More Pictures!

Kyle's cousin took Oaklee's pictures when she was 4 1/2 weeks old. We got the CD back on Saturday when she took her 2 month pics. She is going to photograph her every month till she is 1. I thought that it might be a fun idea. Here are some from the first shoot:


















These are most of my favorites. I would add more but our computer is taking forever downloading them!

Talents? Continued

In my response to the talents post, I still haven't found any just quite yet. But, I do have to say myself that I have done a lot better at being a better mommy. I have stayed up in the mornings after Oaklee's first feeding. I have been putting Wyatt on some sort of schedule that allows Wyatt and mommy time. When he naps, it's Oaklee and mommy time. It's been working out pretty good. I am still working (for a few more weeks) so it's been a little tough to get too much around the house done.

It has been a tough month or so for me. It seems like that is just so common with me right now. Sorry to blabble it on here, but I just always seem like this is where I can "talk" to someone about it. I won't get into detail, let's just say the word ROUGH. I know it is in relation to a lot of different things. I know it will get better and I just hope it does FAST. I am just trying to be patient and find out who I am (all the times I thought I knew myself!!). I know I will get through it with the help of my husband and prayer.

I am trying to blog more often. I usually want to blog about things with the kids, but I always forget to take a picture about what I want to blog about. And sometimes it takes a lot to put pictures on here. Hope everyone is doing as well as can be.

On other terms, I STILL WANT TO MOVE!!! This is always on my mind and most recently because we paid $70 this past month on our city bill (which includes water, sewer, garbage). I hear most people pay around $50 at the highest. Don't get me wrong I like our house (not love though) and there are a lot of things that I want more in a house. But, since we refinanced 2 1/2 years ago, we paid so much for the refi that we owe as much on the house as when we first bought it! This sucks so bad. We are thinking that we should stay here at the minimum 3 years. I just hope in 3 years interest rates are where they are now and we can get a good offer on our home. Unless if we could get someone to buy our home now we definitely would consider moving. So if anyone out there would like to buy our home, feel free to!!!!

Oaklee Jo's Blessing

Oaklee was blessed by her father on Sunday, March 27, 2011. Kyle did such a great job, except you couldn't hear him very well. Grandpa Allen, Grandpa Read, Uncle Aaron, & Uncle Clif were in the circle. The men in the circle said she was just so smiley the whole time. She kept looking up at daddy and smiling. That's our girl! We did breakfast at our house after. We had fruit n yogurt parfaits, muffins, banana bread, cinnamon rolls, & drinks. Thanks to all who shared their food with us that day. It turned out so well, but we had a TON of food leftover. I am so mad, I forgot to have someone take a family picture of us. We were so worried about getting people fed, we completely forgot. But I did remember to get some pictures of our baby doll. Her dress turned out just how I wanted it. Grandma Allen made it and she did awesome. Here are some pics:









She is such a happy baby. I don't remember Wyatt ever being this happy all the time. She loves to smile and "talk" to us so much lately. She is starting to love to suck her thumb! Oh no, we are in some serious trouble. I try to stop her when I see her doing it. I'll hurry and put her binky in. I DO NOT want to have to try to stop it when she is older. Kyle and I were both thumb suckers till we were pretty old.

P.S. Also on that same morning, Natalie gave birth to her baby boy. They named him Colton Dale Trostle. I have yet to see him but I have heard he is too cute.

Talents?

I was thinking in bed last night as I was feeding Oaklee. What talents do I have? Do I use the talents I am given to help others? I racked my brain until I fell asleep thinking of what talents I have. I couldn't come up with any! Then I got to thinking....A talent I wish I had was a fun, creative, witty mom. I wish I was a better mom and did fun things with the kids. I want my kids when their older to look back on life and can remember such fun things done as a child. The holidays should be so fun with traditions. My goal this next week and for here on out is to be a fun mommy. I want to do fun things for them on the holidays and everyday. I want to make their birthdays SO SO special. This is going to include me putting some hard work on creativeness. I want their birthdays to be themed with decorations, cake, goodie bags, etc!

I am trying desperately to find out who I am and who I want to be. So, the next week my main goal is not being lazy. If I'm not lazy, I can get the chores done faster so I can just be with the kids:) I'll report back next Saturday.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I just wanted to post some pictures of the kids in their green attire. Man I have some dang cute kids! I just love them so much.

Bathroom Remodel

Here are the long awaited photos. We tore out the tile in the shower and the floor, re-tiled both, repainted the walls, painted the towel bar, painted the medicine cabinet, painted the big cabinet, put in a new toilet paper holder, new hand towel bar, and bought all new accessories! There were just a few problems that happened along the way. As you can see in the last photo, we had to keep the white tile wall with red trim. We tried to take it down and it was just ripping the wall. We didn't want to have to re sheet rock so we just kept it up. I don't think it looks too terrible. I love love love how it turned out. Many thanks to Kyle for all of his hard work.


Ceiling fan with messed up paint (I didn't do an after picture)

Mirror Vanity

Old Vanity & Sink

Big Cabinet

Old Shower Tile

Both Cabinets

Piles of tile from shower



Chipping off the tile...what a process

Shower with all tile gone

Kyle tiling

Shower with all new tile

Nasty old floor tile

After all tile was gone

Tile all set

Tile with grout

New paint...if you can see that white tile, we had to keep that up.
It was so stuck on the wall we would have had to put up new sheet rock.

Painted towel bar



New tub faucet

Painted cabinets and new light fixture (can you see the brushed nickel outlets too?)

New Vanity, sink, faucet, rugs, & shower curtain

Bathroom

We redid our bathroom. I know people are waiting to see pics of before and after. It is going to take me a while to get them on here. So, if all goes as planned tomorrow, that is on my to-do-list. I have a mile long list so hopefully, I can get to all of it. Stay tuned they will be here soon.

Pay It Forward

Today I went shopping with Jamie. We went to the mall and spent about 5 hours there. Wyatt did very well considering the long amount of time we were there plus he hadn't had a nap. I tried not to overreact to him when he would get irritated. I even made him stay in the stroller the whole time as well. He does not listen too well in stores and runs around. After the mall we said goodbye and I was planning on just coming home. (I probably should have to get some things done around the house). But I had an hour before Oaklee needed to eat and I wanted to see if Maurices had anything cute. I have been struggling with the decision if I should buy some pants that fit me post pregnancy. I have tried on some of my bigger size pants and they still don't fit. I have been wearing my maternity pants still! I have been trying hard for 3 weeks now at dieting/exercising. Only 2 lbs has come off! I am trying not to get too depressed since it's only been 9 weeks since giving birth. But I am sick of wearing maternity jeans for some reason. So I headed to Maurice's and ended up finding 2 pairs of pants that I thought were cute and looked flattering on me. I had asked the worker if they had any sales on their pants. I wasn't going to get anything if they weren't. She told me that they only sale is 10% off your order if you provide an e-mail address. While I was checking out, I let Wyatt out to let him wander for a minute. Behind me in line was a lady in about her 50's. She looked liked she was a yuppy all decked out in cute clothes and petite. Here I am a freaking whale and this lady was an older laying buying cute little clothes. Anyway...so I was looking at jewelry and trying to get Wyatt to come with me. The worker started to ring up this older ladies clothes. Come to find out they were for her daughters-in-law. I went back to the checkout and the worker told this lady let me finish up her order. I told her since I wasn't completely ready to finish her up. I continued to look around since it wasn't my turn again. While I was looking the lady was asking the worker what coupons and discounts she could use. By this time Wyatt was screaming and I say under my breath this is what I get for shopping for 5 hours with a toddler. She overheard me and started trying to play with Wyatt and make him happy. The worker then told her what ones she could use. There was one that she couldn't use, a 15% off coupon. She asked the worker if I would be able to use it if she gave it to me. The lady turned to me and goes would you like this coupon. Did she even have to ask? Of course I took it. I thanked her over and over again and she goes that's for shopping 5 hours with your kids! I just thought that it was so sweet. Here when I first saw her, I judged her. Then turns out she was such a nice lady who played with my child and then offers me her 15% off coupon. The coupon didn't ever expire either so she could have used it whenever. So, my goal is to pay it forward. Hopefully, I can find someone to serve as she did me. I ended up getting a good deal on my pants. I opened a Maurices card to get discounts in the mail so I got 10% off for that, plus 10% for giving the e-mail address, and then her 15% off coupon. I saved $35 dollars!

P.S. Just because I bought bigger size jeans, DOES NOT mean that I am still not going to loose weight. I have to tell myself that I am not comfortable with this weight. I just wanted something to feel decent in when I go out. I want to look cute when I go out especially since I am trying my hardest at loosing this weight and it's taking longer than thought!

STATS

I just wanted to jot this down. Just got back from the Dr. Here are Oaklee's 2 month stats (the percent is what percentile she is in compared to other babies):

Height: 22 inches 30%
Weight: 9 lbs 12 ounces 25%
Head Circumference: 37.5 cm 20%

So, she is pretty small for her age. She is realtively the same as Wyatt was at this age. I love being able to compare them. She is a little bigger with her weight, shorter, and smaller head.

Oaklee is 8 Weeks!

My my how time flies. My little boo is 8 weeks old already! I can't believe it's been that long. I know I posted about her last week, but 2 months is a milestone. She is starting to coo and "talk" a lot more. She does it mostly at night before she goes to bed. She is smiling a lot more too. She is still in newborn clothes. Some of that size is getting small but for the most part it still fits. The pants are perfect in her waist but a little short. So, I put a 0-3 size outfit on her the other day and it drownded her. It didn't even look somewhat cute cuz it was so so big. She is still eating 4 ounces. It seems like she should be eating more but she never even acts hungry for more. The past 3 nights she has gone 8 hours between feedings. She usually eats about 10:30 and hasn't woke up to eat until 6:30! I am one lucky momma. Still wishing it was my milk she was getting though. I get so jealous hearing new moms (like my friend Kendra, way to go) who can be first moms and breastfeeding. Props to all of them. I pray that someone out there knows what I am going through. So far, haven't found anyone in my boat. :( The outfit she is wearing in these pics is from Phyllis and Dana (Craig's mom and sister). It's one of my new favorites. It's a 0-3 month so it fits pretty dang good. But, it's from Old Navy and their stuff runs small. Anyway, I think I might go to Carters and Childrens Place this weekend and look for some dresses for her. That's all I have for now!!










I just had to throw this picture in. Wyatt is still in love with his kitties. He doesn't tote them around nearly as often, but since I have been going back to work I let him take one with him. He has death grip on them the whole time at the sitter's.

Children

I wanted to give an update on my cute cute kids! First I will start with Wyatt:

He is just about 3! I can't believe it. He loves watching movies. He is into really all movies. He has been into trains a lot in the last month. He wants one terribly (good thing his birthday is next month!). He loves Mickey Mouse and Buzz the most. He loves to help me around the house, he loves to help put laundry in the dryer, and help bathe Oaklee. He loves to be my side and wants me with him at all times. He loves corn dogs, hot dogs, hamburgers (er er ers is how he says it), coke, fries, waffles, pop tarts, peanut butter, and cheese! I am doing my best at teaching him colors, animals, & numbers. We have started a bedtime routine where I will read to him. This has helped a lot in him remembering things.

Oaklee is growing and growing so much every day. She is now 7 weeks as of yesterday. She loves milk!!! She is eating 4 ounces every 3 hours, except at night. She is sleeping 6 hours at night. She starting to coo and giving real smiles. She lets me dress her up and play dolly! She loves to be held and loves her swing. She is starting to know faces.

I love having these kids in my life and in our home. They make it so happy and pleasant. Not all the time, but mostly. Here are some pictures...and since I have to use the old editor, I can't place them where I want. So, they are here at the bottom.


Trying to Smile---7 weeks



My best attempt at catching her smile

Wyatt helping put the clothes in the dryer



Oaklee at 6 weeks

Oaklee not happy---6 weeks

Loves to take pictures