Caught Up

Hip, hip, hurray!  I'm all caught up!  For those of you who read these, I'm extremely sorry.  I know it's a pain to have to read TONS of posts all at once.  I'm REALLY hoping to stay more caught up!  So you'll have more frequent and up-to-date updates, but not an overwhelming number.  :o)  And they'll be better because I'll actually remember what was going on.  ;-)

Here's a cute picture of our trip to California last March.  The pic was on Chris' phone and he just sent it to me.  This is Keira's Grandpa Long who offered to watch Keira when we went on a date for our anniversary.  This is what we returned home to.  It was sooo cute!  He put an apron on her and was helping her bake cookies!  Keira is blessed to have such great grandparents!

Three Months

Sierra is now three months old.  (Which means I have to go back to work.)  :-(  She is such a little angel.  She truly is SUCH a good baby!!!  She is so smiley and content!  Every time she sees me walk over to her she lets out a huge smile and wiggles and sometimes coos are tries to talk.  She is incredibly patient and content.  She rarely cries, and usually only if she's hungry or tired and is being over stimulated.  She is just so SWEET!

She usually doesn't like her paci and spits it out and gives you a dirty look.  Occasionally she'll trick you into thinking she'll keep it in but as soon as you let go she pushes it out.  However, sometimes she will take it.

She still sleeps in the bassinet in our room and I am going to have such a hard time moving her into her crib.  I usually only put her in the bassinet when I go to bed and while I sleep.  She usually takes naps in the Pack 'n Play in the living room, unless she happens to fall asleep in the bouncer or swing or if we're outside.  She sleeps through anything, even Keira!  She usually goes to sleep so easily.  I put her down awake and she falls asleep within a few minutes.  And MOST EXCITINGLY she has slept ALL night for the last FIVE nights!!!  It is amazing!  You don't notice it when you do wake up to feed, but when you don't, you just feel amazing!

We're getting ready for me to go back to work so a couple of weeks ago Chris gave her a bottle.  :-(  And she did well with it!  Aunt Laurie gave her one when we went on a date also.  After she turned two months I wanted to go running in the mornings sometimes but she didn't eat enough, so I pumped a few times.  It's been so nice not having to pump for the first two months and then only a few times since.  Speaking of feeding, that's probably my complaint about my sweet Sierra.  She is a messy eater.  Milk usually squirts out in the beginning and she is not a fan.  She'll take a couple of swallows and then have to take her mouth off to swallow, spraying and leaking all over.  I'm not a fan.  And she's kind of painful on the right side for some reason.  Sorry Dude, probably too much info if you've been able to keep up with the ridiculous amount of posts in the last week.  ;-)

She is getting good at holding her head up. 

But she's not a fan of tummy time (neither of my girls have been) and isn't very good at lifting it up when on her tummy.

A few weeks ago she didn't have to try to squeeze into size one diapers anymore.  She's a little bigger than Keira so I misjudged the amount of size one diapers I needed and was too cheap to throw them away.  She might be graduating to size three soon.  She mostly wears size three months clothes now but I'll have to bust out the six months any day now.

 I am sooooo thankful for this little bundle of JOY!  She brings so much happiness to our family!  

I LOVE my girls!!!

Friends and Family and Life

One of my best friends, Mariana and her husband Todd, and two sons Gabriel and Nicolas came to town Friday night for a wedding.  They have been living in Kansas for the last year while she attends medical school.  It was sooo great to see them!  Keira and Gabriel were sooo cute together!  They totally played together and talked to each other.  

Todd, Gabriel, and Keira

I offered to babysit the boys while they went to the wedding since they weren't able to bring the boys.  But before they left at about 2pm, I was having doubts if I could watch two newly three year olds, an 18 month old, and a 3 month old, especially after realizing boys are a little crazier than girls.

But it went great!  Nicolas took the world's longest nap, about three hours and then we went to a church BBQ.  I was starting to really think I was crazy trying to get them all loaded up in carseats (thank goodness for a van!) and to cross the street to the BBQ.  But as soon as my friend Jessica saw me she took Keira and got her hooked up with food and helped me carry some things.  And a little later another friend took Sierra when she wanted to be held.  I am so thankful to have such good friends!  The kids loved playing at the park and luckily Keira and Nicolas wanted to swing for at least 30 mins so they were contained! 

I gave them baths and brushed teeth and then Mariana got home just before bed, thank goodness!  They had to leave when I left for church the next morning, so it was a short visit, but soooo great to see them!

And sorry Sweetie, I still want more kids!!!

That afternoon I picked Laurie up from the airport and we went to my brother's house to hang out.

My siblings sure do tease me a lot!

And now an update on us.  I think I'm a bit behind on that.  Chris started a new job in July, one of the ones he had applied for.  He is still working for the same company, American Medical Response, but now is working out of a fire station in Golden, only doing 911 calls.  The fire department is volunteer there so the station is not staffed with fire fighters.  So Chris and his partner Jennifer get it all to themselves.  He works 48 hours and has 4 days off.  It works well for us.  It's super close, about 10 minutes away and they're not super busy.  Chris loves it!  He sometimes gets to sleep all night.  They meet up with the EMT and paramedic at the north station every night and take turns making gourmet dinners.  (Not sure why he doesn't make them here anymore!)  We have visited them several times.  He did not get hired with Arvada Fire Department and has been taking a leave of absence from volunteering with them since right after Sierra was born.  So that's been nice.

I have been on maternity leave and loving every minute of it!  (Welllll maybe not every MINUTE of it!)  I dread going back next week.  I don't know why, I know it's only one day a week, but it brings tears to my eyes.  It has been so perfect being off for the entire summer!  It just went by waayyy too fast!  My work has some 12 hour shifts and 8 hours shifts, which I'd have to do two one week and one the next.  Chris wanted me to only work one day a week.  Unfortunately the night shift I'd planned on taking got snatched up by someone who worked full time so I'm stuck doing many day shifts and random days.  I'm kind of bummed.  I was excited about nights because it was only once a week and I wouldn't miss as much with the girls.  If Chris was having a really hard morning watching them, he could just wake me up earlier.  So I'm a little nervous to be gone allll day long while Chris watches the girls.  Remember that song (from Keira's 3 year post) she and Chris made up about the baby crying, give her to her mom.  In his eyes, if she lets out a peep, she's hungry.  Whew, we think she's chubby now... just wait!  ;-)   But I'm sure everything will work out fine.

Having babies is interesting.  All they do is eat, sleep, and have their diaper changed.  Yet they are a lot of work and keep you busy!  In the beginning I was spending four hours a day nursing!  Whoa!  And that doesn't include diaper changes and everything in between.  It's not hard work, I mean, I was doing great scripture reading, getting caught up on magazines and catalogs, and e-mails from my phone or iPad, but you can't just do whatever you want.  Now that she's three months, things seem a lot easier.  I guess that's why moms usually take three months off if they're going back to work.  I feel like I have things down better and I'm not quite as overwhelmed.  I even have had more free time, as evidenced by being almost all caught up on this!

I have recognized one unfortunate realization.  I just can't do everything.  I feel like I'm trying my best.  I have a pretty clean home, we have clean clothes, and I have clean kids at the end of the day (or two days sometimes), the lawn gets mowed and dog droppings picked up every 1-1.5 weeks, etc.  But I have not done all of the cleaning Chris put on my chore list.  I haven't cleaned the baseboards, only cleaned inside windows once, but not the outside part, only scrubbed kitchen cabinets once, and the list goes on.  I also have a huge list of things I wanted to accomplish during my maternity leave and most of them are still there.  But you know what, I have had a wonderful summer with my two beautiful daughters!  And down the road I'm not going to remember what I didn't get done, or that my house wasn't sparkling clean and clutter-free.  I'm going to remember all of the wonderful times I got to spend with my family.  One of the reasons I try hard at the cleaning is because Chris once made a comment about how he'll never want more kids if I can't be a better housewife.  But you know what, for a while I was so stressed about the things I wasn't doing, in fear that Chris will not want more kids, that I wasn't enjoying what I already have!  I felt guilty and stressed I didn't have more time to get things done.  So I realized I'm going to stop worrying about whether we are going to have more kids, and just enjoy the two I have to my fullest!

Although it seems like I have more free time lately and things have gotten easier, it seems like it's almost impossible for me to exercise right now.  I want sooooo bad to get up early, exercise, read the scriptures, and shower, before they even get up.  But I just can't do it!  I am too tired, or the baby hasn't eaten yet and I'd either have to pump, wake her to feed her, or be in a lot of pain.  Evenings are too hard to exercise because I have too much to do.  I think now that it's getting a little cooler I could exercise during the day during nap time if Chris is home.  But then I either don't shower for a long time or I'm sweaty for the rest of the day.  I don't know how people do it.  Any advice?  I feel so much better after I exercise but I just can't seem to fit it into my schedule.  I'd really like to start doing triathlons again, because it's just so much fun.  But I just feel like I don't have enough time.  We'll see what happens.  I was talking to my friend tonight and she sometimes gets up at 5:30am to wake up her baby to feed him and then go run and shower before her husband leaves for work.  That sounds great, but I can't do it!  I think I'm just not a morning person.  I do fine not getting much sleep, but I have a very hard time getting up early, even if I get eight hours of sleep (which doesn't happen.)  But maybe if I could feel more caught up, I wouldn't be tempted to stay up so late (especially when Chris is gone) and then I could get up earlier.  I just don't know what to do.

So yeah, that's about the highlights of our life right now.  I couldn't be happier with my two girls!  Although it would be nice if I could make more time for exercising and everything on my to do list!  ;-)

Three Years Old!

On August 24th we celebrated Keira's 3rd Birthday!  We couldn't do anything too extravagant because Chris worked the two days before and was leaving the following day for his trip to California, and we were expecting company that evening.  We asked her what she wanted and she kept on saying Princess Celestia and a trampoline.  We asked if she'd rather have a trampoline or a party and she said a trampoline.  Since a trampoline is something that will create tons of fun and physical activity for years to come, we decided to go with that.  Not to mention it makes our somewhat boring backyard much more fun!  Which makes life easier for me as I mow or work in the garden.  :o)  My sister also feels like it's her birthday she's so excited!

 First things first!  Opening presents!  (If it were up to me I would've had her get dressed and hair done first.)

 We had to actually get the trampoline on her birthday since I couldn't lift it by myself and we had spent Chris' last four day camping.  The girls and I also went out for ice cream!  (Pictures are on Chris' phone- I forgot mine.)  Keira was super excited about the trampoline and is sooo cute jumping on it!

 Couldn't resist a picture with this little cutie!

 Keira's favorite- mac and cheese, grapes and strawberries for dinner.

 Keira was very patient to wait until about 9:30pm for our friends to arrive before having Dora Birthday Cupcakes.

Keira at 3 Years Old:

Keira is just a little bundle of happiness and energy!  If you don't hear talking or singing for more than a couple of minutes, you wonder if she's still alive.  ;-)  She really does talk a lot.  In fact, sometimes it's a little exhausting.  She is amazing at talking!  She always speaks in full sentences and conjugates verbs pretty well.  But some words she'll say flied instead of flew.  She amazes me.  She also has an incredible memory!  I can't believe everything she remembers!  She is very social and loves to be with people and wants you to actively interact with her.  She can tell when you're just nodding or saying "yeah" so you she'll leave you alone.  ;-)  She has been potty trained and hasn't had an accident in over a month (she had a rough time for a few weeks after Sierra was born.)  However, she wants someone to be in the bathroom with her.  She wants someone to be in the backyard with her too, so much for letting her play out there while I make dinner.  

Sleeping schedule:  She usually wakes up around 7:30am, takes a nap between 1-2pm and goes to bed between 8:30-9pm, usually.  Her naps are anywhere from about one hour to two.  And if they're two hours or too late sometimes she won't go to sleep for a loong time after we put her down, up to an hour, she'll just play in her bed, sometimes trying to sneak out of her room.

Her favorites:  She still loves anything Dora and also My Little Ponies.  But her favorite toys vary daily or hourly. Her very favorite things are probably her blanket, pillow, and paci, which are all for naps and bedtime.  Yup, you read it right.  I have not yet taken away the paci.  I had planned on it the day after her birthday but the very expensive super cute butterfly balloon I bought her deflated and wouldn't fly well enough.  I think she played too hard with it, she loved it!  So I will be taking it away VERY soon.  It might be kind of traumatic, it will be interesting.

She is getting much better at playing by herself which has been wonderful.  Of course, she'd rather have someone with her, but especially in the morning she can play by herself for quite a while.  She's also very good at pretending.  She likes to pretend to talk for her toys and Sierra.  Speaking of Sierra, Keira absolutely LOVES her!  She's really sweet with her too!  She sings to her, gives her tons of hugs and kisses, and tries to play with her.  She's going to be an excellent big sister!  I can't wait until they can play together!  :o)  She loves everything of Sierra's and wants her toys to do what Sierra is doing.

At Keira's 3 year well visit she weighed 28 pounds, 6 ounces (25%) and was 3 feet, 1 inch tall (42%).  So her growth has slowed down, especially her height.  The doctor thinks it might be before a growth spurt but who knows?  Everything looked great!

Keira loves learning new things and seems very smart.  She can count to 20 but usually forgets 16.  She can say the ABCs but for a while she kept skipping WXYZ.  She can almost always get dressed by herself and likes to pick out her own clothes.  (With my approval).  She's very good at matching.  She has a good eye for detail.  Yesterday we FaceTimed her Grandpa and Grandma Long and the first thing she said was "But what happened to your hair?"  He had a somewhat unfortunate haircut.  ;-)  Lol!  She loves her nails to be polished and with stickers and actually does pretty well staying still.  She loves to sing and is sooo good at remembering the words, much better than me!  I love how she comes home from nursery singing new songs!  However, often I don't know them and am unable to help her.  

She also enjoys making up new words to songs.  One her and Daddy came up with in the tune of "No one likes a frowny face":  "No one likes a crying baby.  Give her to her Mom.  Let her drink some milk so she'll feel nice and calm."  In fact, I couldn't remember the last sentence so I asked her to sing it and she remembered it perfectly with a smile on her face!  She knows how to spell her name and when her birthday is.  She usually knows the month of mine, Sierra's, Daddy's, Grammy's, and Aunt Laurie's.

She can't quite type her name yet...

keiau

But I think she can if I spell it for her.

 Keira is such a bundle of joy and such a blessing to our family.  I love her more than words could ever describe!!!

Camping!

Our camping plans had to change.  We had planned on going this week for several days.  But Chris has nine days off work and decided to go galavanting around the country, this time to the west.  ;-)  So after the blessing we took off for camping.  We drove about three hours or so north of Steamboat Springs.  The place we had planned to camp was closed, so we ended up staying at Pearl Lake and it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

 Sierra actually slept in the carseat, all bundled up.

 The night was absolutely perfect!  We all stayed warm enough, slept great, and had a great time!  Chris woke up earlier than us and when he woke us up hot chocolate was ready and scrambled eggs were being cooked.  Nice way to wake up!  :o)

 I just want to snuggle her!

 Is she not the cutest thing?

 We went for a beautiful walk along the lake.  Keira loved walking Jason and did a really good job!

 Our happy girl loves camping!

 We packed up and headed to our next site which was a two hour drive, east of Walden, CO, Michigan Lake.  It was a little cooler and not quite as pretty.  

 It got a little colder than we expected that night, below freezing.  Sierra didn't feel cold, but she woke up three times that night and just didn't sleep all that well.  Keira slept pretty well but kept taking off her hat.  I guess Chris didn't even sleep all that well.  We just hung out that morning and welcomed the warm sun!

All in all our first camping trip with Sierra was sooooo much fun!  And it really wasn't that hard with an almost three month old.  I think it will be harder next year with a one year old trying to explore everything on foot and with mouth.  But I hope we do a lot more of it!

Sierra's Blessing

 On August 18th was Sierra's Blessing.  It was kind of bad timing.  I originally thought it would be on the first Sunday in August, since it's usually on a fast Sunday.  But Chris ended up having to work.  So this was pretty much the only Sunday he could do it.  If I could have done it again, I would've done it in mid July when Chris' mom could have been there.  :-(  Sorry Mom.  None of our family, not even my brother and sister were able to come to it.  But besides that, it was absolutely perfect!  Our neighbors Mike and Anna, who are inactive came, and that was soo nice!  Needless to say, Chris was there and he got to hold Sierra during the blessing.  This was the first time Chris had come to church with me since Christmas (that was one of my Christmas wishes) and it absolutely wonderful to have him there!  Ryan Cauffman performed the blessing and it was absolutely beautiful and perfect!  The spirit was definitely there.  We also asked Andrew Averett and Chet Walker to go up for it.  Our awesome new Bishop and the bishopric also joined.  It was just marvelous.

A dream come true!

I was hurried taking the pictures, so I should retake them so they turn out a little better.