Growing By Two Feet

I've known since a few days before Christmas, but I'm finally happy to announce that we will be growing by "two feet" this summer!  We will become a family of 5 before we know it...

We saw our little gummy bear this week, saw his little heart beat (no I dont know if its a boy yet I'm just referring to the little one as a boy for now).  Right now I'm 9 weeks and due Sept 5 but since I'm a scheduled C Section, maybe a little bit earlier which would mean very close to my birthday (I'm Aug 30).  We are thrilled, I know the kids are going to have so much fun chasing around a baby.  Yes, I know its going to be nuts, chaos, sleep deprivation all of that and more, but it goes fast. So excited.

I didnt start to feel lousy til 6 weeks exactly. Then boom. The second my stomach was empty I felt like I needed a toilet. Like clock work I wake up at midnight and 3am for a "feeding" because the nausea is so bad it wakes me up.  I was eating a "Perfect Foods Bar" during one of these feedings because they were one of the few things that sounded good and I was trying to load my stomach with something heavy in the middle of the night so I would sleep longer. Not only did this NOT WORK, I think I gained weight a little too fast. So saltines have become my best friend and I've realized about 3 or 4 of those guys with some water has the same effect. I've been able to get a handle on the weight gain, and have been holding steady - thank goodness.

I stopped working out excessively like 3 or 4 months ago, and now that I'm pregnant working out actually helps me feel better. I dont do much - maybe 45 min to and hour but its just enough to get the blood pumping (and all the other stuff that digests slowly moving) and some energy roused up.

Kids have been for the most part, good to me.  Some mornings I lay in bed feeling terrible...

Bobby said to me one morning: "Mommy you dont feel good?"
Me: "yes Bobby, I feel really sick..."
Bobby: "Mommy is that because you have a baby in your belly?"
Me: "Yes Bobby it is..."
Bobby: "Ok mommy feel better..."

Brooklyn on the other hand, doesnt get it, doesnt care if I'm saying "Stop jumping on me! I'm about to barf!!" But once the little one is here I know she will be hands on...too much! hahaha

And then school started this week. YIKES. Actually I dont think it will be too bad. I think the hardest time will be once our little bear is here and new and eating alot. So thats when I know I'll have a real challenge.  We actually just found the world's best baby sitter (aside from our family) and she is a great gift to us.  She has previous toddler experience (used to work at Busy Bee Preschool) and goes to college and does not have any other source of income. THIS IS WHAT I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR!  She needs us as much as we need her. She is sweet as pie and does EXACTLY what I ask. Our whole family loves her....

Best Buds

Bobby and Brooklyn are turning into quite the little friends. Part of it is due to the fact that they do not attend preschool, we don't see alot of other kids during the week (EVERYONE WORKS! :( ), so all they have is each other (and me but they get bored of me).  When Brooklyn naps on days Bobby doesnt have to, Bobby starts to look for her after an hour or so. You can ask Bobby who is best friend is, and it used to be kids from preschool, and now he replies, "Brooklyn." 

Some other things happening - 

- Moved Brooklyn into Bobby's room. Pushed both toddler beds next to each other (so its like one big bed) and for naps and bedtime I lay with both kids (in the middle) and within 20-30 minutes they fall asleep. I sometimes sleep for an hour!  At first we tried to just put them in there, turn on night lights and say good night but both kids would just get up and party. I caved and decided to go back to what I knew worked - laying with them for sleep. The first day or 2 was annoying, it now has become one of my favorite times with them. They snuggle up to me, kiss my cheeks, and tell me how much they love me.  For me, its my favorite memory with them so far.

- Bobby understands his 4th birthday is coming soon. (We keep reminding him.) Today I asked him if he wanted to have a birthday party or if he wanted to go to Disneyland, he told me Disneyland. We shall see....

- Brooklyn everyday is changing more and truly showing us her playful side (and big mouth, loud screaming and how big her tantrums can really get). Right now her favorite thing to do is play dress up - she wont let me take off her dress up clothes at bedtime, and the second she wakes up she usually wants to wear some kind of dress and high heels.

- Both kids are still learning how to ask for things correctly. 9 times out of 10 Bobby says "Mommy I want water, " I correct him 1000000000 times a day. Hope one day it sinks in.

- Brooklyn HATES brushing her teeth. I MEAN HATES. I have to pin her down (literally sit on her) and try to shove the brush in her mouth. Bribery works but I hate that. :( She is so stubborn!

- Bobby is slowly outgrowing naps. If he sleeps in for me (close to 7) I allow him to skip a nap because I hate the struggle of bedtime going past 9pm. For the sake of me and Derek, I try to sync both kids schedules so bedtime is roughly 8pm every night. So far, so good.

- I love the kids so much. By 8pm I am worn out. I mean TIRED. So my patience is gone. But usually its about bedtime and the kids give me lots of hugs and kisses and take away some of my frustration...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Holidays flew by as usual.  Christmas Eve Derek returned from Colombia. Exhausted. He came home at 2 in the morning to us, slept til like 8 and was just well, let's say "tired" from all of his "get togethers". Ha. It was so good to have him home. The day before he returned I could tell Bobby was missing him - constantly asking for him, and then seeing his truck in our drive way Bobby couldn't understand - if his truck is here, then why isnt he?  

Christmas Eve we drove with some friends to Julian. Froze our butts off, ate a little lunch. Came back to my house, had parents over and exchanged presents. It was fun.

Christmas Day we woke up at our usual time, ate a yummy breakfast and saw that Santa had come.  The kids were so excited. Usually Derek and I buy lots of candy and shove it in each other's stockings but this year I said no way. For starters there is just so much junk, and secondly, the kids do not need to get used to the idea that candy will be in the stockings. No thanks.  They received books and some new underwear in their stockings. PLENTY.

Santa brought the kids new balance bikes (the Kazam ones if you are interested in looking at it), a Melissa & Doug doll house (super cute and sturdy), a Hape Discovery Space Station (big rocket with astronauts, love it), a few puzzles and Leap Pads.  Unfortunately the leap pads are a tad above their ability, so I bring them out here and then but for the most part keep it put away.  Bobby sorta gets it, Brooklyn definitely not there yet.

For their presents I just stalked the internet for best pricing - Amazon always was the most expensive! I was so surprised. And disappointed. Thank goodness for the Internet - it allows you to bargain hunt as much as you want!

Derek and I exchanged a few things. His big gift was Colombia with no gripping from me, and some extra cash to go do whatever he wanted.  I received a new Coach purse (which I had my eye on) and a nice new wallet that I really needed.

It was a great Christmas.

Then for New Years....

Went to dinner with friends and family on New Years Eve- but last night - a drunk driver drove down our street, and side swiped my car and my brother in laws! This happened to me 10 years ago - what are the odds!  The first time (back 10 years ago) my little chevy s10 was hit so hard it was totaled.  Last night my car was hit so hard my passenger side mirror was hit off, and my brother in laws truck suffered quite a bit of damage.

SO ANNOYING!!!! I wanted a new car anyway but dont think this will be the way I get it...hahaha

Holidays, A new easy snack

Christmas has definitely snuck up on me this year, how about you?  Derek departs tomorrow to Colombia, South America.  We both have mixed feelings, its a once in a lifetime chance to go but he is far from us, should anything go wrong.  He'll be home before we know it and I've made sure to keep us sort of busy over this next week while he's gone.  My mom will be staying with us starting tomorrow through friday or saturday (basically however long I can handle her).  Tomorrow we are visiting some friends, I have my last exam (absolutely no studying done - i should get off of this now), and alot of home made gifts that I still need to finish.

And somehow wrap the kids gifts - which doesn't sound like a lot but Bobby has been hit or miss with naps these days.  And actually, since we moved him into his own room he gets up at like 5:30 everyday! YES! I KNOW!! Its because we think he's hearing Derek get up for work in the morning so he just gets up. So on days like those (like TODAY), I can bank on him taking a snooze. Which I know he desperately needs, I've been seeing a side of him lately that I just do not like and I know its all revolving around his lack of sleep. BOO.

Anyway. I came on here to share this...

Easy recipe for a super healthy snack.  Not sure about everyone else, but my kids really like nuts but always have a hard time chewing them in their little mouths.  This snack gets the nuts down plus some other benefits...

Energy Bars
6 Dates
1 or 1&1/2 Cups of  Raw Almonds (or Cashews)
~1/2 Cup of Coconut oil
~ 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
other optional ingredients are chocolate chips, shredded coconut

Grind up in a blender or processor just the nuts and dates.  I find for me, if I add in all the ingredients and then try to blend the mix, it just doesnt go well.  Also, all my ingredient amounts are guesses.  Well, I take that back, the dates, I did put in 6 but the nuts, eh you kind of have to eye ball it.  My guess is it measures out to 1 - 2 cups of almonds.

Delicious!  Kids inhale those bad boys.  I wanted to add some of our cod liver oil, but it has an orange or lemon flavor and I think the contrast in flavors would just be terrible.

Cookie Christmas Pig Out Party

A few friends and some family came over last night.  We ate a bunch of food, decorated cookies, and spent some time together.  It was definitely one of the calmest parties we have held at our home, and I was pleasantly surprised.  It was still alot of fun :)

We had a total of 11 kids at one point that all sat around our table and frosted cookies.  We had some laughs because the kids took everything overboard - excessive frosting, sprinkles, etc., but it was fun.

Bobby was so excited that all of his friends were coming over to play. I can tell he misses having friends to see daily, so I know we'll be enrolling him in pre school again, just not sure how much longer he can go without it :)

Family Portraits Sneak Peek

Loved everything about today.  Shayna is one of the nicest people I've ever met in my life and she was able to get the kids to work with her so much.

Kids naps suffered so I made sure they ate their omega chewies before leaving the house to help boost their moods (and of course give them the vitamins they need but they do help with crankiness, that and cod liver oil but i'm out of it).  Worked.

I cannot give enough praise to her work. This link should take you to our 1 photo that's available for viewing.

Awesome.

Halloween in Review and November 2012

Folks, I had the chance to have Mr. Justin Bieber at our house on Halloween.  (Hate to break hearts all over the world that he is mine for now til forever haha)

Brooklyn was supposed to be "Milli" from Team Umizoomi but refused to wear the mask I made so I guess we can just say she was a clown? Whatever...

  Bobby is supposed to be Gio as pictured left...

and I'm supposed to be "Bot" as pictured here...

Close enough on our costumes, right? Cheap. I spent maybe $10 total on their costumes...and they still play with the mask today and the clothes we reuse. Sweet.

So, our carpet for Bobby's room is installed tomorrow - YAY! Time to get a "big boy" bed.  Bunk Beds?  Twin with trundle?  Dont know what we will get but that is the mission this weekend.

In other news, last night Brooklyn cried alot when I went to put her to bed.  Not sure why.  Sick or scared hard to tell.  So while Derek was at his game, I put her in bed with me.  Every night Bobby spends about 5 minutes in bed with us snuggling and saying good night then we transfer him to his own bed.  Well last night we all fell asleep (or I should say I FELL ASLEEP) and didnt wake up til 2 hours later.  I put both kids in Bobby's bed - - toddler bed, so it was a tight squeeze, and I think they LOVED IT!  Only problem is Bobby rolls around like a freaking worm, so toward early morning today he was really squishing her out.  I might try it again - depending on how Brooklyn is tonight when its bed time. I need to start implementing a sleep plan for Bobby because as of late he is really fighting me on naps.  If he falls asleep in the car for 20 minutes he fights me to the death about that being enough sleep. So tonight, both rascals are going to bed at the same time.  It actually may work out better for me and Derek so we can watch all of our R rated stuff and have some alone time at night before bed.  Wish us luck.  First go at it happens tonight.

In other news, our family portraits with Shayna San Nicolas are next tuesday, I can hardly wait.  Hope our outfits look nice together.  Hard to match and not look to overly matched (like how we all wore white shirts last year, I just found out Derek doesnt really like that look).

I had my first test in my 2nd class, felt like I did well.  Dont know the grade as of yet hopefully soon.

Started doing some running and lifting again to just firm up some of this flab that's over taking my butt... and tossing around the idea of buying a treadmill.  If we were to purchase it, I would cancel the membership, and we have all the free weights at home so it would eventually save us money.  I think the kids get a little bored going to the gym and I do not go as often as I'd like to go - aside from receiving a smoothie afterwards, I think they'd rather stay home.  The people there are sweet as pie, but there's only so much you can do there (space is kinda small) and the kids would rather be home anyway.