Thankful to be a MOM!

Well over the past couple of weeks I have to say that I have felt overwhelmingly BLESSED...there is no other way to describe it. This past week (Thanksgiving) I had a chance to think about what I am truly thankful for at this time and there is one thing that stands out more than any. I am so grateful to be a MOM.

I can't think of anything I would rather be doing in my life at this time than changing diapers, reading bed time books, getting excited about first smiles and giggles, watching my 2 1/2 yr old learn to sing and dance. I love holding Audrey in my arms as she is falling asleep, and when I set her down she wakes up almost as if she knows I'm no longer there. I love hearing Lydia pray, talk about nursery or sing "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam." I love seeing her play with new friends and tell me things that she observes. It cracks me up that she points out every X-terra or Infiniti and tells me "Hey thats our car!" I love waking up every morning and knowing that I have two beautiful DAUGHTERS to spend my day with, I truly have no greater joy than providing for them and trying to help to shape their lives. I can honestly say that I feel so honored to have this opportunity and I am going to try to enjoy every second of it. I have already started to see how quickly it goes by (i.e. Lydia is almost 3 and Audrey is already 2 months old...where does the time go?) I always want my kids to know that I truly loved every minute of being there mom, even cleaning up the spit up, changing numerous dirty diapers, wiping snotty noses, and I am even willing to sacrifice my body (ha ha ha!) I know for a fact that my muffin top may never be the same (I wish I could be like the Seinfeld episode, and take the top off i.e. top o' the mornin to ya!)

I also realize that I am far from perfect, that I will make many mistakes as a mom along the way. I have already seen first hand how horrible I feel when I lose my temper, and how quickly Lydia is to forgive me. I know that even though I am bound to make many more MISTAKES I am going to try my hardest to learn from them and do better.

I also want to say thanks to all the people who have been amazing "MOM" examples in my life. My own mom, my mother-in-law, grandma's, sister-in-laws, and especially my best friend Meg. Meg is a true example of what it is to be a mother, to be selfless and patient. Meg thanks for your example to me, we are so excited for you to welcome your 2nd into your family and we can't wait to meet the newest addition of your darling family!

Overall I can't express enough how THANKFUL I am, and I always want to provide the love and support that I was given throughout my own life!

3 week Photo Shoot!

Back in August our ward had a service auction, a girl in our ward is a photographer and auctioned off a photo session with her. Chris and I jumped on the band wagon and won the bidding. So we finally were able redeem our session. Audrey was 3 weeks old and Lydia was almost exactly 2 1/2 years to the day! I think they turned out really cute...but then again I am biased!

6 weeks=lots of changes!

Well Audrey is officially 6 weeks today and who are we kidding I love this little girl. The first big change for Audrey is she is a smiling machine. I swear the kid has been smiling since day 1 but for the past week it is completely intentional...this smile below is a very modest one too. Usually they are what I call granny smiles...where you can see all of her gums!

Audrey has also started to sleep through the night more consistently, 6 hours is now the minimum and 7-8 is occasional. Which with two kids couldn't be more appreciated. I don't know what I would do without the swaddle, I am positive that is why she has been such a great sleeper. She is still an eating machine, and loves to snuggle. during her (5 am feeding) I find myself falling asleep with her on my chest and waking up an hour later thinking man do I love this little girlie (ha ha ha!) Audrey's reflux has also gotten way better since being on the ZANTAC. The projectile spit-ups have completely ceased and now the spit up's are more normal (if spitting up can be normal!) I guess I am just one of the lucky mom's that will always have to burp my kiddo's with a blanket and not a little burp rag(ha ha ha!)

Also now that Audrey is 6 weeks old I have gone back to work (if you can call it that...I love teaching dance so it doesn't feel like work to me!) I will say that I had a little bit of anxiety the night before just thinking of trying to leave little Audrey but after discussing my concerns with Chris he reminded me of the following

#1. I am right down stairs

#2. We LOVE Mackenzie, our little baby sitter and my Mom who is amazing. So we know that Aud is in good hands.

#3. I love what I do.

SO I will say it was a bit of a stress having to plan ahead so much. 2:00 pm I fed Audrey, 2:30 pm got Lydia ready for dance, got them both in their car seats, 3:00 pm went picked up the babysitter and finally got Mackenzie and Audrey situated and 3:25 headed down to dance with Lydia. I was a little worried but once classes got started I remember just how much I LOVE teaching dance. It was also so nice because I went up stairs a few times to check on Mackenzie and Audrey and every time they were doing great!

It has also been nice having Lydia go to her friend Peyton's house on Monday's too. Lydia loves the Hansen's and loves her friend Peyton...I feel so lucky to have such great neighbors and friends who are so willing to help me out! And also it is a huge relief to have my mom coming out on Wednesdays to watch both of the girls! Who are we kidding I don't know what I would do without her!

So all in all 6 weeks has brought on a lot of anxiety, anticipation but overall relief that everything went so smoothly and that we have such amazing people around us to help us!

As far as Lydia goes, that girl is getting sassier by the day...I can't get enough of her little comments and big bear hugs. Here are a few of my favorite things about Lydia right now

#1. She loves to say "Look mom" and jump off the couch, bed, chair...and she does it over and over again!

#2. She does baby talk to Audrey ( I have got to get this on video and post it...it is hilarious) It gives me a glimpse of what I must sound like to her (ha ha ha!)

#3. She can't say her S's so she says the following word

farties=smarties

scary-cary

skeleton=heleton

#4. Her fascination with poop...she wants to see every poop when I change her or Audrey's diapers and she always has to tell me what color it is too.

#5. Every day she asks me "Is is Halloween day?"

#6 You can ask her lines from her favorite movies and she repeats them.

#7. When brushing her teeth she brushes like her favorite movie characters (the beast, bob, Jesse, Shrek, Fiona, bullseye...)

#8 When she see's Chris in the shower she says "EEEWWW gross" When she sees me in the shower she says "WOO WOO Mommy "

#9 She mimics everything I do. The other day I was on the phone with the costume catalog company. Next thing I know Lydia is by my side with her play cell phone, writing on her papers just like mommy. (Only she was planning a play date with Bode and Raini...ha ha ha!)

#10 She says things like this every day that make me laugh....

We had been driving in the snow and rain and when we got into the garage water and mud were dripping off the tires. Lydia looked at me concerned and back at the tires and said
"OH NO MOMMY...The Tire is pooping in the garage!!!"

How can you not love life with a 2 yr old!

Sisters gotta hug!

Had to get some pictures of these cute "SISTAS" together!

Happy Halloween!

Well who are we kidding Halloween is so much more fun when you have a toddler around! Lydia has been so excited about trick-or-treating, and dressing up, and candy!!! This year she really got spoiled hitting two trunk-or-treats, and trick-or-treating!

Unfortunately it was bad weather during trick-0r-treating but she still had a blast! We went with some of our neighbors and their was quite the group of kids. Lydia was still a little unsure of taking candy from people and when they tried to give her more than one piece she kindly showed them the piece they had already given her (so I politely took the candy for her!)

Anyways my favorite was one of our neighbors goes all out, they even put up a screen and project scary images onto it, they do the smoke, and their teenage son even hides in a window well and when the kids come to the door he hits them with air from an air compressor. Anyways Lydia was way too scared to go to the door but after we walked by she was sure the "ROAR" back at the "SCARY HOUSE" as she calls it. Anyways if you ask her about trick-or-treating she will tell you about the "pinecone" i.e. pumpkin on the garage at the scary house and then she will be sure to roar!!! Chris and Audrey stayed home and passed out candy...needless to say that Audrey spent Halloween doing what she loves best napping in her swing (ha ha ha!)



Also Audrey is also officially 4 weeks old...where does the time go (ha ha ha!) Anyways we took her into the Dr. last week because she was spitting up, and let's just say it wasn't your typical spit up it was projectile (ha ha ha!) Anyways Lydia had reflux, so we knew what to look for so we took her in and Dr. Boettger prescribed some Zantac for her which is doing wonders. It was also pretty funny because we had been in 10 days earlier and she weighed 8 lbs 10 oz and now she weighs 10 lbs (needless to say all the spitting up hasn't affected her weight) I am also glad to say that for the past two nights she has slept through the night...a FULL 7 HOURS!!! I'm crossing my fingers that it becomes a habit! It is so fun to see her grow and develop, you forget how fun it is to have a baby in the house...I especially love how much she cuddles (that was one thing Lydia never really did, she was too busy trying to see what was going on!)



All in all who are we kidding we are absolutely loving having two sweet girls in our home, life with kids really is such an adventure! They have been so much fun and we truly are so blessed!