is big), whenever the time is right and the opportunity presents itself.
7. Lastly, THANK GOD all 3 children nap at the same time! I have achieved at least ONE of my goals! I wasn't sure it would be possible, but I have managed to get them all sleeping at roughly the same time. If I didn't, I would never be able to have a blog. :)
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Giggle goo
Brynn has the cutest giggle I have ever heard. Just like her smile, catching it on camera is a bit hard. She is so darn inquisitive that every time she sees the camera she gets a serious look on her face and just starts studying the camera trying to figure out what it is!
(Yea, this face)
(Yea, this face)
Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'
Avery can roll over. She has on a couple of occasions. I even have photographic and video proof! It was hilarious both times it has happened. I'm not sure she really knew what to think. It was certainly not on purpose, and I'm not sure it will happen again any time soon - but here it is for your viewing:
(look at that head & neck control by the way - she is our little tummy time rock star!)
The 1st time was the day she turned 2 months old:
(look at that head & neck control by the way - she is our little tummy time rock star!)Here again at 9-1/2 weeks:
(This particular time it happened about 3 times before I finally grabbed the camera, and I was pretty happy she did it again for me! You really only need to watch the first 20 seconds or so to see it)
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Mini-celebration
We had a little mini-celebration for Evan's birthday tonight! We went to my... er.. I mean... Evan's favorite restaurant for dinner - Mexican! He enjoyed his birthday cupcake after we got home. My little boy is turning into such a little man!
Happy Birthday, Evan!
Today my little boy has turned 3, yes, THREE. It has gone by in a blink of an eye! I remember being very excited when Evan turned 1 - I couldn't wait to let him eat his first cupcake! I was very anxious when he turned 2 - he was officially passing the baby stage into boyhood. The truth of the matter is, I was pretty sad the entire month of his 2nd birthday. Now that he has turned 3, I'm not entirely sure how I feel (A little scatter brained since I have a couple more things on my mind...), but mostly I have been very reflective. There have been a mixture of challenging times, learning opportunities, and some of the most rewarding moments of my life!
I look at our kitchen table and I remember when he could walk right under it without it touching his head. I remember the day he ran into the table and he was so shocked that he did it a second time not realizing that he had grown too tall to walk under it without ducking. I remember the day he could see on top of the table without pulling himself up onto his tippy-toes. And now, he is head and shoulders above the table and sits next to us at dinner time reminding us to pray. He has an opinion, and likes to share it. He is a fabulous big brother. He loves to read. He loves to say the alphabet and challenge us to what sounds the letters make. He is funny. He is our little 3 year old!
Happy Birthday, my sweet Evan!
2006
2007
2008
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
We're Singing in the...
...crib!
Try to ignore my voice in this video and focus on the cute reactions from Brynn & Avery! When I sing to them before nap & bed time they try to sing along with me. It's much cuter in person, of course, but here is a little taste:
Try to ignore my voice in this video and focus on the cute reactions from Brynn & Avery! When I sing to them before nap & bed time they try to sing along with me. It's much cuter in person, of course, but here is a little taste:
Monday, April 20, 2009
Batting Practice
Who knew it could be so amusing to watch your babies discover they have hands and can use them!
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