31 things on the 31st

one: Where did March go?! 

second: Wish the clouds would go away and it would be sunny and/or warm

third: So excited that Richard's horrible semester ends on Friday

fourth: Cannot wait for our 11 day spring break during which we are going to SUPER DUPER deep clean and play hard.

fifth: Cannot believe my brother is coming home from his 2-year mission to Brazil on Wednesday. Hey the past 2 years, where did you go?? I am so sad I won't be there for his homecoming, I die a little inside every time I think about not being there.

sixth: The kids slept in the same room for the first time last night and it went dramatically better than I thought it would! They loved it and slept really well. Who knew my kids are really deep sleepers? 

seventh: In shock that our last semester at BYU-Idaho starts in a couple weeks

eighth: 113 days until we move here (which I am so excited about...)

ninth: We no longer have toothless smiles at our house...tooth #2 for Brielle poked through yesterday. Realizing we have no more toothless smiles has made me unusually sad.

tenth: Teething sucks.

Eleven: I have decided to ditch putting what day of the year it is in my blog post titles

twelve:  Yes, I have totally slacked on my blogging. It's been crazy busy. And yes, that is a constant.

thirteen: We have gotten into this awesome routine that I am loving. It's more busy and leave me with less free time, but I am loving it. More on that later.

Fourteen: Brielle is a piggie. She loves her food but can't sit still long enough to drink her milk (nursing or in a bottle). Mommy friends: how can I get her to drink her milk?? She wrestles with me to get down and play whenever I try to give it to her. Liam was like this, but not as active as her, and I had to wean him at 7 1/2 months because he just wouldn't nurse. But in Liams case, he still drank milk from a bottle.

Fifteen: Brielle has this fascination with slapping and grabbing faces. While doing her excited, high-pitch squeal. 

Sixteen: Liam is dying to play outside more, but can't because it's so cold. The other day he stood at the sliding glass door and begged the wind to stop while crying so he could go outside. Broke my heart. Poor guy hates being cooped up inside. His dream would be to play outside with his friends 24/7. Can't wait to grant him his dream soon when we move...

Seventeen: Our kids are in the dang cutest stages right now. Liam's language is booming (he has always been an amazing talker...like having a 40 word active vocabulary at 15 months) and he is starting to say the funniest things. Brielle is almost crawling and constantly moving, grabbing for things, jabbering/squealing and smiling. All at the same time.

Eighteen: All of our friends having babies aren't being the best birth control...

Nineteen:  I have become hooked to the TV show "Who Do You Think You Are" and love watching it while I fold clothes or nurse Brielle. It makes me want to hire a professional genealogist to get past the wall on my Dad's side and also to visit the places my ancestors are from.

Twenty: Still laughing about the fact I completely filled my 8 gig camera card in a little over a month...

Twenty-one: I love that my sister and her husband live in the same town and come over all the time! Liam adores them and I love that they have a relationship with my kids.

Twenty-two: I have been thinking a lot about the following quote... "Be one who nurtures and builds. Be one who has an understand and forgiving heart, who looks for the best in people. Leave people better than you found them". --Marvin J. Ashton. These kind of people are my favorite, and I want so bad to be that kind of person. 

Twenty-three: I love having my kids so close together. It's crazy busy, I hardly ever (if ever) have time for myself, it's hard, but so worth it. Watching them love each other so much and already having a deep relationship makes it worth it.

Twenty-four: I should probably take a shower...

Twenty-five: I am so excited that Richard's days of being gone until 11:30 at night like he has been doing every night for the past 2 weeks, are almost over!!

Twenty-six:  I turned 26 on Monday and I can't believe I am so old! Even though I feel 20 still, have been married for 6 1/2 years, have 2 kids, graduated with my bachelors degree, have a husband that is starting medical school in 3 months, I still can't believe I am 26. 

Twenty-seven:  I love feeling like I have my body back. I have been at my pre-pregnancy weight of 120 pounds for a couple months (I don't have a scale and so I am not sure exactly when that happened) and it's nice to be able to wear all my normal clothes. I feel like I have my old high school body back, with the new addition of a few stretch marks from my 2 babies ;)

Twenty-eight: Does anyone read my blog anymore?

Twenty-nine: I love my life so much

Thirty: I love being a member of the restored gospel and that we can listen to prophets and apostles that God has called himself, and hear inspired and beautiful words that Christ would have us hear. The first session of conference this morning was beautiful. (Learn more about General Conference and be able to listen to it here)

Thirty-one: Time to play with my beautiful girl before I put her down for another nap AND turn on General Conference...

...see?! No more toothless smiles!!!!!!

yes it's a lazy Saturday morning and she is still in her PJs that are stained with the carrots she ate earlier. And no bow. But she rocks it.

(Day 80) Not much to say.

It's 10:50.

The kids are in bed, the house is clean, Richard is still on campus studying where he has been all day except 1 hour at dinner (welcome to my week), and it's quiet. Too quiet. So I have my fav soundtrack from the movie "Amelie" playing and a neglected blog to update. Not much to say, but I wanted to write, even though I am not sure what about.

This week...hmmmm... It's been interesting. Good because I have gotten a lot done, the kids have been great (except some teething going on...more on that later), the kids have slept well, I have been able to spend time with my awesome sis, 2 of my good friends are about to have babies and the thought of 2 babies fresh from heaven coming into awesome families, makes me happy etc. Bad because Richard has been pulling 12+ hour days this whole week getting caught up (he has missed a month of school with all his interviews) before his finals, I have been on my own with the kids and miss him so bad and the weather has been messing with me (lets just say I am ready for constant sunshine...)

Really not much exciting or noteworthy, but I will say I can't wait for this week to be over! Richard has a big test on Saturday and once that is finished, we have a date planned (!!!!!!) and a fun Crepe party we are throwing on Sunday (anyone in the area is invited!! Facebook/text me for details). 

I have had a lot of thoughts the past couple days about: 

--the kids growing up too dang fast (Brielle is ::this:: close to crawling and cut her first tooth the other day...where did my baby go?! And Liam...don't get me started on how fast he is growing up! Where did my babIES go?!)

--how excited yet simultaneously sad I am to move out of ID (CANNOT wait for nice weather and a bigger apartment, but wish I could bring our friends with us!)

--wanting to eradicate some of my gosh-dang annoying weaknesses (Don't get me started on this...I sense a future post brewing)

--wanting to get more organized (mmm...have I ever mentioned I love organization? nerd alert)

--how dang excited I am to do some serious spring cleaning/moving prep during on Spring break (my OCD side is a little too excited for this plan in our future)

--how excited I am to see my bro in a couple weeks (he is coming home from his 2-year mission for our church)

--how I really want to step up my spirituality (too embarrassed to say more than that.)

...I have been thinking a lot lately about those and other random things. But that is what happens when you are around toddlers all day and only see your significant other/other adults for a very limited time.

Okay I was very wrong. apparently, I have much more to say than I thought.

Only pic I took today...they were being so cute playing this morning.
This pic didn't even remotely capture the cuteness.

It's 11:13, and it's still too quiet. 

(Day 77) Sheering the Libum

As you could see in my post yesterday, it was high time Libum (Liam's nickname... honestly no idea where it came from, but it started about a month before he was born) was sheered. His hair grows SOOOO incredibly fast (like we have hard to cut his hair 4 times this year) and his hair was getting so shaggy that it was curling under at the bottom. He hated getting his hair cut so bad he was screaming and shaking no matter what was playing, how many yummies he had and how long we had to let him play with the cutters, show him they weren't scary etc. So we kind of put it off, as I am sure you can understand. But today he did awesome! He only cried at the end, but I think that was because he was covered in hair and it was getting in his eyes. He looks so cute and old with his new hair cut! I will post pictures of the final product tomorrow! :)

We let him hold our old cutters and I think it made him realize it was dangerous

look at the difference in the hair!

a little pile that was on the floor. There was SO much more on his body and the seat! 

(Day 76) Sporting the green

I have always loved St. Patty' day. My Irish blood feels very proud to sport the green, proud of where my ancestors come from. My great-great-grandpa and ALL of his ancestors (or at least as far back as we can go) is from a little town in Northern Ireland and I have always been loved the fact I have Irish blood. Ever since I was a little girl I have had a love and fascination with all things Irish. Not sure why, but it's always been there, and visiting the town in Ireland that for generations and generations my family lived in, is on the top of my bucket list. 

Anyways, today was a great St. Patty's day! Liam and I went to a Primary activity and then we went to a party our friends put on! It was fun to socialize and spend time with our good friends. 

Liam at the nursery activity (taken with my phone)

(taken with my phone) 

Love that smile (taken with my phone)

And of course, here are the babies wearing green: 

I couldn't decide which one to post so you got both :)

In this pic I LOVE Liam's face... 

And in this pic I LOVE Brielle's face!

Heck in this one I love both of their faces!

Liam only sat long enough for me to frantically get a couple pictures, so I took advantage of the fact Brielle can't run away...yet :)

Well, both kiddos are asleep so it's time to get off the computer, break out the green ice cream and play a game with the hubby on our date-at-home evening!

(Day 73) Lollipops and laughs

Today as Liam and I were walking up our stairs coming home from playing outside, he looked up at me all suddenly and asked for "BIG SUCKER!!" 

It took me a little while to figure out what he was talking about.

We bought him a big lollipop for his birthday over a month ago, and for some reason, he remembered right then he hadn't eaten it. So we busted it open and he had a couple bites/licks. He loved it.

And just to prove that I don't just feed my kid sweets for every snack, I snapped a pic of him eating some carrots. I promise I am not a negligent mother who feeds her kids candy all day ;)

Watching the a TV show that he earned for cleaning up his toys

But my favorite, all-time favorite, pictures from today (or maybe ever) are these of Liam that I took while I was tickling his tummy:

Today as I was talking to him, I realized how crazy it was that I was actually talking to him. Like we were having a conversation, he was responding and we were talking back and forth. It was so surreal and crazy that my 2-year-old is old enough, to have a conversation with me. My baby. He is talking SO WELL. He always has talked well (like 40 words by 15 months), but its booming now and he only has to hear a word once and it's apart of his vocabulary.

Also, today we went to get ice cream as a family after dinner, and it was so much fun! Liam was so excited and kept screaming "ICE CREAM, ICE CREAM" until we got there. And then as we were eating our ice cream, sitting around a little kid table with spoons eating out of the same carton, Liam started dancing like a crazy kid to the music. So we joined in. It was one of those smiles-that-makes-your-cheeks-hurt moments where your heart is so full it feels like it will explode. Watching how happy and excited he was to be eating "ICE CREAM" with his parents, was so wonderful.

He is my buddy.

Best buddy forever.

(Day 72) Our special time

Most days, I dont get to spend quite as much time with Brielle one-on-one as I would like. Sad, but it's the reality of having 2 kids close together. I like to make myself feel better by telling myself it's better that she have a sibling because they will be friends and a support to each other long after I am gone. 

But, once Liam goes to bed, we get out special time together. I love it. We usually play until she starts whining because she is tired, I change her diaper and then start the bedtime process which includes a bottle of some pumped breast-milk (I like to know she is getting at least a certain amount of milk before bed), nursing if she is still hungry and off to bed. My favorite part of it is when she has fallen asleep and just "dream feeding" (or eating while she sleeps). I love watching her, smelling her, kissing her, stroking her soft little blonde head and just admiring her while she sleeps. It's such a special time bonding with my little sweetheart. That is the part of Liam growing up I think I miss the most. Watching him sleep while he nursed before bed, just like she does. A lot of times I wish I could rewind just to those quiet moments while he slept in my arms as a little baby. 

But lucky for me, I have another sweet baby to hold while she sleeps. 

It's my favorite special time.

A sweet nursing picture...

mmm squishy sleeping face. So precious.

(all pics taken with my phone)

(Day: failed) Dang. I am part of the masses.

I failed.

Apparently, the majority of New Years resolutions are broken by February 14th. I was determined to not break my resoluation to take a picture a day and write about it, then post. But I failed. In my defense, I lasted almost 3 weeks past that date, but then life got crazy busy and I stopped. Richard went on an interview to Ohio for 4 days, took the camera card with him and I got out of the habit. Since then, getting back into the habit of taking a picture a day and the posting about it, has been hard. 

That and I have just not been in the mood to post. Seriously?!?! Here is why. Richard and I are trying to decide where we want to spend the next 4 years of our lives. We have 4 very good options that we are constantly thinking, talking about, creating spread sheets about and weighing out and so my whole day when I am not taking card of the kids, is spent sitting at the computer, looking up apartments/houses, researching the different areas, schools, and everything about these places. So when the kids go to bed, I have had enough computer time and blogging just sounds like drudgery. 

So I took a break. 

I didn't want one of my hobbies to become drudgery so I let my goal go for over a week. But, I am hoping that I will get back in the habit. Because I will be honest, I am already so grateful for this resolution. I have looked back on posts I wrote about what happened on our ordinary days, and I am so glad I did. I have already forgotten those little but special moments and it brings back such sweet memories. 

So, I want to refocus my goal. 

I don't want to become one of the masses that fails at their resolution 2 months in. 

This week will be hard. Richard is leaving for his last interview (PRAISES!!) for 3 days at the end of this week, but I want to try and keep it up. Bare with me though, cause it might be rough. O and bare through this "catch-up" post, because that might be rough too ;) 

****

Wednesday 

(Day 66)

She LOVES playing with plastic or anything "crunchy" sounding

She laid on the floor and watched a fly on the sliding glass door forever. She was completely mesmerized by it and just stared with a very serious face at it, until I distracted her by taking pictures.  

 The same day, as I was cleaning the house, it was too quiet. You think I would have learned my lesson.

This is what I found when I went to see what Liam was doing: 

Once I saw his hair, it all clicked. 

He had been saying "hair, baby" over and over again and I just blew it off. But then it dawned on me why he had been saying that. He calls gel "hair bubbles" (cause there are bubbles in the gel) and so we mention that everytime we put it on his hair. So as he was putting the A&D ointment in his hair, he was saying "hair, baby". Little stinker. It took 5 shampoos and several days to come completely out. And it smelled so strong even after being washed, I got a headache while I was holding him during his bedtime routine :/ 

He has this thing about putting stuff in his hair lately! They day before this, I found him putting foot lotion in his hair the same way! Silly boy...

Thursday

Day 67

Holding the little-pink-riding-hood beauty after her nap

It has started happening.

The kiddos are playing together, so well.

They are so cute and just in the past couple days, they have started to play and interact so much more than they ever have. I can already see the beginning of a life long friendship starting. It's so cute to watch! Brielle does this super cute high pitch squeal coupled with a huge smile and flalleling appendages whenever she sees him and he gets all giddy and has to hug her.

Sunday

Day 70

The kids playing after baths and before getting ready to go to church. 

I love their cute little diaper bums

and huge smiles.

That moment

watching them play, roll around, squeal, and love on each other in the sunlight made my heart swell.

Those are the wonderful, timeless, meaningful moments I live for.

Today: Monday

Day 71

Liam woke up from his nap on the cranky side and sat in his crib like this for about 15 minutes...

So to bribe him up and cheer him up I gave him a couple chocolate chips (or "choco" as he calls it) 

That did the trick.

mmm...choco droll

Voila.

My smiley, happy boy is back.

Well there ya go. 

All caught up.

Glad I did that. Even though I should have probably spent nap time preparing the weekly menu list, cleaning the house or planning our future. O well.