Christmas Survey

Here is a fun Christmas Survey I found on another blog. I know it's after Christmas but I'm still blasting playing my music and am very much still in the Christmas spirit! (maybe it has something to do with the 29102983 inches of snow we have on the ground?? Or that it's still December?!?!)

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate?
Uh Hot Chocolate DUH. Does anybody really love Egg Nog that isn't already hammered? Don't answer that.......

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just stick them under the tree?
Well, first off we don't do Santa. And they are all always wrapped :) Or stuck in a bag which still counts!

3. Colored lights or white?
White for my tree! We do have garland/mini trees outside which are white also. I'm not against colored, just for outside and not at my house. Ha. Maybe as the girls are older and have opinions (not that Hailey doesn't have a very strong one already at 3.5) we will get some colored ones :) Who knows!

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
No, does anybody that isn't staring in a Hallmark Film??

5. When do you put your decorations up?
This year we did them on Thanksgiving night. I'm a big kid I couldn't wait anymore! But usually right after Thanksgiving. Depends on how much patience I have and how much work I want to do that day! Ha

6. What is your favorite holiday dish?
Oh so much! Christmas Eve (also my Dad's Birthday) we always eat Potato Soup (YUM-O) and some version of ham (ham sandwichs, plain ham and sides, etc). But I LOVE all the food! My Momma makes the most delicious strawberry fluff/jell-o stuff, oh it's my very very favorite! And I LOVE cranberry salad/jell-o (not from a can people, made with jell-o in it, nuts, apples, celery, marshmallows oh it's YUMMY! And no we don't have cranberry jell-o AND strawberry jell-o that is jell-o overload!) And green bean casserole, and corn casserole, stuffing! Yum I am hungry now! Ha.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child?
I think I was 3 or 4, and ALLLLLLLLL I wanted was a cabbage patch doll. I think it was the year they first came out so they were everywhere (i.e. the wii's of like 5 years ago). I wanted one SO BAD. But my poor parents couldn't find one anywhere. All the stores were SOLD OUT! So they finally found one. A Black African American BOY with a fro. In a blue leisure suit. Named Cameron. I LOVED that thing something fierce. Honestly it wasn't until I was about 13 I realized how weird it was that I had a boy cabbage patch. A black boy cabbage patch w/ a fro. But he was my buddy and I loved him and took him everywhere! My parents had extensive water damage time and time again in their basement and Cameron started to smell like mold so we had to throw him away a couple years ago :( Otherwise he would be waiting for my girls to play with! But seriously he was the best present, and now being a parent I know how expensive he was back then (we weren't rollin it the dough growing up) and all the work they went to find one just to make me shut up happy.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
We never did Santa. I never thought he brought our presents or anything. Which is exactly how it will be in my house. I was deathly afraid of Santa and NEVER sat on his lap. My Dad worked for a very large Insurance Co in Omaha and they went all out for their company holiday party, they hired a very real looking Santa and a Mrs Clause. Me and my sister would take turns sitting on Mrs Clause and wanted NOTHING to do w/ Santa. Ha. All the pictures of us from those parties Santa is just sitting there empty lapped smiling :)

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Yup all of um! We go to my parents and open presents, growing up we usually went to my aunts or my grandparents on Christmas day so it just worked to do them Christmas Eve. Now we just always do. Me and Steve started a tradition of staying home the 4 of us and doing OUR Christmas on Christmas morning. But I LOVE my family traditions!

10. How do you decorate your tree?
Hopefully without breaking anything?? I'm not sure what this ?? means??? We have a pre-lit tree, and a hodgepodge of ornaments. (although I am into silver/black/red balls! Looks awesome!) We have collected lots of fun ones from the girls, my sister usually gets them each a fun hallmark one, and I have a tradition of a picture ornament from each year Steve and I have been together! They are my very very favorite and I love them! Hope to continue to get one each year, if nothing else it forces us to do family pictures once a year :)

11. Snow: love it or dread it?
OK so here is where I go all Grinch on your butt, I HATE HATE HATE LOATHE the snow. Yes it's VERY pretty to look at (for about 4 hours or until the plow goes by, then it's grey mush crap), or if it's just a dusting. I LOVE seeing frosty snow covered trees, but let me get real here;
I've lived in Nebraska my whole 30 years of existence so I've dealt with a few blizzards in my time. 1) it's COLD. You do NOT want to take small children out in it. Plus lugging them around when it's icy and windy and snowing and cold is horrible and dangerous. 2)Driving in it is equal to diving with sharks. You might be careful but is everybody else around you?? You never know who could be driving like an idiot and slam into you, or accidentally hit ice and slam into. Throw kids in the car and your white knuckeling the whole time!
3)Cleaning it up. Shoveling SUCKS. Snow blowing is only slightly better. Unless it's rained for 12+ hours before it snowed therefore making the ground a complete ice skating rink and the snow weighs 239128 lbs almost impossible to move. It's a killer on the ol' back people. 4) your Hubby has a new job and HAS to go to work and gets stuck on your street twice, the last time for over an hour along with 4 other cars. It's just NOT fun people. The logistics of snow suck. Sure it's pretty to look at, and as long as you don't have anywhere to go until it's melted it's fine. But living with snow SUCKS. Sorry I just ruined everybody's life in warm climates. I've often dreamed of living somewhere warm 24-7 but I am an Omaha Girl at heart and will never leave!

12. Can you ice skate?
Yes if I have to. I'm sure one day when my girls are old enough to not break every limb I will take them. I used to go when I was like 15 with my best friend, but that was JUST for the boys that were there ;) (hmm wonder why NONE of them married me?? I was ever so graceful......NOT! Good thing Steve has never seen me ice skate)

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
Cameron my CBD is pretty up there. But, I think my Christmas baby Ellie is by far the most amazing gift God ever blessed me with! I honestly love every present I get! I know I don't deserve them and knowing people took the time to think of me means so much!

14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you?
Remembering that it isn't about Santa, or snow or food or presents or the other 29102389018 things American's do to distract themselves from Jesus. It's about HIM and making sure we are living up to his expectations and loving him through others. I hope to plant that seed in my Girls' hearts. I LOVE being with my family and just having a fun time!

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
Homemade chocolate cheesecake. OMG it's amazing. We NEVER have it but it's amazing, soooo rich. A teeny tiny piece and your in chocolate coma for days.
And my Momma can make a mean pie. Oh it's heavenly. I hope she passes that down to me one day, I am still waiting. I just can't get the crust down.........

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
The Christmas Eve traditions with my side of the family. And trying to incorporate Ellie's Birthday into our celebrating. I promise to never forget her Birthday and will always try to make her feel loved and special!
I am also obsessed with Christmas MUSIC! I would play it year round but my Hubby would hate me for it (plus then it wouldn't be as special and I would get tired of it). So play lots and lots and lots of Christmas music 24/7 is so fun to me!
I also LOVE LOVE LOVE looking at lights! Me and my friend Alanna have gone 2 years in a row to big expensive neighborhoods. Hailey is also obsessed with lights so it's fun looking with her! We like to get something fun to drink (starbucks peppermine hot chocolate, this year it was a shake at sonic!) and drive around with fun music on! It's my favorite!

17. What tops your tree?
A huge silver bow. I think all the angels out there are scary and devil looking. Seriously I'm a freak about them. Maybe one day I will get more creative but for now I love my bow!

18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving?
Giving! Especially to my girls. I know they LOVED all their special things they got for Christmas from the relatives but I think I picked out their very favorites! (of course I am w/ them 24/7 and would know what they play with more then anybody but whatever)

19. Candy canes: yuck or yum?
Eh they are yummy crushed up in hot chocolate! But I can't just sit there and eat a candy cane. It's not my fav

20. Favorite Christmas movie?
Oh I have tons! Of course I love the classics, Elf, Christmas Vacation, The Christmas Story, but I also love The Holiday, The Family Stone, & all the movies on Lifetime/Hallmark/ABC Family (seriously people I am a SUCKER for Christmas movies. This was the first year we didn't have cable and I almost died missing all the cheesey goodness :( ) But my ALL.TIME.FAVORITE. forever and ever is called All I Want For Christmas. Nobody has ever heard of it or seen it but it's awesome. It's super cheese, it probably helps that I was like 11 the first time I saw it and was madly deeply in LOVE with Ethan and my 2 best friends loved it so every year we would watch it!

21. Saddest Christmas song?
Saddest?? That is dumb, nobody likes sad Christmas songs. Some move me until I cry (SAP!) but I don't think they are sad. This ? is weird...........

22. What is your favorite Christmas song?
Do we really want to go there? I LOVE so many. I should just post every single song from my ipod on here so you get a better idea.........if you wanna know email me and I'll give you some to download for your listening pleasure ;)

My Big 1 year old

Oh my sweet baby Ellie, how is it that you can be one year old already?!?!?! Time is flying by to quickly for this Momma's heart. Well, in most ways. I am ready and have been ready for the past 9+ months for you to sleep through the night. You don't seem to understand how precious sleep is in this house! One day you will get it ;) I'm trying to re-teach your big sister as well, what is with you girls?? I guess you both just LOVE your Momma so much you have to be with me all the time. No time for sleeping when we could be cuddling huh?!? Here are some stats and fun things about my sweet Christmas girl;

-You probably weigh between 19-20 lbs. You really slimmed down and aren't a chunker since you learned to crawl. We don't have health insurance for awhile so you won't go to your 12 mo well check. We will check your weight probably at 15 mo! You are super healthy and growing, right on track with your age and clothes size so I know your fine :)

-You wear a size 4 diaper. You could fit into a 3 but I just bought bigger sizes so that is what you wear ;) It holds more too so I don't have to change you as often. A win-win for Momma if you ask me!

-You wear mostly size 12 mo clothes. Some 12 mo pants are to long for my short girl. My poor girls will never be tall super modals. That's OK you're both still gorgeous to me and your Daddy! You can wear 9 mo pants, some 9 mo shirts, and some 6-9 mo stuff and 6-12 mo stuff. Baby clothes are CONFUSING. They need universal sizing between all brands. This Momma can't keep up!

-This is where I would insert what size shoe you wear, but my dear you are just like Hailey and HATE shoes. You ball up your toes and refuse to let me put them on you. Whatever I give up! So no shoes for you. Momma doesn't let you walk in public places anyway so it is what it is! Your sister did this for about a year and now is completely obsessed with shoes (to the point of driving her Mother crazy) so I have hope!

-You never have and never will take a binkie. That is OK with me, you never wake up during the night cuz it fell out :) BUT I can't just pop it in and you go back to sleep. You MUST nurse if you wake up at night to go back to sleep. Ugh. Weening is not going to be easy or fun with you!

-You nurse about 5 times a day. 6-7am, 10am, 1:30pm, 5pm, and at 10pm. I am trying to get rid of the 5pm and 10am. But honestly it makes me just as sad as you, I know what your crying for and I give in! It's my last little baby to nurse so if it takes us 6 more months or so to fully ween that is OK with me. I like that we have more flexibility and I can be away from you for longer time periods. We'll get there :) Of course I wouldn't be offended if you dropped the 6-7 am feeding and slept from 10:30-9am :hint hint: but you have a pretty good little schedule and are flexible!

-You still nap twice a day. At 11am for about 30-45 minutes and then in the afternoon from 2-4:15 with Sissy. 99% of the time I just swaddle you and plop you in your crib and your out, no fussing! I also have to wake you both times. Silly girl, NIGHT time is for sleeping not during the day! I swear you haven't grown out of the newborn nights/days confusion ;)

-You are 1, and you are STILL swaddled. Not from lack of trying on my part. I have tried sooo many times to not use it, or keep your arms out. It might work for a day or 2 then we're back to screaming uncontrollably until I swaddle your arms. I know you won't go to high school and have to be swaddled, but honestly it's kinda crazy that we have gone this long with them. You still fit in them fairly well so I'll figure it out in the coming months! I don't want to stop nursing AND swaddling at the same time so we'll ween both slowly :)

-You are a total 2nd child. Your clothes never match, you wear the same bib for multiple meals (your sis had a brand new clean one for every.single.meal. We went through like 5 bibs a day! Crazy!) and I barely have any pictures of you :( I'm sorry. It's not that Momma doesn't love you, I am just way to busy!!! Keeping up with you & your sister is exhausting!

-You are FULLY WALKING! I am so proud of you! You started the week of Thanksgiving and have really taken off. I don't think I've really seen you crawl much the last couple days. It's taken you awhile b/c your so little but we are super proud! It's so cute to see you coming around a corner. I'm still not used to it! You've had plenty of falls and bumps and bruises but you're a tough cookie and just fuss a little and get up and keep going!

-You can't talk but man can you communicate your wants/needs better then ANY Baby I have ever been around. Probably b/c you're strong willed like your Momma and Sissy ;) You scream and point at exactly what you want. When you don't want something you shake your head NO back and forth. It's hilarious! If your poopy you play with the diaper wipes. When I tell you to say something you ALWAYS talk back to me. I'm sure your giving "your" answer to my question! Smart Girl :) I know people will think I'm crazy but since about 9 months I swear you've said thank you. It sounds like "tan ya" or some baby gabble but it sounds JUST like thank you. Your Uncle Andy, Daddy, and Sissy agree that is exactly what it sounds like! And of course you do the normal baby talk that sounds just like real words. All parents think their babies are brilliant and said "YES Dada" but really all babies do that! I'm sure you'll be an early talker unlike Hailey!

-You do sign language for all done and more. It's A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E and it really helps if you want more to eat, etc.

-You clap for yourself! I swear it took Hailey until 15+ months to clap! You love to stand and if I say "Yay for Ellie!" and clap, you beam and clap for yourself! Usually you haven't done anything I just LOVE seeing you clap. It's one of my most favorite baby things :)

-You are very ticklish and if I tickle your sides you give the most adorable belly laugh. Gets me every single time!

-You officially have 4 teeth! The bottom one came up w/out me every knowing you were teething (no drooling nothing! But, all of the sudden one night you were up screaming for 4 hours straight! I nursed you no less then 6 times in those 4 hours and you would NOT GO TO SLEEP! Bless your heart as soon as I gave you tylenol you were out!). Then the 2nd one came in much easier. The top 2 have taken at least 2 months to come in! Holy Moly! We have an amber teething necklace and I think it has helped a LOT. You haven't lost any sleep over the top 2! But, you seem to be extra whiny/clingy. Whatever I know it will pass and you sure are cute and fun to cuddle.

-You HATED to cuddle as a little tiny newborn. You just wanted to be left alone. When it was time to sleep, no rocking, or cuddling for you just straight in your crib. The last 4-6 weeks you will just come up to me or Daddy and lay your head on our shoulder and lay there for a couple seconds before going again! (you NEVER.STOP.MOVING!!!!!) It is soooooooo precious and I think I enjoy it more now then I would as a newborn. You are soooooooo sweet and cuddly now! Of course my favorite time of night is when you fall asleep on me while nursing. I usually hold you for just a few minutes longer before putting you to bed. I LOVE my sweet sleeping princess!!!

-You LOVE your sister something fierce. She hung the stars, moon, sun AND made sliced bread as far as your concerned. I find this hilarious, just the other day she was trying to "help" (honestly she was) and flipped you on your back from a standing position, causing you to hit your head about 3 times going down. You cried and cried and was so dramatic, then about 2 minutes later she was running all over the living room spinning around and being crazy and you loved it! You were hilarious! She pushes you down, takes your toys, and "loves" you wayyyy to hard but you are still obsessed w/ her and want to do exactly what she does! It's adorable. She is pretty much the only one that can make you laugh (aside from us tickling you). You give the biggest hardest belly laughs I have ever heard when she says pe-ew at her food. Seriously hilarious! We have so many videos of you laughing super hard at her. It's adorable and I know she loves you, just doesn't quite know how to be gentle and loving with you yet. My hope is for you girls to be the very best friends, and I can see that happening already! <3>

-Along with shoes you loathe socks. It's a never ending battle of me putting them on and you ripping them off. Silly girl it's like 13 degrees outside you need your socks! I guess your going to be a flip flop girl like Momma and Hailey ;) Luckily you always keep them on when we're out, but they just get in your way at home!

-It's hilarious when I ask "Ellie do you want to nurse?" you immediately drop WHATEVER your doing and rush over to me. You definitely know what it means!

-You are finally sleeping better. You go to bed around 10:15-10:30 and sleep until 6-7, nurse and are up for the day sometime between 9-9:30! YAY! Of course you have your random wanting to eat at 3,4,5 am night but I can deal w/ it every now and then and not every.single.night! 

-I know you won't nurse, be swaddled, and cry at night forever, but girl I am afraid you will go off to college with no eyebrows :( Poor sweet Girl, you just don't look very feminine w/out your eyebrows. You don't have anymore then you did the day you were born. When will they start growing?? (don't worry you are my gorgeous girl and Mommy still loves you the same. But I don't think I will be very good at drawing them on!) 

-I hope you know how much we love and adore you sweet Girl, but mostly I hope you have a heart and a passion for Jesus. He loves you even more then I can ever imagine! I hope I can plant a seed in your sweet heart for him, and that you see Jesus' love through your Daddy and I. We love you like crazy and know you will be a light in this world! 

 

We love you with all our hearts, you are the sweetest funniest girl ever! You complete our family and we couldn't ask for a better Ellie Bellie! :) Love you sweet girl, Happy Birthday!!!

P.S. Please remember not to hate your Momma one day that you were born ON Christmas :/ It wasn't my choice and just remember, God had it all planned and must think you're pretty special to share the day w/ Jesus!

Workin out

Imagine my surprise when Old Navy let me get a free dress last month AND then I got picked on Crowdtap to get "activewear"!! WOOHOO MORE FREE CLOTHES!
This frumpy old Momma is super excited about free stuff, let alone clothes for myself! I tend to always buy the girls stuff and I get shoved to the end of the line. So if it's free I am all about it!
This time I chose my sweet friend Amy, who picked me to get free t-shirts and told me to sign up for crowdtap! Also her daughters are Hailey's BFF's, so when Hailey heard she got to hang out w/ Zo she was super duper excited!!!

 The pants I ended up getting! SUPER comfty and perfect for lounging around the house with the girls!

 We were dying laughing at Amy's socks! Such fun festive socks! :) She didn't get either items, she got some fun black yoga pants and a zip up comfty sweat shirt!

The sweatshirt/top I ended up getting but in white. My budding little photographer Hailey took this pic. Not the best but she was pretty proud of herself!

It was a fun morning and I got some super great clothes I can actually wear and will wear a TON! Thanks ON and CT! ha

Why I never........

So my most amazing MOPS groups has a theme this year and they were making all the leaders tell thing they SWORE they would never do before coming a Mom..........I loved hearing their answers and it made me think of my own! Now luckily I don't have to get up on stage in front of 100+ women and tell the things I was so naive about before becoming a Momma!

-I SWORE my kids would never eat in the car. I washed and vacuumed my car at least once a month. (well, when the weather in Nebraska would let me!) I took such immaculate care of my cars. It was something people always remarked when they road in my car, how clean it was!
Guess what, they eat in the car almost every time we go somewhere! I have a super hard time getting Hailey to eat breakfast if we have to be somewhere before 10am. So she eats whatever I can get in her in the car on the way there. I throw cheerios and puffs back to Ellie just to get 2 minutes of quiet so I can drive in peace. There are stains ALLLLLL over my backseat :( It still drives me nuts but it is what it is!

-I never ever thought I would take so many naps! I could never sleep during the day before. Now? I am ready for nap time by 11am most days!

-I never never ever thought I would go so long w/out taking a shower. I haven't been this dirty/greasy haired since I was 12 and decided showers were a waste of time. I know they are good, and would LOVE to take one everyday but honestly those 20 minutes are better spent doing other things some days. :sigh:

-I never ever thought I would be so CRUNCHY of a Mom! You always end up being opposite of what you think you will be like right?? I never thought I would; babywear,  breastfeed, non-vax, chiro, amber necklace wearing, all natural labor, distilled water drinking, vitamin taking,and be so PASSIONATE about it! I realize my thoughts are my own (and my Hubby's!) and I never try to push just educate as best I can!

Dress shopping we will go.........

So this past spring right after my Jelly was born my friend called and asked me go to Old Navy with her because she had a coupon for some free shirts. I was super confused and honestly didn't really listen to her explain (hello distracted much with 2 children while on the phone) but I figured I would meet her and see what was up and involved.

Turns out she is a part of this website crowdtap, basically it's a bunch of companies that you fill out survey questions for and you get chosen for samples/free stuff/parties. It's fun but yes it is time consuming. I have been a member for over 9 months and finally got chosen by ON (Old Navy) to get some free clothes! (basically you have to build up a reputation so they will chose you, they don't just want to hand out free clothes to people who will collect but not write the reviews/do the little tiny bit of work after involved. Honestly it's not that hard!) So after getting turned down for bathing suits, and shorts I was excited for the opportunity to get a free dress and one free for a friend!

Now I just have to put this out there; I DO NOT WEAR DRESSES. The only one I even own is a super cute black halter that I got at White House Black Market (oh if only I was a millionaire I would only shop there no offense ON) for our rehearsal dinner. Cute yes, pretty sure I could fit 1/2 an arm in it but darnit it's cute and I'll keep it forever in hopes of wearing it again.  And the last dress I bought was my wedding dress. Yes folks it's been 5+ years since I have worn/owned a dress! Yikes! So I was excited to step out of my comfort zone and see what was out there!

We went to the store and grabbed about 5-6 dresses each and a pair of leggings to try on under the dresses. After some size switching to see what worked and didn't we both loved these wonderful amazing grey turtle neck dresses. They looked amazing with jeans, black leggings, knee high boots, everything! I was so excited I was going to wear it everyday! Then we go to ring up and they are considered sweaters not dresses :( BUMMED were we! Luckily we had back ups, some super pretty silk-like drop waste 3/4 sleeve numbers. They were comfty! I liked the way it moved, felt and fit my post-baby body! Even Nat loved them and she NEVER wears dresses so this was huge for her! We are excited to wear them and see how comfortable we are out on the town in them :)

 This was a wrap dressed I tried on, but didn't get. It was cute and comfty (although in typical Becky tardness I could NOT for the life of me figure out those dumb ties!) but I wasn't lovin the way it showed off my mommaof2muffintop. Um yeah notsomuch

LOVED these comfty sweaters. (and Sissy! and the fact that my 3 YEAR OLD took this picture. Such a prodigy that one is) Might have to ask Santa for one!


Utter fail that I didn't get myself in the dress I bought but since was last minute OOPS! :) Thanks Old Navy I will be back as always since I <3 all="all" br="br" clothes="clothes" nbsp="nbsp" your="your">

Momma said there'd be days like this..........

I love how people think Stay-At-Home-Moms must be bored, do nothing, watch tv and eat all day! (OK so yesterday was one of those days where I sat and did a lot of "nothing", but that is neither here or there........) I  was one of those people who when I worked full time wondered "what the heck will I do all day when I am home with kids?" I mean you can only fill your time with laundry, cleaning bathrooms, cooking dinner, etc right?? HA!

Today me and the Girls had to go to Target to get a list of things. I should  have gone to the ol Wally World but let's face it, I can only go there so many times before wanting to stab my own eyes out. So Target it was! We get there and are walking in and Hailey decides to STOP in the middle of the parking lot for no reason. So of course I step on her foot, which apparently broke every.single.toe. causing her to cry and scream. We finally get in the store where I can put Ellie in the cart and inspect Hailey and cuddle her like a baby until she will shush enough so people don't think I put her in a torture chamber. Oy the child and her dramatics. I don't have any idea where she gets it people!
So then of COURSE Hailey HAS to use the potty b/c she couldn't use it at home, so we go in the huge family size one (THANK YOU TARGET!) where I can push the entire cart in the restroom. Hailey sits on the potty and somehow manages to pee all over her undies AND her pants. So of course this uber prepared Momma would have a change of clothes and panties for her somewhat-newly-potty-trained-3-year-old right? ERRR wrong-o! Great. Luckily I did have a pull-up which surprisingly she agreed to wear so at least she didn't have to go commando, or even worse make me buy MORE underwear when we already have 23930128329 pair at home. While I am cleaning Hailey up (who also agreed to wear slightly wet leggins, let's forget the fact that Momma lied and said they were dry please. She usually won't wear a shirt if it has 1 drop of water on it from lunch. Yes I gave candy in the car for good behavior) Ellie decides to try to jump out of the cart to her death. Really child?? I look over and she is STANDING up in the cart backwards in the front part. And before you judge me, SHE WAS BUCKLED! I swear my children are Houdini's! What he heck?? I tighten the strap on the poor kid until she can't breathe so she is safe and get Hailey dressed so we can start our shopping trip! The rest of the time in the store was pretty uneventful, unless you consider me having a momentary laps in judgement and gave Jelly the teeniest tiniest bite of Halloween cookie they were sampling in the bakery, and she decided to cover her entire self with sprinkles (which I'm pretty sure her cookie was sans sprinkles. Where did she get them?) and the .1% of frosting. Seriously it was a HUGE mess. But I pretty much got her cleaned up. And let's be real here folks, she is the 2nd child. She is never clean or in matching clothes. Poor kid.
Then when we check out Hailey decides to scrap her leg on a box of something I was buying in the cart and proceed to scream again like I broke her toes all over again. Oh lawd get me out of here! I couldn't help but laugh as I was finally walking out of the store. Yes it's SOOO boring to be a SHAM...........good thing God made my babies so cute or I would go crazy! Oh heck I already am crazy! 

Hailey

Just some more randoms of my Hayhe. Seems like everyday she is growing, learning, saying hilarious things, challenging me more then I ever imagined, and loving HARD! She is amazing, and keeps me on my toes. She is defiantly not what I ever imagined (not sure what kind of kids I thought I would have?? Quiet, passive, calm kids like their Mother?? Ha who am I kidding........) but I wouldn't have it any other day. We butt heads all day every day but I hope some day she uses her passion for Jesus and others!

-Hailey LOVES to sing. It's hilarious and cute. She got a special gift from her Momma and even knows songs as soon as the music comes on! It's talent people, I know your jealous what can I say!
One of her favorites is "Where I Belong" by Building 429. This song is amazing and I'm such a nerd but I tear up every time I hear it and let the words sink in. Here is the chorus;

All I know is I'm not home yet
This is not where I belong
Take this world and give me Jesus
This is not where I belong

Hearing your little 3 year old sing it out seriously moves me. I know she doesn't completely understand the lyrics, how BIG our God is, but I know in a small way I am turning her heart to Jesus and planting seeds. It seriously makes me smile and cry at the same time! So sweet! Some of her other favorites are "God's Not Dead" by Newsboys, "Revolution Song" by Phillips, Craig, And Dean, anything by Natalie Grant and Britt Nicole,  and a bunch of others they play on Klove. Love it! Love her! 


Along those same lines, I am really trying my hardest to teach her about Jesus, God, Heaven, etc. We are trying to make her aware there is a Bigger power over all of us, and he is watching and knows our every move! There are soooo many questions during the day that I don't always have answers for. "Why do bugs do that??" "Why is the sun hot?" "Why is it raining?" Etc. It gets tiring, but I usually try to answer as best I can because I know this is her way of learning. Those times I don't have an answer and wonder why myself I usually just say "Because that is how God made it/did it, etc." It's the truth and it seems to please her! So now when she wonders something instead of asking she will just say "I guess that's how God made it" even when it's totally out there. "Why these socks are so scratchy? Guess that is how God made it!" hilarious! I usually correct her, but sometimes I just let her think that! It's so cute and innocent and I love how she loves God! 


She is full on day-time potty trained! I'm sure I've blogged this before but since she was a "late potty user" in my book I am still so proud and some days amazed she wears panties! We still go through a LOT (to many in my mind but I digress) of pull-ups but the last couple days she has stayed dry at nap AND bed time so that is huge!!! If she keeps it up I will start tracking how many days in a row she stays dry at both and attempt panties during sleep times. We'll see I'm not looking forward to all the wet bedding/clothes :/ But pull ups aren't cheap and we REALLY need to save $!


She says the sillest things. She is very advanced for her language in my mind but somethings she just can't figure out. 
She calls paper towels "paper wa" noooooooo idea where she got that one! She knows it's towels and can say it properly but still calls them paper wa. It's silly and I don't correct her I know someday she will say the right thing and then I will be sad! lol
One of my other favorite (but gets OLD quick) is "what you say?" It's usually that she isn't listening, or doesn't process what your saying, but instead of just saying what or what did you say she just spits out "what you say??" or sometimes you even get "what you say to me?" Most times when she says this I ask her what I said and she can repeat it word for word, frustrating but funny the way she says it.
Her other thing she always says is "Oh Honey". I guess I say this a lot?!?!? The one time that really stands out is I eat a little bit of cashews every night before bed for extra protein during b/fing. Hailey LOVES cashews but they are super $$$ so I cherish them and try not to let her have to many. She polished off my can of them and ate quiet a lot, I got upset and asked her if she ate all of Mommy's nuts. She looks at me dead serious and says "Oh Honey it's OK you can buy more at Target!" HA! Where does she get this stuff??!?! Sooo hard to stay serious in front of her sometimes!


Some other random great things she has said lately;

I was painting our toe nails one night and I had to take the old chipped polish off. When I was done cleaning them all off she looked at them, sighed and said "Oh Momma my toes is ceepy (creepy) them naked!" ha!

We were having an extremely hard discipline/attitude day and she was getting on my last nerve, while I was making dinner I asked her to be quiet and that I was going to go crazy!!! She looks in my eyes, grabs my arm and says "Oh Honey, it will be OK. Soon it will be bed time and then you will be OK cuz my will be asleep!"

I wanted to eat out for a special treat for my Birthday lunch, when I asked Hailey what we should have she thought it would be a great idea to eat Pizza! I asked her where on earth we should get pizza from she said "Old Donalds" (McDonalds" ha!


We recently took the videos from our video camera and burned them to a disk. Sitting and watching them makes my heart ache to go back in time! I do love the stage Hailey is in now and every one of them, but if I could only go back 2 summers when she was 15-18 months I would have enjoyed it more! Her cute little sign language, the way she walked, her bald head. Oh I miss it! It seriously makes me cry. Hormonal Momma? Maybe. Good thing I have Ellie to live through it again! I am soooo going to enjoy it more. It's my most favorite time of childhood!!! We are so blessed to have such gorgeous girls who are so fun and silly! The days are long but the years are short. I love that saying and it's SO true! 

 

 

The BIG 3-0

In a couple weeks I will be 30. This is exciting, shocking, crazy, and not-really-a-big-deal all at the same time to me. I'm not one to care about the number of how old you are, more how you act, feel, and whatnot. Most days from having 2 young kids, housework, and all the running around I do I feel like I'm 80. lol. But, my mind tells me I'm not a day over 23. Seriously, I'm married?!?! Have a house?!?!? Have not 1 but 2 kids?!?!?! WHAT?!?!?! I still shop in the juniors section of stores (when do I have to stop doing this?? When my girls can shop there?), act like I'm 23, yet I am a mother, am extremely responsible (always have been) and am older then I think. Such in life.

"They" (not sure who) say that the 1st year of life is when you learn and grow the most. I'm sure this is true. But I also think that between 20 and 30 is the most changes in ones life. You can legally drink, gamble, get married (depending on the state), get huge discounts on your insurance (woohoo!), and generally should just GROW UP! (of course most men don't realize this) I was thinking the other day and wanted to do bullet style all the things that have happened/changed since I was 20.

-At age 20 I was dating my gross abusive ex and working at a tanning salon and nannying part time

-At age 21 I started my teller job at the bank. Not the funnest best job ever, but I pretty made all my friends I have now, and met my Hubby so it was a good experience! I grew in my "career" the most at that company

-At 24 I  finally moved out of my parents house into my little apt with my bestie Megan! BEST time of my life living there!

-At 24 I also got fired for the first time in my life. One of the worst experiences of my life :(

-At 25 I got my first and only waitressing job. It lasted a whole 2 days. HA

-Met and fell in love with my Hubby when I was 22

- We started dating when I was 23

-Got engaged at 24

-Got married when I was 25

-Gave Birth to my first sweet amazing baby girl Hailey at 26

-Gave Birth to my second sweet amazing baby girl Ellie at 29

-Bought 3 cars between 20-30 (one completely on my own! I was so proud to only have my name on a car title!)

-Owned 3 houses (one technically wasn't mine, was only Hubby's but since I got married and lived there the state of Nebraska viewed it as half mine!)

-Held over 6 titles at well over 15 companies (/people some were nannying/babysitting jobs)

-Grew enormous amounts in my walk with God! This is by far one of the best things to have happened to me!

-Gained, lost, and re-kindled many many friendships. I am blessed to have amazing friends who have seen me through so much!

-lost and gained a LOT of weight. (most of it was pregnancy, but some is still "fluff" hehe)

Brain Dump

Weird random things like diarrhea of the mouth coming out of me. Don't have whole blog posts for each of them so here they are all are!

-Ellie is doing my most favorite baby thing; when you put your arms out/up/down to pick her up she reaches for you. Ohhh it melts a Momma's heart! Most Mom's probably don't think about it, but it's one of those weird little things that I LOVE! Makes me feel like she loves and wants me to hold her! (even when it's annoying and I can't!)

-this is TOTALLY weird and random but I never blogged it (I don't think?? Which probably means I have blogged it 7 times already) but this morning I was thinking about my Cousin who tried out for the Olympics, she "retired" 10 years ago and has 2 boys, I can't remember how old her oldest son is (8 maybe?) but her youngest was born on the same exact day as Hailey! I love that!!! Even though we have never met him (they live in Ohio :( BOOOO) they share a special bond and hope someday they can meet and play together!

-I HATE to be cold, but a million times more then that I HATE HATE HATE to be hot. The worst thing in the world to me is to be hot. When your cold you just add layers or a blanket, when your hot you can't shave your head (well boys can which is unfair) or run around naked with no skin.

-Probably equally as much as I hate to be hot I hate to be wet. (sweat much?? SICK!) So when 99% of women LOVE to have cold washcloths on their head during labor/pushing I CAN.NOT.STAND.IT!!!! Steve made sure w/ Hailey to keep the evil things away from me when I was pushing so they got me a fan instead. (it HAS to osculate though I hate direct cold air on me. Yuck!) But when I was in labor w/ Ellie the nurse got a super cold washcloth for my head and stuck it on there w/out anybody noticing. Of course I didn't scream at the sweet lady but I think I picked it up and pitched it on the floor, the nurse was shocked and confusing and Steve just looked at her and goes "oh NOOOO washcloth she hates to be wet" ha it was funny. Before Hailey was even born I told him this was one of my wishes in the delivery room; NO WASHCLOTH! So weird

-Hailey is cracking us up daily. She is still a pain diffacult but she is hilarious too! Some funnies recently;

When she is hot (cuz ya know it's been like 100 degrees since March this year!) she says "I'm soakin hot!"

She opened the fridge, took out her sippy of juice (with cell phone in hand of course) and SAT on the inside ledge of the fridge with the door open. Looked at me dead serious and said "Mom my need to drink ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL my juice so I pee lots and lots"
Me (trying to keep a straight face): "what happenes if you pee lots and lots?"
H: "My will gets lots of energy!"
lol I don't know where she gets this stuff

She was "playing" with Ellie, after retrieving a hunk of Hailey's hair out of Ellie's hand Hailey looks at E VERY serious and says "Ellie Marie, do NOT pull my hair God made it!"

She was looking through Steve's paperwork from the hospital, she told me she wanted to go work at the hospital when she gets bigger. I asked her what she thought she wanted to do at the hospital and she said "My will make everybody wears pecial socks!"about time she narrowed down a career, and such a lucrative career. Me and Steve will for SURE be able to retire off her early! (she is talking about the socks post-op patients wear with the grippers on the bottom she is OBSESSED with those dumb socks!)

Steve was wearing a Coke Cola shirt and Hailey asked what it said. He explained to her it was pop like cherry coke that he drinks, she got all excited and started singing some song about cherry coke and told us it was on her "blue dbd" (aka her christian song dvd's she LOVES). Turns out it was "Joshua fought the battle of "cherry coke" (Jerrico)

I guess you would really have to know Steve personally, but he is extreamly laid back, un-emotional, never riled kind of person. (which you know is polar opposite of me, which is why we work so well together!) Hailey is EXACTLY her Momma in her Daddy's look alike body, so she still doesn't understand why I get so passionate and excited about things, and he doesn't bat an eyelash. Well, for about a year now Poop has had MUCH control over our house, she almost always only goes during sleeping hours (I mean honestly who wakes up to poop???), so one day she went in the middle of the afternoon and this Momma was excited! I told her to go in to Daddy's room (he was web surfing) and tell him. She walks out of the room with her head hung, I asked her if she told Daddy she pooped in the potty and she says yes, followed by;             "Him just said oh good job. :proceeded to throw both hands in the air "touchdown" style:  not OH GREAT JOB!"                                                                                                                                              LOLOL I about fell over, clearly she doesn't know that is her Momma's reaction and NOT her Daddy's!

-Hailey FINALLY after over 3 years is completely binkie free!!! I talked her into giving her last 2 (which just happened to be pink and purple) to our neighbors baby who actually uses binkies (unlike her sister who has refused them since she was 2 mo old). It was so funny taking Baby Sam, a boy the pink and purple binkies. But she was SOOO excited to share them which made me such a proud Momma! She only held them in each hand, almost never put them in her mouth, but it's been about a month and she sleeps like a pro without them!! She asked and looked for them about 3 times after getting rid of them, and we just remember her that Baby Sam was using them and she would just grin! Super sweet!

-We were also able to take the "knock lock" off her door. (the child proof door handle so she couldn't turn her handle and come into our bedroom 293802938 times a night) It happened about 3 days after getting rid of the binkies and I was quite nervous but again she has done great and stayed in her room! Lots of big girl changes in the Sessions house hold!

 

-Hubby lost his job. AGAIN. He was downsized in Jan of 2010 when Hailey was 9 mo. After 3 mo he found a really great job that he LOVES with amazing co-workers and is really good friends with his boss. Well, in May they called about 13 of them in an office and told them they are going to place their jobs at the bank headquarters in Tempe, AZ and not in Omaha anymore. For a few scary hours we thought we were going to have to go to Tempe and I was NOT happy, but God answered me and my Mom's prayers ;) and instead he is out of a job Aug 3rd. I know it is Morbid to pray for your hubby to lose his job instead of being transfered, and honestly if I felt that was God's plan I would have packed and moved without blinking an eye to support my Husband. But, leaving our families, friends, church, the only city I have ever lived in, PLUS try to sell our house was far to overwhelming to me. So God in a way answered a prayer! Obviously I wish he still had employment but God will provide and I'm not that worried about it. He has had a couple interviews, and has a very important one this week! Praying everything falls into place, and this is the job GOD wants him to have not US! I told Steve it's good we are not having anymore babies cuz I am tired of giving birth and then him losing his job. HA!

 -We had mold on about 20 ft of concrete wall back in March. It was HORRIBLE. Thank GOD for my Mother who scrubbed the walls with bleach for about 5 hours to get rid of it and make it safe for my Babies. We got it cleared up, but it was touch and go for a couple days. Not to mention stressful. Oh yeah plus when we found it, the company that built our house (that we just built and moved into 3 years ago) declared bankruptcy. Great timing right?? But, like I said we got it cleaned up and figured out for the most part. Need to call our 2/10 warranty  company and see what they can do for us. Good thing we had left it un-finshed!   

-At the beginning of June Hubby came home from work with what he called a bad stomach ache. (TMI SORRY) We just thought he was "stopped" up and that it would clear the next day. It just got worse. By Wednesday he wasn't feeling better and not able to go back to work so he made a Dr. apt. The Dr was afraid it was either his appendix, or something wrong with his large intestine. So he went to the hospital and got an emergency CT scan. (which I about DIED when we got the bill and it was $4,400 :O Holy cow!) They found his appendix to be enlarged and infected and he needed emergency surgery to remove it before it reputed. Did I mention that I have a nursing 5 mo old who refuses bottles, and this happened the day before me and 3 neighbors were holding a huge garage sale together?? Yeah great timing. OH and Steve's parents are out of town on a mission trip with his Mom's work. So I told him to call his brother and see if he could go be at the hospital with him. Luckily he did (I sooo owe his brother), because I was not going to take my 5 mo old up to the hospital and wait for hours. Nobody would have wanted that. Insert major wife guilt for not being there for my hubby. But I made him reassure me 293812 times to stay home with the girls because they needed me more and he had Scott. I know I would have wanted him to do the same thing, but still. Luckily the surgery went totally smooth, God has his hand all over the whole situation. And he got discharged the next day, so I was able to go pick him up and bring him home! After a week and a half he was even back at work! 

-So yeah major moldy basement, job loss, emergency surgery, I think God is testing us!!! Hopefully we are passing with flying colors and he will lay off us for awhile! I am waiting for a flood, fire, car to break, something but I think we are done with crazy stuff! They say bad things happen in 3's right?? 

-If you don't want to count the basement as the 3rd thing, they you could say my other disappointment was finding out our BFF's (Steve's cousin, wife, and their 2 baby girls) can't come visit for a week in August. TOTALLY understand, they both have to work and DUH we are in the same boat. You have to do what you have to do to survive and keep a roof over your head and food on the table, but I am still pouting and going to miss them so much! Hopefully we can make our trip to Michigan next year and see them then!

 -Hailey's bed/nap time routine is quite expansive. She has to turn on her fan, I turn on her ceiling fan, she turns on her night light, and I turn on a sound machine. She goes potty in her little potty that sits in her room, and then she crawls in her bed. I cover her up with her special Dora blanket (her bedspread in the winter. My gosh are my girls are HOT sleepers like their Daddy!) and sing Jesus Loves Me, Rock-A-Bye Baby (which MUST be sung with HER name, i.e. "and down will come Hayhee cradle and all". If I am being naughty I change it back to the real words and say baby or I'll say Ellie or another silly name but she makes you RE sing it to her name so honestly in order for me to hightail it out there I just sing her name to make her happy), and twinkle twinkle. We do this for every nap and every bed time. I sing those songs twice a day. 14 times a week. That is a LOT of singing!!! But that girls loves her a routine so we have to do it the SAME every.single.time

 

OK enough randoms! :) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Interview with Hailey

1. What is your name? Hayhee

2. How old are you? Big (shows 3 fingers)

3. What is your mom’s name? Becky (first time she's ever gotten that right!)

4. What does your mom do during the day? Clean up

5. What is your dad’s name? Steven

6. What does your dad do during the day? Go to work (talk to people at work)

7. What is your favorite color? Purple

8. What is your favorite thing to eat? (what don’t you like to eat?) Facebook (what the??? she thinks she is hilarious and is laughing soooo hard) Fruit snacks/ What is yucky to eat?- Juice??? (she loves juice) Ellie's Baby
food

 9. Who are your friends? Eleena, Kael, Baby Sam, Cara, Abby and Zo

10. What is your favorite song?  Can you sing it for me? (something unintelligible) We'll have to work on that one....

11. What is your sister’s name? Ellie Marie (sounds like LLLLe)

12. What is your favorite place to go? Walmart

13. What is your favorite thing to do? Play in the pool and play with water balloons

14. What do you like about your Mommy? (Daddy, sister, etc.) Mommy- Play purple house with me (Little people) Daddy- Blocks Ellie- like her to smile

15. What do you want to be when you grow up?Sell cars (I had to give her multiple choice and for some reason I threw that one in there, don't ask)

16. What is your favorite book? Reading books (she has to many to pick one honestly)

17. What does (sister/brother) like to do? play

6 months of Ellie Belly Jelly

Ellie-

I'm sorry I haven't been a good Momma to document your fun little life, you and your sister keep me WAYYYY to busy! (Daddy does too!) You are such a fun girl and you make me smile and laugh everyday just like your sister. You are so silly and so full of personality, I can't imagine when your walking and talking and getting into trouble with your big sister. Oh my! You found your lungs EARLY at like 3 1/2 months and haven't stopped talking/screaming since. It's a fun sound, not mad or sad but it's still very LOUD! Heaven help me when I have to listen to you AND your sister talk my ear off all day!! Your Aunt Nat and Grandma (Ama) say that you girls are God's punishment for me being a kid! I sure hope you girls will be better as teenagers then I was! Ha.

You are a silly girl and love to laugh and smile. You have LOTS of crying time, but not as much as your sister. You have a "Zest" for life I say, you get super excited about everything! Food, people, toys, attention, it's hilarious! You stick your arms straight out at your side and stop breathing. I can't explain it, but it's the funniest thing we have ever seen! You do it hundreds of times a day but it NEVER gets old. It kind of sounds like your under water and can't breathe so we always say your drowning. lol. Our other favorite thing you do is when your laying on your belly on the floor you get excited and stick your arms out to the side off the ground, then you stick your legs straight up and out too, so just your little body is still on the ground. It's hilarious! We die laughing. You are just excited!!!!

You weighed 17 lbs 1.1 oz at the Dr on Friday. My BIGGGG girl! You are 2 lbs heavier then your petite sister was at this age. But, you are 25" long, the same exact height Hailey was! You are currently in the 70% for height and 75% for weight. Your sissy is in 30% for both. I warn her that she needs to be NICE to you because soon enough you will be mobile and wayyyy bigger then her and you will sit on her! lol
Sorry if I always compare you girls, it's just fun to Momma to see how different/same you 2 are. But I love you both as individuals and hope you both are always strong and independent! That is one main thing I hope to pass on to you!

You have not slept through the night. Since. You. Were. Born. This is VERY sad for Momma. I am NOT used to this. At 8 weeks Hailey started sleeping 11-13 hours a night. Whose Baby are you Elle?? But unlike your sister you are a GREAT napper. Our day usually goes like this;

Awake between 8:30-9:30am
Eat and play then morning nap between 11am-11:30am
I only let you sleep for 30-45 minutes (depending on how much I need to get done!) so you will nap at 2 with your sister!
Eat lunch, you just started getting soilds at lunch this weekend. You LURVEEEE food. Your zest for life defiantly includes food. Your silly!
Nap from 2pm-4pm
Up and play until dinner time at 6pm
3rd and last nap of the day at 6:30 you sleep again for 30-45 min.
Up at 7:15 or so and we play and usually go outside. You have been Ms. Grumpy pants starting every night at 8pm. This is a HARD time for Momma :( You cry and cry no matter what I do. So we either go outside and play/go for a walk, or we leave the house. You love the car and running errands like your sister. But Momma is out of places to go and $ to spend so I have to get creative! I might start bath every night at that time for you. That is what we did for Hailey!
You nurse for about 45 minutes starting at 9:30pm when Hailey goes to bed. Your amazing NEW routine is to go to sleep about 10:15-10:30pm and sleep until 4 or 5am. PLEASE Keep this up Ellie. Your record is 10:30-6am and I would love for you to go longer!!! You nurse when you wake up at 4/5am and then go back down until 8:30-9:30! YAY for schedules! I know as soon as we get a good routine/schedule you will change and that is OK. I just like things to be predictable and routine as much as possible. Not just for you but for me and especially Hailey also!

You are sitting up so well! I think you love life a little more now that you can sit up and play with your toys. You still fall down a lot but almost never cry, you just keep going! I can't wait for the next stages, crawling, walking, talking. I don't want you to grow up, but I think it's so hard for you to be trapped in that body that can't do all those fun things and you will be so much happier like Hailey was when your mobile! And honestly girl you are HEAVY and hard to carry everywhere, I am going to change out your car seat to a big girl one cuz I can't carry you in that stupid thing. So I am ready for you to crawl and walk and get around yourself so Momma doesn't have to kill myself carrying you everywhere anymore!

You are a HOT HOT HOT girl like your Daddy and big sis. At naps you sleep in nothing but a onesie or tshirt, and at night/long nap you sleep in a onesie and swaddled. No blankets for you! Poor Baby, it's gonna be a hot summer!!!

You are still an excellent nurser. I quit nursing Hailey and exclusively pumping by this time so I am so so so proud of us for continuing! Based on your size I am guessing you get plenty and Momma is giving you what you need! This makes me sooo happy since I feel like I starved Hailey and my supply was horrible. The funny thing is you only eat for 3-4 minutes at a time during the day (but MUCHHHHH longer at night/bed time). You are efficient and Mom and her friends joke that I have 1/2 and 1/2 or cream for milk!

You will not however take a bottle. I have sooooooooooooo much milk pumped and frozen for you and you have refused a bottle/sippy for about 4 months now. It makes it hard for me to get away. I pretty much have you and your sister attached to me 24/7. Momma needs a break! So maybe stop this bottle strike so I can get out for a little bit to keep myself sane OK???

I never ever let your sister cry, especially for sleep. But I'm happy and sorry to say you do my Dear! I just pop you in your crib and you used to cry for about 5-8 minutes, and then fall right to sleep. Now you know when I turn on your fans and sound machine and lay you in your crib it's time to sleep! You just lay your head right down on the mattress. It melts my heart, your so precious!

You LOVE your sister. You think she is the most amazing hilarious thing in the world. You watch her and laugh harder at her then anything else in the world. However she isn't the best with you and this breaks Momma's heart. I know she is trying to be sweet and not vicious, but she does NOT know how to be gentle and what not to do with you. Pulling you across the house by your arms is NOT OK. We are working hard on it, she has gotten LOTS of discipline over this issue. Slowly ever so slowly she is getting better. I know she LOVES you and just wants to "help" and play with you, she just has to learn how to! You 2 are funny together though and I can't WAIT to see you become best friends. That is why we had you Ellie dear, so you 2 could be best friends and always have each other and be close!

You have a lot of nick-names. (your Momma is a dork and gives everybody nick names!) We call you Jelly, Belly, Ellie Belly, Ellie Marie, Elle, Fatty (sorry but it is out of love!), Chunky, Chunk, Chunky Monkey, Jelly Fish (you LOVE water like your sister!), Sissy, my personal favorite Ju-Ju-B (nooooooo idea where it came from) and any other weird-o nick name I think of at the time :) You'll get used to me and my weird things I do.....no matter what we call you just know we LOVE you and we show our love in weird ways ;)

We love you SO MUCH and our hearts are full from you! You complete our little family and I don't know what I would do without you. I hope you grow up to be sweet, loving, have a passion for Jesus, and a heart for others. Please know Momma loves you so much, I would die for you my sweet girl and I am ALWAYS here for you!!! <3

Indianapolis

Top things about going to Indy to visit family;

1) Getting to hug my Grandma after WAYYYYY to long

2) Getting to see Cousins and meeting their kids! Such sweeties, wish I could have taken them all home!

3) Not sleeping AT ALL in a room with one 3 year old in a pack n play who had to poop all night, and one 4 mo old who wants to eat all night. I digress...........

4) Having my Grandma, Aunt, Uncle, and 2 cousins (plus their spouses) say that my children are sweet and well behaved. Honestly I am NOT trying to toot my own horn, cuz Lord KNOWS I am failing at this Mom stuff, have no idea what I am doing and spend most of the day screaming and spanking when I should be calm and patient :/ But hearing my Grandma say how sweet, lovely, kind, and well behaved Hailey is about made me cry. She wasn't even on her best behavior when we were there! She doesn't do well traveling and we had our fair share of fits and crying. But I know deep down she is a sweet hearted girl and we are trying our best! So to hear from the person whose opinion I hold higher then most REALLY made my year!

5) Losing part of my hip bones due to being squished in the backseat between 2 carseats. All in the name of keeping the crying children quiet

6) Playing at the most amazing park ever! So wish we had one like it in Omaha!

7) Grandma laughing so hard she was crying over the fact that she and Grandpa owned 22 cars in less then 18 years!

8) Surviving 20+ hours in the car with the girls! (poor Mom had to drive almost all of it!)

9) Ellie belly laughing harder then I have heard before at Uncle Dave of course. Everybody loves Uncle Dave he is hilarious!!! It was seriously precious, I soooo wish I had a video camera

10) Grandma being spit fire (some would say Grumpy) over certain things, most especially foods! Chemo reeked havoc on her poor taste buds and she was so opinionated over foods! It was hilarious to me and Mom as she was always so passive and go with the flow before, but in her older age she sure lets you have it! She argued about apples, cantaloupe, and a couple others. It was hilarious to me and I love that Grandma is outspoken and has an opinion. I've never seen this side of her! (neither have her children!)

4 generations of Girls!

Jelly actually NOT crying in the car!

Me and my favorite 3 year old! (one of my favorite pictures ever of the 2 of us!)

My girls with their Great Aunt Marilyn

I will ALWAYS treasure this picture!! Hailey LOVES Ama Dee and asks to go back to her house daily!

Put your hook on kids.......

Here are some random things about Hailey. I am not good at writing down funny/cute things she says/does so I try to post them every couple of months. So here is what has been going on in her world lately at 2 years 2 months (almost 3?!?!? :( She is getting so big so fast!)

So since Ellie has come on the scene (and wants to nurse 24/7) we have the tv on more often then we ever did.
She has since found a love of America's Funniest Home Videos. She LOVES this show and asks to watch it several times a day. We stream huluplus on our tv and they only have 2 seasons (out of 22. ARGH!) and I've already seen every episode like 45 times! AHHH! It's hilarious to watch her watch it though, and luckily I LOVE the show. Funniest part; her favorite part is when the announcer guy says TOM BERGERON. FREAKIN HILARIOUS. We have to get her saying it on video, her voice gets all low and she says it all dramatic. Hours of entertainment.

In addition to AFV (which is what she calls it; AFB) she will watch snippets of Wipeout, Dora the Explorer, and a christian song DVD, and youtube videos. The song DVD is thee single most annoying dvd I've ever seen. It's one of those things that you watch as a kid and LOVE it and think it's awesome and then you watch it as a grown up and think OMG that is horrible why did I love it so much?!? LOL. I can't wait to show it to her when she is older and see if she thinks it's as ghetto as I do! The kids are doing horrible lip syncing and it's songs I don't know and they get stuck in my head for days! But it keeps her occupied for like an hour and it's teaching her about Jesus so whatever!
She also LURVS her some kiddy youtube videos. She will sit on the desktop computer and just watch cartoon videos with songs for a long time!
We sound like horrible parents and that all we do is sit our kid in front of the tv/computer but honestly it's maybe an hour a day!


Some amazing Hailey-izms-

Special Treat-Pechal peet

Any hood on a jacket/sweatshirt-Hook

Ellie's swaddle blankets-Foddle blanket

Sweatshirt-Fetchshirt

I/Me-my. I know almost every kid does this but it's hilarious, and when she uses the proper terms I am going to be sad. Everything is "my do it" "my sad" It's super cute and one of her funny quirks


If nothing else my child is SUPER polite. She is always saying thank you and sorry for EVERYTHING wither it's appropriate or not. A couple weeks ago I re-arranged the living room and for days she would say "Tant you Momma for moving the couch and the table and the tv" LOL. Such a sweet girl!

Some random stories of silly things she has said the last couple of weeks:

We were at Aunt Nat and Uncle Binan's (Brian) last weekend and Nat had a big bag of balloons and they were picking some out and Nat would blow them up. One was a weird long crinkle balloon and Nat was attempting to blow it up, she blew it up so much it exploded and popped VERY loudly. Hailey jumped and got very scared. We assured her it was OK and she picked a different balloon and asked Nat to blow it up. As Nat started Hailey sat on the side of a big arm chair in the corner away from Nat (obviously scared the balloon was going to pop and scare her again) and said "I'll be over here" it was hilarious and soooo grown up!

Poor sweet girl, her jeans (they have hearts stitched on the back pockets and she is O B S E S S E D w/ her "heart jeans") kept falling down causing her to resemble a plumber. I knew they had those sincher things inside and figured I needed to make them smaller due to her wearing panties and not a diaper anymore. Long story short they needed fixing so I went in the kitchen and put them on the counter to figure it out. I had started dinner and had everything laid out, and chicken marinading on the counter. Hailey looked at me her eyes wide open afraid of what I was doing to her beloved heart jeans says :
"Momma you not cut my heart jeans?"
"No Baby, Mommy is fixing your jeans"
"Momma you no put my heart jeans in da dinner?"
lol I lost it. Where does she come up with this stuff??




We ate Taco Bell one day for lunch and Hailey ate 1/2 a bean burrito. (Bless her, she loves junk food just like her Momma. Poor Girl) Later that night she had horrible stinky gas and I told Steve it was from her burrito. She looked at us super seriously and said "my had beado for lunch now my stinky toot" LOL we both died! A couple days later when Natalie asked her what was stinky from her burrito and she goes " My BUTT" LOL It was awesome!


We go to my amazing MOPS group at church every other Friday. Last Friday when we went I picked her up and she had on different pants then the ones I sent her in. I was super sad and figured she peed herself. (we wore panties!) The teacher said no and that she had water dumped on her pants. I didn't ask a lot and was confused but just changed her pants and we went home and dried them. When I asked her what happened at home she told me "this one boy was tryin to get my goldfish and he spilt my water on me!" I asked her if the teacher did anything and she told me she wiped it up. I asked her what she did when he spilled the water and she told me;
"did you tell the teacher he spilled your water?"
"no"
"did you cry?"
"no"
"did you just sit there?"
"Yeah!"
Hahahaha


My little baldie who from about 3 months until the age of 2 looked like a cancer patient finally had enough hair to get her first official hair cut!! She was rockin a pretty bad mullet and she doesn't let me pull it up with a cute bow anymore so off to my friend Jenny's we went! It was so nice to go to a friends house (she has a salon in her basement!) instead of a big scary salon with people staring at my shy girl. It looks sooo cute and I kept her hair in a little baggy and put it in her baby book! A milestone more for this Momma then anything ;)

My Girl LOVES her some puzzles. She has quite a few and although some of them are far above her level she has them all memorized and can do them in a few seconds! It amazes us how smart she is, but honestly we shouldn't be she is always amazing us with her smarts ;) And with the 291093821039 questions she asks a day she better be a rocket scientist! HA!


Another HUGE milestone was that after sleeping on her crib turned big girl bed since August of 2011, we took the crib out of her room for baby sister and put the twin bed in Hailey's room! We got some adorable bedding from Wally world and she has done amazing! She loves it, we still have some trouble going to bed (she has all the sudden gone through a period of being scared of night night and screaming in her room for hours on end) but it has gotten MUCH better! PTL this Momma needs her girls to SLEEP!

When I told Hailey that our amazing friends/cousins are coming to visit again this summer from Michigan I asked her what we should do while they are here;
"ummm share our toys?" (such a sweet girl. It's a good thought but I'd be shocked if she really did.......we're learning.........)
"Yeah that's a great idea! What else?"
"ummm......go to carters!"
LOL sweet girl knows her Momma's heart and our favorite store!



So I'm not sure if I blogged it or not but I was told by a couple people that Hailey was totally ready to potty train when she was 21 months old. (first problem, never listen to others when it comes to your children, trust your gut and let your kids direct you. Momma's know better then anybody else in the world!) It was an epic fail. We tried for 5 days, she was peeing in the potty some, and staying dry at nap but once we left the house she peed all over herself. It was horrible. So I gave up and put her back in diapers. Over the next year I tried a couple more times, if we put her on the potty she cried like I was cutting off her limbs. It was horrible. And then there is the issue with poop..........she was scared to death to do it. Even in her diaper.
So of course when Ellie was like 4 weeks Hailey changed her OWN diaper like 4 times in an hour. (yes my child could change her own diaper. Um ready to potty train much?) But I had to get her over her fear of the potty. When we had gone to Ellie's 2 wk apt I talked to the pedi about it and she said to just strip her down and put the potty in the living room, she would learn quickly that going pee on the floor and herself wasn't cool and she would use the potty. The first 3 times she went (after holding it for over 4 hours!) I had to physically force her on the potty and hold her on there while she screamed and cried, she finally got over it and was happy to go! And once Daddy told her she could wear her Dora panties diapers were a thing of the past! I am so proud of her. She only had 2 accidents the whole time we potty trained! And both time she was wearing pants, and honestly I think she just forgot she didn't have a diaper on. We went about 2 weeks of just wearing panties at home and no pants. It took another 2 weeks until we could go in public w/out a pull up. I am SO SO SO proud of her! Buying pull ups still sucks but it's WAY cheaper with only 1 kid in diapers full time! :) And as of this past Friday she FINALLY pooped in the potty! Once again I took Ellie to our AMAZING pedi whom I LOVE and want to live with us and she said since Hailey would only poop while sleeping to put the potty in her room and tell her to get up and use it, wouldn't you know once I gave her the control she did it! It's been 4 poops in the potty and hopefully no going back! I am so happy, I honestly thought I would send my child to college pooping in her pull up while she slept and crying hysterically every time it happened! LOL