Sunday, February 26, 2012

I'm alive...

I made it through my first two weeks back to work. Thanks to my mom helping me, heather for sending me pics an texts during the schoolday, and derek sending me enotes like this: I'll admit, it's been hard going back. I got so spoiled spending every hour of the day with my girls. To go from that to just a few hours with them is rough. Not to mention the additional physical and emotional drain a school day takes out of you. But I'm happy to report that it's just three weeks until spring break. Yay!!! I have one million pictures I want to post, but that will have to be another day. It's almost midnight and I need to get a couple hours sleep before Liv wakes up. I'm so happy to have derek back. He's been gone on two overnight work trips since I started back to school and we have been missing him. Ingrid was thrilled to have her daddy push her on the swing this afternoon. We also took a stroller ride this afternoon, soaking up some sun. These pics are from a different day, but I had forgotten about them. Imagine that. I love how you can see our house in the background on this one.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

3 months old

Dear Liv Riley,

How are you already three months old? I can't even believe it. You had your first round of shots last month and you did such a good job! You cried for just a minute and then you were okay. You weighed 11 pounds, 14 ounces and were 23 inches long. You are still a great eater and you have chunky cheeks like your sister. I love hearing your sweet noises. You will "talk" to us for long periods of time and you laugh easily. You can roll tummy to back but you haven't quite made it from back to tummy yet. You get so close, but can't turn all the way over. You are very...um...how do I say it...VOCAL! haha. You have a super loud cry and in the evening we hear it often. You have some tummy troubles that make you very fussy and unconsolable at times. You are helping Mommy have nerves of steel! You are sleeping better. At night you have been sleeping 4-6 hours at a time! This is very helpful since I had to go back to work. Your smile melts my heart. You have dimples in your cheeks and sparkles in your eyes. You are so cute. Your hair is still dark and I don't think you've lost a single strand! I love cuddling with you after you go to sleep at night. You are my sweet, sweet girl.

Love you with all my heart,
Mommy

Monday, February 13, 2012

I should be asleep...

It's 12:00 exactly and I have my first day back to school tomorrow. (We had a snow day today!) Liv is asleep. Ingrid is asleep. Derek is asleep. I know I SHOULD be asleep, but I'm not. I know I wouldn't be able to fall asleep yet anyway, so I might as well write about one of my favorite things about maternity leave. One of the best parts of being off was getting to take Ingrid to story time at the library. It was so fun to watch her interact with the other kids and learn the songs and routines! She enjoys going so much. She's particularly fond of Mekayla, a cute little blonde girl who is two and a half. She talks about Mekayla all the time. When she's playing with her dolls, one of them is Mekayla. When she talks about her friends, she mentions Mekayla. It's so sweet. She likes the older kids the most. Walker (who is almost three) got to come this past week and she had fun talking to him too. Ingrid loves the songs, but the books are still her favorite part. I think she could sit and read books for hours upon hours of a day. The past two weeks, we've worn our Valentine's Day duds and she has looked so cute and festive. I will miss our Thursdays at the library for sure.

Week 1 Week 2
  Week 3

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Weekend Fun

Heather and the girls came down two weekends ago and we had endless amounts of fun. They are here again this weekend, but this weekend has a different tone. I'm a little on edge about going back to school. It feels like the first day, only worse. I'm the only one who has had the "summer off." Everyone else is totally in the swing of things. So I'm going to try to have a little bit of fun this weekend, but also get some work done. When I go back Monday I will be very excited to see my kids. This group of children is so special. I have missed my hugs.  So here's a two-weekend-ago-re-cap.

Cousin fun:

Ingrid telling Heather some big story Liv chilling with Gam Elise bringing me a magnet  Ingrid wanting to be in Ross's pocket

Kayla had a party at her new-ish house. New to me. Decorated fabulously of course! I got some much-needed adult time. Food, games, and tons of laughing. I tried a new red velvet cupcake recipe. They had chocolate truffles inside. Delectable. No frosting needed. Top with a bit of strawberry or raspberry jam if you want an extra bit of sweetness. I loved them. I might have eaten 5...

Party fun:

Delicious food Beautiful house Laughing and games Friends WINNING!!!!!!

Friday, February 10, 2012

Valentine's Gifts

Is Valentine's Day really Tuesday????? February is almost halfway over??? Time is flying by. I love Valentine's Day! Just like I love all holidays. I haven't really gotten to decorate for v-day like a normally do. I've been so busy with two little babies. One, who shall remain nameless, has been Miss Cranky and not sleeping. I managed to make a little felt heart garland, but that's all the decor we have. Is it too late to put some up this weekend? Probably. I did find time to make some gifts for my favorite girls. And although Liv is one of my favorite girls too, she is just much too little to enjoy this gift, so she was left out this time. Sorry Livy Lou! I got my measurements for these precious little crayon roll-ups from Prudent Baby. One of my all-time favorite go-to sites for just about everything. I followed this tutorial to make crayon rolls for Amelia, Ingrid, and Elise. I used the same three fabrics for all three girls, but I used them in different places so no one's is the same. I love how they turned out! I paired them with a sketch pad and some Disney stickers for instant creative possiblities. Ingrid made her own valentine cards this year with a little help from....you guessed it...Prudent Baby. They showed the easiest valentine stamp ever---a squashed toilet paper roll! Dreamy, huh? It worked great. Ingrid had fun stamping away. And she even took the artistic liberty to add a little finger painting to a few. I added some black Sharpie accents on some. A cute message inside and her v-day cards are finished!

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

19 months old

Dear Ingrid Cate,

Personality! Personality! Personality! You are full of it. You crack me up from sun-up to sun-down. When you wake up in the mornings, you stand up in your crib and start naming everything you see. "I see Sparkles. I see giraffe. I see legos. I see bird. I see owls. I see Liv's bed. I see me books." It is so funny. You get louder and louder as the minutes pass hoping your dad or I will hear you and come get you. You love talking and telling big stories. We play pretend with your dollhouse, barn, blocks, and legos for a big part of the day. You make up all kinds of trouble for your "guys" to get in. Most of the time they end up crying and we have to make them feel better. In fact, your babies, stuffed animals, and just about everything in your room cries a lot these days. Good thing you know how to hold and rock them, give them kisses and hugs, and tell them it will all be okay. You love this game. And when we actually do hear real crying from Baby Liv, you always help Mommy know how to make her better. You start rattling off things she might need: "mama's milk, paci, sheep, pig night-night, cat night-night, bouncy seat, pillow, swing." You are such a good helper to me. You still love reading too. You like for "Ingy read it. Myself. Ing ing's chair," and you like "Mama read it" too. You interchangeably call me Mama, Mommy, and Mom and the same for Dada, Daddy, and Dad. It makes you sound so big. You are still going to the church nursery on Sunday mornings. You are getting better and better at not being sad when I drop you off. This past Sunday you didn't cry one tear the whole time. Mommy was so very proud of you for being brave. In fact, I was so proud that I was the one who got teary-eyed! You love going on stroller rides and running around outside. It has been a very warm winter and we've been able to go outside at least 3 times a week most weeks. I love watching you run and play and grow. You are my precious angel! Love, Mommy Daddy took these photos of you in the field behind our house. You were having so much fun running free!