A little bit of this, a little bit of that ...

- A new baby will be born into our family this year. My sister-in-love, Kristi and her husband Zac will be welcoming a sweet bundle of joy. She is due September 15. This will be their first baby and we are so very, very excited for them!! Even though she lives in Georgia, I can't wait to walk this journey with her.

- I've always thought Brooklyn was a 5-year-old trapped in a teenager's body. That was confirmed for me on Sunday, when during our Super Bowl party at a friend's house, she holed up in their teenage daughters' rooms playing games, watching movies, etc. She was completely in her element. And, she keeps talking about it. All. The. Time.

- The girls were playing dress up yesterday morning and convinced me to dress Liam up too. When I sent Daddy a text of his boy dressed in a bright pink frilly dress, he called me and said "Why is my boy wearing a dress?" Ahh, the joys of having sisters!

- Speaking of dress up, Tierney is all about dress up lately. At any given time, you can find her with 3-4 necklaces on, a bunch of bracelets, a play wedding veil, dress up shoes, etc. I love what a girl she is. It's so fun!

- Kevin locked himself out of his car last night. Or, as he likes to put it his car locked him out. He went to leave work. He started his car and got out to scrap ice off the windows and dust off the snow. When he was done, he went to get back in his car to come home. Instead, he called me in a panic saying he didn't know how it happened, but he was locked out and needed the kids and I to rescue him, which we did.

- Really working hard to get some real estate stuff going, so if you or anyone you know has a real estate need, remember me. It would be my pleasure to help!

- As a friend said, "There are times the enormity of shaping these little lives is overwhelming. It is such a HUGE responsibility and I feel unqualified." But, during my bible study time today I was reminded that God is using me to shepherd my children and that I'm supposed to view that as an official assignment and not just my role. And, with His help and this knowledge, I know I can do it.

- Last thing: Anyone else watch Pretty Little Liars on ABC Family? If so, who do you think is "A"?

What an afternoon!

So, I had to record this somewhere to remember it because it just cracks me up when I think about it.

#1 - Brooklyn enters our bathroom and says "Oh Mommy it stinks in here like tacos ... did someone poop out tacos?" LOL!

#2 - I had the great idea to run errands this afternoon. I had the idea of running said errands after lunch and before naps. Usually this is pretty doable as I can keep Brooklyn awake by bothering her and Tierney by not giving her a pacifier. Well, this time around Tierney already had her pacifier, so she was going to sleep in the moving car, duh! And, I got a phone call that kept me from bothering Brooklyn, so she feel asleep too. So, errands were ran, children were happy, then we come home and I try to put them down for an afternoon nap after about 30 minutes of playtime. Tierney, who doesn't believe in sleep, takes about an hour nap, and then wakes up not wanting to go back to sleep. Brooklyn, who took a 15 minute nap in the car, refuses to go sleep, but lays in her bed for an hour awaiting my approval to get up. For this hour, I'm trying to get through as much material for a test I'm taking tomorrow morning, hoping to get through quite a bit. But, now they are both awake and requiring my attention, so I can't. I say to both of them "You silly girls aren't going to let Mommy have much study time today, are you?" And, little Tierney looks at me and says "Nope," while flashing me a huge smile.

#3 - Minutes after they woke up, our doorbell was ringing and ringing and ringing and ringing. I'm not a huge fan of going to the door because nine out of ten times, it's a soliticer and I'm totally not interested in what they are selling. We've had kid after kid standing on our porch trying to sell us chocolate or their services in bringing in my trash cans, which again, not interested. So, anyway, I went to the door after the first two rings and saw it was the little girls across the street. I immediately thought ball in the backyard but nope, they live across the street so that couldn't be it. I didn't answer it. I went back to the girls. Then, it kept ringing. I finally gave in and went to the door. The two little girls told me that their school was doing a fundraiser and would I like to buy anything. I looked through the magazine and saw they were selling Christmas wrapping paper and decided to buy a roll. After all, they are our neighbors, and my girls will be doing this one day too, and wouldn't I want our neighbors to buy something from them. The wrapping paper is cute and reversible. So, everyone wins. The funniest part was when I went to pay for it and I asked who I needed to make my check out to and they said, "Well, just leave it blank and we'll take care of it." I told them that if they could find out who I neede to make it out to, I would do buy something. They found out real quick! So, we'll have some cool new wrapping paper this holiday season and we supported neighborhood kids. Yay!

#4 - I was sitting in our recliner in the family room looking through work emails and Tierney would can't leave my side at times required me to put her behind me in the chair. As she is moving around, squirming like a worm, scooting to the edge of the chair, I reminded her that she's high up in the air. She just smiles at me. I put her in my lap to protect her from falling but she once again squirms behind me. So, I just watch her more carefully. Then, she lets out this sigh and leaps off the chair, head first into the carpet. She cries for like a half second, looks up at me and gives me the most disgusted look, like as if to say "Hey Mom, why'd you let that happen?" And, then she crawls away from me to play with her sister.

So, all four things happened in a span less than 30 minutes. All I can do is laugh. Aren't kids just the silliest?!

A Special Weekend

This past weekend, I got to experience something quite amazing. My father-in-law is a Vietnam vet. He hasn't really kept in touch with those that he served with, and while I've seen the photos of him over in war, I haven't heard all the "war stories," which I think could be interesting. Every year, the men he served with get together for a reunion and this year my in-laws had plans of going, but plans changed and they didn't make it to the reunion. I was kind of sad that they weren't going to be able to go because I thought it would be a great time and besides they never get away, and I thought this would be a good opportunity for that. So I was surprised and excited for my father-in-law when we found out three of the men he served with were planning a trip to come see him!

Three men - Alan, Tommy and Terry - arrived at my in-law's house on Friday afternoon. Two of them live in Texas and the other in Iowa. The whole weekend was spent talking, reminiscing and sharing life together for those few days. My family and I went over on Saturday to meet them and talk with them. My brother-in-law was there too and this was fun because it was like the old vets meeting the newer vet since my brother-in-law just got back from a tour in Iraq in February. They had a lot in common and a lot they could talk about that only military men would understand. These men were so friendly. Sometimes the conversations would have you in stitches and sometimes it would have you in tears. The things these men remembered including my father-in-law amazed me.

I was really bummed when I learned from Kevin on the ride home that I missed the battle story where all four men walked through the day my father-in-law got shot because I was putting the girls (my two and my niece) down for their naps. I have always wanted to hear that story, but never asked because it feels like such a sensitive subject. Kevin told me that everyone was teary-eyed as the story went on. He said the group got ambushed immediately after leaving the helicopter behind. The men on the front line ended up fighting with their hands, knives and the bottom parts of their guns rather than through gunfire because they were simply too close to the enemy. One man on the front line survived, Terry. Kevin said all the men said his dad was way too modest because he really was a true hero that day saving lots of men's lives. There were a lot of men that pretended to be dead so they would make it out alive.

Kevin's dad was never supposed to make it out alive. He wasn't supposed to live. Ahh, I can't wrap my mind around this because my life would be so changed. One of the men said that we should all consider my father-in-law a hero to which my brother-in-law said he always considered his father his hero. Ahh, heartwrenching. I know that Kevin feels the same way. My father-in-law is an amazing man who has been through a lot, who is very down-to-earth, has a very hands-on approach to life and who would do anything for his family. And, I love that these men came to visit him. As Kevin said they did it for him, but they also did it for themselves. I was so glad that I got to be a part of such a special weekend.

Alan, Dan (my father-in-law), Tommy & Terry

Kid-sized!

Brooklyn, Tierney and I went grocery shopping this morning at a new grocery store that just opened yesterday. The store is the largest of its kind in Colorado. It really has everything including a large organic section, a section devoted to selling kitchenware, plates and utensils and a Starbucks near the entrance. The best part besides it being close to our house and being new is they have kid-sized carts. I saw them the minute we entered the store and had Brooklyn go and grab one. So, we both walked through the store pushing our own carts and filling them. We both had the best time grocery shopping. We're definitely going back to that store! And, one day when Tierney can walk and push a cart, I won't even need to get one.

Bye, Bye Bunny Hutch

About a month before Easter, my grandmas (Brooklyn's and Tierney's great-grandmas) came up to our house and decorated a gingerbread bunny hutch with Brooklyn. The bunny hutch turned out really cute and Brooklyn did a wonderul job doing the icing and decorating it with little candies. It's been sitting in the middle of our dining room table for weeks and weeks now. And while we have enjoyed looking at it and moving it for every meal, the time came to take it down. It's not like we could save it for next year, and we really couldn't eat it, or rather I wouldn't let us. We've all touched it, meaning it's germy, and it's really hard anyhow, meaning we'd break a tooth if we even attempted to eat it. So instead of walking it to the trashcan, we walked it to our driveway. What took about an hour to decorate took less than five minutes to disable with the help of a hammer and 2x4. Here are some photos of the destruction...

The Bunny Hutch BEFORE

The Bunny Hutch AFTER

A trip to the grocery store

Brooklyn has found a new catch phrase that she throws in from time to time when she's surprised by something, and even though we don't really want her saying it, I am going to borrow her phrase: "Holy Crap!" I'm saying this in response to the amount of money that we saved at the grocery store this afternoon.

Our neighborhood King Soopers had a grand reopening today. They sent out a 10% off coupon to either everyone with a King Soopers card who shopped at the store, or most likely to the residents within a certain mile vicinity of the store. We got that coupon in the mail last Thursday, and I called Kevin and work all excited and told him our weekly grocery shopping trip would wait until today. So, Kevin worked a half day today because he covered the election last night at work, and when he came home we ran a few errands with the last one being to the grocery store. As we drove up, we knew that we were not the only ones with this wonderful idea. The parking lot was so full it quickly reminded me of the mall parking lot around Christmas time. Cars were going up and down aisles, circling around trying to find a spot. We found our spot and joined the other hundreds of shoppers eager to explore the new store, sample the food and drinks that the staff was providing and to get a deal on their groceries, just like us.

It really was a mob scene at the free sample stands. I couldn't help but notice these two girls, who I assumed were sisters jumping from one sample stand to the next one. I also noticed or rather bumped into who I think was their grandmother at the sushi sample stand. There was two pieces of sushi left to sample and there was her and I, so you'd rationally think that there was one for me and one for her. Nope. She looked at me and then at the samples which the two girls had just almost cleared out and said I suppose you want one too. I said yes, but if she was wanting both, it was fine. She grabbed her one very quickly and told me to have the other, which I did and gave it to Brooklyn to try as she didn't miss a beat with interest in having the free samples. As we wandered further into the store, I noticed the two girls were moving very fastly from stand to stand several times devouring all the free samples. So, my thought was the grandmother figure that brought them there clearly was using this grocery shopping experience as the girls after school snack. I just felt sorry for the other people that the girls were running over in their pursuit of a free snack.

Then just a few minutes later, over the intercom, we hear that everyone needs to check their grocery carts to make sure that the cart they're pushing has their groceries in it and not someone else's. I just kind of chuckled to myself and looked at Kevin. He said that there was a man who lost his cart, and was looking for it. After the announcement, Kevin said he saw the man going up and down aisles and when he came down the one we were in, he looked in our cart to make sure the food in there was not his. Okay, first off, how sad and lazy that someone took another person's cart, but then you start to wonder why doesn't the guy just start his shopping over. I realize that yes it would be frustrating and probably a pain in the butt to have to start your shopping again, but I guess as long as you didn't pay for anything, have a kid or your wallet in the cart, it can be done and it will all be okay. The guy did end up having to grab a new cart and start all over, but he didn't look too happy about it. I guess the lesson here is hold on to your cart, you never know who you're grocery shopping with.

When we finally made our way to the checkout lanes, I got to say hi to the very friendly cashier that I always try to go to when I go to the grocery store. She was on the 15 items and under lane, so that didn't work but I did get to say hi and show Tierney to her. We talked a lot when I was pregnant and she asked about my baby before I even had a chance to show Tierney to her. As the checkout lady was scanning our groceries with Brooklyn's help of handing groceries to her, she asked if I had my King Soopers card. I said I did but wanted to wait until the end to put the number in. After the final item was entered, I put in the phone number for the Soopers card, and watched as the amount that was due dropped further and further down. And, then I handed my coupons to her (the 10% off coupon amongst them), and watched the amount drop even more. Kevin got to see it too, and let me tell you that yes, I may be a dork, but watching the amount drop so fast and at the end of the order before you have to pay just makes my day. And, how much did we save you might be asking? Well, we saved 38% of our entire order which came out to $64. That made my day, and it made this grocery shopping experience so memorable that I had to share it here!!

If I only had a brain...

Pregnancy brain has recently hit HARD!!

I can't seem to complete simple tasks like coming up with a list of things for the junior youth kids to draw for a pictionary-like game. This morning I thought I lost my keys so I took a back-up one and within five minutes of being gone from home, discovered the key IN my purse. It was there the whole time. Imagine that! I can't count how many times I walk to the front of my office with an intent to do something, and by the time I have walked the 50 yards, I can't remember what I was going to do. My boss has given me some awkward looks and questions like "are you coming to see me?" I say no and head back to my desk. And, the list goes on.

So, let's bring on my 37th week... where will my brain be this time next week?

From the mouth of babes

As we headed back toward home after my 34-week check-up today, Brooklyn and I were talking about what the rest of the day would hold for us. As we talked about how fun it's going to be to spend part of our evening blowing bubbles after dinner, I looked in my rearview mirror to find a little girl that looked like she was just about to go to sleep any minute. We kept talking, and when I told her that I had to make a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up not only a few things for dinner, but also a few things that we needed in order to make the muffins that she had picked out, she started breathing harder. She told me she needed to talk to me. She said, "Mommy, I really think I need a nap. I am tired. We will go home, read books, have milk and take a nap. You're exhausted too." When I told her that I promise that the grocery store trip would be short and then we'd go home and nestle her in her bed for an afternoon nap, she started over with the same thing. She said it a few more times. When I made the right hand turn instead of going straight which would have led us to our garage, she started crying a little telling me that we had already talked about it (twice) and that she didn't want to do anything but take a nap. When we arrived at the grocery store, she immediately turned her attention to looking for beetle bug cars, a favorite car hobby of hers. By the time we ran into the store, picked up our items, and were in the checkout, I was holding her and she was laying her head on my shoulder. As we neared the checkout lady, she noticed a few magazines behind me. She looked up from my shoulder with this huge grin and said, "look Mommy, it's Nastia Liukin." I turned around and did see the same magazine cover and asked her if she would like to have this magazine since she was so brave and such a good girl for doing something that she really didn't want to do in the first place. She got an even bigger smile as I placed the maagazine into the cart. As I was buckling her safe in her carseat I thanked her for being patient with me as I had to run that quick errand. I told her that now we could go home and take that long awaited and desired nap. She looked up at me and said, "You're the best Mommy." Sometimes it really is the smallest things in life that remind you how blessed you are and how much you have. I really feel lucky.

WIthin 90 minutes

We just got hit with a slow moving thunderstorm that brought some lightning and thunder, but with rain so heavy it left three inches in our rain gauge in a span of 90 minutes. The streets were flooding, forcing the heavy rainfall onto the sidewalks. One corner of our yard is submerged under standing water and to top it all off we were under a tornado warning with sirens blaring that sent our family with dog in tow to the basement just in case. It's still raining, but very lightly and the all clear siren has sounded.

Here's a couple pictures of our backyard swimming pool. Brooklyn sure had fun splashing in the puddles. Kevin had fun watching the rain come down commenting about how this storm made up for all the rain we didn't get this summer. And, me, I loved the rain, but the tornado warning and rushing the family to the basement sent this pregnant mama into stress/panic mode. Now that all is clear, I'm feeling better and Kevin and Brooklyn are diving into our Nerds stash. At least our grass will be really green!

A little update

There's been so much activity going on in our little household, here's an update of some of the highlights...
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Our baby girl's nursery is painted. Thanks to nods from my doctor's office and Brooklyn's pediatrician, we made it a family affair. I had been obsessing over what colors to paint the room for over a month and finally as we stood there the night before buying the paint, we reached a decision, a creative agreement on what colors to paint. I wanted a two color scheme, but was having the hardest time deciding between purple and turquoise or two different shades of purple. And, then there are the color tones to consider and how to actually paint the room. We decided and painted two-thirds of the room from the bottom up a dark purple and then the remaining third of the room plus the ceiling a lighter shade of purple. With Brooklyn's help, we completed this task on a Saturday morning before lunch. The room now feels so warm and inviting and no longer our office, but the room where our new baby daughter will have just for her.
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Within a span of a week and a half, we celebrated my dad's, mine and my sister's birthdays - all separate celebrations. My dad's birthday is July 7, but we celebrated at a local seafood restaurant on July 12. It was one of the best times I've had with my family. We all had fun talking, sharing stories and enjoying each other's company. It was such a wonderful evening, that none of us wanted it to end. We stood outside the restaurant for the longest time continuing our conversation and starting new ones. We went out again this past Saturday for my birthday. Again, a very nice meal, great conversation and great company. And, then yesterday, was our final celebration for my sister's 21st birthday. Kevin took the first official photo of her sipping her first legal drink - a cosmopolitan. I cannot believe my sister is 21 - makes me feel kind of old!!!
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We have finally decided (or narrowed down to be exact) names for our baby girl. I'll admit this has been quite the struggle. Poor Kevin, every time he would come up with a name, I would shoot it down because I didn't like the nicknames associated with, the meaning of the name, the sound of the name or the origin of it. I have been seriously very, very picky over what to name our new addition. With Brooklyn, the name just came to me, and when I mentioned it to Kevin, it stuck as we both just loved it and thought it would be perfect. We hadn't had that feeling with all the names we had come up with the new baby, until now. We have a good list and I don't know if we'll narrow it down to one or just wait and see what names best fits her after she's born, but I can tell you, I am so excited with the prospect of the ones on our list.
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This Saturday marks the beginning of my 30th week. I can't believe how fast this pregnancy seems to be flying by. When I was pregnant with Brooklyn, there is no way it moved this fast. Maybe it has something to do with being pregnant in the summer and the summer always flies by in our household, or maybe it has something to do with having a toddler already. I don't know, but it's flying by. When I look in the mirror, I can no doubt tell that I am pregnant, but it really depends on what I am wearing how much it shows. When I look at my friends that are pregnant or others that I know of that are pregnant, everyone looks so much bigger than I am. I never got too big with Brooklyn, and this baby is turning out to be the same way. At my 28 week appointment, I had only gained 3 pounds. I'm always amazed at this, especially this time, since my cravings have all been sweet and sugar-related! I only gained 17 pounds with Brooklyn and it looks like I might be on pace to do the same this time around. The baby is super active always kicking and moving. Her most active times are when Brooklyn talks directly to my belly button (the baby's ear as Brooklyn believes). It's sweet that they are building a bond even before she leaves my womb. It makes my heart melt to see how excited Brooklyn is and how much she wants to be a big sister.
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And, lastly, I'll leave you with a bit of fun news. One of my closest friends is in the hospital right now in labor. Her due date was yesterday, but after her doctor's appointment today, she was walked over to the hospital and admitted into labor and delivery. This will be her third child. I am so excited for her and can't wait to meet their newest addition. I'm sure it will make me long even more to hold my baby in my arms, but all in good timing, right!?

Pregnancy Brain

There's very little hope for me.

Pregnancy Brain has struck me, and struck me bad. After Brooklyn was born, I gained what I like to call Mommy Brain. With Mommy Brain you forget where your car keys are, if you unplugged your hair straightener, if you turned the coffee machine off, etc. It's basically a malfunction in your brain that leaves you from fully functioning in daily life when it comes to remembering the simplest of details. Pregnancy Brain is much like this, only for me, it appears to be so much worse.

I'll the start the story here.

I was in line at a local drive-thru today waiting to get a drink I had ordered. I grabbed for my wallet, and reached for my debit card. No where to be found. In its place was my Sears MasterCard. Hmm.. My first thought, who moved my Sears card up a spot to where my debit card usually is? I didn't. I called Kevin right away thinking my cards had fallen out last night and he put them back and maybe my debit card was still left out, or maybe my purse tipped over spilling things out and he put them back. I had to leave a message. My second thought, or actually, my real first thought but something I pushed out of my mind was who in my office took my debit card. I know, I know, I can't assume that someone took my card. After frantically looking through my wallet over and over and over again, I called Sam's Club where I had been right before going through the drive-thru to see if perhaps my debit card had fallen out at the cashier's station when I pulled out my wallet to write a check. Nope. I started retracing my steps, looking in my car, dumping my purse and wallet over and over and over again. I checked my online banking to see if there was any suspicious activity. Nope. I called the bank to double check. Nothing. I tried to relax and get on with my work. That wasn't working. I called home and asked my grandma to look around in the bedroom near the dresser to see if my card was laying there. Nope. Nothing.

I got a nice distraction when I had a couple of incoming work calls to deal with. Then, Kevin called me back. He didn't touch my wallet or purse last night or this morning. His first thought was let's cancel our debit cards. I said I really didn't want to and that I was watching our account for any fraudulent activity. If we would cancel our cards, we wouldn't get one for another week or even longer, and we're gone all next weekend, so it would be more of an inconvenience than anything. I started trying to track down where I used the card last. I had used it yesterday at 7-11, so I called that store. Nope. Nothing. Not there.

I kept checking my online banking over and over and over again. Still nothing new. Okay, that's good news. But, then I noticed that a few purchases I made on Tuesday and then yesterday that were not appearing and that seemed odd to me. So, I called those places checking to see if perhaps I had left my card there. Nope. I went back into my wallet and grabbed my Sears card because I wondered if there were any weird charges on it. After a quick phone call to Sears customer service, I realized that oops, I had been using my Sears card as my debit card. Oops! I then tracked back to the last time I used my card (Saturday) and called those places, but they don't have my card either. I called home once again to have my grandma look in the backpack we used on Saturday and in a pair of pants. Nothing.

So, this leaves me to search my house up and down when I get home in search of my debit card. But, it leaves me to ponder why haven't I noticed my missing card until now. And, why in the world would it not have registered to me that I was using my Sears card until today? I don't know. I am blaming it on my Pregnancy Brain. But, hey, I really hope I find my card tonight when I go home. Good luck to me!

Update: I got home last night and looked under our bed on my side, and there lay my debit card. Hooray! Now I am getting teased endlessly by Kevin about him using the Sears card or our Pet Perks card to make purchases. Ha.

They Did the Bibopsy

ATHENS, Greece—A 9-year-old girl who went to hospital in central Greece suffering from stomach pains was found to be carrying her embryonic twin, doctors said Thursday.

Doctors at Larissa General Hospital examined the girl and surgically removed a growth they later discovered was an embryo more than two inches long.

"They could see on the right side that her belly was swollen, but they couldn't suspect that this tumor would hide an embryo," hospital director Iakovos Brouskelis said.

The girl has made a full recovery, he said.

Andreas Markou, head of the hospital's pediatric department, said the embryo was a formed fetus with a head, hair and eyes, but no brain or umbilical cord.

Markou said cases where one of a set of twins absorbs the other in the womb occurs in one of 500,000 live births.

The girl's family did not want to be identified, hospital officials said.

Bubbles, Bubbles

Brooklyn has really become interested in blowing bubbles in the last couple of weeks. We've had a couple bottles of bubbles around the house for awhile now, but we were usually the ones with the bubble wand full of bubble solution doing the blowing as she watched with awe. That's all changed now. She is working on perfecting her bubble blowing skills inside and outside the house. She puckers her little lips and blows creating tons of little, sometimes big, bubbles floating through the air. My mom got her a bubble thing to do in the bathtub, but she literally will carry the container all around the upstairs of our house blowing them. The container even ends up downstairs.

When I came home last Friday night after work, I found Brooklyn sitting on our kitchen floor (which is hardwood), blowing bubbles. The bottle she was using is a little extra drippy when it comes to taking the wand out of the bottle, so she was "letting it drip a little bit first" on the hardwoods, and really on herself too. Kevin said she had been doing the same thing for over a good hour.

On Monday, on our weekly grocery store run, I picked up a huge bottle of bubbles for her intending to both fill up the extra drippy bottle and the container my mom had gotten her. That afternoon we headed outside with both the huge bottle and the extra drippy one. I soon realized that the bubbles I had gotten are these miracle bubbles that are extremely drippy once you remove the wand, so I declared them outside bubbles only.

We have spent a lot of time outside either in the afternoon, morning or right before bed on our front porch blowing bubbles. And, when I say we, I mean Brooklyn and I. That's right, I blow bubbles too.

Last night, Kevin came outside with us for a little bit. He looked at me and said that he loves watching how excited Brooklyn's face gets once she blows the bubbles and watches as they float in the sky. And, he said, I just don't know what to think about you! If I could get away with bubble blowing at my desk, I would probably take a small bottle with me to work to blow when I needed a break. I really love to blow bubbles. Kevin asked me if I was robbed of that as a child and I said absolutely not, I blew lots of bubbles as a kid, but it's just so fun, that I like to do it as an adult too. And, now that I'm a mommy, what better way to do it than with Brooklyn. But, I guess the saddest part about it and when I realize I might have a bubble blowing addiction is when Brooklyn looks at me with her blueberry eyes and asks me so politely if she could have her toy back because I have stolen her bubble wand.

Piecing it together

Over the weekend, we picked up a couple 25-piece puzzles for Brooklyn. Her pediatrician told us at her two-year-old checkup back in December that it would be terrific and a great way for her to advance in her skills if she were to learn how to put puzzles together.

We let her pick out the two puzzles that she wanted to get. She chose a Five Little Monkeys one and a Winnie the Pooh one. She was more than excited when we got home and opened the boxes the next morning after breakfast. We're sure that she just wasn't too sure what to expect, because when all the puzzle pieces fell out, she had a confused look on her face. With some explaining and guidance for what a puzzle is and how you go about getting one pieced together she started smiling and snapping the pieces in one at a time. Once the first one was done, she had to move onto the second one and that meant tearing the first one apart as fast as she could. She started getting the hang of how to do things a little better once we began the second puzzle, although she still wanted to stick the edge pieces in the middle.

She's learning though, and that's what matters. Some day she'll be able to put puzzles together without anyone's help. Maybe once that happens, we'll have to buy a 1,000-piece puzzle for the whole family to be involved with. It could be fun!

As I was finishing this post, my little prccious daughter walked in the room with a pair of my heels on. Isn't she just so cute!?!

Bring The Rain

I've been following a blog about a family of five with another little girl on the way for some time now. Their story is heart wrenching and they are experiencing a pain I cannot even fathom. But, through it all, they have turned toward the Lord and believe whole heartedly that His will has been done. They thank God for the 2 1/2 hours they got to spend with their precious newborn daughter before she went to heaven.

Today as I checked the blog, I found this letter that Angie, the mom, wrote to her daughter Audrey Caroline. Angie gives everything to the Lord. She truly believes that He has a purpose and reason for taking her newborn daughter to heaven, and she is at peace with that.

This whole story just makes me so very grateful for my precious, loving daughter, and it reminds me just what a miracle it is to bring a baby into the world. It's also is reminder to me to cherish every moment with my little ones in the flesh and in the womb.

We're having FUN!

Lately, our life has been a whirlwind of fun activities with the promise of more fun to come!

We got to go to the Rockies home opener on April 4th, and even though our team didn't walk away with a win, we had just the best time. Kevin and I have never been to opening day, and the buzz on and off the field was amazing. The weather was perfect. Our seats were perfect. Brooklyn even had a great time - her highlight: getting to see and hug (over and over again) Dinger in the third inning.

April 5th was our 5th wedding anniversary. We spent the morning (almost three hours) at an amazing swimming pool. Not only did the pool have a kiddie section, but also a kiddie butterfly slide, a waterworks area where water dumps all over you, water fountains, a lazy river, two fun two-story water slides, a family/kid hot tub and an adult hot tub. The best part was all the different sections of the pool connect so you didn't have to get out to go to another part. Brooklyn complete with her water wings, swam all on her own even in the lazy river. She became very comfortable at the pool and would head up the butterfly slide stairs by herself and then slide down and go again and again. She loved the larger slides too. Of course, Kevin and I went with her, but even we had fun on them.

After leaving the pool, we headed home for naps and showers, and then began the second part of our day - fondue time. Kevin and I love fondue and have been wanting to introduce it to Brooklyn for a long time now. We figured our anniversary would be perfect and we could take our time with it. We didn't go to a fondue restaurant, we stayed home and made our own fondue. We started with a cheddar cheese fondue dipping bread chunks and apples. Our next course, was the meat and veggie fondue. We choose to cook chicken, steak, mushrooms, squash and zucchini in the hot oil and had six different dipping sauces to accompany them. Our last course, was s'mores chocolate fondue dipping strawberries, bananas, marshmallows and angel food cake. We had to take breaks in between each course, but we all enjoyed all of them so much. Brooklyn got a real kick out of dipping into the cheese and chocolate and she loved all the sauces we had for the meat and veggie one. We watched one of her favorite movies "Enchanted" while we dipped and ate. After rolling or rather putting her into bed, Kevin and I enjoyed some alcohol-free white zinfandel while we finished watching the Rockies game on TV. It was just one of those perfect days from start to finish.

Sunday, Kevin and his friend went to the Rockies game. They had a good time, even though the team didn't win again. Brooklyn and I met Kendall (our niece) and my mother-in-law at the zoo. We spent nearly three hours walking around looking at the animals. The cutest part was when the girls held hands when they were being pushed side by side in their strollers and when they were walking hand in hand to see the next exhibit. Kendall wanted to give Brooklyn hugs and kisses all the time, but Brooklyn didn't really want a part in that. If you know Brooklyn, you know she's usually the first to put her arms around another kid, try and pick them up, caress their cheek with her hand, give them unsolicited kisses. The difference on Sunday, Kendall is a year older and Brooklyn likes to be the older kid smothering the younger kid and doesn't like it when the tables are turned. But, the times that they did hold hands or give each other a hug, it was very sweet. And, they loved watching the duckies in the pond together.

Monday brought the Pop Goes The Wiggles concert. Brooklyn and my grandma are avid watchers of The Wiggles and when news that they were coming to town broke, my grandma was all over it. She bought tickets for us to go with them to the concert. They put on a very good show, and even threw in some humor for the adults from time to time. They don't take themselves very seriously and I think that's what makes the show so good and entertaining. Brooklyn had a great time jumping and dancing to all her favorite songs. Brooklyn loved it when Jeff came out on stage and Wags the Dog too.

It was sad to say goodbye to this fun, event-filled weekend because we were looking forward to it for months. But, we do have quite a few things to look forward to in the months ahead.
• My parents are renewing the wedding vows on their 30th anniversary later this month and my sister and I are planning everything but the ceremony. We're having fun getting things together. I can't say much about it though because I don't want to spoil the surprise for them as they read my blog.
• We're going to Estes Park over Memorial Day for a wedding.
• We're going to Glenwood Springs in June for our last getaway vacation just the three of us.
• And, of course, preparing for our new bundle of joy to arrive later this year!

Mmm... Strawberries

We just got home from our weekly grocery store run. While in the produce section, I always let Brooklyn pick out a berry of her choice that looks good to her. This week she choose strawberries. The strawberries were buy one get one free, and as I examined the strawberries through their plastic containers to make sure they all looked fresh, I noticed one that was huge toward the bottom. I showed it to Brooklyn right away and boy was she just so excited. She said, I have that when I go home, and I said absolutely! When we got home, I pulled out that strawberry, washed it and gave it to her whole. It is about the size of a lime! She sat down at the table with her strawberry and began munching on it. Pretty soon, she offered me a bite, and then the strawberry was gone. She told me it was "really yummy."

Now, you have to understand where we have been with Brooklyn and fruit. She has hated it for as long as I can remember. She didn't like the baby food to begin with, so I made her baby food with the help of a baby cookbook and my trusty food processor. I can't tell you how many times I steamed fruit and pureed it only to have her give me a look like yea right Mom! We kept trying though with no luck. She'll eat all the vegetables in the world, in fact they have always been more of a favorite to her than meat, but fruit, no way. It's only within the past six months or so, that she has really decided that fruit would be okay to try. First we started with bananas, and she ate a couple bites every once in a while. We eventually started mixing more and more fruits into the mix. Now, I'm proud to say that she'll eat oranges, apples, bananas, grapes, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, and on occasion, peaches. We're still working on introducing her to all the rest of the fruit world, but this is a huge step for her. She will now ask for a specific fruit by name for a snack.

So, when we came home today and she sat down and pretty much divoured the strawberry, I felt so happy. And, the strawberry did taste pretty good too.

Gotta go to work

We finally disassembled our old computer, moving it to the basement, leaving our desk empty. The only thing that remained on our desk was our printer, our internet cable modem and our wireless router. It looked all nice and clean, and really kind of empty.

Now, we could have left this alone, and just had a really nice and clean desk, but we went a different direction. After having moved things around a bit, and finding a secure location for our laptop when we aren't on it, I had a wonderful idea.

Our desk is the kind where there's little shelves on the right side of the desk for storage. Recently this had been taken over by Brooklyn, her paper, pencils, crayons and cordless phone. She has 2 little chairs that my sister made for her before she was born, and she keeps one in her room and one in the office, located right in front of one of the shelves. She has spent a lot of time on that little chair working on her work, and sometimes by accident coloring on her desk.

So, as I moved things around, I made a spot for Brooklyn to have her very own office on our desk. We moved the TV that we had on the floor to the corner of the desk, just simply to get it out of the way. On the other corner of the desk, I put her cordless phone, and she has a coffee mug with her pencils, pens she can use and crayons. She has her pads of paper and her sticky note container complete with her sticky notes.

For the first few minutes, she just sat there calling people and writing down things like she had actually gone to work. She called my dad, her Papa, several times and every time she got off the phone saying "well, good" and then she started marking something down on her paper. I think she will like her new spot, and will get a lot of work done. And, she is very,very cute and such a big girl!

Potty Talk

Lately, Brooklyn has taken a huge interest in her baby doll's potty. An interest to the point of pulling down her pants, taking off her diaper and positioning herself to just sit back on the tiny, tiny seat to take care of business. She always tells us what she plans to do, but after having changed her diaper, we didn't think she'd actually go. We were right. But, this inspired me yesterday to make a lunch-hour run to Target to purchase her very own big girl potty. Initially the thought of getting an actual potty for her to use grossed me out, but it does make some sense. (I still won't be putting it in the kitchen, though!) After perusing the potty aisle at Target, I found one that was simple, yet fun and rewarding as it plays music when she does something in the potty. And, the best part is, you can take the toliet seat and put it on a normal toliet!

I called Kevin right away and told him what I had gotten, and told him not to mention it to her as he would be home before me. When I was on my way home, I got to talk to Brooklyn for a few minutes. I told her I had a surprise for her and she said "oh yeah!" As I walked into the house, I unveiled her surprise, and she helped me take it out of the box. The minute it was ready to use, she rushed and got her pants down, and her diaper went flying. She sat on it for quite a while, telling me she had to "poopy bad." As I sat there with her talking about her day and reading her a book, I realized she was having success. She had done it! She was so proud. As Kevin and I clapped for her, she got all bashful and she had just the biggest smile on her face. She kept sitting down again and again on her new potty. I really think she's going to like it and maybe potty training will be a breeze.

Finally....

Kevin and I made a big leap and decision within the past month or two. We decided to get a new computer, or rather a new laptop.

Our home computer was one that my parents bought me before my sophomore year in college, so it's safe to say that the computer was going on ten years old. That's kind of old for a computer. Every time we would pull our computer up, we would hope that it wouldn't give us the infamous error message of having no memory, therefore, not allowing us to perform any real actions on it. When we went on the Internet, we hoped it would let us do what we wanted. And, the real challenge was being able to have a large amount of patience as we waited for any program to upload. We were both used to our work computers, so when the computer would run a little (or actually a lot slower), we would try and do things too fast - oh wait, that was just me. I think our computer knew when I was going to use it and got real mad and didn't want any part of it, so it responded with error messages, or simply just freezing up. But, don't get me wrong here, this computer has seen me through all of my college term papers, hundreds of newspaper articles - basically all of my college work was on here. When Brooklyn was born, it became the home base for over 1,400 pictures from her life before she even turned one. So, it's really been faithful to us, but as happens with all old things, sometimes they slow down, and sometimes they die.

In our case, our computer had slowed down. That was until we brought the laptop home with us, and then, sniffing out the new laptop, our computer died. This happened, of course, when we were trying to download all of our 1,400 plus pictures off the computer and onto a flash drive. Our computer didn't like that we were trying to take things away from her, so her best defense was to die. We could only open her in Safe Mode, meaning there was no way to get the photos off. After we both made several attempts to revive her, finding it was useless, I called several computer repair shops and got a deal on bringing our computer in to get files off of it. But, when Kevin came home that night, he gave it one last stab to see he could get it to work. When the screen came up, there was the word "force" there, and he choose that option. So, slowly, we loaded the pictures onto our camera's memory card, and then on the laptop. After a couple nights of doing this, we were finally finished.

We were totally wrong to have the pictures all stored on the computer, and now that we realize that, we are going to be burning CDs with the photos. But, they really did have to go somewhere, and we don't like to get all of our photos printed right away. Let me tell you, it was wonderful to look at all the pictures from the past two years to see how much our princess has changed. She has really grown up. We really had no clue that she had such little hair toward her sixth and seventh months, and had such a chubby face, and chubby legs with rolls. I guess when you are in the midst of living life with your baby, you don't necessarily notice all the changes that you can see by the captured photo. Having got these pictures off our dying computer meant so much to us. I would be very, very sad if we couldn't have gotten them off.

Anyway, back to our laptop...

We also made the decision to go from dial-up service to high-speed internet. I know, as Kevin's brother would say, we were living in the dark ages. Even my parents have high-speed internet! So, today, we got our high-speed internet installed, and it's wonderful. So quick and smooth from one website to another, and we don't have to wait for a ten minutes for a page to load. Yea! To initiate the high-speed internet, I went on to YouTube with Brooklyn and found a song she likes from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I think we made a wise decision, and it seems like everyone will get something out of the decision that took us almost three years to make. That is everyone, but the dog.