Monday, March 24, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Single Mom
March 16, 2008~
I just have to say that lately I've had a whole new respect for single parents. Lately, Andy's been working late into the night and early Sunday mornings so I've been single handedly responsible for getting both of the kids in their Sunday clothes and taking them to church. And I have to tell you that it is on the top of my "hardest things to do" list right after keeping the house clean and washing out stinky clothes. As it is everyone knows how great I am at getting anywhere on time, now I have to add two kids on top of that. By the time we even get out of the door both of the kids are screaming hysterically, Evelyn of course in the process of undressing or taking Preston's shoes off again, the kids having totally mismatched clothes with Preston's "back up outfit" already holding at least half a gallon of drool, and to top it off I end up with about 5 minutes to get myself ready. I will admit it isn't entirely the kids fault. I could certainly get up earlier and definitely have more prepared on Saturday instead of waiting but it just seems like no matter how much time I have or how much preparation I've done I still end up walking out the door at the same time each week, 20 minutes after church has already started. And then when I get to church it's a whole other story. I'm not a huge fan of sitting in the hallway because Evelyn ends up wandering the halls so I do my best to try to sit in Sacrament. The kids are both actually surprisingly good for about 10 minutes until Evelyn gets bored and her eyes start to wander and she realizes all the people and things around her to interact with. And I know it's just me being self conscious but it feels like everyone is staring at me and my kids are distracting the whole back section. To make things even worse the whole time I'm thinking about how bad of a job I did on Evelyn's hair and how embarrassing Preston's drool/ spit up covered shirt is. Things actually do get a lot better after sacrament meeting when Evelyn goes to Nursery. She has THE BEST nursery leaders ever and she loves going in there. She always gets a little timid right before I leave and I can tell she wants me to stay which is actually kind of sweet but right after I leave she seems to fit right in and enjoy herself. Sunday School and Relief Society are like a breath of fresh air after Sacrament and I've actually really loved the curriculum this year. As easy as it would have been to just stay home from church and say forget it I'm really glad that I went. It's definitely hard but it helps to know that it's the right place to be and that regardless of how hard it is, it is the right thing to do.
I just have to say that lately I've had a whole new respect for single parents. Lately, Andy's been working late into the night and early Sunday mornings so I've been single handedly responsible for getting both of the kids in their Sunday clothes and taking them to church. And I have to tell you that it is on the top of my "hardest things to do" list right after keeping the house clean and washing out stinky clothes. As it is everyone knows how great I am at getting anywhere on time, now I have to add two kids on top of that. By the time we even get out of the door both of the kids are screaming hysterically, Evelyn of course in the process of undressing or taking Preston's shoes off again, the kids having totally mismatched clothes with Preston's "back up outfit" already holding at least half a gallon of drool, and to top it off I end up with about 5 minutes to get myself ready. I will admit it isn't entirely the kids fault. I could certainly get up earlier and definitely have more prepared on Saturday instead of waiting but it just seems like no matter how much time I have or how much preparation I've done I still end up walking out the door at the same time each week, 20 minutes after church has already started. And then when I get to church it's a whole other story. I'm not a huge fan of sitting in the hallway because Evelyn ends up wandering the halls so I do my best to try to sit in Sacrament. The kids are both actually surprisingly good for about 10 minutes until Evelyn gets bored and her eyes start to wander and she realizes all the people and things around her to interact with. And I know it's just me being self conscious but it feels like everyone is staring at me and my kids are distracting the whole back section. To make things even worse the whole time I'm thinking about how bad of a job I did on Evelyn's hair and how embarrassing Preston's drool/ spit up covered shirt is. Things actually do get a lot better after sacrament meeting when Evelyn goes to Nursery. She has THE BEST nursery leaders ever and she loves going in there. She always gets a little timid right before I leave and I can tell she wants me to stay which is actually kind of sweet but right after I leave she seems to fit right in and enjoy herself. Sunday School and Relief Society are like a breath of fresh air after Sacrament and I've actually really loved the curriculum this year. As easy as it would have been to just stay home from church and say forget it I'm really glad that I went. It's definitely hard but it helps to know that it's the right place to be and that regardless of how hard it is, it is the right thing to do.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Finally gave Preston the boot
March 14, 2008~
Ever since Preston was born he has been sharing a room with us and he has been the WORST sleeper. I'll admit I was pretty spoiled with Evelyn. By the time she was 2 months she was only getting up maybe one time a night and by only 4-5 months she was sleeping through the night. On top of that she would sleep in until like 10:00 or 11:00 in the morning but with Preston I haven't had one good night of sleep in the 6 1/2 months that he has been born, that is until Friday night. After everyone constantly telling me that I should just move him into another room I finally listened. We put him in the farthest room possible from our bedroom and closed all the doors. Success! I was an idiot not to listen to everyone sooner. The first night he got up once. I got up, fed him and he went straight back to sleep no problem. The very next night he got up once but went back to sleep in a matter of minutes. Pretty soon he'll be sleeping through the night and I can finally get some sleep again!
Ever since Preston was born he has been sharing a room with us and he has been the WORST sleeper. I'll admit I was pretty spoiled with Evelyn. By the time she was 2 months she was only getting up maybe one time a night and by only 4-5 months she was sleeping through the night. On top of that she would sleep in until like 10:00 or 11:00 in the morning but with Preston I haven't had one good night of sleep in the 6 1/2 months that he has been born, that is until Friday night. After everyone constantly telling me that I should just move him into another room I finally listened. We put him in the farthest room possible from our bedroom and closed all the doors. Success! I was an idiot not to listen to everyone sooner. The first night he got up once. I got up, fed him and he went straight back to sleep no problem. The very next night he got up once but went back to sleep in a matter of minutes. Pretty soon he'll be sleeping through the night and I can finally get some sleep again!
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Pilates and the Park
March 10, 2008~
My sister finally convinced me go to pilates with her every Monday morning at 8:30 so this past Monday I went to my very first class. I will admit I didn't think I was going to like it at first but after going I have to say that I did enjoy it. I was 20 minutes late so I missed out on most of the good stomach workout but even still I woke up the next day with a sore stomach, thighs and bum. Hopefully that's a good sign of things to come. At this point I'll take anything that will tone up some of my flabbiness in any or all three of those areas. If anyone wants to join us next week it's a free class and kids are welcomed, just let me know and I'll give you the details. I brought both Evelyn and Preston and their was probably a good 5-6 other kids there not counting all the babies in car seats.
After the class we took all the kids to the park which was tons of fun for them. Here's some pictures of them.
Preston & my beautiful sister, Nichole
My overly energetic fun loving little nephew, Joshua
My adorable princess/ tomboy niece, Eliza, who would love nothing more than to play in the sand all day.
Evelyn loved being pushed as high and fast as her swing would go.
And lastly, my bouncing baby boy Preston, swinging on the swings for the very first time.
My sister finally convinced me go to pilates with her every Monday morning at 8:30 so this past Monday I went to my very first class. I will admit I didn't think I was going to like it at first but after going I have to say that I did enjoy it. I was 20 minutes late so I missed out on most of the good stomach workout but even still I woke up the next day with a sore stomach, thighs and bum. Hopefully that's a good sign of things to come. At this point I'll take anything that will tone up some of my flabbiness in any or all three of those areas. If anyone wants to join us next week it's a free class and kids are welcomed, just let me know and I'll give you the details. I brought both Evelyn and Preston and their was probably a good 5-6 other kids there not counting all the babies in car seats.
After the class we took all the kids to the park which was tons of fun for them. Here's some pictures of them.
Preston & my beautiful sister, Nichole
My overly energetic fun loving little nephew, Joshua
My adorable princess/ tomboy niece, Eliza, who would love nothing more than to play in the sand all day.
Evelyn loved being pushed as high and fast as her swing would go.
And lastly, my bouncing baby boy Preston, swinging on the swings for the very first time.Saturday, March 8, 2008
First solid food
March 7, 2008~Preston is now almost 6 1/2 months so after careful consideration I decided that we had put off feeding him solids long enough. With Evelyn's help we fed Preston his first
solid food, rice cereal. He actually took it pretty well. Way better than he took to the bottle. He kept spitting it out and trying to cough it up but for the most part he kept it all down. Since then he's gotten a little better with it and he's also now tried oatmeal.
Disneyland
March 6, 2008~
Thursday, a huge group of us (20 in total) had such a great time at Disneyland. Andy and I had spent quite a bit of time previous to our trip getting Evelyn psyched up to go and I had spent the previous 3 days doing nothing but bottle training Preston so we could leave him at home with a babysitter {Thanks Nichole!}. From the moment we got out of the car Evelyn was so excited to be there. It was her first trip to Disneyland so she really had no idea what she was in for. Before we even got out of the parking structure she was jumping up and down pointing at every Daisy Duck sign we passed yelling "duck, duck". We got in and you could see the wonder in her eyes as she shifted her head every which way trying to take it all in. Not long after we got in she suddenly started giggling hysterically at something and I looked straight ahead of us and there was Chip (or Dale?). Evelyn could hardly contain herself. The characters where definitely one of the highlights of her day and watching her get excited was definitely the biggest highlight for me. She just kept waving at the characters saying "Hi!, Hi!, Hi!" trying to get their attention. I actually had to hold her back several times so she wouldn't dart right up to them and cut in front of the people ahead of us. When we got to Pluto she was so cute, she just kept starring at him. We told her to give him a kiss and she just looked at him like "where?". She finally gave him a little kiss on the nose, it was so cute! Her favorite character of the day was definitely Winnie the Pooh. Of all the Disney characters he is the most recognizable to her so when she saw him she went hysterical. She kept shouting "Pooh!, Pooh!, Pooh! like he was some kind of celebrity and she threw a major fit when we started to walk away.
Her reaction the first time she saw Pooh
After watching Evelyn get so excited about seeing Pooh, Andy and I decided that we just had to take her on "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh".
Waiting in line
Just before going through the tunnel
Here's the group coming out of "The adventures of Winnie the Pooh" ride. I just thought these were funny because they look like the kind of pictures you buy at the end of the big rides. They're also some of the only pictures I have that include the whole group.
While we were waiting we decided to take some shots of Evelyn....
Evelyn sitting so cute in front of all the honey pots.
She started climbing the pots and guess who she discovered again on the other side. It was like Pooh heaven for her until...
... she realized she couldn't stay with him forever and I had to pry her away from the pots.
It was awesome that so many of Evelyn's cousins could be there.
The oldest 3 girls and Evelyn waiting patiently for their lunches.
Becca sharing her Mickey hat with Evelyn.
My youngest niece on the Waite side, Rachael. Isn't she the cutest?
The rides were awesome! Even with such a big group we managed to ride quite a few. Thanks to my in~laws we even got to ride most of the big rides. Evelyn's very first ride ever was Pirates of the Caribbean. She did way better than I thought she was going to do. I also got to do a few things that I had never done previous to this trip, like go inside the tiki room (which Evelyn loved, almost a week later she is still going around the house trying to sing the song), ride the train around the park and have my silhouette cut out which was really pretty cool.
Andy & Evelyn and Emily & Rachael riding the rockets
Riding on the train
We had such an awesome time at Disneyland. I'm so glad that we got a chance to take Evelyn. It was fun watching her reactions to all the new things. I'm also glad that we got to have so much of our family join in on the fun. Thanks everybody!
The Marketplace
March 3, 2008~
Monday we got to hang out with Andy's family at the park for a little while. It was great to get to see everyone and chat with them. Afterwards Andy and I decided that we weren't quite ready to go home so we decided to use the rest of my Cold Stone gift card that my lovely sister~in~law gave me and treat ourselves to some ice cream.
The daily special just happened to be a free kid sized ice cream with the purchase of a regular sized one so Evelyn lucked out and got her own ice cream. She got cotton candy flavored with sprinkles. Here's Andy feeding it to her.
Andy and Evelyn sitting on the bench enjoying their ice cream and watching the Marketplace fountain.
Evelyn, Preston and I sitting in front of the fountain.
Monday we got to hang out with Andy's family at the park for a little while. It was great to get to see everyone and chat with them. Afterwards Andy and I decided that we weren't quite ready to go home so we decided to use the rest of my Cold Stone gift card that my lovely sister~in~law gave me and treat ourselves to some ice cream.
The daily special just happened to be a free kid sized ice cream with the purchase of a regular sized one so Evelyn lucked out and got her own ice cream. She got cotton candy flavored with sprinkles. Here's Andy feeding it to her.
Andy and Evelyn sitting on the bench enjoying their ice cream and watching the Marketplace fountain.
Evelyn, Preston and I sitting in front of the fountain.Jonah's Baptism
March 1, 2008~Last Saturday my little nephew, Jonah Bishop, was baptized here in Bakersfield and I was blessed to be able to attend his baptism. Jonah is such a sweet kid. We are all very proud of him and we love him very much.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Mom & Dad
The next and last birthday of the month was my mom's birthday on the 28th of February. Since my dear old dad also celebrated his birthday last month (on the 12th) I thought I'd wish them both a combined belated Happy Birthday. I have to start out by saying that I have THE best parents in the whole world. I love them so much and appreciate everything that they have ever done for me. Now that I've had two kids of my own I'm realizing more and more just how much they mean to me. I owe a lot to them. They did a terrific job raising us kids. I base most, if not all, of my parenting style on the way they raised me. They are two of the greatest examples that I have in my life and they're also two of my best friends. I am so very lucky to have them as my parents and grandparents to my children. I love you guys!
My Birthday
Sorry guys. I've kind of been out of my blogging mojo so unfortunately I've let 2 weeks slip by without updating. I'm happy to say however that I am back, at least for now. So anyway, a lot has happened in the past 2 weeks. It's amazing how you never really think about all the things that happen until you actually sit down and try to remember them. I guess I'll start off with only the best day of the year, MY BIRTHDAY! Yes, that's right, as you all know from my egg post my birthday was the 26th of February. I am happy to say that I am now 24. Crazy, I know. I had such a great birthday! First of all my amazing mother (who really should be the one celebrated) took me out to lunch at Popeye's (mmm... mmm.. did I mention that I have an infatuation with anything chicken, it's just so good). It was fun to get my mom's perspective on what it was like for her when we were growing up. Sometimes I guess I forget that my mom was once in the same situation that I'm in now. I know what you're all thinking "well duh, of course" but it's funny I've always viewed my mom as "my mom" and not as "a mom" (if that makes any sense). Anyway, after my lunch date with mom and *no kids* thanks to Andy who graciously watched both the kids so I could have some free time I went home and completely blew off cleaning the house so that I could spend some quality time with the kids. Later on Andy and I put the kids in the car and headed out with absolutely no idea where we were going or what we were doing but with just the idea that we were going to do something. Andy's mom and dad were totally awesome and ended up watching the kids for a few hours while we went out on a date. We first went to Baha Fresh and ate some delicious (once again chicken, can't get enough of it) burritos. And then as if we weren't totally stuffed already we decided to overindulge and get some ice cream from Cold Stone. Afterwards we watched "Be Kind Rewind". Usually I'm not really a big Jack Black fan but I really liked the movie. It was great! Overall I had such a terrific birthday. Thanks everyone for all the birthday messages. You're all very sweet. Now it's only T minus 355 days until the next one.
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