Thankful...

All my life, I always said I felt called to be a housewife. I forgot about that for a long time. I got married, got a "real" job, and life happened. I had a beautiful baby girl several years later, and still... life was happening. The cost of living is high these days, and staying at home with her just wasn't an option. I never second-guessed it, and put her in daycare to continue providing additional income to the household. Not to mention the 3 years of not-so-cheap infertility treatments that gave us our sweet girl.

Fast-forward 18 months. A miracle happened... and her name is Gracie Elizabeth. (Elizabeth, after another lady who experienced the blessing of a child when all odds were against her.) Once again, the cost of living is STILL high.... but daycare is even higher! Putting two children in daycare would have eaten my pay. In other words, I would have been working strictly to pay daycare. ( It's HIGH in my neck of the woods.)

All of this to say, that before I knew it... the Lord had given me the desires of my heart. Not only did I have a family, but with the birth of our second child, I was given the oppertunity to stay at home and raise them the way that I had always dreamt. Because, not only had He given me precious children to look after, but He had also fulfilled my purpose by giving me a hard-working, driven husband to help make it all possible. He is now the sole financial provider in our family, and for that I am forever thankful.

The transition from work to home has been a strange one, but I am so thankful to my Father, and the father of my children, for bringing it to life. Instead of computer screens and spreadsheets, I get to look at these beauties all day long....

Been Awhile

So, I haven't blogged in a LONG time. Just haven't found the time. Well, I have, but decided to use it to do something else :). What has been going on since my last post??

Gracie is no longer the tiny little thing she once was. It's funny looking back, that for the first month of her life I was so worried about her gaining weight. She lost almost a full pound after she was born, and everyone one was always asking me if she was premature because she was so little. Well.... she's made up for that. Ella was always long and slender. Gracie, on the other hand, is short and chunky! I think she gets that from me. She will be 5 months this week, and STILL has not rolled over. I think she's just to fat lol. It bothers me, even though I know it shouldn't... and that she WILL do it eventually. She has started some solids, which she gets once a day right before bed. She went to full-time formula at 3 months... which was both freeing and sad at the same time. But the reason was a good one...

In September, Brent and I went to Las Vegas with some friends for a few days!!!! It was so fun, and such a nice, and much needed, get-away. We hadn't left Ella like that since she was 9 months old, but she did just fine and didn't really ask for us at all lol. We stayed up late, slept until we wanted to get up, and roamed around all day with no agenda. It was wonderful. Also, no diapers were involved... which is a double plus! When we get home, Ella was very happy to see us, and Gracie could have cared less. Speaking of Ella.....

She is loving being in Mother's Day Out at church. She loves her teacher, and from day one has never been anything but excited when I drop her off. Having her here full time the rest of the week has not been as hard as I thought it would be. It is trying some days, but most of the time the days fly by and we get along just fine. Don't get me wrong, when bedtime rolls around I am singing praises, but the days aren't near as hectic as I thought they would be. Most of the time, anyways :). She is so funny these days, and is constantly saying things that I have no idea where it came from. Today, for instance, I asked her if she ate her lunch at school. Her reply? "Umm... not exactly." My friend Amy had given her something to eat the other day and asked her if she liked it... "Not so much." LOL!

Hopefully I'll be back soon with some pics, and more tales. But right now, the kids are in bed, and the DVR is calling my name.

A Friday and a Sunday...

I kept Ella home with me Friday, and actually managed to snap a few pictures I thought I would share. The bag she is coloring was supposed to be her 'money bag' for the money she would get when she went to the potty. We won't talk about how that went.

Ella's "cape"

Today, we took Gracie to church for the first time. She stayed in the service with us, and was awake the whole time. I was a nervous wreck. Luckily, she didn't get fussy. I fed her the first part, and the rest of the time she just kind of squirmed around.

Getting There...

I have been such a slacker with this blog! Hopefully over the next few weeks I can find more time for it. Not that I have ANYthing else going on :). Gracie will be 6 weeks old tomorrow, and slowly but surely things are getting back to normal. Well, our new normal I guess.

I actually got on here to write about a few things Ella has been saying lately, since I am mainly doing this blog so I can look back and remember things. Two is a VERY trying age, but it is also a very FUNNY age. Here are a few examples...

- Ella was in the back with her Dad, and evidently he had threatned to 'spank her butt.' She ran into the living room where I was and said, "Mama! Daddy gonna scratch my butt!!" She then ran back to him and said, "Daddy, you not scratch my butt!!" LOL

- When I get ready to fix her something to eat, I try to give her choices. Her reply now is always "umm... how bout a popcicle?"

- And her favorite phrase to tell EVERYONE in the house right now is "there's no sense in actin' like baby!!"

- This child has the memory of an elephant. She remembers songs, places, how to GET places, quotes from movies and shows, etc. Evidently, she also memorizes books. At school, she has one of their books memorized. They give it to her and she reads it to the class. It's the craziest thing I have ever seen.
Anyway, as I was saying things are calming down a little bit. Itty bitty Gracie is still wanting to eat like a teenager, so I don't get to get out just a whole lot... or at least not for extended periods of time. The joys of breastfeeding! She is for sure going to be very different than Ella was as a baby. She doesn't sleep much during the day, and isn't very content just hanging out. I think she is going to be y needy baby :). Maybe that means that when she is Ella's age, she will be quiet and gentle like everyone says girls are supposed to be...... cause Ella sure ISN'T! Haha.

I will leave you with some recent pictures... nothing exciting, but awfully cute!

Tuesday...

Another day in the life. Tuesday is probably my favorite day of the week, even though I am on my own all day/evening. Brent always works out of town on Tuesdays, and sometimes doesn't get home until after Ella is in bed. In all honesty though, she is not nearly as wild and unruly when he is not home, and she just seems to generally be better behaved on these nights. I guess she just gets too excited by his presence :).

Gracie woke up around 6:15 to eat. Actually, she also woke up at 2 and 4, but the nothing too exciting happened during those instances :). I fed her while Brent got ready for work and left. Ella got up around 7, and we watched Mickey Mouse in the bed before jumping up to get ready for school. In order to get there in time for breakfast, we have to leave the house around 7:45. I got her ready, and off to school we all went!

Gracie and I came home, she ate and then went back to sleep. I used this time to make beds, pick up and such. Oh, and eat breakfast. Nothing else too exciting happened the rest of the day. Just lots of feeding, crying, blog reading, cleaning and more feeding. I finally was able to get a shower around 2:30, and we left to go pick Ella up around 3:30.... in the pouring down rain.

Once we got home, Ella ate a snack or three and watched Mickey Mouse for a bit. On Tuesdays we normally either eat sandwhiches or order in. Tonight I decided to try Pizza Hut's pasta since it was the special of the night. It was actually yummy, and Ella ate every bit of hers! So, we ate supper around 6, and spent the rest of the evening playing.

Brent got home a little earlier than normal, around 7:30. Ella went to bed at 8:30, and Gracie is currently asleep before her next feeding. I'll feed her again around 10:30, Brent will give her a pumped bottle around 12:30 or 1, and then she is usually up to eat at 3 and 6. I try and get to bed by 11 so I can get a couple of hours sleep while Brent takes over a feeding. And then we'll start over tomorrow! I didn't take any pictures today, sorry!

Sunday...

Another blog I read is documenting several days of her week. I thought it would be neat to do the same, and be able to look back and see how in the world we functioned with a 2 year old and a 3 week old..haha. So I will start with today, Sunday. Which isn't a typical Sunday since we haven't gone back to church yet. It also isn't very exciting.

Gracie woke up around 5:45 ready to eat. I fed her, and then we both fell back asleep. Then my alarm clock, aka Ella, showed up at the edge of the bed. She had pink marker all over her face. I looked at the clock and it was 8:30. Ella doesn't sleep until 8:30,  so I have no idea how long she had been up "coloring" :). I also don't normally sleep until 8:30, but it was nice for once!

Brent fixed Ella breakfast while I fed Gracie, and then we watched tv for awhile. Around 10 we decided to go outside before it got too hot, then decided to take Ella to the pool. Brent and Ella played in the pool while Gracie ate and I watched. We came home from the pool, ate lunch, and Ella went down for a nap around 12:30. While she was asleep I fed Gracie and watched tv. Normally I would have also used this time to clean, but not today :).

Around 2:30 I heard a knock on Ella's door. I went to let her out, and was greeted by a child covered in poop. Sorry, just being honest. Brent threw her in the tub while i went about discovering what all had to be scrubbed in her room. In the meantime, hungry Gracie was not happy this was delaying her meal.

After throwing half of Ella's room into the wash, and getting her dressed, we decided to reward her good behavior with ice cream from Dairy Queen. Yeah, I know. Parent's of the year. The rest of the evening it stormed and Ella watched movies and played while I did laundry and dishes.

Ella will go to bed around 8:30 for the night, and I will feed Gracie two more times and finally give it up myself around 12. Exciting, I know! Anyway, that was our day.... here are some pics!

Back in the Saddle!

Wow, it has been awhile since I last posted. I was so exhausted at the end of this pregnancy, that I just didn't have the energy to do a blog post... sad! So, what has been going on?

My last day of work was May 27th. It did not feel like my last day, I just felt like I was going on maternity leave. I loved where I worked, and have a lot of friends there... so I am sure there are days I will miss it. But I do plan on visiting some, and keeping in touch with everyone. I will say, that the next Monday morning when I woke up, it was a good feeling :). I spent that next week doing a lot of resting. Ella actually got strep throat that weekend, so Monday and Tuesday she was home with me. The rest of the week I ran a lot of errands, went to my final doctor's appointment, layed out by the pool by myself, and just enjoyed some quiet time. We also took Ella to the pool several times in the afternoons, and on the weekend.

Monday night before my surgery, my parents came down and spent the night. We did not have to be at the hospital Tuesday until 10am, but this way they didn't have to fight traffic. We actually got to the hospital a little early, and they got the ball rolling right away. Miss Gracie Elizabeth was born at 12:46 and weighed 7lbs 3oz, and was 20.25 inches long. She is a tiny thing! She actually swallowed a good bit of fluid when she was born, and we thought they were going to have to take her to the nursery to be monitored for several hours due to fast and labored breathing. Luckily, that didn't happen and everything turned out ok. We came home from the hospital on Friday. My surgery was so much easier this time, as far as recovery goes. My first time getting out of bed was not nearly as bad, and a week later I am almost pain free. With Ella, it was a much slower progress. Speaking of Ella...

Ella was very excited to see Gracie for the first time. She was all smiles was was anxious to touch her and give her kisses. Now that we are home, she ask to hold her several times a night, and loves to stare at her. She has been acting out a bit in the evenings looking for attention, but we expected that and hope it will get better with time. She also gets very mad at me because I won't pick her up. I'm hoping by next week I will be able to hold her again. She had a bad night the other night and woke up several times crying. When I went in to check on her, she wanted me to rock her. Brent was asleep, so I carried her into the living room to rock, and could tell it probably wasn't the best idea as soon as I did it. We have had several visitors, and of course Ella has really enjoyed that. She loves when people come to the house, and loves showing them all of her 'things'.

Gracie has been a wonderful baby so far. She eats a LOT, and only cries when you change her diaper or if she is hungry. Of course, most of her time right now is spent asleep. She actually slept a 5 hour stretch last night, which is not normal this early for breastfed babies, so I am considering it a fluke lol.

Here are some pictures of the sweet girls. Hopefully I will be able to post more regularly now!

Countdown...

It's been awhile since I've posted. I just don't have much time these days. I'm hoping that once I am home full-time, I'll be able to post more often. That's right! Only about 4 or 5 more weeks of work for me!! I am so excited. I actually have about 7 more weeks before the baby comes, but am planning on giving myself a couple of extra weeks at home to get some things done, and spend some time with Ella.

Speaking of Ella.... we've been through the ringer this week. It started off with me being sick week before last. Nothing major. Just a bad cough, etc. Then Sunday night SHE got sick. Turns out, she had croup AND strep throat. Was out of school Mon-Wed and Friday. She feels better, but still sounds horrible. And, of course, now I'M sick again. Only much worse this time. I hope it passes soon.

I'm also 32 weeks today...but feel more like 43 weeks :). I can't wait to have some time to rest in a few weeks before Gracie comes. I'm so tired! I've even been taking naps on the weekends... which is against everything I believe in! Haha. I figure I may as well get them in while I can though.

The Future

I informed my boss yesterday that I will be staying at home once the baby is born. This is SUCH a burden off of my shoulders, as I have been really stressing over telling him. I'm not sure why, things like that just make me nervous. Of course, he was very understanding and it wasn't a big deal at all. So now I am just praying that the next 2 months and 3 weeks fly by! Haha. On one hand I am ready for Gracie to get here, but on the other hand I know i need to enjoy this time I have left with just Ella. I wish I was home now so I could give her some extra attention. 

So I am excited. I have always wanted to stay home, and I am thankful for the chance. I know it's going to be hard some days, but I also know it will be worth it in the end. 

The Big 0-2!!!

  Ella is TWO today!! At this time (1:40pm) two years ago, I had just gotten an epidural and was laying in my hospital room wishing her Daddy would hurry up and get there! I can't believe how much little humans grow and change in such a short period of time. I'm also glad that at some point in our lives the aging process slows a bit LOL! We had her b'day party Saturday at my parent's house and I think she had tons of fun. She even woke up Saturday morning in her crib singing "Happy Birthday to ELLA!" That was the funniest thing ever! It was like she knew exactly what was going to happen that day. Since today is her actual birthday, her Dad and I are taking her to Chuck E Cheese when i get off work. And she got to skip school and stay home with her Daddy. I'm afraid the kid is going to think birthdays last for days LOL.

   Here is a pic from her b'day party.... she is NOT a fan of the camera these days, so this was the best shot I got.

The Countdown Begins...

So, I'm in my sixth month of this pregnancy. I have about 3 full months and maybe a week before Gracie will make her appearance. I have no idea where the last 6 months have gone! Two of my friends that were pregnant have both had their babies, and so now I am feeling a little inpatient. Not too much though! I know I better enjoy this time with just one wild child running around. It's also stressing me out just a tad thinking about being at home with a newborn and a 2 year old. Especially with Ella's new attitude she's been sporting lately. And especially since I'm not even use to being at home with a 2 year old! LOL But I'm excited and can't wait. It's going to be fun having a little baby in the house again. Ella is getting SO BIG these days, and is just growing up so quickly.

Physically I am also feeling fine these days. At the end of the night, I can for sure tell that I am 6 months pregnant, but that's to be expected. One nice thing about the second go-around.... people (parents) aren't calling you every single day asking if you feel ok. When I was pregnant with Ella, I almost felt like people were hoping that one day I would just shout "NO I FEEL ABSOLUTLY TERRIBLE!!!" Haha. Luckily, the second time no one focuses on it as much. And I appreciate that lol. Now, speaking of the monster called Ella....

This kid knows the words to more songs than me. Her newest is You are My Sunshine. I've always sang it to her, but now she knows all the words and sings it non-stop. On the playground Saturday, it was Oh How I Love Jesus. She was just running around singing it at the top of her lungs. It was so funny! She also randomly started naming the days of the week yesterday. Not in order or anything, but I guess that must be the new thing they are doing in her class. And no, I don't quiz her on these things. I was literally standing in the kitchen and she just started spouting them off to me lol.

Potty training is going very slowly. She does ok on the weekends.... she will actually go in the potty 3 or 4 times. But at school they say they take her, but she never does anything. So who knows. It will happen in time.

We are back to hitting when we are mad. But then sometimes, as soon as she does it, before I even have a chance to say anything, she will say 'I sorry Mama' and hug me. So she knows it's wrong. I guess that's something lol. Knowing how to discipline a 2 year old has to be the hardest thing in the world. Can someone tell me the exact, correct way to do it? HAHA.

Life Lately...

Not much has been going on the last week or so. We started trying to potty train Ella last week. The first few days went well, and she would go in the potty a few times a day. However, I think her teachers are lagging the last few days because she hasn't gone on the potty at home since Friday. I think they have forgotten?? I thought it was going to be easier with her in school since they would really work with her... but instead I think it may be more difficult, as you have to trust that they are being consistant with her. My goal is to have her out of diapers by June when Gracie comes. That seems like plenty of time, but when you aren't with her all day to work with her yourself, it's not! She moved up to the 2 year old room last Monday, and I don't think that she (or I) like it very much. It seems very disorganized compared to her last class, and there are SO MANY more kids. Wild two year olds at that. She cries almost every morning, and is VERY ready to go every afternoon lol. They said it usually takes them 2 weeks to get adjusted, and we are almost at the two week mark. However, a couple of her teachers from her last class are moving over, so I think that will help.

Our next transition will be her big bed. Once I get rails and curtains, we will be ready to go! I have NO idea how that will go. She has finally gotten past this fighting bedtime thing she had going on for a couple of weeks.

Tired!

That seems to be my general feeling lately.... just plain tired! I'm just having a harder time getting up and going in the mornings. Especially at 6:30 on the weekends when Ella is ready to play! Speaking of Ella.... We started potty training Monday night. We have to go through the pull-up stage first, because her daycare requires that she wears them until she is completely trained with no accidents. So we are taking it nice and slow. She has gone several times in the potty, so she definatly understand the concept... she just hasn't grasped the idea of KNOWING when she needs to go. But she's not even 2 yet, so I'll give her a break :). We are also getting ready to move her to her new room and new bed in the next few weeks. I will be gone to California for work 2 days next week, so it will probably be after I get back. Lots of changes happening around here!

Ella moved to her new class, the 2yo class, on Monday. She's still getting use to it, but seemed like she was enjoying it more when I picked her up yesterday. She is learning so much, and I'm having a hard time keeping up with her! She is now counting to 14... kind of random, but that's as high as I have heard her go. She has NOT gotten her colors down. Poor thing, I'm beginning to think she is color blind! She thinks everything is green! Ha! It's amazing how she can memorize and recognize letters and numbers... but not colors. Must be on the opposite side of her brain!

I've also recently decided to improve Ella's eating habits. She is very picky, and will not eat many vegtables at all. So, I've started mixing some pureed veggies into her food. This week, I did a batch of broccoli and carrots. So far, we have successfully eaten speghetti with carrots, peanut butter sandwhich with carrots and a baked potato with broccoli mixed in. All of these things she has eaten right up and never noticed the hidden ingredient! I am so excited. My hope is that she will gradually get use to the taste of them and begin eating them on their own. So beware if you come over for supper, never know what veggies you may be eating! Haha. Any suggestions of other veggies that puree well and would make a good addition? I did try peanut butter and broccoli, but it did not go over well and resulted in lots of dramatic gagging :).

Silence...

I haven't posted in awhile. Just haven't had anything to say! Not much has been going on... we did find out that we will be having another girl come June! Looks like I'll be able to get good use out of all those cute outfits up in the attic! I think we have pretty much decided on a name. Although, we haven't technically 'announced' it yet. I'm not sure why. Brent told me not to tell anyone until we were sure that was it, but he's told EVERYONE! haha So, I think she will be Gracie Elizabeth. We have always loved the name Gracie, and almost named Ella that. Plus, Brent's great-grandmother's name was Grace, so you can consider it a family name as well. Elizabeth is from the Bible. I love her story and relate to it well. And while I am quite aware I'm not going to be birthing John the Baptist, I am certain this baby is a miracle and will have a great purpose in this world!

Ella is doing well, and getting smarter every day. She had the stomach virus this week, and was kind enough to pass it on to me. MISERABLE is the word I would use to best describe this. Not only was it terrible while I had, but even now that it's gone I am dealing with some kind of pulled muscle in my chest from all the....well... you get it. So now it hurts to move, sniff, cough, breathe...etc. Wish it would hurry up and go away!

Back to Ella, I have decided she has some kind of special ability to learn songs. I'm not kidding... I can sing a song she has never heard, and after listening to me twice she will sing it like she's known it all along. She sings CONSTANTLY, and even makes up songs to sing to her babies. Every day when we pick her up at school, they are laughing at her love of singing. They said she has even started singing the songs they play during naptime... which I'm sure they appreciate while trying to get everyone asleep LOL. Her favorite seems to be Jesus Loves Me. Only in her version, it's "Yes, Jesus love you... my Bible tells me so." haha.

She has also started using the phrase 'I love you' some. Just randomly, usually after I change her, she will pat me on the back and say 'I yuv you Mama.' So sweet!

Still no pictures...

I know blogs are boring without pictures, but I still don't have my camera back yet :(.

Ella has been so funny lately. Sometimes, the things that she "knows" just amazes me. Just little things. For instance, she brought something to me yesterday that has batteries... but the back was off and the batteries were gone. She held it up and said, "It break!" Of course, I couldn't help but correct her with "It's BROKEN, not break." But it just amazed me that her little self could see that something was missing, and therefore 'wrong' with it.

Tonight, I was sitting in the recliner and she walked up, started pushing on me and saying "Push Mommy down!" When she says stuff like this, I always try and think of where it could have come from. So then I immediately imagined her pushing some kid down at school, and her teacher saying "Don't push _____ down!" I sure hope not, but where else would she have gotten a phrase about pushing somebody down?!

All that to say, that she has recently started using phrases more frequently. Of course, I still don't understand half of what she "says", but when I do it's so funny to me! This is also a repeat conversation in our house:

Me: Are you hungry?
Ella: Hungry?
Me: Do you want something to eat?
Ella: Want to eat?
Me: Are you going to copy everything I say?
Ella: You dflkewj copy lwejrwi say?

Even her teacher mentioned to me that she is such a little copy cat, and goes around mimicking her all day! Haha.

She also has a serious problem with her temper. Every once in awhile, when she throws a fit, she will start biting her hand, pulling her hair, and pinching herself! I know it's terrible, but I figure at least she isn't doing it to me or someone else! Luckily, she only does it for a few seconds. I guess she realizes it doesn't feel to good!

Advice Needed...

I am seriously searching for advice, suggestions, any ideas you can give me on keeping my house in order!! It's burying me alive people! I decided today to really get with it and do some serious deep cleaning. I started with my living room windows.... which, if I am being honest, probably haven't been cleaned in a year. I never see them because they are always covered by curtains, and I just never think of them. And besides, they didn't LOOK that dirty. I seriously should have saved the paper towels I used and entered them in some sort of contest. They were BLACK! Anyway, all that too say, that was as far as I got.

A few hours later I decided to go in the guest room/play room/ soon to be Ella's new room and clean out the dresser that is currently in there. We will be moving all of that furniture out in a few months and I thought I would get a head start on it. I did get the dresser cleaned out, but now I have all of this STUFF- and no where to put it. I sat down on the couch so overwhelmed with all of the stuff in my house that does not have a home. THERE IS CLUTTER EVERYWHERE!

It's not just the clutter I am struggling with. It seems as soon as I get one room spic and span, another one turns into a disaster. I don't even know the last time my whole house was completely clean. I know part of this is because I have a little person who's life goal at this time is to scatter as many things around the house at one time as possible. But I go in other people's homes who have children, and they are spotless! They only real cleaning time I seem to have these days are on the weekends- which does not help the motivation factor. Who wants to clean on the weekends?? Surely some of you out there can tell me how you do it, how you stay on top of it? Am I just really lazy, or is this hard for everyone?