I'm Thankful For......

With Thanksgiving being tomorrow, I just thought I'd write about a few things that I'm thankful for. First, today, I'm very thankful for kids that sleep in until at least 8:30 every day.

For my beautiful home and a husband that worked so hard for so long to make it so beautiful.

For Daisy - she's such a good dog!

Mya, for drinking her bottle propped up on the couch so that I can deal with Lo.

A toy room - need I say more?

My job - I really am lucky to have such a great job that still allows me to be a "stay at home" mom. My friends, they stick around through everything, and even though most of them I don't see more than once a month, I know they will be there for me whenever I need them.

GNO - I'd die without my monthly GNO!!

The Twilight movie for coming out at midnight and making me feel "young and crazy" for going when I'd been up since 3:30 that morning.

Snug-a-bug time with Mya during Lo's naps.

Naptime (for kids and moms).

Our families - we are so lucky to have so much support, and they all help us and love us so much. Blogging - for giving me an outlet.

My ward - we've only been here a short time, but already feel so welcome.

Facebook, yes Facebook, for helping me reconnect with people that I'd all but forgotten about.

Lauren for letting me love and kiss her constantly throughout the day.

Mya for having huge cheeks that are irresistible.

My nephews for reminding me how much fun/destructive little boys are.

My nieces for just being so sweet and making Lauren feel like a big girl.

For being LDS and being able to stay grounded through my faith.

For Christ and the Atonement.

My 2 girls for being the greatest blessings one could ever ask for.

And of course Bryan, for being the best husband to me and father to our girls. He helps me out so much, and he loves me unconditionally. He's always quick to make me laugh. He helps me to remember that I'm not just a mom. He's my partner, and my best friend, and I love him more every day.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!

One of Those Days

I guess I'm just having "one of those days" today. One of those days where you just want to squeeze your kids until they burst because you love them so much.

Lauren picked out her outfit today, which is a dress over a pair of jeans. It got me thinking about how independent and stubborn she is, and how that's not necessarily a bad thing. She's just getting so big, and so smart. She's forming these huge sentences, and making choices - things that you don't really think about until you stop and think about it. I'm sitting here watching her watch Shrek and play with toys in unconventional ways, and I have the overwhelming feeling that I need to just treasure this, because before I know it, she's going to be off to school, and things like Shrek aren't going to be fun for her anymore. She won't dance to every song that comes on, and say "I love you, too" when I say "Guess what". When I ask her if she wants to get out of the tub long after the water's gone, she's not going to say "I want to stay & play". She's not going to ask to snuggle Mommy right after her nap when she's still kind of groggy. She's not going to follow me around the house, being my shadow, and saying "Mommy, I wanna come wif you". I fear that too soon are going to be the days of "I hate you" and "leave me alone".

So for today, I'm going to watch Lauren watch Shrek, and snuggle her a little tighter after her nap, and give her an extra kiss when she goes to bed tonight. Because tomorrow might be a different "one of those days" where it makes it harder to think of things with this kind of perspective.

Thanks Carrie!!

I got this idea from my cousin, Carrie. She just had a baby and put baby pictures of all 3 of her kids together when they were newborns so you can see who the new baby (Nora) looks like. So I've now decided to steal this cute idea, because people are always asking me if Mya looks like Lauren.

I didn't put on newborn pictures, because since Lauren was so tiny, it took a while for her to really grow into herself.

This is Lauren at I think 2 or 3 months old.

And this is Mya at about 3 months - the picture could be better, but you can see how similar they look. They both have the same big, blue eyes, but they're shapded differently - Mya's are more almond shaped. They definitely have different hair (what little hair they have), and I think their head shapes are different, too. I think Mya looks a little more like Bryan, and Lo looks more like me. Either way, they're both adorable!!!

Baby Mya

Just thought I'd throw this new picture of Mya on. I can't believe she's 3 months now!! She talks (jabbers and gurgles) like crazy, and she's just getting cuter and cuter every day! Oh, and her cheeks just keep getting bigger and bigger, too. I think some day they will just pop.

Things I "Happened Upon" Today

I went in Mya's room to check on her, and this is what I found. Apparently having her hood covering half her face doesn't bug her. I don't care, because she's sleeping, and that is fabulous.

I found this on my couch. It's a bunch of stuff from Lauren's bed. I asked her what it is, and she told me it's "all the stuff". It consists of the frog pillow, pink B, pink and lallow B, flutterfly B (her 3 favorite blankets), 2 naked babies, the pink baby, and somewhere in there is her dolly and a moose. These are all their proper names, by the way. Kids are so cute.

Back to Work

Wondering what this picture is of? It's looking into my new home office. This is what Bryan can do in about 10 hours - build an office!! Just wanted to show everyone where I will be spending 36 hours of my weeks starting last Thursday :(.

Actually, it feels kind of good to be thinking about something other than feeding times and grocery lists. I get to use my brain again, yeah!!!!! And I know that I'm so lucky to be working here in my jammies instead of fighting the traffice every day - I really do love my job!

Bonding

This is just a cute little picture of Lauren and my sister, McKell. My sister was awesome enough to babysit the girls while Bryan and I went to the METALLICA concert on Monday (which was awesome, by the way). Anyway, looks like Lo had fun bonding with her Aunt Mickey!

First Year Trick or Treating!!!

Lo and Daddy on their way to the first house across the circle while I stayed home to hand out candy to the million kids that came by. We ran out and had to have my brother pick some up on his way to our house.

Bryan said that she just talked the entire time about pumpkins, and candy, and trick or treating, and that she would say "trick or treat" and then when they gave her candy she would say "thanks, I love you too". Apparently everyone got a big kick out of that.

Mya was a ladybug, and she actually did pretty well in her costume, she just slept all night all snuggled in it.
A better picture of Lauren as an elephant, and of course, Mya is just snoozin. Lo walked the whole time, and they were gone for an hour and a half, but Bryan said it was painfully slow. When they got back, she was so excited to open all of her candy, she would open one, take a bite, give it to me, and move on to the next one.
My brother, Andy and his wife Heidi and their kids came over, and Greg and Jess. It was the first night that we actually stayed home all night for Halloween, so it was kind of weird, but we had a lot of fun, and I'm sure next year will be even funner with Mya being a little older!

Pumpkin Carving

We got together with Bryan's family at Shara's house on the 30th and did a little pumpkin carving.

Here's Brock with his 2 pumpkins - he told Becky that he really wanted to carve Star Scream from Transformers into a pumpkin. Sadly, none of us were talented enough to do it, but he did seem to like the classic "triangle eyes, triangle nose, and crooked mouth with a tooth" method.

Annie, Shawna, Becky, and Brock carvin' away.
Lolo is stabbing the pumpkin. I'm not sure if that's a very good idea or not.