Looking Back...

Aric went from this:

To this:

To this:

I still look at him some days and can hardly believe how quickly he is growing.  I wish I could slow down time and keep Aric small (at least I do until he starts throwing things or having a tantrum). 

Kellyn went from this:

To this:

To this:

She's our little miracle, the one we had to entrust to God.

It's hard to believe how much our lives have changed in the past year. We went from celebrating the holidays with one child to celebrating as a family of four. Last year at this time we had no inkling of how quickly our lives have changed. How glad we are that God is in control and knows what is best for us. We look forward to what He has in store for us in the New Year.

Christmas Photo Take Two

It wasn't in front of the tree, but at least they're both looking at the camera.

Merry Christmas from Our Family to Yours

What better way to start Christmas than with a photo in front of the tree?

Too bad no one wanted to cooperate.  Sadly, this is the best photo of the bunch.  Aric was also quite mad when we took away the cup to open presents.  (And yes, we gave him a potty chair for Christmas and I'm a horrible mother because I didn't wrap their presents.)

Aric's year was commemorated with Rocket from Little Einsteins.

"Pat, pat, pat, pat... Now raise your hands as high as you can and say 'Blast-off'."  He loves that show and will "Blast-off" when we're in the car, going down the slide, etc.

Kellyn's year was easy to commemorate.

She wasn't too aware of what was happening, but she was awake through it all.

...And apparently terrorized by the happenings.

Aric wasn't overly excited about any of his gifts (he was pretty excited about Kellyn's gifts) until he opened these trucks which brought on an excited laugh.

They also brought him "Nose and Toes" to the wall when he decided to deliberately throw one at Kellyn's head.

The rest of the night we hung out and watched Aric play with his toys and Daddy put them together.

Kellyn was pretty peaceful watching everything happen around her.

While Aric tore apart the house.

We hope you have as much fun as we did!  Merry Christmas!

Thankful

For awhile now I have followed a blog of someone I don't know.  She gave birth to a sweet little girl at 26 weeks on Wednesday.  I have a coworker, pregnant with twins, who is 29 weeks and showing signs of early labor.  My Her OB put her on bedrest with the hope that she'll keep those babies in for another 2 weeks.  She's already preparing for a long road with two little ones in the NICU.  It makes me realize how close we came to walking down the same path.

This morning I am feeling thankful for God's blessing of a healthy, big, full term little girl.  While there are times her crying might be the death of me, and days I feel like turning in my mom badge, I am humbled to have been given the opportunity to raise my sweet daughter.

Dear Starbucks...

Dear Starbucks,

If you're going to ignore my last letter and not take my suggestion of adding delivery to your services, then you should at least not be completely sold out of your gingerbread syrup.  And the rumors that it's backordered and I'll probably not get another one this season are horrifying!

Sincerely,
Regan

Not Too Thrilled...

...to see Santa this year.

Daycare Contract

Ryan told me he was filling out Aric's daycare contract.  I should've known better:

Dear Starbucks...

Dear Starbucks,

Will you please deliver?  I'm sitting here half asleep dreaming of a tall gingerbread latte.  I really think one would brighten my day.  You see, it's been quite an ordeal already.

In the wee hours of this morning my daughter woke up hungry.  I dragged myself out of my nice warm bed to change her and feed her.  After being up with her for an hour trying to soothe her back to sleep, I heard a small voice down the hall say "Uh, oh".  I laid her back down and went to tend to my son.  I think his room was too cold and he woke up.  It's been snowing outside and the house is quite chilly upstairs.  I turned up his heater and brought him back to my bed to warm up.  In all I think I was up for two hours overnight tending to my children in a drafty old house.

Since waking up this morning I've dealt with a little 18 month old tornado, who almost gave me a black eye by head-butting me and who colored his face blue with a crayon.  Yes, apparently you can color your face with a crayon.

I love that wild, blue tornado, but I really do think a tall gingerbread latte would make it all better.  I would go get one myself, but it's snowed quite a bit and we do live fifteen miles out of town.  The thought of driving that far is wearing me out.

Yes, it does look like my driveway has been plowed,  (My "helpful" neighbor just came by and did plow the snow and $3000 worth of gravel onto the side of the drive.  It's going to be a long spring raking all of that gravel back into place.) but it still is fifteen miles to town.

So please, consider adding delivery to your services because it might just improve my day.

These Boots Are Made For Walkin'

It wasn't snowing this morning, though, it was very cold. In the rush to get out the door and on our way to the grocery store at a reasonable time, I made Aric wear his snow boots since I couldn't find his shoes. He loved clomping around in them. Oh, to be young again...

PS- I told you he makes that Mad Dog/Stink Eye face ALL of the time!

Smiles, Frozen Pipes and Work

We've hit the point of smiles.  I love baby smiles.  They are so random and melt my heart every time I am at the receiving end of one.  It almost makes dragging myself out of a warm bed at 3am to feed a crying child worth it. 

Speaking of cold- it is so cold overnight now that our washer pipe is freezing.  I discovered this yesterday morning when I was trying to wash a load of cloth diapers.  What a mess; thankfully contained in the washing machine.  After being unable to light our butane torch to thaw the pipe, I used resourcefulness and placed a small space heater in the entryway/dog room where I knew the pipe was frozen.  It took longer, but it eventually thawed everything out and I was able to finish washing the diapers.

And my maternity leave is rapidly coming to an end.  I have a little over a week left before I have to return to work on December 13th.  Ick!  I had a bit of a problem this week with my work over the shift I would go to on my return.  My supervisor had promised I could return to days.  I lined up daycare for Aric and then my supervisor wouldn't tell me when/if I was returning to days.  It was frustrating, especially because I still needed/need to line up care for Kellyn and I didn't want to lose my deposit for Aric's daycare slot.  I left the kids with my friend yesterday and went to work prepared to yell at them for lying to/leading me on.  My pent up aggression was deflated, though, when my supervisor's supervisor told me he was going to call me that day and let me know they changed the schedule and I was returning to dayshift starting on Dec. 13th.  He even apologized because he didn't know I was returning so soon or that Ryan is starting a new job that will require a commute.  Thankfully Aric's daycare is set up, my friend will watch Kellyn for the next month giving me a little time to find something more permanent for her until she can get into Aric's daycare, and I didn't have to yell at and threaten anyone yesterday.

Mad Dog/Stink Eye

Lately, Aric is trying out a new facial expression.  Ryan calls it the "Mad Dog" face.  I refer to it as the "Stink Eye", which was coined by the guys at the Harley Store.  (No, I don't frequent Harley Davidson stores in case you were wondering if I've turned over a new leaf.)  Whatever it's name it isn't the nicest expression either, and if you've been around Aric lately then I'm positive you have been the recipient of it.  Good thing it is easily turned into a smile once you try to engage him.

Note: Photo does not do it justice.  It is much worse in person!

Bumbo Chair

I don't really remember the age limit or weight limit on a Bumbo chair, but I'm pretty sure Aric has surpassed both:

The Polar Bear Club

I've had a couple of requests to explain the story behind the polar bear club photo in my last post.  Here goes:

Ryan's parents have a pool in their backyard.  The temperature had been up in the mid to high 60's during the day, but was pretty low overnight.  In spite of that Ryan's nieces were still jumping in the pool albeit rather briefly.  Aric saw his cousin in the pool and kept walking over to the edge of the pool.  In an attempt to discourage him from getting into the pool, I took off his shoes, socks and pants to allow him to dip his feet in the water.  Unbeknownst to me, the frigid temperature of the water was no concern to Aric.  He loved splashing and playing in the icy water and had a grand ole time.  Not to worry, though, shortly after these photos were taken he was given a warm bath to conclude his induction into the polar bear club.

Thanksgiving Trip

Last Tuesday I started watching Julian.  It was definitely a challenge to have three little ones in the house under my care.  There were lots of diaper changes, feedings, naps and crying.  It will definitely make my days interesting!  Aric seemed to do well with the new addition, even giving Julian kisses during the day.

After Julian went home, we fed the kids and were on our way to El Paso to visit Ryan's family for Thanksgiving.  After much debate, Ryan and I decided it would be easier with two small children to drive overnight rather than during the day.  There were some tears shed, lots of caffeine ingested, the use of our laptop to view Baby Einstein videos and a need for earplugs, but all in all it seemed like it worked out well to travel overnight.

We had such a good time with Ryan's family over Thanksgiving.  We stayed just long enough to wish we could've stayed a little longer. (Hopefully they were thinking the same thing.)  With plenty of people around Ryan and I were able to get out and take a couple of breaks from the kids. Aric and Kellyn were able to bond (as much as a 1 year old and 1 month old can bond) with their Poppa, Nana, Uncle, Aunt and cousins.

Aric being inducted into the Polar Bear Club

Kellyn "Biker Baby" Peters with Nana

Downtime with Poppa

Sightseeing Waiting for Mommy and Nana with Poppa

Kellyn wearing her new "bling"

I did make some important discoveries on our trip:

-Having a tote bag containing: diapers for both kids, a large package of wipes, a changing pad, butt paste and hand sanitizer makes diaper changes easy while traveling with two small children.

-I like Luvs diapers.  I thought I liked Pampers and kept buying them for times when we used disposable diapers.  However, Ryan's mom picked up diapers for us and bought Luvs.  The first two days when I was using up the rest of our Pampers, I had to change Kellyns' outfit several times because of leaky diapers.  When we finally started using the Luvs, I didn't have to change her outfit once because of a leaky diaper.  I am a believer now and will be switching brands next time I'm at the store.

-Changing diapers for two kids (and three kids last week) destroyed my hands.  Ryan's mom has several types of lotion bottles sitting out around her house and I was able to try different brands.  I found one that I liked:

It immediately made my hands softer and kept them that way.  I have tried many different brands over the years and definitely liked the results after using the Gold Bond lotion.

And not a discovery, but I did get something that I've always wanted:

Ryan's mom gave that to me right before we left.  I've wanted a heart-shaped chili pepper wreath for a long time and now I have one. You can take the girl out of Texas...

Now we are back home and I'm thinking about Christmas cards, buying and mailing presents, setting up the tree, baking cookies and, sadly, the return to work in less than two weeks. 

Reality sets back in...

Mime

Aric has turned into a little mime lately.  Anything we do or say is likely to be repeated at any point in time.  Aric will cross and uncross his arms in front of his body matching me move for move.  He now says "Man" parroting Ryan, who happened to say "Oh, Man" the other night.  He has great fun attempting to walk around in our shoes. Literally...

It's fun to observe his newfound mime skills, but also a little disconcerting to have to watch everything we do or say or even allow on the radio or television when Aric is around.  Just one more little part of being a parent...

Helpful

Getting So Big

It's hard to believe she'll be six weeks old tomorrow!

Thongs and Photo Shoots

Yesterday morning we were in town and since it was cold I took the kids to the mall to walk around inside for awhile.  While in the mall we stopped at the GAP, one of my favorite stores.  I pushed the stroller into the back corner to check out the sales rack for any good deals they might have.  It was a tight fit and we were in between the rack of sales clothing and a table displaying underwear.  I turned my head away too long, because when I looked back Aric was reaching out and pulling a stack of thongs off of the table.  Not realizing the extent of the mess he was creating, I pushed the stroller forward to allow me to pick up the stack of thongs he had just dumped on the floor.  Apparently while my back was turned he had attacked two other piles of thongs and dumped those on the floor.  When I pushed the stroller forward I managed to wrap a thong around the wheel of the stroller.  What an embarrassing mess!  I picked up all of the thongs and put them back on the table, but was unable to stay and neatly stack them for the sales lady since Aric was already reaching out for more underwear.  Thankfully the sales girl was nice about it when I informed her of the situation and apologized for my son's grabby hands.

Last night we had an appointment to have Aric and Kellyn's pictures taken at Sears.  We dressed them up, took them to Sears and it was a disaster.  My normally photogenic son cried when we put him down in the middle of the drape.  We were sitting nearby, but he just couldn't handle the new surroundings.  When he wasn't crying, Kellyn was.  It was actually pretty comical to behold.  Thankfully we took them to a place that is used to crying children.  It made choosing photos at the end rather easy, though.  We just chose the photos where they were crying the least!

Quality Time

Yesterday was cold with a rain/sleet/snow combination.  It was not a good day to take Aric outside to play.  He only colors a little bit and is much more interested in putting the crayons in the box and then taking them out again, but it does keep him entertained.  At least it did keep him entertained until he tore the box apart.