So what Wednesday!

This week is a perfect week to say So What!

-If I sometimes allow Izzy to color on stuff she's not supposed to (a.k.a. our couch, side table, an occassional wall). I tell myself it's because "you never tell an artist how to work", but really I just let her because it keeps her quiet and I know that Clorox wipes clean it up easily.

-If I haven't cooked in over a month. We are moving so I don't want to buy ingredients? Call me lazy all you want...I've loved every second of it.

-If lately it seems like more stress has been piled on us from just about every direction. My solution to deal with it? Wine and prayer. Don't judge..it works.

-If I am obsessed with the Bachelorette, but so glad that I don't have to date anymore. Mr. T is insanely awesome and doesn't carry around a giant egg all day (you have to watch the show to understand). If I were to pick a winner...it would be Aerie. He's a racecar driver and he doesn't try too hard. Plus he was there to comfort Emily when the guy that dates his cousin was mean to her.

-If Isabelle is losing her baby leg chub and it makes me depressed. Everyone keeps telling me how she is looking more like a toddler and it's like nails on a chalk board everytime I hear it. She'll always be my squishy little baby.

-If I really want to change my blog design, but I have no idea where to start or who to have do it. Suggestions are welcome.

-If I may or may not have shed a tear when Phillip Phillip's won American Idol and couldn't finish his song because he was crying so hard. The only thing that made me feel better? Mr. T having to leave the room because he was tearing up too....

So what are you saying So what to?



Thrilling Thursdays

A.I. fans, how pumped are you that Phillip Phillips won? Me? I was so happy to see him win! The others had amazing talent, but he is someone that I will actually pay to hear his music. Plus, he seems really humble and did it all in extreme pain with that whole needing a new kidney thing. I've never needed a new kidney, but I imagine it would be uncomfortable to get.

Also, I am back on the running train! My running partner is encouraging, but she hates when we run by our house without stopping so I have to trick her.
So my runs are not only hard, but I have to play mind games as well. A workout for the entire body!

 Spike got a new haircut and gets bossed around by a 22 month old. Poor fella

She may or may not have a tad bit of bed head.

We are moving out of our house in 2 weeks, so we are soaking up our running route. It's a hilly, nice course that I will be sad to see go. I literally run 2 mile loops over and over like a gerbil, but I love it. Yes, I'm a weirdo and a crazy creature of habit. Sue me.

Also, you heard me correctly...we are moving out of our house in two weeks without a new home to move to so it looks like we are moving in with my parents until we find a new house. Have you ever lived with your parents as an adult? I love my parents and we have a great relationship, but if I am around them for too long, I turn into an annoyed teenager. "Moooommmm you're sooo annoyinnnng!".

I annoy myself already.

I guess that's what family is for.



My own little night terror.

Well, thanks to many of your suggestions, we decided to turn Isabelle's crib into a toddler bed. I don't think she's ready for a toddler bed because we still go in her room nightly every so often to comfort her back to sleep but I can't keep her in her crib if she is jumping out of it! Safety first!

First time seeing her "new bed". She thought it was awesome because she thought it was a trampoline.

The nights have been just as bad, if not worse because of the toddler bed. She get's out of bed and screams and yells and then tries to get out of her room. When we go in there to comfort her, she wants nothing to do with us unless we are laying in her bed WITH her.
Now, this would be all good and well if I weren't 5'10" and Mr. T weren't 6'1"(or so he says). Neither of us fit in that miniature bed and if we try to move, we immediately wake her up and then we are back at square one.


It's awful.


Well the past two nights we have decided to just let her cry it out in her room and let her work it out herself. Last night it took a while, but she finally passed out in her bed. When we woke up the next morning is when we saw her room....she had taken out her shoes and socks and put them all over her room, like she was going to run away! Sister is stubborn!


Last night was better.
But this morning was hilarious.
Apparently, in her fit of rage, she got completely naked, unplugged her sound machine, took her dad's dress shirt (his clothes are in her closet...another plus of moving to the suburbs, is that we will each have our own closets!) out of the closet and carried it to her recliner and went to sleep with it.


Butt naked, covered in her dad's shirt, asleep on the rocker like a little old man.


Who's child is this? She has perfectly good, soft blankets to cover up with, but she wanted NOTHING to do with her comfortable bed and she decided to protest our decision of the toddler bed by rebelling. Who knew we were raising a hippy?


So tonight we will try again. Even if we lose sleep, atleast we know we will have a good laugh in the morning. Or be so delirious that we think everything is funny.

We're still young and cool

I have to let you guys in on a neat little secret....we sold our house! In 10 days! We will be homeless in less than a month (thank God for parents in the same town, but living with your parents when you're 27 isn't that cool...or great for romance with your husband. TMI? Whatevs...) We are selling our house because it's we have completely outgrown it and we know that we will have another child soon.

Our current house is in an urban area with lots of cute vintage shops surrounding it, coffee shops, flea markets and college students. It makes me feel like I still am cool and can hang with the hipsters. We fell in love with this area before we got married because of the different kinds of people that surround it, and the old homes with all their character. But then, the "urban area" got less cool when our drunk neighbor tried to break into our house and things got a little more real.
We decided this might not be the area to raise children that sing while doing dishes (sorry, I watched The Sound of Music on Sunday...again, another reason why I am such a cool hipster).

But now...we are moving to the suburbs.

We are looking at homes that back into ponds so that we can take our kids fishing whenever we want (I use the word "we" pretty loosely. I really mean, Mr. T.) and neighborhoods that have a pool and park around each corner. Everyone drives mini-vans and suburbans, which just won't work for me...I'm a terrible driver and need a smaller car with lots of speed. But we will make it work. I will learn to drive a big car. Or else, Mr. T will just drive us everywhere.

So this weekend, we embraced the last of us living in this area and we visited our local farmers market and then headed down to an arts festival. It was amazing and Izzy thought she was in heaven with all the music, people and sidewalk chalk that surrounded her.

Of course, we are not moving towns and with a short drive, we can be downtown with my hipsters.

Just don't tell them I live in the "burbs".

Happy Day!

We had a great Mothers day complete with breakfast in bed and a shopping spree ALONE! What more could a mother ask for?

 I could spend all day in this store admiring all the beautiful things and only buy one thing without having to take out a second mortgage, but oh how I love thee.

 We also got our first swim session of the season! Isabelle was, of course, a natural in the water yet she scared me because she has no fear of the water at all! She wanted to jump off every ledge, but thankfully into the safety of her daddy's arms. We're going to have to keep our eye on that little one.

 Mr. T's tan line is amazing right? This is what happens when you go on a "guys weekend" to golf and you have no wives there to tell you to put on sunscreen.

Oh their relationship makes my heart so happy.

Mr. T did a great job making me feel special on Mother's Day. Sometimes it's a nice reminder to appreciate some of the little stuff that mothers actually do on a daily basis. I know that since I have had Isabelle, I have really grown to appreciate how tough of a job my mom had with us and how amazing of a mother she is!

Thank you Emily for reminding me to get in front of the camera and thank you Mr. T for teaching Isabelle to say Happy Mommy's Day (even though Isabelle thought "Happy Day Mommy!" was a better alternative...such a hipster she is).



Back to a newborn

Lately, Isabelle's sleeping habits have been awful! Our lives have been so crazy lately, that I can't really blame her. She was at my mom's house for almost a week while we were in Boston, then we went to Nashville for 10 days where her sleep was completely off schedule. Now that we are back into our routine, she has returned to normal with everything EXCEPT sleeping. She's waking up, sometimes, every two hours which makes me feel exactly like I did when she was a newborn.
Mr. T. and I have little arguments in the middle of the night about who is the most tired, I drink my weekly caffeine intake in about an hour, yet Isabelle just keeps on trucking.
You would never know how little she actually sleeps if you met her.

Just this week she has figured out how to CLIMB OUT OF HER CRIB! 21 months old and she could be confused for a tiny, hairless, monkey. What is that about? We will hear her start to fuss and then hear a huge thud on the wood floors as she jumps down from her crib. Is this normal behavior? Why would you leave a perfectly comfortable bed for hard wood floors? Maybe, because that guarantees you a spot in between mom and dad in bed....who knows?
We don't want to promote her sleeping in our bed (I'm all for co-sleeping, but it's not for me..I need my beauty sleep. If you saw me in the mornings, you would agree with me) but we also don't want her to scream and cry or hurt herself while she's high jumping out of her bed!

So now we are in the debate on whether or not we get her a toddler bed NOW, or wait until we move into a new house and just start fresh.

Any suggestions are so welcome.
OR if you would like to switch children from 8pm-8am, that also would be welcomed.

Fun Friday and Friday Rant

It's Friday, which means it's time to prepare yourself for a great weekend. Especially if you're a mom. I hope your Mothers Day is filled with relaxation, good food, and cute gifts from your cute kids.

But on a side note:

 

The articles about motherhood are really killing the joy of motherhood. Whether it's stories about how you're a bad mom if you're not strict enough, or how it's okay if you're a bad mom, or how you need to enjoy every moment of motherhood and not look at the Internet, or how we should be honest about the fact that not every moment is that fun, or about three year olds who are still breast feeding....en...ough!

 

Just be a mom, do your thing, go with the flow. People wonder why moms have less kids these days...maybe it's because motherhood has turned into this over-analyzed thing, where you have to wring your hands about every choice you make. Need advice on what to do, here's a good rule to follow: Did your mom do it with you? Yes? Did you turn out fine? Maybe even a tad awesome? Then it's fine if you do it too. Or did she do something you hate? Then avoid it.

 

Now don't worry about it, move on and do the best YOU can do.

And please enjoy your special day celebrating what an awesome mom you are!

 

P.S. When did my teeny tiny baby become a full on toddler that actually PLAYS at the playground?

Home Study #1

We have prayed for this process to be easy and to go smoothly. When I'm reading articles in the local newspaper about DHS and the foster system and how it is taking them, on average, six months to schedule ONE home study, I try not to get discouraged.

When I read about the THOUSANDS of children that are waiting for a family here in Oklahoma, I try to not let it break me. I know that MY child is one of those thousands, so I have to just believe that the process will go smoothly.

I asked for your prayers during this and you guys responded and our prayers are being answered!
 We had our first home study last night where we completed all of the questions and paperwork that can usually take 3 visits to complete.
We have our next scheduled home study next week, not months and months from now. We start our classes next week and we will complete them by the middle of June. That means if all goes well, we can have a child in our home in the middle of JUNE!

Our prayers have been answered and I am completely humbled.

Thank you for your prayers and please continue praying for us and the children out there that need families!
James 1:27

Nashville

Isabelle and I spent 10 days in Nashville with my nephew. My sister and brother in law had to go out of town for a bit, so we stepped in to take care of my six year old nephew.

Before they moved to Tennessee, they lived in Kansas when I was going to school there so I basically lived with them for a few years. I consider my nephew like a son to me. He is one of the most sweet hearted, hilarious little kids I have ever been around. Ahh, makes my heart happy just thinking of it.

He is sweet, but he is six. That means he comes with TONS of energy and he also has TONS of activities. I went from being a toddlers momma, to a full on minivan momma. Life was hectic, but fun.

Isabelle was in heaven. She LOVES her cousin and he makes her belly laugh with everything he says. She demands that he hold her hand when they walk and she would cry when we would drop him off at school. She lovingly calls him, "Bubba" which is pretty much the sweetest little nickname for him.
They are quite the pair.

 On our way to go watch Bubba run his kids marathon. (He ran 25 miles months before the race, and then ALL the kindergartners run the last half mile as a race together).

 The Cheerleader is having a tad bit of trouble figuring out how to use the megaphone.

 ALL of the Kindergartners. Bubba is the first little guy in yellow.

 2nd place overall!

 Celebrating with some ice cream....somebody means business and is not into taking pictures.

Sister was in love with her sundae! (I don't know where she gets it?)

Picnic in the park.

 Soccer Practice

 Her first sucker. She was getting tired, and cranky and then she found a sucker in my purse. I never have suckers in my purse....God threw me a bone on that one.

Sugar rush kicked in!

Shopping spree's call for a little icecream after.

Tennis Practice

 Tennis practice calls for a little icecream after as well.

Family movie night.

We had a great time...we probably will pay for Izzy's dentists' mortgage after this weekend, but we had fun.

The weekend was quite eye opening to me, because I realized that having two kids isn't as overwhelming as I thought it would be. We got into a schedule and it worked. Since neither of them have a sibling, they both liked having one another around for company which kept both of them constantly entertained.

Maybe we can do this two kid thing.

Speaking of that, we are having our first home study tonight for our adoption/foster care. Please keep us in your prayers. We are so excited for this process to be moving along quickly!

Absence

Sorry for the absence. We have had quite the busy schedule lately, plus summer has decided to make an appearance early so we have been outside playing constantly, which makes for a boring ol' blog.

I have lots of stuff to tell you, but I will save that for tomorrow.

Today, we will embrace the simple life of being Home.