Graduation!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brian FINALLY graduated this spring!  YAY!  

I'm so proud of him for so many reasons.  

This has been act of sheer perseverance over the many years and over our whole marriage.  He has gone to classes, studied, and completed projects while working full time, through job transitions, and through the birth of our two beautiful girls.  He has never given up and through it all he has always made me and the girls his priority.  We've often joked about my size 6.5 heels kickin' him in to high gear, but while I am a great encourager, his motivation is intrinsic and comes from a mature desire to succeed and to provide for his family.  I know that he does everything more for us than for himself. 

He did really awesome!  This is where I get to brag on my man who graduated magna cum laude.  Smart dudes are totally hot!  (Even more so for me than for your average gal considering that I'd pick Patrick Stewart over Brad Pitt any day of the week.)  Throughout his childhood report cards, there is a resounding theme (his mom gave me his old report cards) - the comment "Brian is a very bright boy; he just needs to apply himself" accompanied his very average six-weeks grades and a rockin' grade on the final exam.  He definitely applied himself in college and totally bested his nerdy wife.  :)  

We had a wonderful weekend celebrating Brian's wonderful accomplishment.  Here are some pics from Honors Convocation, from the Graduation, and from our fun party at On The Border.  And, thanks so much for all our friends and family who have cheered for Brian, prayed for Brian, and who came out to celebrate with us.  We love you all!  

Honors Convocation

Me and my man!

Brian's Dad (Ken), Brian, and Brian's Mom (Emily)

Brian and his Mom

Brian and his brother, Alex

Olivia just being cute

My brother, Derek, and his wife, Tracey

Sibling Love! 

My cousin, Ashton, and her husband Josh

Braylon (my cousin Aaron and his wife Brandi's kiddo) being shy - I LOVE this photo. 

Friend Lori and her littles, Sydney and Adelay (who was born the day after Olivia)

My sweet nephew Nick and his Grandpa, Robert

Hannah's cute grin (our friends, Nathan and Jenny's daughter)

The Graduate! 

The Cake!

The cake may have been Naomi's favorite part of the party. 

Alex and Terah (Brian's bro and SIL) with Olivia

Looking a little sad that her cake is almost all gone...

My Mamo and Robert

Mmmm... on second thought there's this giant bit of cake over here.  

And that seems the perfect picture to end on.  :) 

Olivia - 9 Months

I delayed publishing this because I was hoping to snap some better pics, but that just hasn't happened, so here we go... :)

Stats?
Weight: about ? lbs ? oz (?%)
Height/Length: ? in (?%)
Head: ? in (?%)
Clothing Size: some 6-9 months, but mostly 9 months
Diaper Size: Size 3 or 4 at night, and Size 3 during the day
   
How is she sleeping?
We put her down for bed around 7 and she usually sleeps until about 8 (sometimes more, sometimes less).  Naps are going okay.  She takes about a 1 hour nap in the morning and about a 2 hour nap in the afternoon, most days.  We've had a lot of leaky diapers lately, but I remember this phase with Naomi and know that it will pass. 

How is she eating?
We are still trying to nurse regularly, but it's slowly phasing out.  She still gets a bottle of formula before the afternoon nap and before bed and we give her a sippy cup of formula at mealtimes so that she can work on that.  Solids has gotten a lot better this month.  Her favorite food is still refried beans.  She finally started eating some of the baby oatmeal this month.  I started making it with white grape juice to help with her constipation and she seems to like it.  She also likes diced peaches and yogurt.  There are a few other things we've tried that she threw up afterward, so we'll try those again in a few months.  She now gets most things in her mouth when she grabs them on her own.  I think she'll get that down this next month since she's gotten quite a bit better this month. 

Doctor Visit
?

What new tricks does she do?
Physical progress slowed at the beginning of the month while she worked on some other things (like eating) and is just now really starting up again.  She's still a steady assisted stander.  Her propulsion systems employ a variety of rolling, pivoting, inch worming, etc.  She definitely gets where she wants to go.  She has started babbling more (and screeching, god bless my ears).  She is trying to pull up on things and with a good bit of assistance can get up on her knees and then up to standing.  She has also made a couple of moves that look like she is trying to figure out how to go from tummy to sitting.  She says da da and it does seem to be directed at daddy, so that's cool.  She's still a super swimmer.  I think she actually understands the instruction "kick kick kick" now because I can say it outside of the water too and her little legs start kicking.  This month she started "swimming" a few inches between Ms Paige and Daddy (or Mommy).  Mmmm... guess that's it. 

General Observations?
I love her little "chicky" fuzz on the top of her head. 
She has two razor sharp bottom teeth and has been drooling so much the last week or so that she's developed a rash under her chin, so we are keeping an eye out for the top two.    Olivia is still commanding her audience when she's in a smiley mood (most of the time).  This last Friday at swim class was hilarious.  She looked like she was having seizures of happiness as her whole body kicked and moved with glee.  All the other parents were laughing at it too.
Naomi lights up her world.  She loves when big sister pays attention to her.  She always wants to pull Naomi's hair, so we have to work on it.  Naomi has gotten pretty good with her.  If she finds a paci, a bottle or a sippy cup that she knows is Olivia's she will bring it to her.  I love watching the interaction between the two of them slowly develop.  I can't wait to watch them really play together!  


Until next time... Enjoy!

Uh oh, she found the sticker... photo shoot over. 

Naomi - 2 1/4 Years

I meant to post this a while ago, but got busy and forgot, so here it is... although I'll be doing a 2 1/2 year post soon (I'm sure it'll be late too).  

Stats?
Weight: ? lbs (?%)
Height: ? (?%)
Diapers: size 5
Clothes: 24 month and some 2T

How is she sleeping?
The same - Sleeps from about 7:30pm or so to 7:00-7:30am.  She naps from about 1-3.  I should say, I put her in the crib from 1-3 daily and sometimes she naps the whole time, sometimes not, and sometimes more.  She's getting close to being able to climb out of her crib, so we will probably be taking the front off to convert it to a toddler bed in the coming months. 

How is she eating?
She eats better all the time.  I love not having to cut things up for her much anymore.  She eats like a toddler - one day she'll eat something and the next she won't.  Mostly though, she's open to lots of food and if I ever want her to try something, I just put it on my plate and not on hers.  Works great!  :)  "Want a bite?" "Another bite please."  She loves to dip things like most toddlers - ketchup, salsa, ranch... so far, she loves all of it (she's her daddy's daughter). 

Doctor Visit
We don't go again until 3 years old - it's really weird to only go once a year. 

What new tricks does she do?
Physically she's just gotten better at running, tip-toeing, and climbing.  She can now climb up her playset and correctly sit down and go down the slide.  
Most new things seem to be in language development for her these days - vocabulary, comprehension, sentence structure, etc.  If she hears a word now, she pretty much knows it.  She has possessives figured out (Mommy's glasses, Daddy's coffee, Naomi's cup, Baby's paci, etc.), but is still working out personal pronouns (like me, my, mine, I, you, etc.). 
She knows her shapes (circle, square, rectangle, star, heart, octagon, pentagon, triangle, cone, diamond, and oval at least).  We're now working on cube, pyramid, sphere, etc. 
She definitely knows her colors now.  Yay! 
She knows the alphabet song and knows all her letters, but is pretty ADD with that whole business. 
She knows her numbers and can count to about 20.  
She can sing a handful of little songs (Twinkle Twinkle, Row Your Boat, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Wheels on the Bus, the BIBLE, etc).
She loves giving her prayer requests for bedtime prayers - "Pray for Mickey" "Pray for owl" "Pray for kitty"
The pretend play has gotten even better. She got into watching "Doc McStuffins" in the last few months, so she gets her toys, says, "Time for a check up" and "I have a diagnosis".  It's seriously cute.  Her diapers end up all over the place as she gives everyone a diaper change and a stack of receiving blankets will be instantly spread over the house as she covers all her toys up and tucks them in.  
We're still going to swim lessons and we are trying her out in the next older class this spring, so we'll see how that goes.  She practices kicking and rolling to her back a lot in the bathtub so that's good. 
I guess that's it really. 

General Observations?
It's so much fun watching her turn into a little person. 
She has definitely embraced the world of 2 year old tantrums, so we are working through that.  It's a fun mix of prevention, distraction, ignoring, and enduring while I do my best to keep my calm.  
She has shown herself to be both sensitive and protective.  If you're upset, she's upset.  She has negative reactions to negative people.  And, if you mess with me or her baby sister, she sorta loses it.  If somebody gets too close to her baby sister when talking to her or holds her in certain situations, she gets upset.  I feel bad for anyone who messes with her kid down the road.  This girl's going to be one heck of a momma bear! 
We're still waiting on potty training.  Our current plan is to go for it sometime this summer when we aren't in Mother's Day Out or MOPS, so we can be home more often and when Brian is done with school.  Here's to hoping.  At the moment, she'll sit on the potty for a few ADD minutes, but has no interest in going in it and doesn't care a bit if she's got a dirty diaper. 
We're still trying to figure out when to take away her crib pacis.  At least she recognizes that any pacis that she finds outside of the crib are baby's and gives them to Olivia (it's really cute actually).  
We are moving her up to a new forward-facing combination carseat soon and giving Olivia her old one.  I'm hoping she'll be able to climb up into it and down out of it better which I'm hoping will help me with in/outs when I've got both kids by myself.  
Mmm...can't think of anything else, but that's plenty, so...

Until next time... Enjoy!

Olivia - 8 Months

Stats?
Weight: about 16 lbs 13 oz (?%)
Height/Length: ? in (?%)
Head: ? in (?%)
Clothing Size: 6 months, 6-9 months, and some 9 months
Diaper Size: Size 3 at night, and Size 2 during the day
   
How is she sleeping?
Hallelujah, Praise The Lord!  She finally started sleeping through the night (mostly).  :)  We put her down for bed around 7 and she usually sleeps until about 8 (sometimes more, sometimes less).  Naps are going okay.  She takes about a 1 hour nap in the morning and about a 2 hour nap in the afternoon, most days.  She really could go for a little more sleep in the afternoon slot, but oh well.  She'll outgrow that soon. 

How is she eating?
She still nurses regularly, roughly every 3 hours.  We supplement with a bottle of formula before the afternoon nap and before bed.  I'm glad that we made that choice last month because I really think it has helped her sleep better - I think she was just super hungry all the time and my body just couldn't keep up.  It's definitely been the right choice.  Her sippy cup skills are improving but I think we are at least a month away from her being able to use it full time.  Once we get there, I'll probably begin weaning slowly.  Solids has been interesting.  It appears we have a picky eater on our hands.  She will not eat baby food, so we've had to just give her small, squishy bites of the real deal.  The small number of things that she likes, she will eat a lot of but otherwise, not more than a bite.  So far, her favorite food is refried beans (don't judge - it's the only thing she'll consistently go to town on).  She also likes butternut squash, sweet potatoes, puffs, gold fish, muffin, avocado (we think) and a little bit of the apple/peach squeezy fruit that I fed her.  We long ago abandoned "the rules" with this one and just try to feed her as many squishy things that we can come up with.  As for self-feeding, she can successfully grab something and get it TO her mouth, but only gets it IN her mouth about half the time.  I think she'll get that down this next month since she's gotten quite a bit better this month. 

Doctor Visit
We go again at 9 Months.  :)

What new tricks does she do?
She's now a steady assisted stander.  She can hold on to her music table for quite a while and play before she falls over.  She's trying to figure out cruising but probably won't be there for another month.  She's still rolling and scooching all over the place.  I'm not sure she will ever crawl since she's so adept at getting where she wants to go anyway.  We'll see.  She's the star pupil in her babies swim class.  She loves being in the water; she gets all excited and starts kicking her legs and panting in anticipation as soon as she sees the pool.  She does really well going under water and holding her breath.  She doesn't seem to like floating on her back, but we keep working on it.  So proud!  Mmmm... guess that's it. 

General Observations?
She's going to get hair someday, right?  
Little girl has turned into the cutest, little chunky monkey!  Too cute!
We have a little tooth bud poking through on the bottom.  And judging by the drool soaked world little girl is living in, it's got friends coming out to join it. 
Naomi has had such a large personality that I was worried about little Olivia being overshadowed and shrinking into the background, but I'm less worried now.  When we are out and about, Olivia has gotten quite adept at commanding her own audience with her beaming smiles. Love my smiley girls!


Until next time... Enjoy!

Olivia - 7 Months

This post is SO Very late (like 2 weeks late)... so don't be surprised when she doesn't look a whole lot different in her 8 month post in 2 weeks.  :) 

Stats?
Weight: about 15 lbs 0 oz (?%)
Height/Length: ? in (?%)
Head: ? in (?%)
Clothing Size: mostly 6 months
Diaper Size: Size 3 at night, and Size 2 during the day
   
How is she sleeping?
We put her down for bed around 7 and she usually sleeps until about 8.  We've been a little firmer with the sleep training and have seen some signs of hope just this past week, so hopefully it's a trend and not just a fluke.  We've got her down to only nursing one time in the night and we are working on gradually pushing that time back.  Naps are about the same.  She still sometimes needs more than she will take, particularly at the afternoon nap slot.  She has trouble falling back asleep after the sleep cycle change at about the 1 hour mark.  We eliminated the swaddle this month and that went well (didn't effect her sleep).  So, at night she sleeps in a sleep sack and for naps, she's either in just her clothes or the sleep sack depending on temp.  We've got some hope.  :)  

How is she eating?
She still nurses regularly, roughly every 3 hours.  We had to start supplementing with some formula for her last feed before bed.  Since I changed my diet at the beginning of the year, it seems that my production isn't enough and probably is less fatty and therefore my milk just isn't keeping up.  It's helped a lot. We are still working on the sippy cup.  I'm hoping she can get adept at it in the next couple months, so we can wean straight to a cup and I'm not sure how much longer my supply is going to hold up.  As for solids, she loves puffs and roasted sweet potato pieces.  She tried bananas and steamed apples but didn't seem to love those.  I think we've pretty much given up on cereals and purees; she's just not having it and that's okay.  She's doing pretty well with finger foods even if we are having to put it in her mouth.  She can successfully grab something and get it TO her mouth, but not IN her mouth.  She'll get there in the next month or two. 

Doctor Visit
We go again at 9 Months.  :)

What new tricks does she do?
She's a steady sitter and started sitting in high chairs in restaurants this month.  She rolls all over the place.  She tries to crawl, but can't quite get there.  We're thinking in the next month or two maybe, but who knows.  Still loves Naomi and swimming.  Mmmm... guess that's it. 

General Observations?
Still on first tooth watch - nothing yet. 
She's always got a smile for people! 

Until next time... Enjoy!

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary Hubby!  It's been an amazing 8 years.  I can't believe how much has changed over the years and I am privileged to grow and change and live life with you.  I love you lots!

Here are 8 reasons that I love you and that I'm so glad we picked each other (in no particular order):

1. You are so hardworking.  Thank you for working so hard everyday for our family. 

2. You are quietly and patiently persistant in the pursuit of your goals.  I have watched you pursue your degree over our years together and I will be so proud to watch you walk across that stage in May. 

3. You love our girls.  You're hottest look this year was sporting a sticker on your forhead.  You make me smile everytime I hear you playing with the girls, making them laugh, or just snuggling with them. 

4. You're a champion snuggler.

5. You love me and allow me to be fully myself.  You've seen all sides of me: sweet, snarky, goofy, kind and unkind, happy, sad, really sad, tired, hungry, angry, funny, smart, hairbrained, etc. and you're still here loving me.  Thanks!

6. You're smart and funny.

7. You love God.

8. You do things just to make me happy.

And one more because I just had to keep going...

9. You make me and the girls your priority.

Here are some pictures that make me smile...

Losing the Baby Weight... Seriously

After I had Naomi, I wanted to get my body back, but my progress was so slow that I hardly got anywhere with it before we got pregnant again.  So, here I am again, going after the ever elusive pre-baby body (or at least some blessed shadow of it). You may have noticed that one of my goals for this year was to get halfway to my weight loss goal, eg. lose 30 lbs this year. 

Some background/stats:

I have always struggled with my weight.  I like food and I'm lazy and I'm honest about it.  In high school I worked out and stayed healthy.  In college, I drank and ate and didn't workout enough and wasn't healthy.  Then, I got a job that traveled full time, eating out constantly and gained even more weight.  When I met and married my husband I was at my heaviest.  A little bit after our honeymoon, I pulled a horrible cholesterol number and decided it was time to do the work and get it off.  I did it - worked hard, ate right, lost the weight and became a Jazzercise instructor.  I even started running and completed several 5Ks, a few 10Ks and even 2 half marathons. 

Then, I gained 60 lbs or so with Naomi (feeding the nausea, cutting down my workouts and eventual bed rest did not help) and was already up a little bit before we got pregnant.  Like I mentioned, I really didn't lose much after having Naomi especially once I knew we were trying again. I did complete another half-marathon, but really didn't run much of it. 

Then, I got pregnant with Olivia.  I worked much harder with Olivia at not gaining much weight since I knew I was still carrying weight from my first pregnancy.  I worked out more and harder and I didn't eat every time I was nauseous (hello Zofran!).  I was successful in only gaining what I should even if I did get stuck on bed rest again.  After Olivia, I knew I wanted to wait a couple of months before trying to lose any weight so that I could establish my milk supply.  Then the holidays hit, not a good time to start that sort of thing, and I actually gained a little weight. 

So, all that to say, here are my stats and I'll keep you posted as I hit milestones.  You can find me on MyFitnessPal and at Jazzercise in Plano on a regular basis.  Hoping to add in some other stuff too, but it's tough right now with two in tow. 

Top Pregnancy Weight: about 215

1/1/13 Weight: 200
1/1/13 Clothing: maternity and some size 18
1/1/13 Measurements: I couldn't find my tape measure, so don't have that. :(

3/10/13 Weight: 181
3/10/13 Clothing: size 16 (mostly)
3/10/13 Measurements:
             Arm - 13.5"
             Bust - 41.5"
             Band - 36.5"
             Waist - 40"
             Hips - 45.5"
             Thigh - 26"
             Calf - 16.5"

So, 19 lbs lost!  I'm almost 2/3 of the way to my goal for the year and 1/3 of the way to my total goal.  That feels pretty good.  I LOVE being ahead of schedule.  And, I LOVE all my Jazzercise gals who constantly encourage me and tell me how much slimmer I look and how much more energetic I am on stage.  This also should tell you that if you've ever said, "I'm too fat to do all that [Jazzercise or really anything]", then you couldn't be more wrong.  Come dance with me!