Burn baby burn...

I am sore. Today I got a good work out. Running? Nope, not this week. Adam is traveling and when he does that it really puts a damper on my running schedule so after reading several reviews I went to my favorite store, T@rget, and bought me Jillian's 30 day Shred. You know the Jillian from The Biggest Loser.

It was a GREAT workout. And it was only 20 minutes. Who doesn't have time for that. I still plan to run, but to fill in the gaps with this video. (I'm totally over Turbo Jam!)

Would you believe that I've been running consistently for over 6 months!? I'm so proud of myself. :)

So no more excuses. If you have spent the last 20 minutes reading blogs, checking email or your facebook page... then you totally have time.

Oh and the video is on sale this week for $13! You will also need a couple hand weights... I already had 2, but I did happen to notice the weights are on sale this week too.

Guess everyone is trying to get rid of those extra pounds from winter in time to put that swimsuit on!

identity

I think every mom goes through this. At least I hope every mom does... because then it makes me normal.

I'm having a bit of an identity crisis. Nothing major. Just a small one.

You see when I lived in Oklahoma everyone there knew me as more than (just a) mom. They knew me as the hard working Human Resources Benefits Administrator or the hard working part-time HR Assistant (remember that short time I actually went back to work part-time?) or the part-time preschool teacher (remember the semester I worked at Grace's preschool?).

But here in Texas, I'm just mom (aka Lisa).

Now by no means don't get me wrong I love being mom to Grace and Emma. I love waking up each morning knowing my job is to teach, love, have fun and instill values that will guide them into adulthood. I would never trade my job for the world.

But lately I've been missing work. You know the adult interaction, the rush of a deadline (other than nap time) and the paycheck :)

I know I don't want to work at a real paying job right now. I know I want to be home.

Some days I even wish I was already back to work. Others I think I'm crazy for wishing my girls childhood away.

Last night Adam and I went to a wedding. It was beautiful. At the wedding we ran into Adam's 4th grade teacher and she asked me if I was staying home. I said yes. She then proceeded to tell me to enjoy every minute because you have the rest of your life to work. I've heard this many times before, but I think I needed to hear it again. I'm sure I will need to hear again in the future as well. I'm only human right.

I've also been thinking a lot lately about when I do go back (you know in like 5 or 6 years) what I'll do. As much as I love HR I don't know that I could back to the long days and only 2 weeks vacation a year. I've thought a lot about teaching. I was actually an elementary ed major until my junior year. I changed b/c I felt like with education that was all I could do... teach. But which my degree I got... Communication and a business minor I felt I had more options and I could always go back. While I wont say I regret that decision, I often think of what my life might be like if I had not changed.

Who knows if I'll ever get that teaching certification or whether or I'll even up back in the business world... but one thing I do know (despite the minor crisis) is I wouldn't trade my current job for any other one.

Even if it means no vacations, no sick days, the lack of pay (HA!), no company perks, no raises or bonuses, and having to report to 2 bosses that sometimes are quite demanding... I'll take it. I'll have my time to work again.

For now, I'll be thankful I even have the identity of mom. God has truly blessed us.

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And since every post is better with a picture... check out these pictures... my sweet friend Megan snapped them this weekend. Not sur what is up with the faces Emma was making, but we managed to get several good ones and even a couple cute family pics! Thanks again Megan!

cute

Emma has finally figured out that Grace's stools are pretty handy to get to thing she wants too... like mom's silverware!

bluebonnets

We *tried* to take pictures of the girls in the bluebonnets....

We have lots of fun running around and smelling the flowers (and someone even tried to pic one even though her mommy told her over and over on the way there that flowers are to smell not pick!).

We had fun talking to our sister.

But didn't get one of the girls smiling and looking.

There's always next year. :)

dancing and stuff

First off, thank you for all your great ideas. The girls do play outside some and I like the bubble and chalk and water ideas, except those don't mix well with a chalk eating, bubble-drinking and wet baby! Plus if Grace is doing those then Emma is totally going to want to do those. Maybe in another few months. For now I think I'll just keep strapping her into the highchair and throwing some crackers at her. But I'll plan to try all your ideas in another few months.

Another update is I found some great little bloomer shorts at Walmart this morning! I think these were brand new, but they were only $2.50! What a deal. I snagged up one in every color :)

And lastly I thought I would share this cute video of the girls in the car. We listen to kids music every once in a while (basically as long as I can stan it!), then we move to the Christian station. My girls LOVE when I have their music on and just shake and move. Of course Grace was wondering only wanted to shake her bottom when I started videoing... which when you are strapped into a carseat is sort of hard.

Oh and I was stopped at a red light. I didn't try to do this while the car was moving!

* I should also add that this cd is really pretty good... this particular song happens to be a little annoying. :)

The witching hour...

If you are a mom you know exactly what "the witching hour" is.

If you aren't a mom or a dad for the matter, it is the hour in which all H*LL breaks loose in your house... you are trying to get dinner started, the kids are hungry, tired, your husband isn't home yet and they want your undivided attention in the form of carrying them around.

So really this hour typically falls from 5-6 in our house. I've done many things to try to make this hour be better. I've tried planning meals that I can cook during nap or at least prepare and then I just need to pop in oven. I've tried pulling out new toys and even letting my girls watch tv (which by the way Emma hates TV... I mean at this age I could at least engage Grace in a few minutes of Baby Einstein, but Emma has NO interest!... minus the 2 times last week that she watched maybe 2 minutes of Elmo's World).

Back to my story... so I try everything. Grace is pretty easy to get busy... I pull out the crayons and a coloring book and she is happy... at least for 15 minutes. But Emma is my issue. She still eats crayons, but of course wants to do whatever her sister is doing! Any suggestions?? Tonight I pulled out some pots and pans and some plastic measuring cups and that worked for oh 4 minutes... got any other ideas to make my witching hour not so bad. By the way... I made spaghetti tonight so its not really one of those things I can't make way early. Maybe I just need to work on Adam getting home by 5 everyday. He does go to work before 6:30 most days!!

Hoppy Easter!

2008

2009

He is Risen!!

videos

I haven't felt like I've had much to blog about lately. I feel like I've a bit of a chauffeur driving the girls to whatever we are doing next... school, speech, playdate, library, etc.

But here are a couple cute videos I've taken this week.

Here are both my little monkeys.




And Emma has really started to walk more. After 2 months since she took her first step, she has finally decided that its much better to walk than crawl... sort of... like 60% of the time. Anyway, here is her "I just got off a horse" walk!

Dallas Blooms

Adam finally took a comp day off after working all these long days and weekends so we decided to head to the Arboretum!

It was a perfect sunny 70 degree day and since it was a during the week it nice and quiet.

Grace wanted to pose for picture after picture.

But Emma was more interested in pushing the stroller

or turned up her nose when mommy was trying to get a picture!

Emma wanted to climb on the benches (our little monkey!),

and blew bubbles at the tulips,

while Grace took more pictures with mommy :)
Thankfully busy Emma stopped to pose for just one picture and luckily mommy caught it!

belly button

my cowgirl

Today Grace had a Hoe Down at her school so the kids got all dressed up. Here is the most cowgirl stuff we have. I LOVE her red boots... one of my favorite hand-me-downs we have ever gotten!

rewind

Okay so I don't really think I'm a bad mom. I think we all can take the "bad mom award" from time to time. Right?! But I did just feel bad that she had been feeling bad for close to 2 weeks and I hadn't done anything.

Thankfully Emma is already feeling a lot better! I was really worried that my sweet baby had truly turned into a toddler that was a huge handful!

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Anyway, so I thought I would talk about Grace today. Mainly just a few things I want to remember. Everything we do or talk about has something to do with her favorite. For example we had broccoli (or "rockli" as she calls it) and she kept saying "broccoli's my favorite". Pretty much all day long this goes on for anything she likes. These shoes are her favorite, this party is her favorite, etc.

She has also been saying "oh my gosh". It is actually quite funny. She will drop something and "oh my gosh"... very dramatically. Do I have a future drama queen on my hands?

What else ... oh the other day we had some neighbors over for our weekly play date (it was my week) and we have a couple beanbags. Well some of the kids figured out that you could just unzip the zipper and presto... you have snow everywhere! Yup.. we had little white foam beans all over the game room. The only thing I do was laugh... it really was quite funny. Amen for my Dyson!!

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And for the best news of all... Adam and I are going out with NO children both Friday and Saturday night! I'm so excited.

Friday night I can't really talk about b/c its a surprise and I'm not sure if that person reads my blog. My sweet cousin is going to watch the girls! They love her!

Saturday night we are dropping the girls off at my parent's house (to stay for the night!) and we are heading to Ft. Worth to celebrate a good friend's 30 birthday. It also happens to be Adam's birthday on Saturday (only 29) so we will celebrate that too!! Then we are going to come home, sleep in and go eat some yummy breakfast before we go get the girls.

What are you doing this weekend??

award

Yes I get an award...

The Worst Mom of the Year Award.

I feel terrible. Emma has a double ear infection and bronchitis.

She has had what I thought was a cold. But apparently it wasn't. This afternoon I had had it with her new toddler behavior. (Remember the behavior I talked about last week...) well apparently she isn't being a toddler... she was being sick!

Yeah she had a little cough and little bit of a clear runny nose and sure she had a low fever (off and on), but she was teething. And I thought she was grumpy b/c I weaned her this week.

I was wrong. So wrong.

Thankfully today I came to my senses after talking to my mom and brought her to the doctor. Plus her cough was sounding worse and she didn't really take an nap. However, I still would have put money on it that he was going to tell me that she just had a cold and was teething. But he didn't.

What would I do without my mom.

bloomers anyone?

Okay so I love when little girls wear dresses. And mine pretty much wear one nearly everyday during the summer. Well as Grace has gotten older I've noticed that few brands have little bloomers to go with the dress. I have some generic white ones with lace that were hand-me-downs, but they don't go well under everyday cotton dresses. I have some shorts like these ones... but really what is a mama to do. It's not like my sweet three year old is lady like... right... so someone please enlighten me on bloomers for big girls... as in a 3T.

Thanks ladies!!

It's over

Over the past year I have sat down on the couch or on my bed or in a rocking chair and cuddled with my sweet baby while I nursed her. Usually several times a day... at most maybe 8 (when she was itty bitty), but over the last couple weeks we had worked to get down to just one time in the evenings.

Well tonight she didn't need me like she use to.

In fact, I wasn't even here to know if she needed me.

I went to a neighbors house to watch Twilight (great by the way!) and told Adam to try to put her down and if needed me to call.

Well I didn't get a call.

I came home and she was fast asleep. Without my aid. So sad.

When I weaned Grace at 13.5 months I was so done. Past done. But with Emma it makes me sad that I might never nurse another baby. Seriously though...where does the time go?

my little toliet flusher

Emma loves to flush the toilet. If we accidentally leave a bathroom door open she is in there flushing away. (Hey at least she isn't playing the toilet anymore!)

Well last night I was home alone with just the girls and heard a toilet flush. I freaked! Since Adam is out of town I was about to call my neighbor, but then I heard the flush again and realized it was coming from my baby monitor. I went into Emma's room to see that she had been rolling around and rolled over a potty training book we have! One that has a little button on it that you can press and it sounds like a toilet flushing!!! Thank goodness, b/c I nearly had a heart attack.

I normally throw a stack of books in Emma's crib for her to read to go to bed or when she wakes up in the morning. Yesterday Grace was helping me put some new books into her crib and I guess I just didn't realize the potty training book that makes noises was in the the bunch.

Needless to say, I made sure that book was put into Gracie's room so we don't have any repeats of last night!

Happy St. Patty's Day

love our little Leprechaun

My toddler

Here is the first sign that I have been welcomed to the world of toddlerhood.
You know ... the age where you can't reason with your children, the age where everything is the end of the world (back arching end of the world!), and the age where the word "no" gets a laugh.
This morning Emma did her first very bad thing... she bit Grace. Yup... my 12 month old bit my 3 year old. She bit her hard enough that you can still see the marks on Grace's arm 8 hours later. Ouch! Grace was pretty upset too, but I guess Emma has finally learned how to stand up for herself!

In other news, last week Emma and I headed to the doctor for her 1 year well check. She is perfect healthy. Would you believe in her first year of life the only really sickness she got was the chicken pox?! Other than a couple colds she has been super healthy! AMEN! Our first year with Grace was filled with 9 ear infections! So we are more than thrilled that Emma has been healthy.

Here are her stats:
weight: 20lbs 8 ozs (40%)
length: 29 inches (50%)
Head: 18.5 inches (93%)!!

Look mom no hands! I guess she was trying to be "clean" by just digging in face first!

Thankfully my sweet Emmy is here most the time and little miss todler Emmy only comes out from time to time!

shirts

So I've been sewing a bit more lately. I saw these adorable shirts online and thought they would be cute for gifts so I thought I would attempt to make them myself. Here was one of the finished products. Cute huh! So don't be surprised if your child's birthday is coming up because she just might get one of these shirts :)

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