A sneak peak at a fun first

Struggles as a mom

Okay so lately, I have been struggling with what type of SAHM mom to be.  Do I want to have a perfect house, spotless and a four course meal every night, like I think people expect of you when you stay at home?  Or do I want to live in the moment with my children and do the best I can with cleaning and cooking?  This week I have choosen to live in the moment.  Time is fleeting with my small children and they grow up way too fast.  So, my house might not be dust free and spotless, but we have had a blast playing in the park in this unusually warm winter weather!  I will get over my thinking of what people expect and enjoy the fact that I have made wonderful memories with my kids and enjoyed fun in the sun!  (please know my house is not a pigsty by any means).  I hate that as SAHM mom's we feel that we are expected to be Martha Stewart and have everything spotless and homemade.  We should have homes full of love, noisy and messy fun and happy kids.  So, what if we make frozen pizza because we played at the park to late, or if the clothes stay in the dryer another day.  My kids will only be little once and I dont want to look back and regret not playing on the rope ladder with Emma.  I am not a perfect mom but I am trying to live in the moment and have fun! So instead of cleaning this week, we have played and played at two different local parks.  Take a peak at our fun!



The smiles on their faces are much more rewarding, then a spotless house! 

cute Emma picture

Love this cute picture of Emma right before her Aunt Nay and Uncle Bob took her and her favorite cousin Hudson to see the Pred's hockey team play.  They had a great night and Emma is still talking about it weeks later.  She loves hockey!  Just wanted to share a cute photo!

10 Months

It is a little late but wanted to share about Taylor now that he is 10 months old.

Wow little boy, you have changed so much in the past month.  You no longer stay where I put you, but crawl all over the house!  And I mean all over the house!  You can find every light socket, piece of food dropped or toliet around.  You are a busy boy!  Your favorite place to be is wherever I am or in your sister's room while she is at school:)  We promise to not tell her!  You are trying to stand but not quite there yet, which I am so fine with, you are fast enough crawling.  Your sister is not a huge fan of your crawling, since you can get in her stuff, but she is getting better about it.  She has shown more jealously since you started moving, but she is getting more and more excited as you are now starting to play for real (a little).  I find you two playing in the play kitchen a lot and it is so cute to see you chewing on the food as Emma pretends to cook.  You two also play with your little car track and with balls too. 

You still have no teeth!  I know hard to believe but not a tooth in your head yet!  Your sister was a late tooth person too, so I have a feeling you are taking after her on that account.  But you love food! You do pretty good to just have gums.  You love cheese toast, puffs, yogurt melts, maple cinnamon gerber snacks, green beans, peas, and crackers, and you have tried chinese veggie dumplings and love them too.  You still eat some baby food since you are still toothless and you really love yogurt with cereal:) 

You are strong willed for sure and love to shake your head no and blow spit bubbles at everyone.  You love to jump in your johnny jumper and love to dance or shake your booty as your sister says!  You are happy almost all day long, unless hungry.  You are still a wonderful nurser and love to cuddle with mommy in the middle of the night, but mostly you sleep pretty good.  I will take one waking for now.  Naps on the other hand are a struggle, you either nap really good or not at all.  But we are working on it!

I am so proud of how much you are growing and changing.  Just so I remember:  You are wearing 18 months because your legs are to big for 12 months:)  They are big but work when we roll the sleeves and legs, you wear a 3 diaper and weigh around 23 or so pounds I believe but could be more.  Your smile lights the most darkest days and your giggle makes everyone's day!  Love you my little Son

Mommy

Warm Winter Days

We have enjoyed the beautiful weather we have these first few days of 2012! Life is good!

Small steps, make big smiles!

Lately Emma has started to really show some gains on her academic skills.  It has happened all of a sudden and we are so excited.  We are hoping that since her hearing and speech is taking off that her other skills are finally clicking into place as well.  I thought I would share some of the cool new skills Emma is showing:
1.  Writing much smaller and sort of on the line
2.  Being able to copy some other letters when she sees them written
3.  Actually coloring more in the lines and not just scribbling all over.  She is also using more colors as well
4.  Finally being able to sing part of the ABC song:)  she says LMNOP which is the hardest part but she is so proud!! 
5.  Being able to sing more songs she hears (but I will admit I am a little over Jingle Bells)
6.  Answering more questions correctly and showing much more understand of words in general.
7.  Talking up a storm:)

These are small steps but they make my mommy heart smile!  I am so proud of her learning and experiencing more and more.  She constantly makes me smile and proud!  My favorite new saying is "it smells good"  when you put her new Bath and Body lotion from her Great grandmother!  It is so cute how she says it:)

Baby steps, big smiles all around!!

Cant wait to see whatelse 2012 brings......

Thanks for a great year 2011

This year has not been without it's challenges, but on the eve of a brand new year, I refuse to focus on those challenges. I want to say goodbye to 2011 with happy memories!! So here are a few of my favorite moments from 2011.  I am sorry they are a little out of order but my blogpage switched to a new format in the middle of this post and confused me:)  Love all these moments and so many more!  But these are some of the best!  Praying that 2012 brings good health and happy memories to us all!  Love to all my family and friends and thank for the support during this past busy year and for just doing life with us!  It truly takes a village and we are so blessed! 

Happy New Year!!