Posts
If you caught the Steven Colbert referrence in the title, than you just made me love you a little more.
Today I am feeling a little introverted and philosophical. So are you ready for some random philoso-phizing?
As some of you may or may not know, in college I majored in Theater (since that was my college scholoraship), but also pursued my degree in Psychology. Now first let me say that I love theater. It is my passion, and the only constant love affair I have had throughout my life (i haven't known matt all my life so this is no fault of his :). If I could do nothing but act my whole life I would, it is a deep rooted passion that I will have until the day I die and probably beyond that to be truthful.
But when I was in college, being of a practical mind, I decided to look for other things/majors/occupations that might captivate me. For the most part this failed. Big time. Oh, I was a good student. Toot, toot (that was me tooting my own horn), I graduated with honors. But I didn't really find anything else that I loved even slightly close to the way I did the stage (the story of my life). But then I took a psych 101 class and loved it, so I took another level of psych and another and another, until I decided to double major and pursue both degrees. I loved it. Not the way I love theater, but WAY more than anything else I have ever studied. I find it stimulating and fascinating.
Now I graduated in the Spring of 2004 (wow, almost 6 years ago, holy crap I am old), so it has been a while since I have been in college (at least on a full time basis. I did some choir, etc after I graduated while I was working and putting Matt through school). But I still love Psychology. So sometimes I find myself reading studies, looking at statistics, and pulling out an old textbook or two. One day when matt is done with his anesthetist degree I am planning on going to Grad school, in pursuit of becoming a psycologist.
So that was the "brief" background I decided that I wanted to give before talking about my real point. I tell you what, I just can NOT tell a short story! Geez!
I was reading an article about a study that was done on the link between internet usage and depression. The stats show that there is a positive corelation between internet usage and depression, which means that the more time you spend on-line generally, the more depressed you are. They are of course now looking into whether internet usage causes depression or whether depressed people are more drawn to lengthy internet usage. The cause and effect aren't really important to me, it just made me take a look at my life.
I actually don't really spend very much time a day on-line, but I do play some games on our computer and sometimes bust out the playstation. I also LOVE to read. I am a total junkie, and can get lost in a novel for hours. I will freely admit that I am a victim of stimulating, unproductive entertainment that accomplishes nothing, but is fun in the moment. I think that a big problem for Americans is that we aren't acutaly living our lives. Ya know?
In my Social Psych class I had to write a research paper and my basic thesis was that establishing and accomplishing goals increases self esteem. And I really believe that the best way to get some self esteem for yourself is to set some goals, work hard and accomplish them. Don't you feel better about your day (and yourself) if you have a list of things you need to do and you actually DO them? I know that I do. I am not talking about just long-term goals, or just daily to do lists, I mean a combination of them both.
Every year at the end of the year, we have a "Jesus Stocking" that hangs with our stockings during Christmas Time. On Christmas Eve we all write on slips of paper (they are private no one reads anyone else's) goals (like new year's resolutions), ways that we are going to try an improve ourselves throughout the coming year. We read last year's and then put in the new ones as our gifts to Christ for Christmas.
I clearly won't tell you all the things I wrote down, but some of them had to do with being more productive (and hopefully in return upping my self esteem a little bit).
\
I'll be honest (after all the title of the post is "Truthiness"), since I had Lily my self esteem hasn't been very good. When she was 2 months old I quit my job and we moved away from my friends and family and Matt started work. It was rough. I was carrying around a bunch of extra weight, I was tired, lonley and depressed. All my social identifiers were suddenly gone. I was no longer working, doing choir or theater, I had no family or friends that I was close with. I was a stay at home mom with a new (and very difficult baby), and no life outside the walls of my apartment.
Since then things have gotten alot better, and in general, I am happy. Very happy actually. But I still have a bit of laziness and am prone to mind numbing entertainment. I feel wonderful about my family and the love that we have, and I have so much to be grateful for. But I still struggle with my self image, and the changes in me that have gradually happened that I don't like. I used to be SO active and overly busy, now I am just tired and worn out. So this year, I am working on fixing that, from the inside out. I am going to focus on being a better and more active mom and house wife. Strive to do more cooking, cleaning and quality family time. Especially because this year is going to be hard on Matt. I don't want him to have to do much of anything around here. I also want to be able to look around and be able to see my daily accomplishments (ie, that is right there are NO dishes in the sink, or everything is picked up, I excersied, made dinner, etc).
And I really believe that accomplishing things and showing myself that I have the ability to be dissatified and decide to change, and accomplish those changes, will make me feel better about myself. I could crash diet and lose the 15 lbs, but I would still feel lazy and dissatisfied with who I am. This year I am going to try harder to reach my potential on all the levels.
What about you? What are your goals this year? :)
Friday, February 5, 2010
Thursday, February 4, 2010
WHAT the February???
January went by SUPER fast ya'll! It is kind of crazy. And we are trying to start February off right! Big things have been happening at our house this week! Like, Lily FINALLY getting the potty training thing down! Woohoo! This deserves it's own paragraph.
Yes, it is true. She has finally decided to do her business on the potty. We have been encouraging her in many different ways over the past year to do it, but she has just never really been able to grasp it. Finally about a week or two ago she started showing signs that she was getting advanced warning and we jumped on it. Doing the potty treat and a bare bum all day long route. The past few days she has been awesome and been wearing panties (unless we go out, and then a pull up it is-which she has kept dry!) all day and a diaper to bed. The potty treat has been turned into dessert after dinner if she stays dry all day (none of the rest of us eat dessert, it is just a special treat for her). Last night we had our first accident melt down, and it was pretty much my fault. Matt was in the shower getting ready to go to work and I was feeding Izzie her dinner, Lily said she had to go and I just sent her in to go by herself, which she is great at doing, it usually takes her a few extra seconds to figure out the pulling the pants down, but she is great. I, however wasn't thinking about the fact that she was rushing down from the dinner table urgently and that Daddy had the shower running, which made those few extra seconds crucial. She was standing right in front of the potty and couldn't get them down and peed everywhere and she was frustrated and horrified, just a crying mess. I of course felt super bad, cleaned her and the bathroom up and let her have the treat anyway since she tried and was right there at the potty and had told me she needed to go, and I failed to think about what the running water would do for her bladder. It is always sad when you see your kiddos upset and you could have prevented it! But even that sadness is progress, a couple of weeks ago she would pee (or even poop) in the pants and think it was no big deal. SO, we are happy. Her finally being potty trained is a BIG deal to us. We still probably have a week to go before she is done with pull-ups while we are out, but I got to tell ya, eliminating one child's diapers is WONDERFUL.
Izzie's big week comes in that SHE is finally starting to show interest in walking. She has been cruising on furniture for months, but has been refusing to try and walk or to even let you hold her hands and walk her around. If you take her hands off a piece of furniture and try to help her walk somewhere, or even help her stand up, she would just sit right down. She has been standing up by herself, not holding on to anything for a while, but if you try to make her do it, she won't have it. But this week she is finally wanting you to walk around with her and taking a little step or lean to get what she wants, and will let you guide her. I think within a week or two she will be walking on her own. CRAZY.
As for me, starting in Febuary (yeah, i know it's only been a couple of days) I am trying to eat better, ya know, less carbs more fruits and veggies, lean protien, no junk food. And I am trying to work out. Sometimes that is hard with kiddos crawling on you. I have been trying to do it while at least one of them is asleep (they don't really do cross-over naps, much to my chagrin). Anyway, I have forgotten how GOOD it feels to really work out. I used to LOVE it. But then I got so ridiculously out of shape (and I still am), that excersise became a burden rather than a natural high. I have had a hard time with my motivation since having Lily, but I REALLY want to be healthy and in good shape. I don't even care about the weight so much any more (though I won't complain if some of it wants to take a leave of absence...did you hear me left over 15 lbs of baby weight? you are free to go any time now). I mostly just want to be fit again. Be able to run a couple of miles and have it feel GOOD like it used to, instead of having to stop every half mile to try and remember how to breathe. I just want to have that energy and stamina that comes with a more healthy lifestyle. Today I worked out, even though I really, really didn't want to. I have sore muscles, and Izzie was being a little needy, but I did it anyway and man it felt GOOD. It suprised me. The past few days it hasn't felt good, it has just been me trying to have some self discipline and making myself do it and hating it the whole time. But today was good. I felt a little bit of that fire come back. HOPEFULLY it will stay.
I may end up joining a gym. My good friend Sara is doing the $19/month Pure Fitness thing, and I was seriously considering joining until I found out that they don't include child care with their memberships, they charge 3 bucks an hour and that adds up quick if you are planning on doing an hour 3-5 days a week and have a couple kiddos. So...sorry Sara, if I get a membership somewhere it won't be there :( I'm too cheap.Though it would have been really nice to have a workout buddy (and someone else to be accountable to). When we lived in Chandler we had a family membership to the YMCA, we lived RIGHT by it and Matt got a sweet discount through Chandler Regional Hosp, where he used to work. I really liked it, so I may check out the Y over here, even though it is a little drive. Of course, I may suprise myself and be able to do without the membership, it is just so easy to be distracted with sweet kiddos and at the gym you can stick them in child care :) Plus I love me a treadmill.
She is also SUPER into headbands, which she calls "pretty". I am assuming that she calls them this because whenever we put one on her or lily (or a bow on) we tell them it looks pretty. She will point and say pretty and want you to put it on her, then after you put it on she will say "pretty" and start nodding her head yes. It is pretty cute. Then she will immediatley take it off and hand it to you to start the whole process over again. She could spend ALOT of time doing this. So if you are around her and wearing a headband, beware! She will take it off you and want you to play this game with her! She is just starting to try and talk (other than mama and daddy) and she says baby, button [she is also obsessed with finding her and everyone else's button(belly button) so if you're around her, that is another thing to watch out for], bottle, birdy and pretty. They all kind of sound alike, it takes a trained ear to tell the difference on most of them, but it is so fun to see her grow and learn, this is such a great stage.
The girls are playing ALOT more together all the time and I love to see Lily including Izzie in all her "pretend" playing. It is alot of fun and always entertaining.
this is Lily trying to make Izzie look at the camera
Matt has another crazy week this week, only getting about 4 hours between 2 of his shifts for sleeping, plus working 3 twelves then having only one day off (which is a sunday so he has to fit in church stuff and all his homework for that week) then working another 3. I feel REALLY bad for him. He is tired, but working hard and doing great about being dedicated to his school work. I was going to go to Thatcher for 8 days since I am pretty much not seeing him due to schoolwork, but finding subs for my calling (which I LOVE my calling btw) is a HUGE pain, really I could write a whole post based on just this, but I will spare you the details and just say that I decided to cancel. Which is a bummer, but there is a good week in march where I can go WITH matt and stay for 4 days and not have to miss church, so I will just wait for that.
Anyway, wow. When I started this post, I was thinking, I don't really have anything major to blog about, I'll just do a little post so I don't get behind. Silly me. When will I realize that I have never been short-winded and that every post will be a long one?
Yes, it is true. She has finally decided to do her business on the potty. We have been encouraging her in many different ways over the past year to do it, but she has just never really been able to grasp it. Finally about a week or two ago she started showing signs that she was getting advanced warning and we jumped on it. Doing the potty treat and a bare bum all day long route. The past few days she has been awesome and been wearing panties (unless we go out, and then a pull up it is-which she has kept dry!) all day and a diaper to bed. The potty treat has been turned into dessert after dinner if she stays dry all day (none of the rest of us eat dessert, it is just a special treat for her). Last night we had our first accident melt down, and it was pretty much my fault. Matt was in the shower getting ready to go to work and I was feeding Izzie her dinner, Lily said she had to go and I just sent her in to go by herself, which she is great at doing, it usually takes her a few extra seconds to figure out the pulling the pants down, but she is great. I, however wasn't thinking about the fact that she was rushing down from the dinner table urgently and that Daddy had the shower running, which made those few extra seconds crucial. She was standing right in front of the potty and couldn't get them down and peed everywhere and she was frustrated and horrified, just a crying mess. I of course felt super bad, cleaned her and the bathroom up and let her have the treat anyway since she tried and was right there at the potty and had told me she needed to go, and I failed to think about what the running water would do for her bladder. It is always sad when you see your kiddos upset and you could have prevented it! But even that sadness is progress, a couple of weeks ago she would pee (or even poop) in the pants and think it was no big deal. SO, we are happy. Her finally being potty trained is a BIG deal to us. We still probably have a week to go before she is done with pull-ups while we are out, but I got to tell ya, eliminating one child's diapers is WONDERFUL.
Izzie's big week comes in that SHE is finally starting to show interest in walking. She has been cruising on furniture for months, but has been refusing to try and walk or to even let you hold her hands and walk her around. If you take her hands off a piece of furniture and try to help her walk somewhere, or even help her stand up, she would just sit right down. She has been standing up by herself, not holding on to anything for a while, but if you try to make her do it, she won't have it. But this week she is finally wanting you to walk around with her and taking a little step or lean to get what she wants, and will let you guide her. I think within a week or two she will be walking on her own. CRAZY.
As for me, starting in Febuary (yeah, i know it's only been a couple of days) I am trying to eat better, ya know, less carbs more fruits and veggies, lean protien, no junk food. And I am trying to work out. Sometimes that is hard with kiddos crawling on you. I have been trying to do it while at least one of them is asleep (they don't really do cross-over naps, much to my chagrin). Anyway, I have forgotten how GOOD it feels to really work out. I used to LOVE it. But then I got so ridiculously out of shape (and I still am), that excersise became a burden rather than a natural high. I have had a hard time with my motivation since having Lily, but I REALLY want to be healthy and in good shape. I don't even care about the weight so much any more (though I won't complain if some of it wants to take a leave of absence...did you hear me left over 15 lbs of baby weight? you are free to go any time now). I mostly just want to be fit again. Be able to run a couple of miles and have it feel GOOD like it used to, instead of having to stop every half mile to try and remember how to breathe. I just want to have that energy and stamina that comes with a more healthy lifestyle. Today I worked out, even though I really, really didn't want to. I have sore muscles, and Izzie was being a little needy, but I did it anyway and man it felt GOOD. It suprised me. The past few days it hasn't felt good, it has just been me trying to have some self discipline and making myself do it and hating it the whole time. But today was good. I felt a little bit of that fire come back. HOPEFULLY it will stay.
I may end up joining a gym. My good friend Sara is doing the $19/month Pure Fitness thing, and I was seriously considering joining until I found out that they don't include child care with their memberships, they charge 3 bucks an hour and that adds up quick if you are planning on doing an hour 3-5 days a week and have a couple kiddos. So...sorry Sara, if I get a membership somewhere it won't be there :( I'm too cheap.Though it would have been really nice to have a workout buddy (and someone else to be accountable to). When we lived in Chandler we had a family membership to the YMCA, we lived RIGHT by it and Matt got a sweet discount through Chandler Regional Hosp, where he used to work. I really liked it, so I may check out the Y over here, even though it is a little drive. Of course, I may suprise myself and be able to do without the membership, it is just so easy to be distracted with sweet kiddos and at the gym you can stick them in child care :) Plus I love me a treadmill.
Anyway, enough with the ranting here are some pics! Isabel is still into everything and loving to climb on everything, she won't walk but she will be a dare devil and climb? Yeah, she is a crazy kid.
She is also SUPER into headbands, which she calls "pretty". I am assuming that she calls them this because whenever we put one on her or lily (or a bow on) we tell them it looks pretty. She will point and say pretty and want you to put it on her, then after you put it on she will say "pretty" and start nodding her head yes. It is pretty cute. Then she will immediatley take it off and hand it to you to start the whole process over again. She could spend ALOT of time doing this. So if you are around her and wearing a headband, beware! She will take it off you and want you to play this game with her! She is just starting to try and talk (other than mama and daddy) and she says baby, button [she is also obsessed with finding her and everyone else's button(belly button) so if you're around her, that is another thing to watch out for], bottle, birdy and pretty. They all kind of sound alike, it takes a trained ear to tell the difference on most of them, but it is so fun to see her grow and learn, this is such a great stage.
The girls are playing ALOT more together all the time and I love to see Lily including Izzie in all her "pretend" playing. It is alot of fun and always entertaining.
this is Lily trying to make Izzie look at the camera
Matt has another crazy week this week, only getting about 4 hours between 2 of his shifts for sleeping, plus working 3 twelves then having only one day off (which is a sunday so he has to fit in church stuff and all his homework for that week) then working another 3. I feel REALLY bad for him. He is tired, but working hard and doing great about being dedicated to his school work. I was going to go to Thatcher for 8 days since I am pretty much not seeing him due to schoolwork, but finding subs for my calling (which I LOVE my calling btw) is a HUGE pain, really I could write a whole post based on just this, but I will spare you the details and just say that I decided to cancel. Which is a bummer, but there is a good week in march where I can go WITH matt and stay for 4 days and not have to miss church, so I will just wait for that.Anyway, wow. When I started this post, I was thinking, I don't really have anything major to blog about, I'll just do a little post so I don't get behind. Silly me. When will I realize that I have never been short-winded and that every post will be a long one?
Friday, January 29, 2010
The Girls at 1 year
When Isabel was first born, I did little side by side pics of her and Lily at the same age, so I figured I would do a year 1 side by side as well. Here it is, some people really think they look alike, others don't really think so, Izzie is sucking on her bottom lip (which she does alot) so you can't really tell mouth wise, but what do you think?
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Getting to the present
So, this blog is going to catch ya'll up to today :) Aren't you proud of me?? I can't believe that I am actually completely catching up here. I never keep a journal so it is no suprise that I tend not to be a very faithful blogger, but I have decided that my blog kind of IS like a journal (the kind you are ok with people reading after you are old and gray-not the Dear Diary kind) so I am trying to be better about it!
As I said in my last couple posts, during Isabels birthday I was sick with a nasty cold. Which I then gave to Isabel and she then gave to Lily. It was HORRIBLE. The girls were SO miserable (and so was I) and Matt wasn't great either. The girls temps got scary high (like 105 people), so we were of course piggybacking meds, and giving lots of cold baths.
When Lily was really sick the baths were horrible for her, she was so miserable, but as she started feeling better (but her fever stayed high) we could convince her to get in by letting her play with her soap paint that Santa gave her. {side story: she is now no longer allowed to use this in the tub due to sneaking it in her room durning nap time, unscrewing the lid, painting all over herself, her clothes, the floor, Izzie (especially her face), Izzie's clothes and Izzie's sheets.}
After a couple of weeks we were all finally feeling better! HOORAY! Then last weekend Matt had 5 days in a row off so we were planning on going home to visit my family, its been like 6 months since we were there and it was also my mom's birthday so we wanted to be there for that, BUT the day before we were supposed to leave my mom called to say that her and my sister's son were diagnosed that day (my mom's actual b-day) with Strep Throat. Which was devastating. SO sad. We had all been healthy for like 2 days, so we decided not to risk it. It was the right choice. but it really made me sad.
Matt took the opportunity to hole up in our room for the weekend and work on homework. Since the girls and I were on our own (and it was raining ALOT) I tried to think of fun things to do. One afternoon we made pudding and I let them eat it themselves, in the bath tub where it wouldn't be so bad to clean up.
After the Zoo we went out to dinner with our friends Sara and Jeremy, it was fun and delicious. I'm so glad they asked us!
Anyway, that is what we have been up to THIS WEEK! Matt has been paying for the time off by having the craziest work/school schedule ever the last half of the week, when he finally gets some sleep after today he will have been awake and at school or working for 40 hours straight, if you don't count a 3 hour nap then you can make it 50 hours. So if you see him, feel sorry for him, or at least cut him some slack :) He is working SUPER hard and doing lots of tedious and un-fun things right now. Yet he is still helping out and being a GREAT dad. He is my best friend and a wonderful man, I just wish that I could take some of his load right now. Anyway, he is taking it all like a champ and I am SO grateful for him and super proud of him, so I have to brag at least a little right?
Ok, wow! I did it! I am caught up through this very day! Hooray for me! :) Thanks to YOU for reading this! You get a pat on the back! But only if you comment. Not that I really mind blog stalkers (i am one too) I just LOVE comments, because I am self absorbed I'll admit it. So if you don't comment then you should remove the pat that you may or may not have just placed on your back. I withdraw my invitation for said patting, unless of course you comment. In which case, pat away my friend, pat away :)
As I said in my last couple posts, during Isabels birthday I was sick with a nasty cold. Which I then gave to Isabel and she then gave to Lily. It was HORRIBLE. The girls were SO miserable (and so was I) and Matt wasn't great either. The girls temps got scary high (like 105 people), so we were of course piggybacking meds, and giving lots of cold baths.
so cold!
When Lily was really sick the baths were horrible for her, she was so miserable, but as she started feeling better (but her fever stayed high) we could convince her to get in by letting her play with her soap paint that Santa gave her. {side story: she is now no longer allowed to use this in the tub due to sneaking it in her room durning nap time, unscrewing the lid, painting all over herself, her clothes, the floor, Izzie (especially her face), Izzie's clothes and Izzie's sheets.}
After a couple of weeks we were all finally feeling better! HOORAY! Then last weekend Matt had 5 days in a row off so we were planning on going home to visit my family, its been like 6 months since we were there and it was also my mom's birthday so we wanted to be there for that, BUT the day before we were supposed to leave my mom called to say that her and my sister's son were diagnosed that day (my mom's actual b-day) with Strep Throat. Which was devastating. SO sad. We had all been healthy for like 2 days, so we decided not to risk it. It was the right choice. but it really made me sad.
Matt took the opportunity to hole up in our room for the weekend and work on homework. Since the girls and I were on our own (and it was raining ALOT) I tried to think of fun things to do. One afternoon we made pudding and I let them eat it themselves, in the bath tub where it wouldn't be so bad to clean up.
Then on Tuesday we decided to go on a family outing to the zoo. We didn't have any plans since that is the day we were supposed to be driving home, Matt had been a good boy doing school stuff and decided he could manage a break and I needed to feel like we did something fun during the time off, so I could stop feeling sorry for myself that I couldn't go home. We had SO much fun at the zoo. Lily LOVED it, and so did Izzie actually. Isabel loved all the birds and Lily loved it all. I also got to puch a squirrel. It was great. It actually was accidental, he (or she) was hanging out under our park bench during luch begging for scraps and I dropped a lid and reached to pick it up at the same time he darted for it, and my fist and his face collided. He returned after only a minute and remained for the rest of our luch break, so I don't feel too bad about it. Here is a slide show of our day at the Zoo.
Warning there are 30 pics in here so get comfy :)
After the Zoo we went out to dinner with our friends Sara and Jeremy, it was fun and delicious. I'm so glad they asked us!
Anyway, that is what we have been up to THIS WEEK! Matt has been paying for the time off by having the craziest work/school schedule ever the last half of the week, when he finally gets some sleep after today he will have been awake and at school or working for 40 hours straight, if you don't count a 3 hour nap then you can make it 50 hours. So if you see him, feel sorry for him, or at least cut him some slack :) He is working SUPER hard and doing lots of tedious and un-fun things right now. Yet he is still helping out and being a GREAT dad. He is my best friend and a wonderful man, I just wish that I could take some of his load right now. Anyway, he is taking it all like a champ and I am SO grateful for him and super proud of him, so I have to brag at least a little right?
Ok, wow! I did it! I am caught up through this very day! Hooray for me! :) Thanks to YOU for reading this! You get a pat on the back! But only if you comment. Not that I really mind blog stalkers (i am one too) I just LOVE comments, because I am self absorbed I'll admit it. So if you don't comment then you should remove the pat that you may or may not have just placed on your back. I withdraw my invitation for said patting, unless of course you comment. In which case, pat away my friend, pat away :)
Happy Birthday Isabel
I CAN NOT believe she is one. REALLY?? Where did that year go and how can I get it back?! Actually 2009 was not a great year for me. It was actually overwhelmingly difficult and frustrating and sad, BUT at the very beginning of the year the Lord blessed me with a beautiful ray of sunshine that would make complaining about the year very difficult indeed. I can't even express the happiness that she has brought to my life and to our family. She is such a sweet and vivacious girl and I am SO happy she is a part of our family. Here are a few things about her:
She was the sweetest/most snuggly baby.
She started sleeping through the night regularly at 2 months (SOOOO much sooner than Lily)
She is just starting to learn that laughing doesn't ALWAYS have to turn into crying
She is a bit of a control freak, she is incredibly daring and curious but does not like ANYTHING forced on her (or to be tossed or held high, etc) Oh, she will climb up on something and try to get off of it by herself without a second thought (again SOOOO different than our timid Lily), but SHE has to be in control. I don't know where she would get that. Oh. Yeah. That's right, it's me. Definetly me.
Due to the daring and curiosity, she has also had alot more bruises and bumps than Lily has ever had, probably about 10x's as much. I'm serious.
She loves to give what we call head snuggles, where she wants to push her face (very firmly) against yours. Matt says they are just head butts, which they do resemble, but they are given with love.
She LOVES her big sister. (and her big sister loves her, they are great together and it makes me SOO happy)
She loves babies. Real babies, pictures, dolls, even the baby in the mirror. :)
She is usually all in. Her emotions are something she definetly doesn't have control of. When she is good she is VERY very good and when she is bad she is horrid. She is a passionate little girl who is shy and sweet, but when she is mad or sad the whole world knows it. Again, kind of like me (which scares the heck out of me people), and I am terrified for her teenage years.
She is very loving and affectionate and I absolutley adore her. I am one of those annoying parents who is completely infatuated by the wonderfulness of their own children. Sorry about that, but it is true.
For her birthday we had a small family party with Matt's immediate family and his Grandparents, my brother who lives here and my mom and Hank drove down for it, which was great of them. We had a good time and Izzie made out like a bandit. She needed clothes and boy did everybody deliver! Also she got some new dolls/toys/books. Other than me being totally sick it was wonderful.
She was the sweetest/most snuggly baby.
She started sleeping through the night regularly at 2 months (SOOOO much sooner than Lily)
She is just starting to learn that laughing doesn't ALWAYS have to turn into crying
She is a bit of a control freak, she is incredibly daring and curious but does not like ANYTHING forced on her (or to be tossed or held high, etc) Oh, she will climb up on something and try to get off of it by herself without a second thought (again SOOOO different than our timid Lily), but SHE has to be in control. I don't know where she would get that. Oh. Yeah. That's right, it's me. Definetly me.
Due to the daring and curiosity, she has also had alot more bruises and bumps than Lily has ever had, probably about 10x's as much. I'm serious.
She loves to give what we call head snuggles, where she wants to push her face (very firmly) against yours. Matt says they are just head butts, which they do resemble, but they are given with love.
She LOVES her big sister. (and her big sister loves her, they are great together and it makes me SOO happy)
She loves babies. Real babies, pictures, dolls, even the baby in the mirror. :)
She is usually all in. Her emotions are something she definetly doesn't have control of. When she is good she is VERY very good and when she is bad she is horrid. She is a passionate little girl who is shy and sweet, but when she is mad or sad the whole world knows it. Again, kind of like me (which scares the heck out of me people), and I am terrified for her teenage years.
She is very loving and affectionate and I absolutley adore her. I am one of those annoying parents who is completely infatuated by the wonderfulness of their own children. Sorry about that, but it is true.
For her birthday we had a small family party with Matt's immediate family and his Grandparents, my brother who lives here and my mom and Hank drove down for it, which was great of them. We had a good time and Izzie made out like a bandit. She needed clothes and boy did everybody deliver! Also she got some new dolls/toys/books. Other than me being totally sick it was wonderful.
Friday, January 22, 2010
New Years & The Earl Family Reunion
This is matt and his cousins from the reunion (no spouses or kids)
This year was our family's turn to host the Earl reunion. It was the week of New Year's and we kicked it off with a big new years eve party at the church. We had rooms with toys and dress up and games for the kids, in the over flow we set up our Rock Band game and Barry brought their new wii. We had lots of food, kiddos sleeping in pack n' plays in classrooms and a talent show, that was lots of fun. At 11pm (all the parents voted not to wait until midnight) we did a countdown and opened the stagae curtains and pushed TONS of balloons out into the gym and the kids had mardi gras beads and noise makers and we yelled "Happy New Year", then we got to clean up and head home.
Langley, Tom & Lily
Matt & Me singing "Lucky"
Saturday morning was the 'family olymipics', which I was solely responsible for. They turned out great, and I am SO glad, cause you just never know how those kinds of things will go. We played the spoon game, had a funny relay race where you had to pull out a funny thing to do beofre you could run back or else a fun way to go back, did a board walk, classic 3 legged race (which matt and I TOTALLY would have won had we not been DQ'ed!) and then parent/child blindfolded pudding feeding. Everybody was great sports and participated and said nice things to me about it being fun, so I was really happy with it. I made gold medals for everyone and my mother-in-law bought a big bag of candy to hand out afterwards.
Later that day most of the guys went golfing and us girls sat around and gabbed for several hours, it was lots of fun. That night was a girls dinner, since the guys went golfing, but I skipped it because I am lame. No...Well...ok, yes. But I was really worn out and the boys didn't get back from golfing until 7, which is when the girls normally go to bed and we had to take them home and bathe them and I still had all my Primary stuff to prepare for the next day, plus I was really tired and worn out from setting up/running/stressing out over/cleaning up the family olympic stuff. Anyway, maybe next reunion when I am not in charge of anything I'll go.
Later that day most of the guys went golfing and us girls sat around and gabbed for several hours, it was lots of fun. That night was a girls dinner, since the guys went golfing, but I skipped it because I am lame. No...Well...ok, yes. But I was really worn out and the boys didn't get back from golfing until 7, which is when the girls normally go to bed and we had to take them home and bathe them and I still had all my Primary stuff to prepare for the next day, plus I was really tired and worn out from setting up/running/stressing out over/cleaning up the family olympic stuff. Anyway, maybe next reunion when I am not in charge of anything I'll go.
But hey, I stayed and visited with all the people ALL DAY when matt was golfing. I didn't go home at all, which is huge for me. I don't come from a big happy/loud family that gets together alot [they are loud, just not happy or at least not big] :) and it has taken me a long time to get comfy with Matt's big family situation. I LOVE them, but lets face it, it is kind of intimidating to be left alone with them with no spouse as a buffer :) They are a big crowd who all know each other really well, and I tend to get quiet and just kind of shut down when faced with big groups of people (I am much better in small groups). But I am finally pretty comfortable with all of Matt's family. I have always really loved them and appreciated them, but like I said the first 5 years I was a little scared of them. I guess that I am just too used to dysfunction :)
Anyway, in general it was the most comfortable I have been at an Earl family reunion yet. I had a great time and LOVED getting to know people more. I am actually really looking forward to the 2011 reunion in UT.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Christmas
Ok, so I am a little overwhelmed at the fact that I haven't blogged in over a month and during that time we had Christmas, new years, a family reunion, Izzie's first birthday (I know I can't believe she is one!) Matt started school full time, and switched to a full time night shift schedule so he is crazy busy, Matt Lily and I got the stomach flu following which all of us (and Isabel) got colds. So yeah. Lots to blog about. And I haven't posted pics in over 2 months, and when I went to download pics off my camera, ther were hundreds. Over 300 pics to sift through with all the family stuff that has been going on. So right now I am going to post on Nov-Christmas, then I'll do a new post for the family reunion, then a new one for Izzie's birthday, etc.
Anyway, we had a great Christmas. I still wasn't feeling great with what they now believe was probably severe Labrythitis (the vertigo/dizziness), which I am FINALLY better from! I even started driving again 2 weeks ago, which I hadn't been able to do for almost 2 months, so it is great to be feeling mostly normal again!
Anyway, back to topic! CHRISTMAS! Matt had to work on Christmas day so we had Christmas on Christmas Eve (you can do that when your kids are still so little), and since it was Christmas Eve and not Christmas (Santa's sleigh only works on Christmas), Santa was Awesome and gave my mom (who has been one of Santa's official helpers as long as I can remember) all the girl's stocking stuff. So she came down on the 23rd and brought her gifts for the girls and also all the stocking stuff from Sants, which was SUPER wonderful of her since I was still feeling bad and couldn't drive and had done NO shopping, except for buying a couple DVD's online. I got the girls a movie each and Matt and I got movies for each other. The rest of our christmas money went to buying a new laptop for Matt for school. Wonderfully my fabulous sister-in-law Heather gave us a TON of toys that her family had outgrown (she has 4 kids and her youngest is 1 year older than Lily) that were perfect for our kids. She gave them to us a couple weeks before Christmas, she was purging in order to make room for new Christmas stuff. So we wrapped all of that stuff up and gave it to the girls for Christmas and they LOVED it. It was a great morning we had so much fun!
this is lily plaing with some bath soap/paint from santa. it was a big hit!
That night we had a family dinner at Matt's parents. It was SO much fun! It was everyone else's Christmas eve and we had a delicious dinner followed by cookie decorating for the kids to decorate for santa. The kids also acted out the nativity while Boopah read the Christmas story.
One hilarious part of the night was the gift that we got from Matt's brother Barry and his wife Janeal. Every year we exchange gift witht them (Matt's sisters exchange and he and his brother exchange), anyway we usually do movies or something for each other, but this year we hadn't really told them what we were interested in (we usually give them a list of movies we would like and they pick one), so when they brought out our gift we had NO idea what it could be. It was huge. And they said they were so excited to watch us open it. They made us sit on the couch in front of everyone and they stood right in front of us with the camera while we opend it. When we were handed the gift it was clear that it was some kind of art in a big frame. It felt very sturdy and we had no idea what it could be. Matt's brother warned us that it was mostly for matt in a seriosu voice.
Then we ripped it open.
And laughed.
One of the funniest parts was that after we opened it and first turned it around to show everyone what it was Lily was right by it and stroked his face very gently and said, "Its a little boy. He's beautiful" in an awed voice. It was pretty funny. She is saying the funniest things all the time and I am LOVING the almost 3 year old faze!
Now the only question is, what do we get for them in return next year?
On Christmas Day I rode over with my in laws (at 7am) to Heather and Tom's house. We had breakfast with them (waffles and bacon and eggs and OJ and eggnog..pretty amazing. thanks guys) and then watched them open their gifts, which Lily was really great about. I was a little worried how she would do watching and not having anything to open, but I reminded her that she already opened her presents yesterday and we brought the puppy "goldie" that Santa gave her as a reminder of her new toys. She did pretty well. Though I did feel a little awkward. (side note: lily LOVES that puppy. almost as much as her woobie. seriously alot.) Then Nana & Boopah (matt's parents) left and I satayed and spent the day with Heather and Tom's family. It was alot of fun and nice to just kick back and relax. And it ws great of H & T to invite me out and let me invade their family Christmas. That night after Matt got off work he came over and we sent the boys out to get some Jack in the Box (a yummy christmas dinner for us grown ups :) and then we stayed up too late and watched 2 movies "just friends" which H&T hadn't seen and "startrek" which matt and I hadn't seen. It was Awesome! We love those guys and miss living close to them in the East valley where we got to see them alot more often.
Tommy also randomly decided to give Matt a gift (even though we don't usually exchange with them...SUPRISE!) and it was...
GOLF CLUBS! Can you believe that! What a nice gift! And some galf balls and a cleaner brush. It was so crazy! Tommy got new ones and decided to give Matt his old ones (which he probably could have sold, so thanks for thinking of us!) He even tied a bow on the clubs for Matt (tom's a man's man, so i was impressed). Anyway, now Matt is hooked on golfing and I am just sad that he won't have more free time in the next year to go. And I am happy that it is much cheaper/less time consuming to go to the driving range and practice and that he won't be paying for full out golfing very often this year!
During our family reunion 5 of the guys went golfing and I was glad that matt got to go and do boy stuff and that he has a new hobby. Also, my dad and my papa both golfed alot. I remember my papa watching golf on TV all the time and going out golfing. He loved it and I always wanted to learn how. I have been to the driving range but never been actually golfing (unless you count mini), so I am excited that Matt is getting into it so that he can then teach me and it can be a fun outdoor activity for us in the future! :)
My brother Charlie came and visited us several times during Christmas Break, it was great to hang out with him and he is always so sweet to drive over here (it's like 40 minutes people) a few times every months and be the girls' play slave. Seriously he indulges them way too much, but they sure love him! And after all what are uncles for?!
Anyway, that was Christmas. We definetly felt the spirit of Christ this year, even if we didn't do alot of our traditional Christmas things, due to me being sick. We feel SO blessed to have such wonderful & generous friends and family. We love you guys!
Anyway, we had a great Christmas. I still wasn't feeling great with what they now believe was probably severe Labrythitis (the vertigo/dizziness), which I am FINALLY better from! I even started driving again 2 weeks ago, which I hadn't been able to do for almost 2 months, so it is great to be feeling mostly normal again!
Anyway, back to topic! CHRISTMAS! Matt had to work on Christmas day so we had Christmas on Christmas Eve (you can do that when your kids are still so little), and since it was Christmas Eve and not Christmas (Santa's sleigh only works on Christmas), Santa was Awesome and gave my mom (who has been one of Santa's official helpers as long as I can remember) all the girl's stocking stuff. So she came down on the 23rd and brought her gifts for the girls and also all the stocking stuff from Sants, which was SUPER wonderful of her since I was still feeling bad and couldn't drive and had done NO shopping, except for buying a couple DVD's online. I got the girls a movie each and Matt and I got movies for each other. The rest of our christmas money went to buying a new laptop for Matt for school. Wonderfully my fabulous sister-in-law Heather gave us a TON of toys that her family had outgrown (she has 4 kids and her youngest is 1 year older than Lily) that were perfect for our kids. She gave them to us a couple weeks before Christmas, she was purging in order to make room for new Christmas stuff. So we wrapped all of that stuff up and gave it to the girls for Christmas and they LOVED it. It was a great morning we had so much fun!
this is lily plaing with some bath soap/paint from santa. it was a big hit!That night we had a family dinner at Matt's parents. It was SO much fun! It was everyone else's Christmas eve and we had a delicious dinner followed by cookie decorating for the kids to decorate for santa. The kids also acted out the nativity while Boopah read the Christmas story.
One hilarious part of the night was the gift that we got from Matt's brother Barry and his wife Janeal. Every year we exchange gift witht them (Matt's sisters exchange and he and his brother exchange), anyway we usually do movies or something for each other, but this year we hadn't really told them what we were interested in (we usually give them a list of movies we would like and they pick one), so when they brought out our gift we had NO idea what it could be. It was huge. And they said they were so excited to watch us open it. They made us sit on the couch in front of everyone and they stood right in front of us with the camera while we opend it. When we were handed the gift it was clear that it was some kind of art in a big frame. It felt very sturdy and we had no idea what it could be. Matt's brother warned us that it was mostly for matt in a seriosu voice.
Then we ripped it open.
And laughed.
It was pretty funny.
It was this.
(our real gift-a video game-was taped to the back)
Barry said he took it out from under a teenage girl who was standing oogling it and probably actually really wanted it. It was so random and the fact that something like this actually exsists is pretty great. I think I'll bring it to the next white elephant party we go to! Here I am being obsessed with Edward.
One of the funniest parts was that after we opened it and first turned it around to show everyone what it was Lily was right by it and stroked his face very gently and said, "Its a little boy. He's beautiful" in an awed voice. It was pretty funny. She is saying the funniest things all the time and I am LOVING the almost 3 year old faze!
Now the only question is, what do we get for them in return next year?
On Christmas Day I rode over with my in laws (at 7am) to Heather and Tom's house. We had breakfast with them (waffles and bacon and eggs and OJ and eggnog..pretty amazing. thanks guys) and then watched them open their gifts, which Lily was really great about. I was a little worried how she would do watching and not having anything to open, but I reminded her that she already opened her presents yesterday and we brought the puppy "goldie" that Santa gave her as a reminder of her new toys. She did pretty well. Though I did feel a little awkward. (side note: lily LOVES that puppy. almost as much as her woobie. seriously alot.) Then Nana & Boopah (matt's parents) left and I satayed and spent the day with Heather and Tom's family. It was alot of fun and nice to just kick back and relax. And it ws great of H & T to invite me out and let me invade their family Christmas. That night after Matt got off work he came over and we sent the boys out to get some Jack in the Box (a yummy christmas dinner for us grown ups :) and then we stayed up too late and watched 2 movies "just friends" which H&T hadn't seen and "startrek" which matt and I hadn't seen. It was Awesome! We love those guys and miss living close to them in the East valley where we got to see them alot more often.
Tommy also randomly decided to give Matt a gift (even though we don't usually exchange with them...SUPRISE!) and it was...
GOLF CLUBS! Can you believe that! What a nice gift! And some galf balls and a cleaner brush. It was so crazy! Tommy got new ones and decided to give Matt his old ones (which he probably could have sold, so thanks for thinking of us!) He even tied a bow on the clubs for Matt (tom's a man's man, so i was impressed). Anyway, now Matt is hooked on golfing and I am just sad that he won't have more free time in the next year to go. And I am happy that it is much cheaper/less time consuming to go to the driving range and practice and that he won't be paying for full out golfing very often this year!
During our family reunion 5 of the guys went golfing and I was glad that matt got to go and do boy stuff and that he has a new hobby. Also, my dad and my papa both golfed alot. I remember my papa watching golf on TV all the time and going out golfing. He loved it and I always wanted to learn how. I have been to the driving range but never been actually golfing (unless you count mini), so I am excited that Matt is getting into it so that he can then teach me and it can be a fun outdoor activity for us in the future! :)
My brother Charlie came and visited us several times during Christmas Break, it was great to hang out with him and he is always so sweet to drive over here (it's like 40 minutes people) a few times every months and be the girls' play slave. Seriously he indulges them way too much, but they sure love him! And after all what are uncles for?!
Anyway, that was Christmas. We definetly felt the spirit of Christ this year, even if we didn't do alot of our traditional Christmas things, due to me being sick. We feel SO blessed to have such wonderful & generous friends and family. We love you guys!
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