What's Happening with...the Adults

Yes, Jordan and I are "the adults." Sometimes, at least. But since I seem to mainly post about my kids (Claire...Anya is still too little to make too many waves...it's not that she's the second...ah! I'm one of those mom's!!!) thought I'd post about what Jordan and I are doing!


First, Jordan. BIG NEWS. FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY, after waiting 2+ years, he is, as of this morning, on DAY SHIFT!! Yay! Goodbye to graves! I'm so excited that on his days off, I'll see him all day, instead of him sleeping all day to "keep his schedule." We're going to have so much fun, and hopefully Jordan won't get sick as much with a good consistent sleep schedule :)


Second, Jordan is also gearing up to begin school FULL-TIME next year. Yep. He is going to study Computer Engineering at the U. Right now, he's studying for some clep tests to be able to test out of some classes, like Calculus. Yuck. I'm glad I'm not the one in school!


Jordan has also gained 5 lbs. (since he went to the doctor last). Momentous. :)


Now onto me. No BIG NEWS like for Jordan, but I'll try to think of something interesting... Let's see. I am adjusting to having 2 KIDS. It is TOUGH! But at least now that Jordan's on days, I won't have to put Claire to bed with Anya in-my-arms-or-she'll-scream-the-whole-time and I can do the necessary bedtime "snuggles."


My house has been cleaner than EVER. Seriously. But with the two kids, you have to stay on top of things even more, and I think I've done that to the extreme in order to keep my sanity. SOMETHING has to be in order, right?


My goal has been to lose the baby weight MUCH faster this time. Last time It took me like 10 months to get it all off. So far, I've lost 31 lbs. 19 to go. Yes, I know that means I gained 50 LBS. Pathetic!! Oh well!! Losing it has been good, until Thanksgiving rolled around. I think I'm going to take a hiatis until January...let's be honest...who wants to diet during the holidays? Not I, said the lover-of-food. But I'm totally motivated for a January restart by the fact that I have nothing to wear.


Still teaching Gospel Doctrine. Love it. I hope I keep this calling for even more years. It's the best. One day I'll start "Soap Box Sunday" again. Too many demands!


Just finished Mockingjay (it took me SO LONG it was 2 weeks overdue at the library) and WHAT A DISSAPPOINTMENT. The whole book I was either bored or a little grossed out or depressed about the gory details. Happy about who Katniss ends up with at the end, but it was like one page long.... pathetic. If/when they do the movie, they really need to manipulate this last book a little--spend a little more time on the romance, a little less on the gory details of the war, and definitely less time on Katniss' pathetic and weak thoughts. OK, I could go on forever. It sucked.


OK, well that's what's going on! Now the next 5 posts will be about the kids again :)

Finally. Pictures of Anya.

Jordan finally had a minute to take some pictures of Anya--and we waited this long because she had/has dermititis--I guess it goes beyond baby acne? Anyway, but (thank you Chanda!)Hydrocortizone cream is a lifesaver, and she's cleared up a lot... not that there weren't plenty of blemishes I had to edit out of each and every one of these pictures...ahhh...but they're done!




Love her little smile!!

Pretty sure her eyes will stay blue...

At this point, Anya had had enough. In went the binkie... (tacky? I don't know, but pretty cute anyway)





And promptly fell asleep...









Love her little squishy face and the rolls on her back!! She definitely is a little chunkier than Claire was!

And then we TRIED to take pictures of Anya with Claire...yeah, didn't work work out too well, so this is ALL we got, and they're not even very good, oh well! I think she went to her room for throwing a tantrum after this, haha.

Well, nothing fancy or "professional," but it was fun (and free :) to snap our new little angel... just on the bed works great!

Happy Halloweeeeeen!!!

This Halloween was pretty fun, because now, Claire knows the meaning of C-A-N-D-Y. And she dressed up like a COW, and definitely knows the meaning of that!

But first, I must showcase Jordan's exceptional pumpkin-carving skills :)



And, as I said, Claire was a cow. Her cousin, Lauren was a cow last year, so we just carried on the tradition (well, tradition of FREE costume too!). I also figured it would be maybe the only year that my daughter would be excited about dressing as a cow. Next year I bet it will be a fairy or a princess or something frilly like that.

Here she is getting her "makeup" on! Auntie Katie (aka, "Sexy Vampire") was the artist :)

And here she is, all ready to go!!



And here we are trick or treating together! (Let's be honest, it was cold and rainy. We went to a handful of houses...)



Then, we went back to Grandma and Grandpa Taylor's house and Claire did what she does best: maul "baby sister."



By the way, isn't she cute? (yeah, she survived the mauling)



Poor Anya... she was really gassy that night...so Grandma Taylor had me make a pact with her to cut out soda and chocolate (my pediatrician said chocolate is a culprit? Who knows...) out of my diet, and she would do the same. The soda is really hard for her and the chocolate (surprise surprise) is really hard for ME!! Since that day, 3 days ago, I have lost 2 more pounds. LOL.

Started my diet again (took a short hiatis for Halloween)...need to fit back into my wardrobe or I'll be in PJ's all winter long! AH!

Anyway, was a fun Halloween!!

Once there was a Snowman!

It snowed the other morning. And like a good Daddy Jordan is, he took Claire out, bundled up in snow gear (thanks Annie!) and played in the powdery white. Claire thoroughly enjoyed herself of course :) But so did Daddy :) He made a GIANT snowman, and when I remarked how big it was, he said "You know it would've been bigger if I had more snow..." What a freak. All of the snow in our yard, front, back, and side, was used though!

And, yes, once there WAS a snowman, because by midday, it was gone!

Life With TWO

Here goes...

* I don't have enough hands, arms, and laps.
* Claire is driving me INSANE. Good thing she's so freaking cute, or I would have thrown her out the window a few weeks ago.
* No more naps for Mommy, less sleep than ever (who told Claire SHE is now supposed to wake up in the middle of the night? And at the SAME EXACT TIME as Anya, yeah...)
*In order to not become entirely insane, I just can't STOP for a second. It's go go go or my whole home will fall apart...
*Remember in college when you and your roommates' menstrual cycles fell into sync? That's how Anya and Claire's crying schedules are. Who do you run to first??
*I used to be late to things. Now, I'm EXCEPTIONALLY, EXCEEDINGLY, UNDOUBTEDLY late to things.
* How 'bout Claire deciding to NOT NAP anymore??? Yeah, I just lock her in her room for an hour while she doesn't go to sleep like she's supposed to and sits there playing, crying, whining, etc. HELP! (Although that night, she's a little angel to get to bed because she's so tired.)
* Who knew a toddler could be so dangerous around the house?
* Who knew a toddler, unattended, could naively threaten a baby's mortality 50 times a day? ("I love you, baby sister!" *smother,* *suffocate,* *squish*)
* This mom used to pride herself in the fact that she didn't unnecessarily raise her voice at her toddler very often. Ha ha haaaaaaaa..... yeah, that's a pathetic laugh. NOW, a good day is when I only yell at Claire a handful of times. It's really sad. (today, I only yelled at her ONCE...an accomplishment to be sure!!)
* I am on the verge of a breakdown almost every day.
* I can't even imagine having any kind of "job" with two kids at home.
* "Getting stuff done" is really based on the luck of the draw... I can't plan to do things and expect that 100% of the time, I will be able to accomplish the task. There are now too many unexpected variables, like kids waking up, not going to sleep, or my tiredness getting the best of me.
* Going out by myself with two kids. HA. Not my cup of tea, that's for sure. The amount of stops I can make is cut in half--like before, with Claire I could make two. Now, just one :) jk. Maybe a couple more, but really depends on my energy level. I can't even FATHOM having these two kids and being pregnant. Deadbeat mommy for sure!
* I now know why the verb "juggle" is used when talking about taking care of kids.

I should probably say a few "GOOD" things about it though:

* Two little cuties to cuddle instead of one.
* Seeing Claire with Anya is so fun. She is such a good big sister (when she's not trying to kill her on accident)
* I just love my kids, what can I say??

OK, so maybe I can't think of many amazing, easy, fun things about having two kids yet...or today... when things were so hard. Just keeping it real though. Any ADVICE would be entirely welcome!!

Pumpkin Pickin' Time

A week ago (or so) we went to the pumpkin patch with Jordan's family. It was so fun! My first time! There were a lot more people there than in these pictures, but what can I say? We are obsessed parents that only take pictures of Claire (and Anya will be getting more pictures soon).

She did it again...

Yep, another ER trip. This time, Claire tripped and hit her head on the rocking chair in her room.

It's funny because just that morning, Jordan took THIS picture:



She wasn't hurt at that point. She simply likes to play with her Dora band-aids. Was it a foreshadowing of things to come? The band-aid is on the exact eyebrow she sliced open!

Here we are at the ER.



That is the amazing taping job that Jordan did prior to going to the ER. We originally tried to just get into a pediatric plastic surgeon to avoid the expensive ER copay, but they were all in surgery. Oh well!

And here she is post-stitches. The doctor was awesome and did 5 really good stitches. We figured most doctors would do 3 and call it good, but he was meticulous. We shouldn't have to worry about scarring and her eyebrow hair not coming back in--that's what we worried about since it was right in the eyebrow.



It was so sad though because once they put her in the papoose (the like straight jacket thing) to stitch her up, it was sad...she, the whole time was a broken record of "I want Mommy" even though I was right there, stroking her head telling her that I was there. After they were done she was OK though.

When we got home (Jordan couldn't come, so we saw him after...my wonderful mother-in-law went with me, so that was great!) Jordan took a picture of her with the stitches:



OK Claire, no more trips to the ER!!! We're glad you survived it all...you were a brave little peanut!