A BIG SURPRISE!!

I received a wonderful surprise this weekend.  My mother-in-law Joeen was coming to help me but she showed up a day early with 3 of my sister-in-laws!!!  It was the BEST surprise.  I was so happy especially because I got to meet my brand new nephew Luke for the first time!

While Joeen escorted me to my various trips to the doctors office and the hospital for some shots my wonderful sisters deep cleaned my entire house,

and  watched and played with my children.

It was wonderful!  It really gave me the boost I needed.  I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful, supportive family.  I am still in a little bit of shock that Renee and Sarah would drive 6 hours and Michelle flew from Colorado,  to spend a couple days with us.

Renee, Michelle and Sarah thank you so much for coming and completely cleaning my house and for taking care of my girls and I .  I love you guys so much!  You are the BEST!!  I am the luckiest lady EVER!!!

Crocheting!

Since I have just been laying around, I decided that busy hands are happy hands so I have taken up a new hobby. Crocheting is the best thing ever because I can do it while I am laying down.  I LOVE IT!!

A little hat for each of the babies!

I need to give a shout out to my Grana.  She is a crochet master and I am so thankful for her teaching me how to crochet many, many years ago.  It only took me a couple hours to remember how to do it again!

Mandatory Rest?!?!

 Are you wondering what my sudden motivation to update the blogity blog with so many pictures and events came from??  You guessed it. Bed rest.

To be honest bed rest isn't as cool as I thought it would be.   Maybe it would be fun if I had a nanny and a maid and maybe a chef.  But it is the most frustrating feeling having to rely on other people to do all of the things that I should be able to do.  I am SO SO thankful to all my wonderful friends for helping me!  Most of all I am so thankful for Geoff, I always knew that I really liked him, but he might just be the most incredible, best, wonderful, awesome and stupendous man ALIVE!

Here's to almost one week down!

Hi mom!  Here is a picture of my expanding midriff at 31 weeks.  Sorry about the picture, Aria took it and it was the best one of the bunch.  I hope something isn't wrong with my camera,  good thing I will have a lot of time to sit down and figure it out.

The cutest Witches on the block!

Last year I picked up some costumes at JoAnn's for around 5 bucks and I am so glad that I did because this year I wasn't really on top of things and Halloween kind of snuck up on me.  I think they look pretty darn cute!

Did you know that costumes run small??  I bought Laila a 4T and she barly fits into it.  The worst part is the hat, it completly doesn't fit on her head.  I like to think it is because of her thick luxurious hair.

This is Aria's attempt at a witch face...pretty scary.

Carving pumpkins

If our little family has one tradtion it would probably be carving pumpkins.  I am happy that we did it this year.  Please excuse the nudity and bad hair.

The girls are facinated by the pumpkin guts, and as always Laila is a little more adventurous then Aria.

Aria finally gets some guts!

The finished pumpkins!

Happy Birthday Aria!

I am very late in posting a Happy Birthday to Aria who is now 4! 

She had quite the celebration!  I was having guilty feelings that she has never had a real birthday party and thought that this year might be as good as any and boy did we have a party!

Aria really wanted to invite her "closest" friend to the party which ended up to be about 16 kids.  I decided the best way to do that was at the park which was a good and bad decision but very fun. 

We played all the favorite games, duck duck goose, red light, green light, red rover, and tag.

No party is a party without a pinata.

Aria was definitley spoiled by all her friends and her grandparents.  She is one very lucky girl.  I feel like one very lucky mom to have Aria.  She is blossoming into a very wonderful person.  She is such a good sister and starting to be a very good helper (just in time).  I love her so much and I am thankful for all that she has taught me about patience, unconditional love, and consistancy.  Oh I don't want her to grow up!

Mother Moment

The other day was picture day at Aria's preschool.  The night before the big picture day I thought it would be so cute to put her hair in sponge curlers for her first school picture.  Aria didn't think it was a good idea and she really didn't want to sleep in the curlers, but with my amazing powers of persuasion (threats and bribes) she did it. 

The next morning as I unrolled the curlers I started to get a little concerned as she had 12 really tight curls right up against her scalp.  Before I let Aria see I quickly thought that if I brushed them out all will be well. 

This is what her hair looked like when I combed my fingers through her hair. 

As I was combing and she was looking at herself in the mirror I saw her hair getting fluffier and more poodle like I had a horrifying moment.  I started laughing.  I know, I know, rookie mistake but it was seriously so funny.  Her face, her hair the fact that I was doing to her what my mom did to me. 

She started crying as I was laughing and I really tried to fix it.  I really think I could have made it look cute, it would have relaxed and she would have loved it, right?  Nope, she was devistated! She started throwing  a huge tantrum, huge tears, rolling on the ground, the works.  I realized my mistakes and threw her in the shower and all was well.

I learned some really good lessons that day:

1) Just because my mom did it to me doesn't mean I should do it to my children.

2) Don't try something that we have never done before the day before a picture.

3) I had a really frightening look into what my future will be like with three girls.  If it was this bad at 4 can you imagine what it will be like at 14?

Please pray for me!

Laila has chicken pox too!!

Laila's turn!

Laila now has chicken pox.  It is very interesting because Laila's chicken pox has been very different then Aria's.  Aria had 50 chicken pox all over her body.  Laila has about 15 pox but they deep and BIG!  I am not sure which one is worse.  All I know is that Laila is going to have a few scars on her face...sad!

25 weeks...a lot more to go!

This is a comparison of a single pregnancy vs a double. The picture on the right is of me a few days before Laila was born and the one on the left is from today. Too similar right?!?!

Now, I know I have 2 babies in there but you gotta see it from my point of view...I don't know how my body can get any bigger!! It never has before. I have a good 3 months left before these babies come!

WOWZA! I am going to be huge! Oh boy I am so excited!

(I mean this very seriously, not sarcastic at all)

Aria's first day of preschool

Oh my, she is getting so big.  She is so excited to be in "school".  This child will do anything to get out of the house!

What we have been doing lately.

CHICKEN POX!!

The worst part is having to stay home!

Laila is TWO!

Laila is two...can you believe it? Either can I. She is getting so big!

We started out the day with our favorite Swedish Pancakes.

Aria is part of a little Joy school in our neighborhood and it was my turn to teach on Laila's birthday. Laila loves when all of her friends come over. She loves to participate and play with all of the kids so it was perfect to have them all over for a little birthday party. They made party hats and we played lots of games.

Then we had cupcakes!!!

When Geoff got home from work Laila opened all of her presents!

and we had MORE cake!

They are BEST friends, I have loved the last year watching Aria and Laila's relationship evolve. These beauties can play house and babies for hours. I feel so blessed to have two healthy, happy girls.

Laila is definitely my little buddy. She always wants me to snuggle her, tickle her back and read her books. She is a little mischievous and has a mind of her own. I am so thankful that she is in our family, she brings us such joy!

By popular demand...

So I have had a few people ask to see a belly picture. Here you go.

What?... you don't take belly pictures in neon splotched spandex? 

I just really wanted everyone to capture the essence of my pregnant body.  I don't get very pregnant in my belly, those babies are residing in my bum.  It is nice and roomy so I totally understand.

THANK YOU!!

I just wanted to thank everyone for their vote of confidence.  Yesterday I was feeling so excited and surprised, last night things sunk in a little more and I am having so many emotions.  I was very comforted to read all the comments and know that everything is going to be okay.  I know that my life will never be the same and most likely it will be a little crazier then it is now, but it is nice to know that I have my blogging buddies to keep me going when things seem really big. 

THANKS !

Hello out there!!

YIKES! I have been so out of touch with everything for a long time. I would like to take a moment to apologize for that. Sometimes I get so behind that it just seems easier not to do anything then feel like I have to do everything. So, I guess what I am saying is that I am a big LAZY BUM! So now that I have outed myself we can move on.

I know I have a lot to update but I would like to start with the most exciting and SURPRISING news...we are having another baby January 3rd. Even though it is a surprise we are so excited.


Here is an ultrasound picture can you guess what it is?


Don't adjust your monitor, you are not seeing double SURPRISE, SURPRISE we are having TWINS!!!!!

a BOY and a GIRL!!

Wish me luck!

Can I do Easter over??

I lost my camera battery charger and I wasn't able to get a new one until after Easter. I was so sad to miss documenting the festivities. Today I put the girls Easter dresses on to have a "do over".

Aren't they beautiful?

Cookies anyone??

One of my New Year Resolutions this year was to get back to eating and living better. Ever since having my girls, eating and living better have taken WAY too much time. I decided that I have had enough and I need to live the way that I teach other people to live.

I am proud to say that I have not had any sugar or Gluten for 4 months. It hasn't been easy but I feel so great!!

The down side to eating well is finding fun things to eat. Today I was really craving cookies, so I pulled out my Xylitol and rice flour and tried to make up my own recipe. This is the result.

I obviously shouldn't be making up recipes. Looks like I will be buying a sugar and gluten free cookbook soon. They don't look good, but they sure tasted good! Geoff even ate them.

Venice Beach

The only nice thing about Geoff traveling so much is that he gets to stay in awesome hotels. After our Disneyland adventure on Saturday, we headed to the beach on Sunday. We didn't swim but the girls had a wonderful time playing in the sand and waves.

All Aria wanted to do was to build a sand castle. Here is the beginning.

Laila is trying to help with the sand castle

I am trying to get Laila in the water, she was scared.

Aria found a sea shell

Laila found the sand.

Oh boy! She LOVED the sand. She ate that sand like she was starving. She must have low minerals or something. I wish I had taken a picture of her poop the next day. It was just sand, nothing else.

It was a glorious weekend. It was so fun to see our dad and to go to Disneyland and the beach. I feel so blessed to be able to do fun things like this.

DISNEYLAND!

Geoff has been working in California for the last month and we have missed him. If he travels enough his company will pay for a weekend hotel stay in between travel weeks. Geoff and I decided to capitalize on this and take the girls to DISNEYLAND!!!

The girls were excited and Geoff loves Disneyland so much that I think he was the MOST excited.

Geoff and the girls in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle.

Buzz light year was the favorite ride. We went 3 times.

The Marry-go-round was the second favorite.

Mostly because there wasn't much of a line.

We of course had to see Mickey. It went much better this time around. The girls were not scared. Laila was a little leery.

This time we even got to see Minnie. Aria was very happy.

Laila's favorite ride was "Small World" . She danced and clapped, it was so cute!

Dumbo was another favorite with the girls.

For dinner we got chicken strips and mozzarella sticks. Laila used the mozzarella stick as a way to eat the ranch. She ate and entire thing of ranch, it was disgusting. Everyone around us was watching her, only one lady thought it was cute.

Aria is so so happy to be at Disneyland.

Geoff and I have different philosophies on vacations. Mine is, go and have fun but don't spend money on anything unless it is absolutely necessary. Geoff's philosophy is to go and have fun and don't think about the money you are spending because it is all part of the experience and chalk it up to a memory made. I am trying to meet him somewhere in the middle, but Geoff totally go his way when he bought the girls these way too expensive toys that they totally don't need. Geoff's excuse is that Disneyland is the happiest place on earth and toys would make the girls so happy. What do ya do??


It was so fun! I feel very lucky that Disneyland is relatively close. I feel bad for our children yet to come. I can guarantee that this behavior of ours will not last long when we start having to pay for more then one kid. Maybe we can photoshop them in...