A 6-Month Comparison

My mom had been asking me for awhile to put together a composite picture of the two kiddos and see how they compare at the same age. So here is their 6 month picture in the chair, composited together.

Monkey looks so much older than his sister did at that age! He was heavier, but not by much. And she was almost ready to start crawling...and walking within the next month and a half.

I'll have to do this again with another month's pictures to see how that compares.

This is kinda fun. And bittersweet! They are getting soooooo big!

Coffee = Survival

 

I live in a world of coffee and chocolate coconut bites.

These two things seem to be the best part of my days as of late... and almost are a necessary part of surviving each day.

(Don't get me wrong... the actual best part of my day comes when my kids are laughing and chasing each other around the kitchen, building blocks with Daddy and snuggling while we read a book. But back to the necessity of coffee and yummy bites:)

You see, my kids have decided they don't want to sleep.

No sleep during the day. No (or very little) sleep during the night. Just no sleep. Or at least nothing more than a 10 minute power nap.

How can they have so much energy on so little sleep? And how am I still standing after living off of 2-4 hours of broken sleep a night and 3 hours of screaming fits during the day trying to get them to nap? (them screaming...not me. Even though I'd love to join them at times. Ha!) Well, I've been asking myself that every day. And this has been going on for 3 weeks now. :(

I'm lost on what to try next. I've tried sleeping in their room with them. I've even crawled in the crib a few times. We've pulled Munchie into our room and made a bed on the floor. We've added a fan, lavender oils, darkened curtains, left the curtains open, added a night light, kept the main light on during naptime, and many other tips and tricks that haven't helped worth a darn.

Oh yeah, and I've been praying a LOT lately! Every time I'm awake at night. Every time that I sit in their room waiting to hear their breathing change. Every time I'm up feeding Bubba. It's been a bit of a reminder that we really can't go to Him enough.

So while the Lord continues to work on my attitude and their restlessness... I'll continue to enjoy my cup o joe and these delicious bitties each day as I try to function. :)

It's a busy life... being a mom.

I wouldn't even know where to begin on catching up with life. We have been so busy lately and part of that is on account of my design/photography business booming. And I'm not even trying! The Lord has blessed me by bringing people to me to request a photo shoot or a project designed and I am eternally grateful for the extra money He has provided. Just in time too because I really do need to invest in a new computer. I think this one is about 6 years old. Hm...

But let's see. What have we been up to? We have:

Had a birth day...

Celebrated a birthday... :)

 

 

 

 

 

Played in the snow...

Had some nap-time-troubles...

Found a favorite TV show...

Gone through LOTS of diapers!...

Celebrated a few holidays...

Built forts...

Hung out with family...

 Road trip!!...

 

 Graduations...

 

Wedding planning...

And gone to the zoo - many many many times!

It's been a busy year so far!

2014 - A New Year

Happy New Year! It's something that's said all the time, but "I cannot believe it's already January!!!!"

This baby is being stubborn and is still content hanging out in mommy's tummy. It is now a week 'overdue' and I am getting very anxious to meet the little one! But I guess it wants to add another January birthday to the family calendar, which I guess isn't terrible. That'll give me some more time to plan parties and such after the craziness of the holidays. And who doesn't love the great after Christmas sales to shop do presents?! :) (trying to think positively while in reality I'm dying for this kiddo to hurry up and be in my arms!) Lol!

Moving on...

I'm not a huge fan of resolutions. It's just a list of mostly unattainable items that we forget about or stress ourselves out over and give up on within a few months time. And who wants to be disappointed so early in the year? Ha! I'm kidding...mostly. However, I do believe in creating a list of desires, of things that you'd like to see happen...okay, so you could call them resolutions if you had to...that you write down and then forget about. Hide the list somewhere where you won't 'find' it until the end of the year - like a devotional book, the December pages of your day planner, your blog (wink wink), etc. Then near the end of the year, take a look at the list and see if your priorities, interests or desires have changed, or if you've accomplished some of the items you wrote down or wished for, or if God has led you a completely different direction than what you thought at the beginning of the year.

The goal of this is not to criticize yourself or be disappointed in what did or didn't happen, but to reflect on your life, the past year, and to keep an open mind of what The Lord may have for your life and the next year.

Some of mine?
- to stress less on the messes of my house and enjoy the craziness of my kiddos. They grow up way too fast and I want to enjoy getting on the floor and playing with them, taking in the milestones and little quirks, and teaching them about life and the importance of having a relationship with our Savior!
- spend more time on me and my projects and needs. As moms we give up so much of ourselves for our families and forget to take 'me time'. I want to be healthy, get back in shape after this pregnancy, have a few moments of rejuvenation after a long day or week with the kiddos and get my craftiness on. :)
- get a handle on our budget. It's been a challenge to budget properly under one income and I've gotta work harder on decreasing our costs and increasing our savings from my side of things. Hubs does an amazing job with his 'portion', but I need to do my part and add to our savings from my budget allotment as well
- I need to work harder on keeping up my design and photography skills. I've had the blessing of gaining some design contracts in 2013 and the hope is that at least one of them is continuing into this year. It'll be fun to see what The Lord brings for my business in 2014
- potty train Munchie! Get that kiddo out of diapers! Lol. I actually think we would be trained by now if we had been taking it seriously, but I didn't want to go through all that and then have her revert once the new baby arrives. I've heard that's harder to retrain than to just wait a bit longer.
- here's one that I'm hoping to accomplish, but I am not going to let myself get too disappointed if I don't accomplish it - spend time in God's Word and read My Utmost for His Highest (which was a gift from our Sunday School teacher)

Well, there are more, but I'll stop there. Happy New Year! May this year be the best one yet!

Oh, and baby...please come soon! :)

It's a I-Can-Do-Everything attitude.

Superwoman I am not!

I am the type of person that feels (in most cases) it's just easier to do everything myself. Otherwise you're spending all your time telling or showing the other person what to do or how to do it.

But I am realizing more and more that I can't do everything myself.

Cleaning, cooking, working, mothering, wife-ing, and being preggo at the same time.... it's exhausting! I have to realize that there are limitations and sometimes a person just has gotta ask for help. Well, that or just not get some things done. Which, speaking of, my house is quite dirty, the bathrooms haven't been cleaned in almost 2 weeks, I haven't vacuumed in 4 days, the pantry is due for a stock-up shopping trip, and I have many cards to get in the mail! Oh, and I need to pay some bills.

Oh well. I do what I can.

And I'll procrastinate a little more and just look at this picture from our recent camping trip... it makes me happy. :)

The Rain in May... oh wait... it's September!

Colorado has been getting hit with torrential downpours the past week. We have flooding all over the area, and while my own family and friends are safe from danger, there are many people who are missing, a few who have lost their lives, and many who have lost everything that they own. It's scary how powerful the roaring waters can be and there's no way to stop it once it does get moving.

Photo from kdvr.com

Mr Wonderful has been dealing with some of the disaster from a water standpoint (sounds kinda funny in this situation, huh?). He's a water operator for a multitude of small water systems here in the metro area and he has been working hard making sure that his clients have clean drinking water. For instance, last night he ended up leaving at 9pm and didn't get home until after 3:30 this morning! Several of his plants are in the danger zone and they've had to man one of them almost non-stop to keep filters clean and the pumps working. They are waiting to check on the other ones, but are currently unable to because of the washed out roads.

Photo from kdvr.com.

Photo from thedenverchannel.com

It's just so sad to watch the devastation and think about all the families that have lost their homes, their properties, cars, pets, etc. To see it so close to us makes me consider the value of what we have/own. I want to go through stuff and get rid of the unnecessities.

Photo from kdvr.com.

We're expecting more rain tonight... additional downpours actually. Even our yard can't handle any more moisture. So we'll see what additional damage happens tomorrow morning. Keep your thoughts and prayers headed this way! There are a lot of people here that need it!

It's a fine life...

Sometimes this child gets on my every nerve. Daddy walks in the door after work and all I can do is retreat to the basement or go grab a shower (usually the first in several days) and just grab some 'me' time before I go crazy.

But I do love my precious girl and she brings such joy to my life as well.

She's starting to say words, clear words. She has some sign language down pat. She puts her arms all the way around my neck and holds me tight. She'll cuddle with me for a few moments at a time and I cherish each one of those moments.

Munchie is a handful for sure. There's no denying it. She wears me out and causes me to fall into bed each night with an exhaustion that I've never felt before. She still keeps us up at night for a few nights before sleeping through the next couple nights, then it's back to waking up again. This schedule of hers is not ideal for either Hubs or me, but it makes me cherish those nights that she does sleep through, and I partially enjoy (tired as I may be) getting up and rocking her in the wee hours of the morning.

I love having my parents within driving distance. My mom has been a HUGE help in watching Munchie several times a month and she gives me a short break as well as tag-teams when we run errands (she shops while I watch Munch and then I shop and she runs after Munch). It works pretty well. :) Not sure what I would do if we were to move farther away.

Yeah, this kid is pretty special to me. :) Thank you Lord for giving her to us! I pray every day that I will be the kind of mom she needs me to be.