Christmas, Excuses, and more to come!

First off let me start by saying NO I didn't send out Christmas cards this year so don't think you got kicked off the list! I didn't do them for a number of reasons and here they are in no particular order.

Excuse #1: I am super lazy and never even thought about it until I started getting texts, calls, and e-mails asking where they were.

Excuse #2: I haven't gotten a new family pic yet because I have 4 inch roots and I am 9 months pregnant. Not about to walk into a photo shoot in this condition.

Excuse #3: and the last excuse that I can think of right now... I have to send out birth announcement in like less than a month so I am going to save on postage.

Well there you have it... NOW onto our exciting christmas events.

We stayed home this year because I can't travel and because it is so nice to do our own thing. I had big plans to cook a great meal on Christmas EVE but the night before our new little baby (in the womb) decided to kick my ribs out of place so I was/am no longer in any mood to cook; or move for that matter. Instead we went to my most favorite BBQ place called Dickey's and we had a great meal! We then came home and opened a present from Santa which were PJ's and a family game. The girls loved it and it was so cute to see how excited they were.

That night Shelby woke up at 12, 1, 3, 4, and finally at 5 Daddy went up there to tell her that Santa can't and won't show up until AFTER she goes to sleep! That ended the whole "has santa come?" Then on Christmas morning Jon and I finally went and woke the girls up at 9am. They were so excited that it took 45 min for them to even realize that there were stockings, things on the couch, or presents under the tree. We had a great time staying in our PJ's and playing with new toys all day long, I couldn't have asked for a better Christmas!

I am so grateful for my little family, I couldn't ask for a better husband he is the best Man I have ever known. He takes great care of me and our kids; I am so very blessed to have him in my life. I love my two little girls! They are so sweet and so hilarious. There isn't a day that goes by that they don't make me just crack up! I am so excited to have another little princess join our family soon and I feel so grateful that this pregnacy has gone so much smoother than the last. We have had so many ups and downs in the last couple years but we are definately ending this year on the up swing! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!

I have many more (Christmas type posts that I will hopefully get around to before the end of the year!)

Pumpkin patch

Yes I am well aware of how late this post is, but when I am pregnant it takes me longer than usual to accomplish anything especially now since I can barely waddle. This pumpkin patch is awesome, they have a huge bubble thing to jump on the corn box (where the girls spent 2 hrs), corn mazes, hay rides, tractor pulls, slides, pig races....you name it and this pumpkin patch has it. We went with some of our really good friends and managed to not get one single pic together (go figure). The girls had a blast and so did Jon and I once it warmed up a bit and we weren't so worried about hypothermia. These are our "halloween" pics because like the excellent mother that I am I forgot to even get my camera out on Halloween night! Maybe I will dress them up again soon and pretend... or maybe not????

Random days.

I feel like I haven't posted anything in so long so I decided to go through my pictures and just get random pictures and post them so these are from a couple of months. As you can see we play "dress up" a ton the girls are so into it that it just cracks me up. I am so lucky to be able to stay at home with my kids and be around for all of these "small moments". I enjoy playing with my kids everyday and I am blessed to have them in my home! LOVE THESE LITTLE CUTIES!!!!

Daddy Daughter Date!

This was way back in Aug. but I thought it was worth posting because Shelby is sort of obsessed with Daddy Daughter Dates. Jon took her up in the mountains and the were actaully scouting for deer before hunting season, but for Shelby it was just riding the 4-wheeler (super fast), hiking, throwing rocks, and just being with daddy. I feel that daddy daughter dates are a must in this day and age, plus I LOVED them when I was growing up; so I am glad that Jon agrees and takes our girls on little dates each month. Both girls love being with their dad and getting to talk to him about whatever they want.

Fancy Shelby turns 3!

Most of you know that on Oct. 5th Shelby turned 3. Since last year I was SO sick I felt like Shelby deserved to have a proper celebration for this birthday so I told her she could have a party. She insisted on having a "Fancy Nancy" party which for those of you with boys it is a little girl in a bunch of books who likes to dress, act, and talk "fancy". So we had a fancy Shelby party and she was so excited! Her friends all came dressed up and we ate some pizza, opened presents (she made out like a bandit!), and had cake and Ice cream. We had 30+ people and it was a great time to hang out with tons of friends. A few facts about Shelby:

LIKES: To read books, in fact we have to go to the library at least once a week so I don't go crazy reading those books over and over. Cartoons; Dora, Go Diego Go, word world, super why, and backyardigans. Tessa (her babysitter) Coloring, taking pictures, dress up is a new favorite (which she got tons of stuff for her b-day). Olive Garden, apple juice, going to wal-mart or Target, helping mom cook, imagination games outside, baths, and so much more. Shelby finds joy in everything we do and it is so fun to watch her enthusiasiam for life, it just makes me so happy!

DISLIKES: Performing of any kind, large groups, quite time without books, Libby stealing her toys or attention of her parents, sleeping in her bed (she ALWAYS falls asleep on the floor). Doing something/anything that wasn't her idea!

HAIR: Brown
EYES: Blue
WEIGHT: 32 lbs
HEIGHT: approx. 40 inches

Shelby is such a funny little girl, she is always saying things that crack me up. She is extremely smart and has started to read quite a few words and can even spell about 10 words. She often tells me that she is frustrated because she can't remember what the pages in her books say. I love being a mom and I love the life that they bring in our home. I am so proud of my little girl and all that she does. She is starting to be such a big helper and I can't tell you how grateful I am for her help since I am so exhausted most of the time. We love you Shelby and we are so glad you are in our family! Happy Birthday.

Ready or Not....

Okay so I have been in denial for long enough and it is finally time to realize that Jon and I really are going to be having a 3rd little girl sometime at the end of Jan or beginning of Feb. I have to be honest and say that I didn't believe it when I took the pregnancy test and as a result, I ended up taking several. After MANY tests I finally accepted the facts. Then just Friday when they told me at my 21 week ultrasound that it was yet another girl, I had the same denial type feeling come over me again! At least I won't have to do much to prepare for her because we already have all the girl stuff.
All I can say is that I have to trust in the Lord with this whole situation I was pretty certain that Jon and I were either done having children (given my last Pregnancy and all it's complications); or going to wait quite a while before having another one. Now we are going to have three all 3 and under which means we will have a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grader when they are older! I know I love my girls so this one will not be any different, but I am really scared about have them all so close. I am grateful for my little miracle babies and I hope I can be a good mom to all of them no matter how many or how close they come.

Happy Birthday Libby!

I can't believe my baby is 1!! We couldn't get her away from her new slide to sing happy birthday to so we just brought the cake to her. She dug right in and enjoyed every bit of it except for the part when it was all gone. I love the pictures when she just breaks down, I am not sure if it is because the cake is gone or the fact that it was an ice cream cake and her hands were frozen??? Not sure we will ever really know.

Libby's 1st year

Libby has been such a joy to have in our lives! It was a hard road to get her here and we know how blessed we are to have been able to have a healthy baby given all that we went through. She is definately a fighter and our little miracle baby. This year has gone by so fast and I can't even imagine life without her. She is a beauty, in fact every time we go ANYWHERE we get stopped by tons of people who just think she is the cutest baby with the most amazing eyes.

Eyes: Bright Blue

Hair: Dark Brown

Weight: 21 lbs

Height: 32 inches

Teeth: 3 that are fully in and 3 more starting to poke through

Likes: Any food she can get her hands on, toys that make loud noises, her sister Shelby!!!!, Crawling, going places, hiking, her walker, riding the 4 wheeler with dad, getting into things she shouldn't, trying to walk, making messes, dancing whenever there is music playing, naps, baths, and when daddy gets home from work!

Dislikes: getting her face wiped, reading, when you tell her to stop when she doesn't want to, and getting her bum changed.

Things I can do: crawl, say momma, dadda, bye-bye, goodnight, and hi. Pull myself up on furniture, climb stairs, dance, throw a ball (pretty good too), sign (more, eat, and all done), clap, and wave.

Libby thanks for being such a great daughter and sister! We sure love having you in our family and the joy you bring to our home. Your smile can brighten anyones day and you are probably the happiest baby I have ever seen. I love your talking and how you will just wait until strangers notice you and give them a HUGE smile that would make anyones day. Happy 1st Birthday. We love you!!

My girls

O' my dear Libby! This little girl is so stinking cute, but she is WAY into everything. Shelby was the kind of baby that NEVER opened any kitchen cabinets or got into anything except her own baskets of toys, but Libby finds great joy in destruction!!! This is her in our pantry just loving taking everything off the shelves. This group of pictures are not the "worst" of her pantry disasters, but all the others required some quick clean up. My favorite was when she somehow got the lid off of the White Vinegar and poured it everywhere and then gleefully splashed around in it! (at least my wood floors were super clean after that!)

See the utter joy on her face!

Here is Shelby trying to clean up all that Libby has done (she is a clean freak just like her mom!)

Libby leaving the scene as if she has no idea what just happened and her big sister back in the background trying to cover her tracks. (what mom???)

This smile is her thinking she just got away with something!

Next is one of my favorite Moments of Shelby in the last couple weeks!

I come up the stairs to get her from her nap and I open the door to find this scene along with a very naked 2 year old. I can't stop laughing and I ask her "what are you doing?" Her response is priceless... "Mom, I am just finishing hanging up all my laundry!" So I take a picture or two and then start to take down the "laundry" to get her dressed and she yells at me "Mom, you are messing up all the hard work that I just did!!!" Not sure where she has heard that, but I can't argue with her logic.

I sure love my girls and all the funny things that they say and do, they keep me on my toes and ensure I laugh at least 120 times a day!

She's a big girl now

This post is about a month late, but hey that is usually how my life goes right now so here we go. When the girls and I got back from St. George we decided that it was time to get rid of the paci for Shelby (finally! we tried when we first moved her, but we all know that would just have been evil since I was in the hospital for so long), put her in a twin size bed instead of a toddler bed (since she was to long for it), and the dreaded Potty training. Well let me just start off by saying that she is a CHAMP, because all of these things went so smooth that even I was surprised at how well she did.

With the paci's I had gotten an idea from a $1.00 kids book to "mail" the paci's to babies that need them. So that is what we did! We put all of her paci's in a huge manela envelope and wrote a letter to the babies saying that she hoped they would like them and that she was big now so she didn't need them anymore. In return the babies would send her a jump house when they knew that she was a big girl and could sleep in her big bed without paci's. This worked like a charm since she has ALWAYS wanted a jump house and we had to wait for it to be shipped anyway. It was pretty hilarious because if she was crying in bed we would just tell her that the babies wouldn't send the jump house until they knew she could sleep good. This would always shut her up no matter how worked up she was. Needless to say she is happy to have a jump house and could care less that she doesn't have any paci's anymore.

Her big girl bed was no problem at all, she loves to climb up in it and she loves having sheets with covers that she calls "her tent". Almost every night when we check on her she is completly under the covers because she likes her tent so much.

As for the potty training this was soooo much easier than I thought it was going to be. My sister Jamie sent me a method called 3 day potty training and it totally worked for Shelby. She had about 20 accidents on the first day and only 1 on the second day and none on the third. She still wets the bed about 1 time a week, but it usually is my fault because we ate dinner too late so she drank too much before bed. She loves to pick out which panties she is going to wear for the day and it is so cute to see her little bum in a swimsuit without a huge soggy diaper. I don't really have any pics of her with her panties so you will just have to know that she is potty trained and now has no more diapers. It is crazy to me how fast she is growing up, but I just love being her mom and seeing all of her changes and how proud of herself that she is. GOOD JOB SHELBY! We sure love our Big Girl!

My favorite Moments!

Have you ever noticed that sometimes the best moments in life are the unscriped and undocumented ones? About 2 weeks ago we potty trained Shelby (details to come later) and so we were stuck at home for the weekend. We had so much fun just being our little family and being home alone. I was cleaning up the house and saw this precious moment and thought to myself "this is what it is all about, this is what makes every trial, hard time, frustration, and bad day worth living." These are my favorite moments! I think sometimes I get so caught up in life that I forget to make sure that I am living. I am so grateful for such a wonderful husband and such sweet little girls, I really am blessed.

lots of traveling

Last month was a little crazy at our house because we were constatly leaving town. We first went to Idaho Falls for a weekend to spend some time with Jon's family. We had some great meals and a fun time at the Zoo (I forgot my camera, I'll have to get pics from my Father-in-law). We got to see all the aunts, uncles, cousins, and Grandpa Wirkus. This was the only pic that I was able to take. which by the way was difficult to get everyone or anyone for that matter to look at me!Jon's parents were SO nice to watch our girls on Friday night so we could have an anniversary date; we ate at Cafe Rio' and then saw the movie "Ghosts of Girlfriends past" (really cute). I also got to spend some time with Heidi as we bought our New York tickets and figured out our shows, which have changed a little from my previous post. All in all it was so much fun and the girls did great in the car minus the blow out, spilled formula, throw up, and scratched up hands at the rest area where we were trying to fix all the previously mentioned items.

The next weekend we went to Salt Lake for a wedding of a great family friends. We stopped to see some of our very best dental school buddies Brooke and Darren and it was so much fun letting the kids play and catching up on things, even though we talk all the time it was nice to see them in person. Rylee, Libby, Logan, and Shelby outside of Mimi's cafe in Salt Lake area.

This trip went even smoother and we were able to meet my parents there and stay at the same hotel which was so fun. After the wedding the girls and I hitched a ride to St. George to spend 11 days with the family and cousins. Poor Jon got very lonely and bored, but at least it was quiet...right? We had so much fun swimming every day, going to "what women want" this is a huge convention that has tons of booths set up with things that women would want (purses, bows, hats, shoes, jewlery, photography, books, diet things, etc) SO FUN!!! Shopping and crafting.

Shelby was so excited because she got to have her 1st sleepover with her cousin Kallie (Jamie's little girl) and they had a blast doing girly things. Jamie and I had a blast to because we NEVER get to just talk without interruptions anymore! Then a couple nights later we got to do it again but Matt's wife Haley and their little girl Macey got to come too so Libby had a little cousin. We crafted until who knows what time and the next day we paid for it, but I loved every second of it. p.s. thanks for teaching me how to do the watch bands "for real" this time and all the other things too. Here are some pics of all the cousin time. We also had some movie nights so Shelby and her cousins could eat popcorn and watch movies. Unfortunatley I forgot my camera both times we were with Jamie's family so they got kinda let out of the pics. SAD!!!

Cru, Shelby, and Treyson hanging out at Grandma's house the first night that we were there. They were all so excited to see each other!

Cru and Shelby eat root beer popsicles. These two are 6 days apart and are the best of friends when they see each other. ADORABLE!

Treyson, Shelby, and Cru for movie night. they are cheesin' it up for me obviouisly.

Grandpa and Shelby watching cartoons together. Since Grandpa actually had to kinda raise Shelby alone for a couple weeks these two have a very special bond with each other.

Koda and Treyson doing something that Grandma didn't want them too. climbing down the hill between the two houses.

Grandma and Shelby eating on the front porch after swimming. These two are so fun to watch.

Aunt Haley and Macey after swimming!

Macey is stoked to have her picture taken... Right?

Treyson being a big helper when the wind blew our napkins out the gate!

Here is Macey's back, Aunt Jamie, Kallie, Uncle Matt, Treyson, Kaden, and Shelby. Sorry it's the best we could do.

Me and Shelby (libby is almost always in bed when the camera comes out so in my defense she was there just sleepy.)

Cruey Louie

Kole, Treyson, Macey, Libby, Kaden, Shelby, Cru, and Kallie the only one missing is Koda because he was in Vegas with his daddy. I didn't think Jamie would like Kallie's face so I posted two pics with everyone looking cute in at least one of them.

The grandkids again!

Kole 1, Libby 9 months, and Macey 1

Shelby got really confortable in the water! this is her waiting to be taken to the shower.

While I was there one of my life long friends Paige Warthen came up to visit me! It was so nice to visit with her and we remembered at 1 am to take a pic so here we are tired, but proof we saw each other.

I braved the airplane with both girls by myself from Vegas which actaully went pretty smooth because they gave my mom security clearance to help me on the plane. Without her help I think I would have had a nervous breakdown since they make you take your kids out of strollers, carseats, etc and make you take their shoes off, fold the strollers up and put them on the belt, as well as the car seats and anything else you have (NIGHTMARE!) but with my mom it wasn't all that bad. My girls were angels on the plane, Libby slept and Shelby talked to anyone who would talk to her and got lots of treats from the flight attendants.

This was a much needed vacation, but I have to say it is good to be home!! We all missed daddy a ton.