Blame it on the Nausea

My blogspiration has again been halted, but not because there isn't plenty to blog about. I just haven't had the energy or drive to do it. This pregnancy feels no different than the last two, but for some reason this time I have no desire to sugar coat--frankly, I feel crappy. I feel both ashamed and guilty for being such a whiner this time around and even with all the mumbling and grumbling going on I am very grateful that we're able to do this again. So one of my New Year's Resolutions will be to suck it up and deal with it just a little better than I have been, of course, in making this resolution it helps to know that the worst is probably or hopefully behind me now. Despite feeling like at any moment I might lose my breakfast lunch or dinner here are a few things that have kept me going.

1-My sweet girls that have quietly played together in the other room while their mom takes a long afternoon nap.
2-Long afternoon naps
3-The dry weather that has given us the opportunity to take walks outside and get some nice fresh air.
4-Mint gum
5-Scent free people
6-A husband who has patiently listened to all my moans and groans.
7-The television (I've watched more these past weeks then I have all year)
8-The holidays have been a great distraction and I've loved being surrounded by family and friends.

In the big scheme of things I realize this is only a small hurdle and the end result is worth it 100 times over. I just need to keep reminding myself. So next time you see me and I start to open my mouth and complain, just bop me on the head and tell me to be QUIET.

A Bit Random

I'm up at 4:00 in the morning with my mind racing. I realize I should be sleeping right now, but can't. Here's a few random stories from this past week. Warning: they might not make sense.

Going to sleep at a decent hour has been a real chore for Tegan lately. The toys are right under her bed and every time I go in there to check on her her bed has literally became a toy box and she is happily sleeping amongst it all. Tonight I promised a chocolate tomorrow to the first one that fell asleep in hopes that Tegan would jump on board (Jessie is always the first one asleep and I often here her saying to Tegan, "I'm tired Tegan, and I'm going to sleep, I'll play with you tomorrow, I promise.") I went in shortly after to a very quiet room. When I got closer to Tegan's bed to clear the mountain of toys I saw a huge smile across her face as she laid there completely still, little trickster. I just had to crack up laughing.

We've been taking advantage of the beautiful weather and I've been taking the girls on their bikes to the park. We park at the foot bridge, walk over and a little ways more to Riverfront Park. The girls love riding their bikes all bundled. A few days ago I decided to treat them with a ride on the carousel too. Right before we got on Tegan said "Mommy I need to go pee." I told her to wait until after the ride and we would go. When we finished I'd completely forgotten her request and we went to go grab a treat from the gift shop. Tegan again reminded me that she "really had to go", again I put her off saying "lets just by the candy and we'll go". That was a big mistake and I was reminded that when a kid says they've gotta go, they've gotta go. Next thing I know she said "I'm peeing my pants right now, and I saw the puddle forming underneath her. By the time we got to the bathroom there was nothing left. Poor Tom had to leave work to rescue us. Lesson learned!

Things said that have cracked me up this week:

Jessie: (while riding her bike) "I'm all out of gas mom, I have no energy left."
Tegan: (while playing with Jessie) "Who are you and how did you find me?"
Jessie "I've got a great idea!" (Jess says this all the time and it always makes me laugh, sometimes it really is a great idea, but other times it's just waaaaaay out there.)
Listening to Tegan belt out On the Good Ship Lollipop in her New York accent singing "And there you awe, happy landing on the chocolate baw".

And now I'm going to attempt sleep, Goodnight.

Thanksgiving
Well we made it through another Thanksgiving in our home, but not without the help of lots of family. Every year that we have it at our house I gripe a little, or maybe a lot, but secretly I think I like it. I love that everyone brings their holiday cheer to our house in addition to their yummy food. The Hathaways stayed with us a couple days with their six kids and so our kids were in heaven with all these playmates to choose from.
Each year there is some variance to our Thanksgiving, but there are also some staple dishes and activities that we do. A typical Thanksgiving in our home goes as follows:

Wednesday we prep with pies, appetizers, or whatever can sit and fit in the fridge overnight
Thursday we wake up early and get to cooking some more while listening to a little Christmas music. Our menu is usually, turkey, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, pretzel jello-salad, my mom's awesome rolls, stuffing, and spinach dip (a must in Tom's book). This year family members brought all the pies so that stress which tends to be huge for me was taken away.
After dinner we all sit and digest the food for a while and then we each draw pictures of what we're thankful for and try to guess who drew what. Usually not long after an intense game of mafia ensues.
This year it was so great to see everyone, friends and family and it was a reminder of what is most important.

Kristin and Owen made these cute suckers for everyone.
We finally followed through with getting a ping pong table and were so glad we did.
Jess and E played and played and played some more. I think they are showing me there best karate moves here.
Rain was in the forecast, but we got nothin but sunshine the day after Thanksgiving so we took advantage of it and went to the park and carousel to see Santa and take a ride.


What's a family get together without a sumo match???
Our least favorite part, saying goodbye to the Hathaways...luckily we will see them again soon. Not long after their departure we put the fall decor away and got out all the Christmas stuff. On to the next exciting holiday and from now until Christmas Jessie and Tegan will be asking me if Santa will be coming tomorrow.

Feeling a Wee Bit Guilty

Recognize a commonality to these photos?






And it all started here...
I've always loved that Tegan sucks her fingers. It's made her even more precious to me than she already is. I love that she has used it to self soothe, help her fall asleep, calm down, and turn to when boredom gets the best of her, but I don't like how she simultaneously rips her hair out while she sucks them. I guess rip is a strong word to use, there was a time when she was younger that she was actually ripping her hair out, hence the short hairdo for the first 2 1/2 years of her life, but now it's more of a slow twist over and over. She's breaking it all off and thinning like an old man on one side of her head.
I didn't want to take away her one true love until much further down the road, but the vain part of me doesn't want my daughter having a big bald spot on her head. I tried to think of all these different ways I could solve the problem like a hat with fake hair for her to twist, or a wig, but I knew I just needed to get to the root of the problem--her fingers. And I did what any mean mom would do and painted her nails with the nastiest tasting stuff ever. Watching Tegan's face after her first post-nasty polish application was sad. She was surprised and confused. I explained to her the reason which brings me to another thing I adore about Tegan, she just rolls with the punches. She agreed that it was time to become a big girl and hasn't complained once about her nasty tasting fingers. She's happily let me reapply it. But I feel guilty taking away her best friend and a little saddened that I no longer get to see her happily sucking her fingers, and a little frustrated that it now takes her twice as long to go to sleep at night, but a little happy that she no longer twists at her hair, and finally a little unprepared to see my little girl becoming my big girl.

Halloween Time at Our House


We had fun carving pumpkins with friends. Ventured away from the classic jack-o-lantern a little bit.


Thanks to my friend Kristin sending me some good ideas, we decided to go with a bird theme for Halloween and I tackled homemade costumes for us. It was easy enough for me not to mess it up too bad and the girls loved them. The girls were peacocks and I went for a giant nest on my head. Tommy decided to be a bird watcher.
After nights and nights of asking the girls finally got to sit down for hot cocoa and marshmallows.
We made goodies...

and granny apples
and trick or treated door to door for the first time ever with the girls. They loved it and didn't stop until their bags were to heavy to go on. By the end, Tegan had fallen asleep on my shoulders. We were happy for the nice weather that accompanied a great day.

Right Now

Right now I'm...

Racing to finish Halloween costumes for the girls...stay tuned for the results.

Thinking about the future with a very big smile on my face.

Wondering how I'm going to handle my daughter's sudden obsession with her bowel movements.

Feeling a little too tired.

Listening to Band of Horses on Pandora and loving it (thanks Shane).

Craving stove top popcorn with lots of salt (thanks Julie), but too lazy to make it.

Feeling waves of sadness for a friend.

Ending this post to finish those costumes.

Hawaii

Well after several years of hoping the perfect opportunity finally opened up to make the decision to go to Hawaii (photos) much easier--my brother and his family moved there. Tom and I decided to leave the kids and head to Oahu to hang with my brother's family and our friends the Croskeys. My brother is always one to show us an excellent time and it was great hanging with my sister-n-law Julie and the kids too.
Shane wasted no time taking us on some amazing adventures and it was easy to instantly fall in love with the place. Some of my favorites:

1. Hiking up Koko Head and Olomana
2. Snorkeling with Boris the turtle and a little night snorkeling too.
3. Surfing in Waikiki
4. Relaxing
5. Visiting the LDS Temple
6. Cliff jumping at Waimea Bay
7. Getting pounded by the waves and going back for a little more
8. Aokis shaved ice, with a scoop of vanilla of course.
9. Leonards malasadas--delish
10. Relaxing

Now back to reality and back to our girls that we missed so much--knowing that we will return to Hawaii again as soon as possible. Perhaps will have the girlies in tow next time.

Happy Birthday Tegan!

Today my baby turned 3. She is already reminding me that next year she will be 4 and then 5 the year after. This little girl sure keeps things fun in our family. She is full of silliness and mischievous is her middle name. She loves dresses, her sister, sucking her fingers, singing really loud, and chocolate.

Three things Tegan loves to say

1. "What the heck?!"
2. "Please mom, please, please, pretty please"
3. "Can I wear a spinny dress Mom?"

Three favorite songs

1. Twinkle Twinkle little Star
2. Wonder Pets
3. ABC's

Three favorite foods

1. Oatmeal
2. Chocolate and candy
3. cereal





We love you so much Tegan!

Quite a Week

My youngest sibling Rachel married this week and it was certainly cause for celebration. The bonus to a family wedding is that you get to see lots of family! It was a busy, and at times crazy week.

My Grandma celebrated her 86th birthday the day of the wedding. Even more cause to celebrate. We were so happy that she could be here with us.

We had an early birthday party for Tegan together with her cousin Macy. Ice cream cake for everyone.

And this is how they looked after the cake...but really the kids enjoyed not one but two sumo matches. We can't seem to get enough.







For the first time ever (sad to say) we went to the dahlia farm in Canby. I can't believe I've never taken the time to do this before. The variety was unbelievable and they are so beautiful. We enjoyed weaving in and out of all the rows and had a laugh with all the different names they come up with for each variety.
My Aunt came up from California and did all the flowers for the wedding. It was AMAZING. She really did a beautiful job. Oddly I have no pictures of my sister on her beautiful day, but plenty of people were snapping them so I'll be able to post some soon. She made a dashing bride. The wedding was in a cute, small venue and after lots of pictures and food we danced the night away.

This about sums up how we all felt by the end. It was sad to take my brother's family to the airport this morning. We had so much fun with them and Jess and Tegan were in heaven playing with their cousins.

Fun with cousins

Our nieces and nephew are in town right now soon to be followed by there Mom and Dad, and we have been looking forward to this visit for a while. We headed over to Bauman's Farm to enjoy their fall festivities. The kids had a blast.

Tommy got a little surge of testosterone while operating this giant cannon. The goal was to shoot an apple through a small whole several feet away.
While Tegan was too small to fully enjoy some of it she LOVED swinging and could have done it all day.
We certainly can't resist taking these silly pics. We've got a Crazy Apple
An Angry Apple
A Cute Apple
and a Bashful Apple
Jumping around on the bounce pad.


We finally had some down time today and it was one of our cousin's birthdays so she decided she wanted a sumo match. The girls also figured out a way to get get these wristbands on their faces.


It has been so fun having them here and we get all this next week to enjoy their company as well.

A Few Words About Playdough

All day today Jessie kept asking if we could play with playdough. I promised her we would, but just kept putting it off until almost just before bedtime. I realized every time she would bring it up to me I would mentally let out a huge sigh and if I wasn't careful to control my tongue I may have blurted out "I HATE PLAYDOUGH!" I feel guilty that I limit the amount of playdough playing that goes on around here. For all I know I could have a little Picasso in my home that will never reach her potential all because I HATE PLAYDOUGH! But the truth is, limiting it keeps me sane. This is how the playdough playing process goes in our house...
1. I get down all the playdough and tools to go with it. This usually involves risking my life because I keep it up high enough that the kids won't see it and bother me about it daily.
2. We open it all up only to discover that half of them have dried out and have now become a weapon of sorts.
3. The girls fight over what colors they want.
4. They roll it around a little and then ask me to create something impossible (for me) like a dog or dragon. When I try to get them involved in the process they refuse because "they can't" so it ends up being me playing with playdough and them watching.
5. We put it all away , but you know, it's never COMPLETELY put away because I find myself stepping on it over the next few days, or picking pieces out of the carpet, or catch Tegan trying to snack on it.
So that is why I HATE PLAYDOUGH--and while I'm ranting let me just add bubbles and watercolor to that list too. I hope my kids forgive me someday for limiting this fun activity for them. Hopefully I'm making up for it in other ways.

All Grown Up



My baby's getting bigger and I'm a little bit sad about it. Jess is starting kindergarten this year and it's a little hard for me to digest. The other day she had her literacy assessment and as I watched her sitting there all grown up like with her new teacher, I almost started crying. It's not really the fact that she's going to school 5 days a week, last year she went to preschool 3 days each week-- it's more what it represents.

It's me having to let loose on the reigns some and losing a little bit of control and her marching forward becoming just a little bit more independent. Although unrealistic, there is part of me that wants to go right in with her and sit next to her in class to fend off any bullies, pick her friends, and cover her ears when something inappropriate is said. I can only imagine that as the years go on her independence will become more and more drastic. I just have to hope that she chooses to make good choices and be strong.

The other day while in the car I was expressing to Jess that I was feeling a little sad about her not being home in the mornings soon. She said, "Mom I want to live with you and Papi forever." I explained to her that someday she will actually want to move out and be on her own. She disagreed and we continued to argue about it, until finally we agreed that we would discuss it again in a few years. I have to admit, it was nice to hear that our home is a place she loves to be. I hope that when she is all grown up and on her own it will still be that way.

Quick Trip to Bend 

For some rest from our labors this year we decided to take a quick family trip over to Bend Oregon. We both love it there, and separately we've both spent time there for different reasons, but never much together. We decided it would be a great place to take the kids and enjoy some time together--just the four of us.

It was so nice having some alone time with the kids without any other distractions. They drove us nuts at times, but we were able to give them all the attention they are constantly wanting but never quite getting in the ordinary routine at home.

We were both blown away by all there is to do in Bend. We loved the endless bike trails, rivers, and hiking all around.

This is at the High Desert Museum. It as pretty interesting for both the kids and ourselves. They had some interactive things for the kids and we got to see some beautiful art and history of Oregon and the surrounding areas.

This display cracked me up "Whose scat is that". It was actually very educational to read about the different animal "scat" and how they can detect who has been where by the scat they leave etc. but the immature side of me was giggling under my breath the whole time. Especially watching the girls make heads or tails of the fake scat placed around the display room.

We toured the lava caves and it was a nice escape from the heat. The girls were pretty scared of the dark at first and really wanting to turn around until we bribed them with chocolate and then all of a sudden they were more than happy to go frolicking through the cave (it's amazing what power chocolate has). It was actually really fun.

It was a quick trip for us, but we realized a few things, 1. It was great being together, just the four of us. 2.We love Bend Oregon and plan to head in that direction more often now. 3. If we see bear scat we better turn and run.