Boo taxes

We just watched the super bowel and I worked on our taxes. I was really hoping this year we would get a decent return. I even bet Jess that we would get a decent amount back. I lost the bet. I have to make coffee for the next week... Boooooo. I hate taxes.

Friday night smiles

When I first thought of Eloise's name (way before we were pregnant or even thinking of becoming pregnant), I loved the idea of so many different nick names that she could have. El, Ellie, Ella, Loise, Lu Lu, etc., etc. But funnily, what we have been calling her is Smiles. I have never heard of a baby smiling as much as she does. Her laugh is just a little baby chuckle right now. Not a full on laugh yet, but we are working on it. She is amazing.

And this reminds me of why I love being a parent. I love the smiles but also, in the end and in truth, I love the stress, I love the worry, I love the crazy mornings and the late nights, I love it all. Being a mom, a wife, a professional, a friend - everything that I am - has made me feel complete. Eloise has made it final. I feel like this is what I am supposed to do and am (now this is going to sound cheesy) complete.

Please feel free to call me a cheese-ball whenever you want. Love to you all!

PS - yes - both of my children are watching tv in this picture - but I am sure it is some really educational video.... :)

"Are you pooping? Are you pooping? Need to use the potty???"

Top ten things that will make me really happy once Sawyer is potty trained:

10. No more diapers! They are expensive and a pain in the butt.
9. No more giant poopy diapers. Yep, almost-2 year olds have giant poops.
8. More toilet paper on the roll. Right now Sawyer is obsessed with getting as much off the roll as possible to wipe himself with. This means we are wasting tons of toilet paper on teaching him how to use toilet paper. I actually had to get the plunger out the other day when I accidentally left the bathroom door open and he tried to flush the whole roll. Seriously - doesn't that sound like a cartoon or something where the kid flushes the toilet paper roll? Well, that is my life right now!
7. No more pee on the floor. No explanation needed for that one.
6. No more saying, "Are you pooping? Are you pooping? Need to use the potty???" while walking behind my son. I think I can skip that explanation too.
5. No more tantrums for the potty treats. We have peanut M&Ms for a potty reward and sometimes he just wants one with going. Yah - I am going to be happy to get the candy out of the bathroom soon.
4. Undies! Yay for underwear!
3. No more Elmo potty DVD. However, this is an amazing DVD and has worked wonders.
2. Achieving this important milestone! Sawyer is so close being potty training. Now it just takes a little extra push to get him there. We can do it!
1. And the number one reason - I will no longer get peed on when he tries going and misses!

Can you guess what happened to me tonight? Let's just say that he got me good but was really aiming for the potty... he is trying!

Photos, photos, and more photos

Sorry peeps - I have been a blogger slacker lately. Instead, I have been busy home bound getting ready for the next chapter in our lives with me going back to work, Sawyer attending "school" (aka daycare), and Eloise being a fantastic baby (she is already laughing!). So instead of boring you with my mundane life stuff, I thought it would be better to share some photos.

Also - I would like to give a shout out to my fantastic in-laws who were recently in town. We were spoiled for a whole week during their visit and I am so grateful for them! Love to Don and Brenda and love to the rest of y'all too!

"What does Santa say? "

Sawyer is finally starting to talk a bit more and we have successfully gotten him to say, "Ho Ho Ho." I never thought in my life that those three little words would be so exciting to me - but guess what - I can't get enough of Sawyer saying them. It is pretty incredibly cute. His other favorite word right now is snow - and since it is snowing buckets in Denver right now, it is very appropriate!

With Christmas just a few short days away, we are getting ready to celebrate! Today and tomorrow I will be working on wrapping the final gifts and making the final Christmas treats, including a new recipe for salted-brown butter rice crispy treats. I am super excited about it! Also, we are going to go see Santa Claus one more time tomorrow at Bass Pro with both kids. I haven't had the chance to take them both at the same time yet. However, here is a photo of Sawyer and me at a local Christmas fair a two weeks ago. He wouldn't sit with Santa by himself. Hopefully we have more luck tomorrow!

My sister is AMAZING, double stroller heaven, and shout out to Kate!

First off - shout out to my AMAZING sister and her brief visit to our crazy lives two weeks ago. Has it already been a two whole weeks? Wow. Anyway, Katie came and helped me get a ton of stuff done around the house as well as help me get organized for Christmas. She wrapped all my presents for the kids, washed like 10 loads of laundry, did dishes everyday, and cleaned my house. How amazing is that? I completely appreciate and love her! I wish that we could spend more time together -- maybe in the future when our kids are not so demanding.

On another note, this year for Christmas I got exactly what I wanted - a running double stroller. We used it for the first time yesterday and I have got to tell you - I am in love with this stroller. I can't wait until the weather is warmer and I can go running around the lake with the kids!

And that brings me to my last quick online note - our friend Kate is awesome and I have to give her a shout out. On Friday we went to Jess' work Christmas party and Kate babysat for us. She also came over earlier in the day so that I could go run a few errands and have time to get ready before we went to the party. Kate - you are a wonderful friend and we owe you HUGE!

Enjoy a few photos and love to you all!

My amazing sister and Eloise.

Kate and Eloise

4 weeks in and we are still alive - although very much sleep deprived

It has been a little over 4 weeks since Eloise's arrival into our lives are we are still hanging tough. That's right - hanging tough. For some reason I have had that song stuck in my head while nursing at 4 a.m. in the morning... which is no fun because I really don't like that song and was never a fan of new kids on the block (unlike my sister who flipping LOVED them). However, my subconscious still brings up the melody to my tired brain while I drag my self out of bed to feed our tiny giant (Eloise). Can you tell that I am a little sleep deprived? But all in all we are doing great. Here is a quick update of all that is going on:

Eloise: She is already over 8 pounds and sleeps through everything - unless she's hungry - then watch out. She is almost wearing her 0-3 month clothes but not quite yet. Her eyes are still blue but I am hoping they turn green like mine. :)

Sawyer: We moved Sawyer into our room and moved ourselves downstairs into the basement "suite" (which is actually pretty nice). I thought he would have problems moving into a new room -- but not at all. AND he has been great with Eloise and only showing a little bit of jealousy over the last few days. What has been a surprise is how much he wants to help with everything lately. He spilled water tonight and I gave him a towel, "Please clean that up" - and he cleaned it up all by himself!

Us: Jess and I are doing great and are enjoying both kids. It has been a learning curve for sure and we have new respect for those families with 3 kids. How in the world do people do it? I honestly can't imagine. We are looking forward to Christmas and seeing Sawyer open his presents.

Enjoy the photos and love to you all!

To my amazing husband (and love to our friends and family)

It is officially two weeks since Eloise's arrival into our lives. Things have been good! I forgot how demanding a new baby is. Lots of feedings, late nights, etc., but one great thing is that Eloise is a fantastic eater. Unlike Sawyer, she has had no problems nursing. A huge relief for Jess and me. At her two week visit, she weighed is at 6 lbs. 14 oz. -- 4 oz. more than her birth weight!

Tonight, my amazing husband is giving me the night off. I will be going to bed shortly (just for those folks in different times zones -- this means, I am going to bed at 9 p.m.). I really can't write how much I appreciate him staying up with Eloise tonight. So Instead, I thought I would post a few photos of us.

But also -- love to you all! Thanks to everyone who has been great supporters of us with Eloise coming into our lives. I am so appreciative of all of our friends and family who have come out to visit, help, cook food, and etc., etc. We are really blessed to have so many great people in our lives. Don't worry - I will have a blog dedicated to you soon.

Jess enjoying our first chiminea.

Our one year anniversary!

Me, showing off my taped hands from using the heat-gun on the asbestos tiled floor that 

USED to be in our kitchen!

Our wedding day. I used this photo for our thank you cards. :) 

Our first summer in the house before our kitchen was remodeled. 

One of our engagement photos that I love. Can you believe that my hair was that long?

Family of four

Thank you Mom and Dad!

Thank you to my wonderful parents for coming out to Colorado during Eloise's birth. They watched Sawyer and ran our house while Jess and I were in the hospital. I don't know what we would have done without them. Thank you! Love you!

Welcome baby girl!

It is 12:15 a.m. MST, I am exhausted and in pain, and it has been a LONG day - but I could not be happier. Eloise is here!

Thank you for all the well wishes from family and friends! Enjoy the photos. Lv to you all!

37.5 weeks

Not much to write. We are busy, busy, busy - but good! I promised my family a photo - so here you go. Love to you all!

36 weeks and Eloise Bethany is doing great!

Family update: we are all doing great! Sawyer's potty training has been going very well - he loves peanut m&ms for his reward. We are getting ready for Eloise's arrival with a new roof being installed tomorrow and drywall contractors fixing up our downstairs closet this week. I have finally packed my hospital bag (hooray!) and we had our 36 week appointment today. Eloise is doing great and fluid levels are good. Although I haven't gained as much weight for this pregnancy -- Eloise is most likely going to be a bigger baby than Sawyer was! My doctor is doing an ultrasound with every visit, just to make sure everything goes smoothly for this birth. I am scheduled to have a c-section on Nov. 2 but if I go into labor sooner, we will have the c-section sooner!

Check out the ultrasound image from today. You can see her little face - sort of. :) Love to you all!

5 yr anniversary!

Jess and I celebrated 5 yrs of marriage this weekend. It was our second solo trip with out little man Sawyer. I missed him terribly but it was good to have a break! Jess and I stayed in a B&B first and then in a super-fancy place the second night. Check out the photos below and love to you all!

Sawyer used the potty!!!!

Tonight, for the first time ever, Sawyer used the potty!!!! Yes -- that's four exclamation points as well. I just can't even believe it happened. So here is the story...

We have been watching the Elmo Potty Time DVD for about a month and purchased a potty for him to get used to. The potty sits in the living room, so he can sit on it while he watches the DVD. We were not planning on really working on potty training until Eloise comes into the picture. It just seemed like too much change for him. But we thought getting used to the idea was good. We have also let him practice flushing the toilet and we talk about the potty, etc. Tonight, we thought it would be fun just to sit him on the potty and see what happens. And, he went potty. Then got up and looked down into the potty -- and then tried to play with the potty -- but, he went potty!!!! We were SO surprised. Now, we just need to work on his vocabulary!

Thinking about you sister!

Since I was in sixth grade, I have had terrible insomnia. Terrible, terrible. The kind where you don't sleep but lie awake and are driven to get out of bed and do something other than lie awake in bed and curse insomnia. In college, this was a great tool. As a full time working, soon to be mom of two, 32 yr old adult -- every minute I get of sleep is precious. But here I am. I went to bed about 1 a.m. and have been awake since 4 a.m. I have been able to catch up on laundry.

This morning while working around the house I have been thinking about my sister who chooses to get up at 5 a.m. every morning to find some peace and quiet before her day begins. So, in honor of her, I have written my blog out to be similar to her's, "The Grateful Life"  -- in her blog she lists five things she is grateful for every time she posts. Lv ya sister!

1. Sawyer
This weekend we got Sawyer a toddler "big boy" bed and moved his room around (and ours) to get ready for Eloise's arrival (did I mention yet that we are naming our daughter Eloise? If not - there you go!). My son, who will not talk unless absolutely driven too it went to bed in the toddler bed and did not get up. Let me repeat that -- Sawyer did not get out of his new bed but went to sleep. Amazing. He is getting so big. Now, he did wake up and start crying, in his bed - but didn't get up, just was sitting there crying when I came in. I went in  there and moved him to his crib around 11:30. Here is Jess and him putting his big boy bed together.

2. Jess
My husband was amazing this last weekend. I have been stressing about a lot of different things, which is my nature (hence insomnia), and this weekend Jess took care of a bunch of items on our "getting ready for Eloise" to-do list. We bought a toddler bed, moved furniture around, bought a bassinet, worked on the lawn for fall, and had time to hang out as a family. I wish every weekend was three days long -- we got a ton done! Jess -- you are awesome.

3. Family
Last weekend we were in Memphis and it was a great trip! Sawyer had a blast playing with his cousins and being spoiled by his grandparents. Check out some of the photos.

4. Sadie
I have had Sadie since I was a sophomore in college at Indiana University (1998). She has been part of Jess' life for 8 years now as well. We had to kick Sadie out of our bedroom this weekend to get her used to the idea of not sleeping in there since Eloise will be in there for the first 6 weeks or so. Last night was the first night she had to sleep in the living room by herself. She seemed OK with this idea last night but this morning while I have been doing stuff, she has been whining outside of our bedroom door. She also ran away while Jess was taking out the recycling yesterday. I about had a heart attack. I will have to start giving her some more attention. She has been so great with Sawyer.

5. My Mom
My Mom called yesterday while I was doing stuff around the house during Sawyer's nap. She is so funny. Miss you and love you Mom! And yes, everyone always asks me about you. :)