Twas the night before Christmas .....

It is currently 4:30 am on Christmas morning and I am WIDE awake.

My body is pre-conditioned for NO SLEEP on Christmas Eve. All my life, my brothers and sister and I would wake up super early Christmas morning to sneak down to the living room to check out the presents and try to guess what eachother has, even though we arent supposed to touch the gifts until my parents get there. From those years of waking up early Christmas morning (and by early I mean like 2 or 3) my body just will not sleep, I have been up all night.

Only problem is, this is the first Christmas of my WHOLE LIFE when I was not sleeping at my parents house Christmas night. I mean, how will Santa even find me????????

So here I am awake by my self, with no one to giggle or sneak around with because everyone is over at my parents house, and Davis is fast asleep. It's ok though, I can wake up Davis at 5 am, and we are going over to the Smith house later on this morning to see Aaron off for Winnipeg.

So until I have someone else to get excited with, let me just silently scream to all of you!!

ITS CHRISTMAS !!!!! SANTA WAS HERE, SANTA WAS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today I wore maternity pants ......

They are just as awesome as I remember.

I love my 'stretchy-pants'

YIPEEEE

I think Davis must have read my mind!!!!

Our spare room is sort of Davis' study room/office ... /spare bedroom for visitors/Kaileys toy room/ room for things that we don't know where else they should go/ cluttered and disorganized.

SOOOO on a most recent visit from someone from Ontario, we cleaned out Kaileys toys and some clutter from that wonderful room and it looked so wonderful all clean and emptyed out. He mentioned something along the lines of getting a desk for my computer and leaving it in that room ( Kailey currently attacks my laptop when ever it is out, because its current living space is our couch) as he was talking about that I thought!!!! forget the computer, I want a craft table!!!!

So now I am looking for a table (which I think my parents have about 7 in the basement collecting dust) and most importantly looking for some ideas on cute shelves or desk organizers or something like that.

Im so excited, I don't think Davis knows what he just got himself into, because now he has to share his "office" with me!!!

If anyone out there knows of some cute ideas or stuff you like, let me know!!!

Sleepless in ..... cole harbour

This used to be me ......... ...........

I used to be able to sleep like this.

Anywhere, any time, any position or amount of noise.

I think I got it from being a flight attendant, doing crazy night flights, and long long long flights, I had to be able to sleep anywhere and weird hours, in weird places (including in the galley of the plane)

Davis would get so frustrated when we would get in bed at night and 2 minutes later I was fast asleep, and out cold all night. Or if we were watching a movie together and I would fall asleep 10 minutes into the movie and then he was stuck watching it alone. poor Davis.

Since those days, I have gone soft.

It started with being pregnant with Kailey, she kicked me all night long and I couldnt sleep. Then came the no sleep nights of her waking up all the time. Even after she started sleeping better, I seemed to wake up alot at night ... no idea why, AND it would take me alot longer to fall asleep.

Now that I am preggo again, I can't seem to turn my brain off long enough to fall asleep. I am also having weird messed up dreams that wake me up and keep me up thinking about how weird they were.

So now I am the one laying in bed awake while I listen to Davis sleeping peacefully.

Does anyone have any tips that actually work to help me sleep?????? HELP!

Other than that pregnancy is going well. The tummy is starting to poke its way out further and further all the time, it might be time to dig out the maternity wear, because even my fat pants are starting to feel a little snug, and I can't just wear pjs ALL the time (as much as I want to)

I should be about 3 months now. 6 more to go!!!

As I went through my remembrance day today, it feels alot differant than last year.
I have always felt sad about that young people that have died at war, I read their stories on the news, I see their pictures, and probably like most of you, continue on with my day. Grateful for their service and sacrifice, but nonetheless I continue on with my day.
A few months ago, my little brother Peter signed him self up for the Canadian Military. He is currently in basic training in Quebec.
.
Now when I see those pictures on the news I find it a little harder to just continue on with my day.
I find it hard to hold back the tears, not because I am afraid for Peter (I might be alittle bit) but because those wonderful people are loved by parents, siblings, friends, spouses, children.
Now when I see those pictures, I feel a small taste of their pain, and I hope I never have to taste all of it.
.
This year I have remembered, a little bit more than usual, the sacrifice that was made, and the sacrifice that is being made today as I sit here in the comfort of my safe, warm home.

To them I say Thank-you.

To my brother I say, I love you, and thank-you for being willing to make that sacrifice.

Halloween and the Flu .... oooo which is scarier????

Well, the week leading up to Halloween Kailey came down with the flu ... just regular flu stuff, fever, coughing, vomitting ( I can't tell you how many vomit loads of laundry I did that week, I stopped counting after 5 or 6) after she had been like this for 3 days we took her into see our family doctor who told us she could very well have the dreaded swine flu and we could take her into the IWK if we wanted to, or just take her home and take care of her there. I choose to take care of her at home. So he told us to watch for her breathing really carefully, if she had any trouble breathing, we were to take her to the IWK, OR if she was still feeling just as crappy after 24 hours we should take her in and get some tamiflu.
Anyway long story short she sort of got worse in terms of her mood the next day so we took her in to the IWK (doctors orders) and they told us what we allready knew ...

"yep, she has the flu" ... (gee thanks ) "take her back home and keep an eye on her breathing" (again, thanks....)


SO anyway, you may be wondering why I am telling you this.

BECAUSE ... I have been noticing alot of "fear mongering" going on in the media, and while I know that the swine flu has been very serious for alot of people, I think they are trying to scare people a little TOO much. I heard people saying things like;
"if you think you have the flu you should seek immediate medical attention"
..
I really don't think that is nessisary.
They will tell you the same thing they told us (this is the point of this story, so that you dont go and wait in the hospital emergency room for 4 hours)

- If you have the flu, stay home, get some rest.
-If you have trouble breathing, THEN go and call your doctor.

When we were at the IWK, we talked to sooo many parents who were FREAKING out about their kid having a COUGH, it's a cough people, calm down!!!! meanwhile the hospital has Actual patients who ARE sick and could use a nurse or doctor, but they are all busy with these lunatics.

wooooo anyway, moral of the story, relax everyone, it's going to be ok.




so on to Halloween.



Kailey still being sick, and me coming down with a cough myself, we thought trick or treating wouldnt be a great idea... so we raided our storage room and got dressed up and had a party at our house. It was way more fun anyway.




This is the pumpkin we carved ... Kailey kept going up to it all day repeating and pointing out his " eeeeyyyyyyeeeessss .... noooooooooooooose .......... moup (thats how she says mouth)

Flu and all, the angel got some flying lessons ....

Anyway we had a fun Halloween, we have a TON of left over candy (anyone want some?)

I was so surprised by all the kids who DID NOT say "trick or treat" what is wrong with those kids??? they just opened up their bags and looked at us..... ??? what the?

And there were an awful lot of "kids" who were probably about 15 or more, who did not even have costumes on!!!!

What is the world coming to??????

This post sounds a little cranky.... sorry guys. I will blame it on prego hormones.

Let's jump back a month, shall we?

Well, first of all let me just say that even though Davis really doesn't like selling security systems door to door every summer, and I really hate moving all over the county every summer, the job really has it's perks and I will REALLY miss them when we don't get them anymore.
This summer Davis earned not one, but TWO trips!!!!! The best is the week long all-inclusive of our choice and the second was a weekend get away, which we took with the two pretty people pictured below. Yes, Nathan and Caverly, and oh how I love them both.

We went to Orlando, and we had a fan-tabulous time.


This will be the readers digest version, of the summary of our trip because, A- I am pregnant and tired, and B- I lack the motivation right now to sit here and type all of the wonderful things that we did. Even though, let me tell you there were ALOT.

We only had a weekend there so we spent the first day at the wet n' wild water park. I highly highly recommend it to anyone who goes to orlando. It was a BLAST!!!!! We had sooooo much fun there that I really don't know how we kept Davis from not going there again the 2nd day also.

After a long busy day at the waterpark we went for couples massages at the water house day spa .... aaaahhhhhhhhh ....... so so so great in every way possible!!!!!!

Our second, and sadly, last day in Orlando we went to Disney World, and it was awesome. We went to animal kingdom because pregnant ladies aren't allowed on roller coasters so we thought there would be alot there that I could do also. It was great and I loved it, sadly I think I got a little cranky in the after noon because it was HOT. I don't do well in the heat, and I felt like I was melting ... anyway, I will blame it on the pregnancy.

Long story short, we had a great time and we are so glad that we got to go with Nathan and Cav. We like them alot.

So that is the post that I should have written about a month ago .... but didn't .

Right now in our lives, Davis is doing mid-term exams so he is studying ALOT. I see him when he comes out of the room (which is deamed his office) to get food, and when he crawls into bed at who knows what time. Other than that he is like a ghost in the closet, I think kailey is starting to wonder where he is. Oh how we love school.

I am feeling pretty good, although very tired and worn out all the time. But I really won't complain about that because it beats worshiping the porceline idol all day every day. I should be about 9 weeks now, and my skin is looking like I'm 13...... it's really frustrating.

Kailey is doing pretty good, she is allergic to something and we can't figure out what it is. She has been breaking out in hives almost everyday for the past few weeks.... and I cannot figure out what it is that is causing it. There is nothing new that she is eating or doing so I am stumped. My doctor wants to leave it for a couple more weeks to see if we can figure it out, OR, if it will clear up on it's own, and then after that she will go in for allergy testing. Boooooooourns.

Anyway... thats my story for the day.

Good night.

Baby Podeszwa #2

Well Baby Podeszwa #2 is on the way!

I am about 8 weeks along so far, and so far I am feeling good. I haven't thrown up yet (knock on wood) I feel pretty nauseous sometimes and I have NO ENERGY, but otherwise I am feeling pretty good. Due date so far is May 8th, but if this kid is anything like Kailey, I won't be holding my breath until 2 weeks later.

Anyway I just put Kailey to bed and I am pooped out but I had to come on here and announce this news to whoever still reads this blog!

Alot has happened since I last posted anything, we moved back from Edmonton, and its great to be home! Davis is back in school for his 3rd year, I am working in the primary in the cole harbour ward, we went to Orlando with Nathan and Caverly.... but I lack the motivation right now to talk about those things...... maybe I can do it next time.

Good night!

Mother knows best

Well I hate to admit it, but my Mother was right ... again.

(this is a follow-up to my last post, so if you are confused ... just scroll down)

Why fight a kids nature? Kailey has always been a bit of a grazer. Even when she was a new born, she never really sat for long nursing sessions every 4 hours like every other baby. She was more of a short drink every 2 or 3 hours. My dear Mom suggested not to fight that in her because it is probably a losing battle. So she suggested instead of trying to force her to sit down for 3 meals and 2 snacks, just stick to sitting at the table for 2 meals, and in between make up a plate full of yummy healthy snacks and leave it out for her. When she is hungry she will walk by and eat some and then keep going.

So since my last post, I have been trying that. I get her to sit for breakfast and supper, but in between I make up a plate of random things (ie. crackers, cheese, apple slices, grapes, sandwich squares etc etc) and leave it down for her. Gradually over the course of the afternoon it slowly disapears and she is much happier to be free of the prison which is her high chair, and I am much happier to not have to go through WW3 at every meal.

It is still very difficult for me though, yesterday she hardly ate anything all day, and she woke up EARLY this morning absolutley starving.... but I am sure she will eventually grasp that the food is there for her when she wants it. She is just far too busy and active to realize that she is hungry.

ANYWAY, moms always know best. Thanks for your encouragement on the last post!

My crazy monkey ... I kinda like her.

Apologies and Confessions

Well lets start with the apology. I suck at blogging, we all know this by now. I would be surprised if anyone still reads my pathetic excuse for a blog. I'm sorry guys, maybe someday I will catch up to you, but for now please love me for the crappy blogger that I am.

Next up, I was reading Kristis recent blog about the amount of TV that goes on (which i completley understand). The amount of feed-back and ideas that she got has inspired me to make a confession of my own in the hopes of getting some ideas from my fellow mommies out there.
I have a picky eater, and I have indulged her picky ways for far too long. The worst of it was to allow her to watch TV while I fed her so that she would be distracted enough that I could shove some food into her mouth before she realized what I was doing. I have decided in the last month that i will no longer allow tv and food to be together. So here is the situation, Kailey is not only a picky eater, she is far too busy to sit still long enough to eat anything. WHen she does get hungry enough to sit and eat she is VERY independant and will not let me feed her, she has to do it herself .... meaning, she feeds the floor.

So to the moms of picky eaters everywhere... any ideas?????

Stilettos

Today I fell down the stairs outside our apartment.
.
Not nice soft carpeted stairs, but hard wooden dirty stairs.
.
I am not sure how it happened, or why, but I fell, and it hurt.
.
But I have been in worse pain so its ok.I was holding Kailey and I dont know how I didnt drop her when I fell, but she didnt fall, and that makes me happy. As I was stuck in a very painful and awkward position on the stair case, still holding Kailey in one arm and trying to hold on to the wall with the other, the first thought that came to my mind was not 'ouch that hurt' or even 'geesh i really need to stand up because my skirt is up to my waist and our neighbor can definetly see my under-wear' no .... no .... my first thought was .....
.
" I hope I didnt break my shoe"
.
They are tan colored peep-toed stiletos and I love them. I still wore them to church today, I think they matched my purple and red swollen leg very well. Thats why I love them so much, they go with everything.

BZZ Agent - take one

So, I don't know where I first heard about this company called Bzz Agent, but however it happened I joined this on-line group that recieves free products in the mail and we then are supposed to spread word of mouth advertising for them.

The first product that I got from them was from Beech Nut, which is a baby and toddler food company. They sent me a TON of toddler snacks; little yogurt covered bites, 7-grain nibblets, and bisquits. So far Kailey really likes them, especially the yougurt covered bites!

Kailey isnt really a picky eater, but she isnt at all interested in eating, so to have something that she will actually go and ask for is great because it keeps her occupied in the car, or at church, or at the store .... ... you guys know how it is... ;)

Anyway so the picture up there is the HUGE amount of stuff that they sent to me. Un-opened it is good for a year (great for food storage!!!) and there are no artificial preservatives, flavorings or colourings etc. They are low on sodium and sugars aswell so long story short if you are looking for a treat for your toddler I would recommend these to you.... especially the yogurt ones ( I may have eaten a few myself ... they are really good .... shhhhhh )

Easter Weekend

Well, all of these pictures and more are allready up on face book, so feel free to go there and see our whole Easter weekend festivities.

My cousin Julia helped me out big time again in making Kailey a special Easter dress! I am making good use of the fabricville membership these days, and I am thinking that I really need to get a sewing machine ... but then again I really like going out to Julias house to use all her fancy equipment, and I like having her there to answer my questions .... AND she is good company, so maybe I should'nt get a machine after all.

I couldnt help myself one day looking at kaileys cute little toes. I was doing my own nails and she was trying to grab at the bottle of nail polish, so I sat her down beside me and did her toes too. She was so shocked that she sat very still the whole time. It has been 2 weeks almost now and she still points and smiles at her pink toes. She is Mamas girl after all!!!

Also on our Easter weekend I made some treats that we used to make at home when we were little. I made up a big batch one day and we brought some to our neighbours on Good Friday. We really are trying to get to know our neighbours, they are really nice as far as we can tell and we are sad that we wont be here in the summer to get to know them better.



I guess I should have put this picture up by the other one of the dress, but I bought this little tag at fabricville, and sewed it into the back of the dress. I like making stuff for Kailey that is differant from everyone elses stuff. Who wants to be wearing the same thing as everyone else? how embarrassing, right??

Anyway Easter was great, Kailey was all excited about the chocolate trail that she discovered outside her door, and she followed it all the way to the pile of goodies in the living room. The bowl of chocolate was sitting on the table for a day or two and everytime she saw it all she would say was " OOOoooooOOOOooooo" and point at it, smiling so sweetly at me as if to say, " Mama do you love me enough to give me just one more candy?"

Other than the commercial side of Easter, the real side of Easter was definetly on my mind while I was remembering Elder Hollands talk from General Conferance. He did what He did for us purley out of love and compassion and mercy and He did it completley alone. I think back to the times in my life when I have felt alone, and they are some of the most horrible memories i can think of, and even then I wasnt really alone. He truly had to bear more than we can imagine and I love Him for it.

Anyway Davis is deep in Exam mode the last few weeks, I am spring cleaning and getting things ready to go out west yet again. Davis leaves a week from today and Kailey and I are leaving the day after Stake Conferance. We are looking forward to another great summer, but we will definetly miss our house, family and ocean again.

Is it too early to start a count down for when we come home???

Leslie made me do it ....

I was told by Leslie that I had to do another blog about Kaileys birthday and about Cuba ... Cuba will take a while, sorry Leslie. Here is the princess' birthday summary.

She is generally in a good mood most of the time anyway, but on her birthday she was especially excited, she knew something was differant about that day. She got her special "Birthday Girl" badge and wore it with pride to church. As Kathy Nelson can probably tell you, she was waving at everyone and laughing alot more than normal in sacrament meeting. She was quite proud of herself all day long.

Her Party was fun, we were going to do a big huge thing and invite over everyone we knew that had kids, but we decided that maybe she would get alittle overwhelmed and that would get alittle too crazy, so we just invited over the immediate family because they are the people that she loves the most anyway.

She was LOVING all the new books and toys, and her new kiddie lap-top from my parents, she barley knew what to do with herself, she is still excited about the pile of new stuff that is still sitting in the living room.

Am I allowed to still call her a baby or is she officially a toddler now ? She thinks she is 25 and totally proud of herself at all times. Funny Funny Funny kid, a total entertainer to the last drop. The only times when she really lets herself be a baby is when I cuddle with her before she goes to bed, I dont know when that will stop, but it will be a sad day for me I think.

Anyway her birthday was great, we all had a wonderful day

stay tuned for Cuba Leslie, its coming ..... someday .....

One year of being a Mama .....

- Mother-hood has sucked the selfishness right out of me, she always comes first and always will.

- Mother-hood has taught me what Christ-like love is, I will always love her and die for her no matter what she does or doesnt do.
- Mother-hood has taught me gratitude, I am gratful for every moment with her.
- Mother-hood has taught me patience, I am far more patient than I thought I was, but I have also learned that I have a limit.
- Mother-hood has taught me to prioritize, reading books comes before dishes. Playing games comes before laundry, singing songs comes before cleaning the bathroom. House work will ALWAYS be there to do, kailey will only have a childhood one time, I am determined to take advantage of every moment with her.
- Mother-hood has taught me that I can do a surprising amount of things while holding a baby in one arm, that list currently includes things like, brushing my teeth, doing my hair and make-up, making dinner, cleaning the house, grocery shopping, folding a doing laundry ... the list grows everyday
- Mother-hood has taught me to watch myself, Kailey watches and copies everything I do. It is for this reason that I want to always be calm and happy around her so that she will be aswell.
- Mother-hood has taught me how important the gospel really is. It takes a village to raise a child, I would rather she be raised in a village of love and support and faith, than in the world where greed, selfishness and hatred are free.
- I have learned more about myself this past year than I knew in the past 24 previous years, how can I love such a tiny thing so much? How can I be so interested in the little things she does? How can I totally forget anything of myself and be so focused on her every whim ... yet I am happier than i ever have been?

She has been my greatest teacher so far in life. there are so many other lessons that I have learned and many more that I am learning everyday. I am so glad that she chose to come and be in my family, and I pray everyday that I am worthy to be her Mommy.

xo xo xo I love you Birthday girl xo xo xo

I have largely ignored my creative side over the past few years, so recently I decided to get back intouch with her and see if she was still kicking around. I dont know if she is or not, but I somehow got the great idea to make an entire new set for Kaileys room. ... Really I dont know what I was thinking but it seemed like a good idea when I started, half way through I found that I was in WAY over my head as I didnt even know how to make a quilt so I enlisted the help of my dear cousin and master of the sewing machine, Julia.

She had me over a few times and showed me what I needed to do. THANK_YOU JULIA!!!!!

Anyway, here is what I came up with......




It started off so inocently with curtains for her window and also for her closet door

I made a "rag quilt" which was really easy for someone like me!!

Bumper pad and quilt together.... feels good to be done finally!!

A close up of the main fabric in the room. Green with lighter green, peach, pink and yellow polka dots.

This bumper pad was my nemisis today. I made it in one long 4 meter length for some reason .... blaahhhhhh ... I was getting pretty frustrated today with this thing ... but its done now and I am patting my self on the back.

next time I have a baby, some one remind me to just buy a crib set instead of making one.

When I was in "my youth" (aka, before I got married) I always pittied those women who would get married, have kids and then feel the need to get the "Mommy hair cut" ...

I swore to myself that I would NEVER be one of those women and that I would always keep my long hair...

Now I understand why all those women did what they did.

I have chopped off all of my hair and I love it. I love that it only took me 10 minutes to do my hair this morning instead of the regular 45 minutes of blowdrying and straightening. I was starting to get discusted with myself for pulling my hair back into a messy ponytail every single day and I was bored bored bored of my hair.

SO I did it. i took the plunge, I became one of those women. I am sure one of the younger single girls is swearing that they will never do what I just did. But I dont regret it. I love it.

Anyway. JJ cut my hair on friday and I do freaking love it alot, she did a great job!!!

Again ... with the suckage ...

Why do I suck so bad at blogging?

So I have over a month to catch up on now.

Kailey is crawling now, it took her a while to decide to start trying but as soon as she decided to try, she got it. Within a day or two of trying to crawl she had it down and there is NO stopping her now. She is getting into everything she can find (oh joy) today her room of choice was the kitchen, especially the cupboards with the pots and pans in them.

She loves crawling in general and just follows me around all day, its cute ... .most of the time.

We had so much fun with her on Christmas, she loved the lights and all the new toys and books she got. I think most of all she loved having everyone around her so excited and a very devoted audience.

Davis turned the big 30 in December as well, he calls it twenty-ten.

The card making was fantastic, I had so much fun with the stamp set that I got! I cant wait to get some more, these two are just a couple of the ones that I made, my two favorites.

So the new year is here and we are excited about this new year that we have infront of us. Its hard to imagine that it could be any better than the year we just had, but we have high hopes and expectations and we cant wait to see what it will bring!

Our family goals are pretty standard in terms of improving scripture study and FHE, etc etc. But one that we are really hoping to get going soon is to be more social ... we have turned into homebodies latley and want to get out of that rut asap. So expect lots of dinner invites and game invites from us soon!

HAPPY NEW YEAR