Exhausted... but Happy

I ran into an acquaintance the other day who I haven't seen for a couple of years and she says to me: "You look exhausted... but Happy".  At first I was a little hurt by her comment (usually when you tell someone they look tired/exhausted it means that they look terrible), but then I thought-yes that is exactly how I feel.  I am exhausted and the bags under my eyes and the large amount of caffeine I have consumed this week are an indication of that fact, but I am Happy.  Life is good at the moment... not perfect but really good.  I have a awesome husband who loves me, I have two amazing kids, a beautiful and comfortable home, a job that I feel good about doing and has allowed us to expand our family, food on the table,  and a wonderful extended family who puts up with my quirkiness.  I am truly blessed.  As tired as I am, I am trying to enjoy every moment with these little ones because one of these days Olivia won't want to snuggle with mommy and Nate will be all grown up and will be too big to hold his mommy's hand- and I know I will miss it... but I really could use a full night of sleep.

On another note... we had a pretty boring Valentine's Day at our house.  Scott and I haven't really done anything for Valentine's for each other for years, but this year was partially unromantic with leftovers for dinner and me falling asleep at 9.  On Friday before V-day we were a little festive and made some heart shaped sugar cookies...

And little Nate slept through the whole thing...

Back to Reality and One Month

I have to go back to work tomorrow.  I was planning on taking two more weeks, but due to a technicality with my company's sick time policy I am having to cut that time short.  I have so enjoyed this time with my two babies and I am dreading tomorrow morning for many reasons:  1. On Friday I was so proud of myself for getting the two kids and myself dressed and out of the house by 10:00- how in the world am I going to make it to work by 8:00??  2.  My baby girl has gotten very attached to her mommy being home- it is going to break my heart when I leave her and she has alligator tears running down that precious face.  3.  I have so enjoyed the little things with my babies- going to story time at the library, sitting on the bed in our jammies watching Super Why and Sesame Street, making cookies with Olivia, and snuggling with Nate in the afternoon while Liv takes her nap.  I will miss them terribly.  I know they will taken care of and loved.  Carol, my sitter, has become a third grandma to Olivia and I know that she will be the same to Nate, I am just not quite ready to let this time go. 

Little Nate is officially one month old.  His cute little cheeks are getting chubby and he is starting to grow out of his new born clothes. I know it is probably too soon, but I  really think he is starting to smile and when he does he has the cutest dimple on his right cheek.   He has started to recognize my voice and focuses on my face pretty well.   He is freakishly strong for someone who is only a month old and does a pretty good job of holding up his head and lifting himself on his arms while he is laying on his stomach.  He likes to stretch his arms above his head and many times his little hands get tangled in his hair which he pulls making himself cry.  His big sister and his mommy and daddy love him to pieces and we can not imagine our little family without him.

  



Pulling the hair.



I am afraid this is the face that Nathan will make every time Olivia tries to love him.  I know she means well, but sometime she wants to give him a little more love than he can handle. 

Two Year Celebration

For Olivia's birthday this year, we decided to keep things really simple.  Because February 3 was also Chinese New Year I made sweet and sour chicken and we invited our neighbors over for dinner followed by ice cream and cake.  Grandma M also came down for the festivities.  When I showed Olivia her cake she recognized that it was Elmo so I figured I didn't do too bad for my first cake decorating attempt:

In addition to birthday celebrations, we have been potty training this week and she was so excited to earn her umbrella when she went tinkle on the potty ten times.  I am so proud of her.  As I mentioned in my original post on potty training we had a really difficult first day, but since then she has done so well and has very few accidents.

Here are some additional pictures from her birthday:

Nathan's Newborn Pics

My talented friend, Annie, took Nathan's newborn pictures and Olivia's two year pictures (as seen on previous post). As always she did an amazing job and she gave me way to many to choose from. Here are some of my favorites:

Birthday Girl

My baby girl turns two today. She is no longer a baby, but a fun, spunky, stubborn toddler who captured our hearts the moment we met her and somehow makes us love her more everyday.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl- We love you so much!!

Time is flying

I can not believe it is already February 1. Time is flying... I had big plans while I was on leave with Nathan and unfortunately I have not accomplished most of them.  One of the things I wanted to accomplish was potty training Olivia.  We started today and we have already had five accidents and have not made it to the potty once.  The most frustrating part is when I take her and sit her on the potty and she doesn't go, but two minutes later she comes to me and says "Mama I tinkled (all over the floor)".  The joys of parenthood:).

I have not made it to the gym everyday as I promised myself that I would,  Scott's "honey do" list, which included cleaning out the kitchen cabinets, is still pretty long, I did not get my Superbowl party invites made, and I have not gotten Nathan's room put together, but on a positive note  I have done the following: I cleaned out craft room and my pantry, I finished my nephew Evan's birthday gift (some BYU PJ bottoms), I finished skirts for Olivia and Emma (see picture below), sewed two baby blankets for Nathan, got some scrap book pages done, and have spent many hours of quality time with my little daughter and her baby brother. 

I am so excited how this skirt turned out.  Liv has a similar one and I really liked it so my amazing mom helped me put this one together without a pattern.  My next adventure will be a jumper for Liv and I am going to try to do it all by myself- (could prove to be interesting).   I have decided I have to many things that I would like to do and not enough time- I need to figure out how to survive on 4 hours of sleep and stop being so lazy. 

 Here are some random pics from this week...

The little man is starting to be awake for longer periods.  I finally got  a picture with his eyes open last night.  We are slowly getting on schedule.  The other night he slept for six hours and I was so grateful (the sleep deprivation is catching up to me). Most of the time he is sleeping for about 3-4 hours.
 

This past weekend I took the kids to Idaho for a few days.  It was good to spend a few days with my family and Olivia got to spend some quality time with her cousin Taylor.  One of her favorite things to do at Grandma's is play the piano. I think I have mentioned this before, but this girl loves music and she sits and pounds on the keys belting out the ABC song and the Itsy Bitsy Spider.   We got see most of my siblings this weekend and Aunt Chelsey let her play on her scooter.  Liv loved it. 



Earlier in the week, Brittany, Emma, and Gracie came for a visit.  While they were here we made Valentine's Day cupcakes, went to storytime at the library, and watched Sesame Street on Mama's bed.  Britt and I even got some scrapbooking done while the kiddos slept. 

Here is Liv at the library.  Since I can remember I have loved books and I really hope to pass this love to my kids.  In hopes of fueling her desire to read we go to the library once a week and have started to go to story time on Tuesdays.  For those of you in Springville you need to check it out- they have a theme each week and do a little puppet show, read a story, get a visit from letter hero,  and get to do a craft.