Christmas Run Down

We had a great Christmas with our two little ones. It was fun to see Jake get excited about opening presents and Santa coming to our house. I think next year he'll understand the FULL concept a little better. Mike and I were probably more excited this year because we knew he was getting the concept of presents and Santa. It seems with kids this age you could buy one gift and be good cause its hard to get their attention onto the next thing...We'll have to remember that for next year with Sam!

Jake's first gift was Handy Manny from Grandma Sharon. He loves his tools.


Sam giving us a peace sign, or maybe a gang sign? Not sure....


Jake and Sam in their Christmas pjs. Its a little early for Sam still.
Jakes train table. Santa set it up downstairs and it was is final gift surprise. Right when he woke up and walked out to the Christmas tree he asked "where's my train set?" I guess he was expecting it!

Jake's new tool bench. He loves to hammer and use a wrench.

Opening his legos from Grama Polly. They build taller taller buildings all day!

Gramps holding Sam...he looks just like Big Jim.

Hope you all had a great holiday!

Jake Showering

Jake loves to clean. Let me rephrase. He loves it when others clean. I was getting out of the shower the other day and he decided he needed to jump in to clean the shower. Before I could grab him he was in there with all his clothes on. Crazy kids....


Heaven forbid he put the bink down to clean the shower.

The quote that haunts me

My cousin Marta posted this quote a few months back and it has haunted me ever since.

When I was 5 years old, my mom always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down "happy." They told me I didn't understand the assignment. I told them they didn't understand life.

Resolutions

Over the past 2 weeks I've been thinking a lot about resolutions. I've been thinking a lot about what needs to get done in my house, how I can be a better mother, wife, friend, daughter etc. I've made list after list after list, both on paper and in my head.

I just had a post ready to publish that may have been my longest post yet. It had all my resolutions both big and small that I want to accomplish this year. After a long and much needed chat (thanks Marta) I'm revising my post. My resolutions are going to be simple this year. Maybe mid year I'll revisit and revise, but for now with my new little family and crazy life style I need to go for simple. So here goes nothing....

Eat out less
Loose 20 pounds by June 1st
Organize closets (I have a year, 1 a month should be doable)
Clean out laundry room
Clean craft room (this could take me ALL YEAR)
Sew a little every day (even if its just 5 minutes)
Spend time playing with my kids, actually being in the moment with them
Date my husband again
Find something to laugh about everyday

There it is. Written down for all the world to see. Hopefully that will make me stick to achieving my goals. Here's to making 2010 the best year yet!

One Month and Counting

Sam is officially one month old this week. This month has gone by so quickly when I think back wondering where the time went, yet my days have seemed really long...does that make sense?

Having a new born in the house again has been tiring yet rewarding. It is so fun to hold him and look at his chubby little face. I have loved watching Jake get use to having a brother. He wakes up in the morning and will ask where Baby Sam is. He touches his fingers and his toes and says how cute he is. He also likes to help me get Sam dressed and change his diaper. He pulls a chair up to the changing table so he can hold his hand. These memories have been priceless and make me smile each and everyday. I can't wait for them to be playmates.

Sam has been a pretty happy baby for the most part. He started out from the first night in the hospital of going 4 - 5 hours between night feedings. (During the day he wants his bottle at 2 hours on the dot!) He loves to take baths. As soon as he hears the water running it calms him down if he's fussy. He gets into the water and is so content and happy. I can't wait for this summer to get him into the pool. I think I have another water baby on my hands!

Although having a baby that cries and wakes up at night has changed our lives dramatically, I wouldn't change it for the world. When I'm rocking him at 4am, he'll look up at me with those big eyes and give me a little smile. It makes it all worth while.

A Little Life Reminder

This last weekend Jake, Sam, and I were invited to our first official play date. My cousin Heidi hosted a great afternoon for us. We had toys galore, 7 little kids, a delicious salad and the best homemade applesauce ever!

Heidi is the mother of 4 beautiful girls. She had twin girls about 6 months before I had Jake. I have been in awe of her ever since. The way she handles all those girls (I believe she had 4 under the age of 4 when the twins were born) amazes me. Heidi is always positive, always willing to help others even though I'm sure her hands are full (although you wouldn't realize it by talking to her). She is someone who I think of often when I'm having crazy days with my kids, and someone I look up to and want to be like myself one of these days. Even with 4 small kids she has time to redo her house and bake up a storm. The applesauce was amazing!

On her kitchen window seal she had the cutest picture of her husband and herself on their wedding day and a quote that was framed. It was the greatest quote I've seen in awhile, and one I needed to read at this exact moment in my life. Heidi told me she has to read it daily to keep her sane and to remember what is important. I fully agree and intend to get this written up and framed so I can look at it daily also.

"The biggest mistake I made is..... I did not live in the moment enough. I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing; dinner, bath, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less."
- Anna Quindlen

Thanks Heidi for the great afternoon and for the great example of what being a mother is really all about!

Happy New Year

A new year, a new beginning. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday week.

Christmas was fun for us this year with a new baby along with a 2 year old who is getting the hang of Christmas and presents and the whole Santa thing. I will post some pictures of our day sometime soon. As we've taken down Christmas this week Jake keeps asking "Mom, do you miss Christmastime?" It's pretty cute to have this little sidekick that I can have little conversations with. When I climb up to take something down on a stool or standing on a table, "be careful mom, I don't want you to fall mom, I can help you mom" as he climbs up and holds onto my legs. Already very protective over his mom, and I love it! ANYWAYS....Christmas was great. Family, food, good times. It was a great few days overall.

New Years Eve we had my family over to play games. We played bowling and tennis on the Wii. I'll have to get video and post it. How fun it was to watch my mom and dad play. It was a fun family party that I think we'll have to turn into a monthly tradition.

As for ringing in the New Year, we didn't see the ball drop, didn't hear neighbors screaming and yelling outside for we were in bed by 9:30 with the kids. Yes that is how exciting our life is right now, but when the baby goes to sleep at 9, so do we! Its the longest period of time he sleeps without waking up and we have to take advantage of it! Sam actually went 7 hours that night. It was a New Years wish come true.

This year I'm trying to come up with some resolutions that I can actually keep. I'll post them so that I have them in writing and something to keep me on track with them. One resolution I will be trying to keep is blogging more regularly. Hopefully life will start getting back to normal as I get a handle on life with 2 kids.

Hope everyone has a Happy New Year....get your own resolutions posted!