And it's over.

I love Brielle's face! She is in a diaper because I was getting her ready to put her swimming suit on.

Just like that, without much warning, our time of "play" is over.
One day I woke up and realized, that phase of our life is entirely over.

And surprisingly, my emotions are different than I thought they would be.
An aching excitement.

Aching: I am so sad to have that time over, at times it can hurt. My heart aches to think about how my kids will miss their daddy, and I ache when I think about doing this alone, almost entirely without my best friend.

Excitement: Because it's finally here. The day we have been preparing, hoping for and dreaming of for years. Because I am ready to do this thing.
The surprising part, is this is the greater emotion of the 2.

Yesterday, Richard started medical school.

For pretend, because this week is orientation, but it is all day and the same hours as his classes (8am-5pm). So we are starting "the" schedule and he is preemptively studying the massive amounts of books that he has during the hours he plans to do homework. 80 hours a week of class and studying. Boom baby.

So I am on my own. A thing I haven't had to do since he finished his under-graduate degree last year. It's hard to get used to, but I did it for so long, I have fallen right back in place. The adjustment has come pretty natural, which is a huge tender mercy. 

Classes start on Monday, and the real journey begins.

I feel like I am standing in line for one of the really scary rides at a carnival. It looks exciting, and by the faces of those getting off the ride, it looks totally worth it. In fact, they all come over and tell you it is so worth it. However, it also looks scary, just not scary enough to get out of line. You remind yourself, it will be worth it, and you can do it. 

That's exactly how I feel.

I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.

The calm.

This is the calm.
The calm after and before the storm.
After the storm of under-graduate work. always worried about what our future was. Never seeing Richard. Far away from our family. Living in a tiny apartment. storm #1
Before the storm of learning to manage 3 kids in 3 years (It's going to be "interesting" to be outnumbered...). storm #2
And hubby starting medical school soon while trying to learn storm #2 and truly never being home. storm #3

(sorry I talk about those "storms" so often...honestly pretty freaked out. Excited for the challenge, but freaked)

But this time, is the calm.

The calm I have waited so long for and the one that I am basking in right now.

It is truly wonderful. And I feel so blessed to have this time with my family before the storm (s) come.

Our situation has allowed for almost constant help from time with Richard and it is heaven. Absolute heaven and sometimes I have to pinch myself because it doesn't seem real. The kids are loving it and I am loving it even more. Maybe ;) It is particularly wonderful for this almost 9 month pregnant body. more on that later...

Playing in the water on our 1 1/2 mile hike as a family on Presidents day

We have been living it up.

Weekly dates,

(finally) caught up on all of our favorite TV shows

getting to know my family on a whole new, wonderful level

staying up way too late talking after the kids are asleep (my all-time favorite part of the day)

 sleeping in whenever we can

 exercising everyday (well I DID)

 going on family outings pretty much everyday

eating every meal together 

and playing in anyway we can.

This is the calm 

I am grateful for everyday

and the time that will keep my sanity during the storms.

His and her heart-attacks

This is the last semester of Richards under graduate work. Can I hear a collective sigh? Basically, I can't convey how happy we are. It's almost mid-terms. 52 more days until it's done.

He is so burnt out (going year round for 5 years and getting a basically double major can do that to a man) and overwhelmed right now. Poor guy. But, all things considered, I am so proud of how hard he is working for us! I am so glad I married such a hardworking man with such ambition!

So Liam and I took the opportunity to tell him how much we love him during our craft time this morning while Brielle was napping. So we heart attacked him!! 

We ran out of tape a couple days ago so we had to use some of Liams stickers to make it stick to the door :)

I traced Liams hand (on the right) and he tried to trace my hand (green marks on the left) 

He liked it.

Even though with the wind and stickers that aren't sticky enough, the wind had blown most of it down when he came home from school, so it was all over the stairs.

But he got the idea, and after we stuck it back up again, he loved it even more.

Liam loves it too. He thinks it's Richards birthday and every time he sees it, he says

"Happy day Dad!"

(translation: Happy birthday Dad)

But that is not all.

When we were at the store getting stuff for dinner, Richard told me to go to the car because he had been planning to buy me a surprise all day. When we got home he surprised me with a beautiful red rose, my favorite drink and favorite candy bar (milky way). I didn't get a chance to enjoy it though because as soon as dinner was ready I ran with some friends to Zumba. When I got back I saw this on the door: 

He had a sweet letter from Liam and himself. So sweet.

So sweet. So so sweet of him. 

It was fun to be able to do things back and forth for each other, making the other feel loved.

Looks like it's my turn next ;)

Our final final destination.

I have been meaning to write this post for the last 2 1/2 weeks. But I couldn't find the words to write this post in the way I wanted. But I think it's time. If you read the whole thing, I will give you a treat. Really.
Just read it.

***

"Following the whisperings"

"Chasing his dream"

"Found his calling"

"Learning to be a supportive wife"

"Medical school: our future"

...

These are all the titles that I almost used for this post. It's been difficult to decide which one to use. Why? Because this is a life changing post. I have hesitated writing this for the last 2 1/2 weeks. I am afraid we will get crap, eye-rolling and the like. But still, it's our life and this is the journal of our life and I wanted to record all the details of this final final destination. So it's going to be a long journey through all our roads leading to this final destination so sit tight. Grab a snack and maybe some water too.

Road #1: Richard has always wanted a future in helping people, counseling with people and having relationships with people. So he pursed a degree in Psychology thinking it would lead to a career as a counselor. He finished his degree, but half-way into it realized that the daily stress of working with people with mental disorders was something that he didn't want to do for the rest of his life.

Road #2: As he was finishing his Psychology degree, he heard of the joint MBA/JD degree and decided that was what he wanted to do. With an amazing talent and natural gift in both business and debating, we thought this was his future. But then we realized that while there were some aspects that were appealing, there were other aspects that were very very unappealing. 

Road #3: Still while pursing his Psychology degree, he stumbled across the program that trains Seminary teachers for the LDS church. He went through the first several levels of the training and the people who hire Seminary teachers liked him so much they said he was definitely hired and exactly what they were looking for. A week later the church had a huge hiring freeze (instead of opening positions they were closing positions down) and we were told that the only thing that could have stopped him from becoming a Seminary teacher, had just happened. He continued through the process, was one of 12 (with 1000+ people applying for it) selected to be a Student teacher (which he did for a year while going to school), and one of 6 people (with 1000+ people applying) to get into the hiring pool (basically all the people they want to hire). Because of the freeze put on hiring, they had no openings. 

Here is his explanation of the instant relief we felt when we found out he wasn't hired:

"As soon as the job as a seminary teacher was no longer an option, I felt a great relief. Although I had a million reasons why being a seminary teacher would have been fantastic-- it hadn't felt right, like i was wearing a tight pair of pants, and now I could breath that I had the choice to pick a better fitting pair."

Road #4: Literally as soon as we heard that wasn't his future, he was drawn VERY STRONGLY towards a career in medicine/medical field. I could spend an entire post talking about how a career in the medical field is THE PERFECT fit for him, but I will just say that it fulfills all of his dreams and uses all of his talents/natural abilities. It's perfect. Within that we have had a lot of different paths. 

Road #4A: At first he considered being a CNRA or a Nurse Anesthetist. We liked the pay, the flexibility etc. but it sounded way too boring to him and didn't have enough client interaction. Plus he wanted to own his own business/practice. He doesn't want a boss.

Road #4B: Then with all of those things considering, we switched to him being a Dentist because it had the pay and flexibility of the CNRA, but it gave him more client interaction and he could own his own business. This was his path for about 1 1/2 years. He was president of the Dental society on campus, he went on a huge service trip to Honduras to beef up his application etc. He was all set and ready. And then we heard several scary things about that field that scared us away from it. Plus he realized he wanted more of a relationship with his clients that he wouldn't have as a Dentist and he wanted to do more surgery.

Road #4C: Then he heard about Podiatry and that it gave him all that Dental did, plus more interaction with  his clients AND the ability to do surgery, which he wanted. He switched in December of 2011 and signed up to take the MCAT, applied to schools, went to interviews at all of our top choices for schools, and got accepted to all of them. We had even chose the school we were going to go to already. And the apartment we were going to live in. When he took the MCAT and did WAY better than he thought he would (he had only taken 2 weeks of the first of 2 class of Physics and Organic Chemistry which is 1/3 of the test AND only studied for 2 weeks when most people study for months 8+ hours a day). The whole time he really wanted to be a family practice doctor, but didn't think that was an option. When his MCAT score came back he started really considering it.

FINAL DESTINATION: Randomly one day, 2 1/2 weeks ago, being a doctor came up for probably the millionth time. All through out this journey, ever since we were married really, he has talked about how much he wanted to be a doctor. It has been his dream since he was a kid. And anyone who knows him, knows this is a perfect fit. And it is everything we want and more.
Higher pay than all the other options (which is not why we are doing it, but definitely a perk)
More flexibility
Be his own boss (his plan is to start up his own practice)
Higher need/job growth
Great job security
Gets the most client interaction/relationship
Gets to work with kids
Can use his Psychology degree and counseling skills
Gets to teach people about health
ETC.
We kept having these whisperings that he should pursue this path. But medical school scared me too much. I was the only thing holding him back from his dream. Well it came up  again 2 1/2 weeks ago and it felt so right. The perfect fit. Our final destination. On a random Wednesday night, we made our decision. 4 months away from starting Podiatry school, we decided to follow our gut, his dream and the whisperings we had been having for so long.

"I was excited to begin podiatry school in only 4 months time. But I still had that desire to be an actual medical doctor-- Podiatry didn't satisfy that longing. As more and more time passed, it became more and more unbearable for me to not be a medical doctor. Finally, after spending thousands of dollars towards podiatry... I did it. I DID IT-- I SWITCHED TO THE PATH OF A MEDICAL DOCTOR! It would take longer, but already it is more rewarding for me personally. Being a counselor, seminary teaching, dentistry, and podiatry are all fantastic careers. But they are fantastic careers for someone other than me. I AM SO HAPPY with my new choice. It is the pinnacle of what I am striving for. It will be hard. It will take a long time, but already it is worth it."

So there it is. Our final destination. 

--June 1st he will apply to medical school which will start August 2013.

--End of July he will finish pre-requisties for medical school.

--August 2012-June 2013 we will live in our hometown in WA minutes away from my family while he works allowing us to save up a lot of money for medical school

--August 2013 we will move where ever we decide to go to medical school and start a whole new challenging, exciting, scary chapter of our lives. 

It's been a long path, but we are finally at the point where we are supposed to be. Every day he gets more and more excited about his future. There are so many ways that I can talk about how all the paths we have taken have been perfect in leading us to where we are supposed to be. And there are so many ways that this is the outrageously perfect fit for our family. We truly feel that his path has been directed and designed just for us. 

This quote I found sums up our journey to our final destination perfectly.

pin

...if you have made it to the end, you are a trooper and deserve a treat. Give me a holla (aka comment) and I will somehow give you a treat...

p.s. what a cool way to spend my 100th post!

The date we never had

May 3rd

 7 years ago yesterday

Richard and I had our first date.

Finally after a year of wishing and hoping he would ask me on a date, it finally happened.

Realizing that he was everything I thought he was and more

Plus the best friend I had always been looking for

is a moment in my life I will never forget.

On the way home from our date that night,

 Richard mentioned that he wanted to go on another date with me.

So outrageously excited, I stammered back that my Dad's birthday was the next day (May 4th) and I would be busy doing family stuff. So we planned a date for that weekend. 

But from the 5th (we actually hung out before our planned date for the 6th...we couldn't stay apart even then) until we got married 6 months later, 

we spent every day together either hanging out or on dates.

So May 4th was the only day that we didn't go on a date or spend time together.

Today, May 4th

7 years later

on our way to Winco, Richard mentioned that he had a special surprise.

He had a date all planned with a babysitter ready to watch our kids as soon as we got home (!!!!!!)

He wanted to take me on the date we never had.

HOW ROMANTIC IS THAT?!?!?!

I haven't stopped swooning over my boy all night.

hey no judging. I am growing out my hair so it's all natural. Yes horrible roots I know...

We were both laughing really hard at an inside joke which is why we are smiling weird
He's my best friend.

7 years later and I still have it bad for this boy.

But can you blame me?

Coasting and the gems in my closet

we did it.
I want to shout it from the rooftops.
We survived.
One more horrid, awful, never-seeing-Richard, him working for 12+ hours on campus, single-mommyhood semester down. And (hopefully) no more to go.
And finally, after 2 years, we have entered coast mode.

After 2 years of treading water, we have entered the long coveted coast mode. You ask what coast mode is? Well, he has been accepted to his #1 Podiatry school, we have accepted, we have one more semester left here during which he only has to pass his classes. easy. No more MCAT to worry about, no more being gone for an entire month during the semester for interviews, and no more worrying about not getting into med school. Next semester should be bomb. Like him coming home at 5 bomb. I am so proud of my hardworking hubby and so excited for this coast mode we have entered! Just enjoying the last 3 months here in our home of 5 years (wow) together on a normal schedule. Almost too much to comprehend! 

As soon as the kids woke up from their nap, they played with Daddy. Their heaven.

Brielle's crazed mid-jump face

Anyways. Today was day two of my Spring Cleaning Naturally, but I have nothing on that front to report. I just tore apart our room, deep cleaning it for 3 hours, but it required no natural cleaners. We filled four 30-gallon black trash bags full of stuff for D.I...i love purging. But I did find some gems in the top of my closet.

--Like a huge stack of old CDs that included, and not limited to, Brittany Spears, Ace of Base, Mandy Moore, Jessica Simpson, No Doubt, Matchbox 20 and all other '90 and early 2000 wonders. Liam and I even had a Mandy Moore dance party to celebrate their findings.

--A stack of ultrasound pictures from my pregnancies with both kids (it was crazy to look at my 6 week ultrasound with Liam and then up to the 2 year old cuteness he is now. I made that?!?!)
--A couple frames from the dollar store that we had set up at our reception
--My tassel from graduating college
--An old bottle of lotion
--2 games of Risk, Settlers of Catan and Axes and Allies
--A huge accordion file full of all the special mementos from our dating, engagement and marriage. Brought back some wonderful memories.
...among so many other wonderfully random things. But my favorite find, that I spent about 10 minutes laughing at? My journal from the time I was 7-9 years old. Complete with sketches of hearts as I talked about my crushes, friends I had, confessions and the like. Here are some excerpts.
"1993: I love my family and my fariend's (friends)! I like Taylor. He likes me too! And I like cat's and hoes (I am assuming horses). I like Sanda Little. I love books"

"1994: I wnat (want) a dog! I can not whaet (wait) to! I love dog's so so so so much! Thay (they) are so fun! Thay (they) run and play with you! I think a cat are dumb. Dog's are man's dest (best) firend (friend)!"

"Nov 5 1995: I have a relly (really) good boy (??) his name is chris. his (he is) so cute. I fell like I want to merry (marry) him! And the other boy is andy. I relly (really) have a crash (crush) on them!"

"10/15/96:  I have a new boyfriend. His name is cory. Oh I'm in fifth grade. Well I am kind of sad cause he likes Jnea (i am assuming thats jenna)! A girl in fifth grade. I looked on his backpack and it said, I love Jena! Well I dont really care. I kind of like pat."

"10/16/1996: I play the villon (violin) and I love it. My goal is to, Play really good, make the boyfriends like me, and get good grades. I got alot of f's in math!"

...apparently all I thought about were animals (especially dogs, because apparently cats suck) and boys. I was boy crazy from age 7. And friends (I left all the lists of my friends and boyfriends out). Among other random things. What a walk down memory lane. Man I am grateful my spelling improved...

Many warnings of danger, caution, DO NOT READ, "for McKenna's eyes and Mckenna's eyes only", read at your own risk, DO NOT TOUCH.

Well, for the sake of your safety, I am glad you didn't see the inside. 

color, mail and happiness

Remember this? 

Here is my catch-up for the last couple days

{colour}

we went on a walk Monday after Richard came home, to see the horses across the street. Obviously, the theme of these pictures are the color red. With the wagon and the kids warm jackets, as well as Brielle's little nose-ie :)

She was so serious the whole time of our walk!

And even though there isn't any red, I still love it. My handsome hubby

{mail}

We went to get the mail Tuesday and when we were done, Brielle got to play in the grass for the first time. She loved it. She had handfuls of it and kept trying to put it in her mouth. So even though this has nothing to do with mail, it's still cute.

(taken with my phone)

(taken with my phone) 

{someone who makes you happy]

There are A LOT of people that make me happy. A lot of people that are close to my heart.

But this guy.

He is my rock.

He is my happiness.

He is my sunshine.

I love him so much and he holds me up when I feel like I just can't go anymore.

He inspires me to be better.

He cheerfully does anything for me.

He always puts me first.

He makes me happier than I have EVER been in my entire life.

He is my best friend.

He is everything to me.

And right now, he is vacuuming the living room after cleaning the rest of the house, the kitchen included.

Have I mentioned before I really scored big marrying that boy?

(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 62) Spewing thoughts

Tonight, in approximately 3 hours, my shift as single mommy will end. And I only have one more "shift" left. 3 down 1 to go. He is interviewing in Iowa either this upcoming weekend or next and then we are done with that part of applying to Podiatry school . So glad. The first time he left in December for his interview in Arizona, I was terrified. It's hard enough taking care of 2 kids (then) under 2 with hubby there to help, but doing it all by myself was more than I could imagine. It was rough, I relied a lot on other people, but I survived. Now, it's still not easy, but I am getting better at it. More planning and expecting things to go wrong, so when they don't it's a good surprise :) I am becoming a pro. 

But, all this interviewing has paid off. big time. Here's where we are right now:

--He has been accepted to the school in the San Francisco area and because of his very high grades and GPA, he has been awarded their highest scholarship ($20,000 a year...)!
--He has also been accepted at the school he just interviewed at on Friday in Ohio! They normally don't tell you until they meet as a board once a month, but they pulled him aside as soon as he was finished interviewing and they told him he is accepted and they also awarded him their highest scholarship (half-tuition a year which is about $18,000)
--The school in AZ is having an acceptance committee meeting in about a week, but it's almost a guarantee that he will get in, because they said if he got above a 20 on the MCAT he would be accepted, and he got a 28...
--The school in Iowa received his MCAT scores and immediately invited him to come to the campus for an official interview.

Now the hard decision of where to go to Podiatry school begins!!!!! So hard.

Liam has done and said so many cute things these last couple days. Tonight he wanted to play "basketball" while we put away his blocks and we took turns making "baskets" in the block container. We sat next to each other on his floor cheering each other on. Doesn't sound like anything, but it was one of those special little  moments I will want to experience again in the afterlife (i hope SO MUCH there is a way to experience moments of our life after we die). And watching the kids play together, make each other laugh, Liam running around with juice boxes in each hand, his sheer joy of getting to walk in the "deep" snow (which he repeats the whole time he is making boot prints), hearing Liam copy Brielles banshee squealing noise. Makes these past few days of doing everything on my own, worth it. But I have to be realistic. It hasn't come without simultaneous crying from the kids, them tag teaming their sleep (aka: one wakes up as soon as the other goes to sleep during the day) so I never get a rest, Brielle going through a growth spurt so she is eating twice a a night and then not going back to sleep when she wakes up at 6:30 (when she normally sleeps until 8:30). But that's how it goes :)

The other day, I was looking for Brielle's bottle and just randomly asked Liam if he knew where it was. And this is how our conversation went (still can't believe I can have conversations with my boy...he talks SOOOO well):

mom: "Liam, where is sisters bottle?"

Liam: "right there"

mom: (rather surprised he responded like he knew where it was) "Wait, where?"

Liam: "right there"

mom: "where? I don't see it"

Liam: "mom, right there"

mom: (looking around everywhere) "where?"

Liam: (getting up from the floor where he was playing and walking towards the corner next to the couch) "right THERE"

mom: "o wow! There it is! Good job Liam! Thank you so much! You are genius you know"

Liam: "O yeah."

...I had to laugh. He responded like "duh mom, of course I am a genius".

So Richard had my camera card all the way in Ohio in his computer, so I was able to take 2 pictures with my weak-sauce 2gig card I had laying around. Here is some cuteness I HAD to document:

Brielle loving her carrots

The kids loving each other...and totally not posed at all! I found them like this!

Sorry for the random spewing of thoughts. I wanted to get something on here since it's been several days since I wrote and I wanted to remember some of the last 3 days and write it down for journaling purposes. I just have to say, I have the best kiddos and I am SO proud of my wonderful, hot, hard-working hubby.

(ok now it's time to pick up the house and watch Downtown Abbey until I am tired)

(Day 59) and so we celebrated.

Today was a normal day. Cleaning, feeding kids, putting them to sleep...

Cuddling them as soon as they woke up from their naps when they were still warm and snugly...

This picture makes my face look really fat, which I promise it's not and just normal

Feeding Brielle fruits for the first time...

 Verdict:

Not a fan of peaches 

Applesauce was tolerable.

But rice cereal with mama's milk: fav

Playing outside in the snow...

Munching on some snow

But even with all that normal, today was also a very non-normal, and special day in our house. Richard got his MCAT scores back today...and (drum roll) he knocked that ball OUT OF THE PARK. To give you some sort of way to understand the magnitude of it:

--The school in Arizona (one of our top picks) said he needed above a 20 and he was in

--Average MCAT scores for Podiatry schools are 21 and at tops 23

--He only took 2 weeks of the first half of Physics and Organic Chemistry (both a 2 part class) which was just review and they taught him hardly anything. Those classes make up 1/3 of the test. and he had never taken them.

--Unlike most people who take months to study full-time for the MCAT, he only was able to study very few hours a day for less than 3 weeks

--And he had 2 kids, one less than 5 months old (aka no sleep)

Ok all that considered, we found out that he got a 28!!!! That is huge!! So with his GPA and MCAT sores, not only is he a shoe-in for Podiatry school (no pun intended...), but he is also a candidate for the most "high end" M.D. (medical) schools!!! That is the average score that students going to medical school has! I am so proud of him. When he was talking to the other students taking the MCAT, they couldn't NOT believe that he was taking the test without having taken Physics or Organic Chemistry. They thought he was crazy and everyone told him he wouldn't get above a 21. That's what we were hoping for. But my husband is a genius, so of course he went way above and beyond what people expected. He just does that.

So we celebrated by taking the kids to McDonalds for a fun family dinner/outing. Liam had a blast. He went through the play thing all by himself, played around and came down the slide by himself. For the first time. Richard and I looked at each other and with that look of "how did time go so fast" on our faces, realized, 

our little boy is grown up.

It's funny what the sight of your kid playing in the McDonalds play place all by himself can do to a parent.

(sorry for the merciless bragging...after all the hard work and worry y hubby and I have put into this huge test, I would say we deserve a moment of ridiculous bragging.)

(Day 47-50) The sweet, the funny, the sad and the cute.

Yeah ummm where did this week go? And the weekend? Blasted by me in epic speed. So I am behind in my blogging in bad ways. Here is my catch up from this week:

***

Day 47

Thursday

"The Sweet"

He is very proud of his contraption :)

Liam loves playing in the potter box when Brielle isn't asleep!

Since Brielle was about 3 weeks old, she has been sleeping in the living room. She was way too noisy to sleep with us (snoring, grunting, you name it) and I don't want to put her in Liam's room until she is not eating at night. The living room worked for awhile, but as she got more aware, as soon as we put her to bed, we couldn't use our living room. We were annexed to our bedroom. It was fun, for awhile, to have the excuse we couldn't pick up the house after the kids went to bed, but that got frustrating to not be able to do that if I really needed to. So for Valentines, Richard designed and built on Thursday a contraption we lovingly call the "Potter Box" (reference to potters room under the stairs...sad i know). It's just a box he built around her bed that doesn't allow light or much sound in. Basically, he gave me access to my living room after Brielle goes to bed!! It's been awesome. She loves it and sleeps so well in it! (don't worry, it is totally safe and ventilated so it's no danger to her in anyway). 

My hubby is so sweet and wonderful! 

Day 48

Friday

"The Funny"

We have started to drink yummy green smoothies in the morning for breakfast and Friday morning Liam had the biggest seed stuck in between his middle teeth! It was really funny looking :)

Day 49

Saturday

"The Sad"

So after dinner on Saturday night, we were watching some of the Piano Guys music on youtube (love 'em...) and one of Liams favorites came on. Of course he requested for us to listen to it over and over again and while it was playing he was dancing so cute and Brielle was also moving all over the place to the music (whats new? she is ALWAYS moving!) as well. I got the camera out to record both of them cause it was dang adorable. And this is what happened 3 seconds after I turned it on: 

Poor girl! She is always launching herself everywhere and because she randomly launches, we frequently almost drop her and or she will almost whack herself on something hard. This time it happened.

And don't worry, I laugh too every time I watch it. 

I might be the worst mom in the world. 

But I know she was fine, it sounds way loud because she hit the keyboard and it mostly just scared her. She was totally and completely fine. 

So keeping that in mind, I have to say, it's pretty hilarious....I am the worst...

p.s. I freaking love how excited Liam is in this video and Richards face on the moment of impact...

Day 50

Sunday

"The Cute"

throwing it back to daddy

Today while I was making dinner and cleaning the house, Richard sat down and tried to teach Liam how to catch a ball :) It was so cute and watching them play and the joy on Liam's face was one of those moments where I feel the spirit whisper to my soul that my life is perfect and I am greatly blessed. 

And I am filled with such gratitude beyond words for my wonderful little family

because they are the reason my life is "perfect".

(Day 45) Heart day of love

Yes, blurry. I know. I didn't know my camera was on manual focus.

(like my ridiculous name for the post? I couldn't come up with anything, so Richard named it...haha)

***

I will admit it. I am spoiled. Rotten.

I have the bestest of the best hubby and I count him as my greatest blessing. Anyways, before I get too mushy, I will just leave it at that, even though I would love to go on an on about him and how wonderful he is.

Valentines this year was awesome! Richard stayed home with us as much as he could, which was so nice! He cleaned the house and then made us a delicious dinner. Huge steaks, asparagus, his "signature" potatoes, garlic/parmesan rolls and our favorite Sobe drinks. It was so good. We had planned to have strawberries dipped in chocolate, but stayed outrageously full all night. If I didn't have a raging sore throat right now (it sucks. It came on after all our Valentines festivities though, which was greatly appreciated), we would be stuffing our face with strawberries dripping in chocolate. 

Also, yesterday Brielle had rice cereal for the first time! I am not sure what she thought of it. She made "gross" faces but then lunged with a wide mouth towards her spoon for more, and grabbed the spoon to shove it in her mouth. Silly girl.

I am finally caught up. I don't have a post for today, Day 46, cause I am sick. I spent all day lounging in my pajamas, at the doctor or filling my prescription for my nasty sore throat and achy body. Poor Brielle has the same thing. Tomorrow I will take a picture...