Too Cool

My daughter is something else. She frustrates me sometimes but she makes me laugh most of the time. She is almost 3 and still sucks on a pacifier. There are many mothers out there who are thinking what a horrible idea this is and why did I let it go on this long. The answer is this: I haven't been up for the fight. She is a tense little kid and shows no signs of being prepared to detach herself from her paci. I don't really know what to do. My neighbors told me the attached their child's pacifier to a balloon and let the child send it away with a note. There is NO WAY Zoe would ever be cool with that right now not to mention we have like 6 pacifiers laying around for Jude too so saying good bye to 1 isn't going to work. I've kind of adopted the idea that every child is different and true success as a parent is learning and doing what is best for each child individually. Is is wrong that I haven't taken away her pacifier yet? She is going to need braces anyway, right?

Stuck at home for 4 days

I am finally getting cabin fever. Today is my 4th day of workers being at my house. I can see why house arrest is a punishment. I am ready for some freedom. Our backyard was an overgrown forest that besides taking up space was harboring way too much insect activity so we finally bit the bullet and hired one of the many tree services that have been stalking our house to clean it up. It is much better. The last 2 days we have been getting a new heater installed and relocated to our attic. On top of that a GE repair guy has come by both days to fix our new stove and then again to come fix what they broke while repairing our new stove. He is coming back again next week. So much for calling the landlord and having him worry about it. Things are actually coming together with the house. It keeps Jamin and I very busy. My little ones are loving the new place. Zoe is having a little bit of a hard time but it could be a combination of things. She closed the bedroom door on Jude's fingers and got yelled at pretty bad.(not my best parenting moment). His fingers were really indented so I rushed him to the ER. He's fine. Plus, she has been ignored a bit because we have been busy unpacking(still). These last few days I have tried to make an effort to be her mother and not someone who just moved into a house with a big to-do list. Jude is loving the crawl space. That's right, he crawls! He has been for a month. One day he started crawling and a few days later he was pulling himself up to a standing position. It was time to lower the crib. Sad for me because his bedding looked so cute but such is life. Anyway, he loved watching the tree guys working in the yard and seriously climbed along the window staring at them for a long time. It was pretty cute. I think I'll take a little nap if Jude will stay asleep long enough for me to squeeze one in.

It's true, I live in a house

I can't believe it. We are home owners! The process has been exhausting, but you live you learn. I am so grateful that I have this house and no longer am an apartment dweller. We got a bank owned house so it does need some work but who's complaining? At least I don't have to carry my 2 kids, groceries, and laundry up 15 steps. I could go on too. There is an amazing breeze that my apartment lacked. The kitchen...I love it! The drawers pull out. I finally have a nursery. I have always wanted one that didn't double as an office. Oh, and my bedroom doesn't double as an office either, it's just a bedroom. Many day to day things in my life just got easier. I became a complainer living in my apartment. There were about 20 people living with in 20 ft. of my apartment(most of them 10ft.) and I don't think any of them had a job. There were people home making noise all day long and the lack of any breeze made it necessary to have the windows open. Only a mother with a napping baby can appreciate how annoying that is. I am just so NOT annoyed anymore. I have the nicest neighbors who are perfectly quiet. Even still, they live far enough from me that it doesn't matter. Now we just have to figure out how to make our house payment...to be continued(we've only been here 3 weeks).

You know how some days are exhausting and you spend the whole day moving from one thing on the "to do" list to the next? This was one of those days but I went to put Jude down for a nap and I found Zoe like this. I assure you it wasn't raining in her room. I forgot my list and went about appreciating my sweet little girl. She makes me smile.

I did it by myself!

This is a statement my 2 1/2 year old says several times a day but this time I am saying it. The pictures below need to be looked at in reverse in order to get the effect I was going for. I did do it by myself. I went on a 2 hour boat ride with my 2 small children and nobody fell over board. As you can see from the first picture that was a miracle. My friend Dawn invited us on a Whale watching trip and although I was worried I wasn't up for the amount of energy required for such outings with my 2 kids I couldn't pass it up. I have always wanted to go whale watching. I would love to go scuba diving and just see one in it's element. Not a killer whale though, a big blue or hump back whale would be great. They are the worlds largest creatures and I am fascinated by them. Anyway, we got to see 2 types of dolphins up close which was fun for the little kids to see. The kids wanted to play a run around the boat and did fairly well for the majority of the trip. When 12pm hit, the little people meter turned to break down mode and that is when I had to just hold a screaming child while I got to see(but not photograph because my hands were full) my first whale. Excluding sea world of course. It was great and totally worth it. Would I do it again? Not with out some extra help.

Whale watching

Family Pictures II

Family Photos!! Thanks to Jenny Morphy, our fabulous photographer, we have some great pict's. Thanks again Jenny! It isn't easy taking pictures of little kids and you managed to get some good ones.

I can't believe it. I sometimes forget, just for a split second that I'm not 23 anymore and here I am with 2 kids. It is sort of surreal looking at my very own family photos. I have almost turned into my mother. She sewed matching dresses for her, me and my 3 sisters to take our family photos. I only went as far as having the kids wear the same color. I wonder how Zoe will look back on these pictures. What will her opinion be? Maybe parents have designated "family photos" because as parents, we are not usually in the photos, at least not all of us. It is cool to see. It is a reminder to me that I am living. That I am doing something bigger than myself with my life. It is tougher than I imagined it would be at times but there isn't a day that goes by that I don't smile big.