5 week picture and 8 weeks today!

We took Addysen in for a 5 week portrait and just got them back over the weekend. I wanted the exact same pose we took when Elodie was 5 weeks, 1 because I like the pose and 2 because I think it's neat to compare your kids at the exact same age in the exact same pose. The only thing missing was a bow on Elodie's head! Darn it! I didn't know how to make bows when Elodie was first born!

Addysen Whitney-5 weeks


Elodie Marie-5 weeks

(the original was in color...I just couldn't find it on my computer and didn't feel like rescanning it!)

Looking at these 2 pictures I think my 2 girls don't look anything alike...when Addysen was first born all I could see was Elodie...a few weeks later, Addysen has her own look! It's exciting to watch her grow and note the differences between her look and Elodie's.

At 8 weeks today, Addysen is doing fabulous! She is a champion eater and is finally adding a little meat to her body! I wouldn't call them fat rolls just yet but she's got a little something to pinch! She has outgrown her preemie clothes and fits nicely in the newborn sizes. Everything 0-3 months is still pretty big on her.
She is a great sleeper...she is up alot during the day so by 8pm she is ready for bed! I wake her up to feed her around 11pm and she will sleep until 4am. She would sleep through that 11pm feeding if I let her, but then she is up around 2am to eat. If I wake her up, she sleeps longer and no one can complain about sleeping longer!
Hopefully within the next month or so we can eliminate the 4am feeding and she will be sleeping through the night. As for now, I'm happy with the schedule she's got.
She is smiling like crazy, looking around, and holds her head up really well. Overall, we couldn't ask for more! She is so fun!

We are blessing her this Sunday in our home ward. Anyone in the area is invited to come. Our church is at 8am so I totally understand if it doesn't happen. Heck, we don't even like getting up at 6am to get ready for church..and our ward building is in our backyard!

I scream You scream..

We all scream for ICE CREAM! Check your local Baskin Robbins to make sure they are doing this..for all you locals, I called Power and Southern and they are doing it!

My mom sent this to me...just sharing the love!

A cake fit for a princess

Last year I did this cake (the 4 tiered cake) for a girl who heard about my cakes through a friend in my old ward.

This year I did this cake for her...



I was so happy that she liked the cake I did for her last year enough to keep my number and email and ask me to make another cake for her this year! I must be doing something right!

Girls Night Out/In

Friday night we had a much needed girls night out/in. The reason I call it an out/in is because we didn't really go OUT. Since Audrey's husband was out of town and her kids go down at 8pm, it was just easier to all hang out at her house for the night. We didn't really need to go anywhere anyhow! We had such a great time eating junk food, talking, and laughing! We seriously burned all the calories we ate just laughing! We attempted a game but got through 2 players and then started chatting again!

It was so nice to leave the kids at home and enjoy my friends! Christopher couldn't get over the fact that all we did was talk and Elodie couldn't figure out why I was going to Ms. Audrey's and she wasn't coming with me to play with Ryanna!

We stayed up until 1am. and I'm sure I can speak for everyone in saying we all paid for it the next morning! It was so worth it though! I have been so blessed with awesome friends! I love you guys! We need to make this a monthly thing and next time I'm for sure wearing my pajamas!

All Smiles..

Addysen on April 22,2008:
It's hard to catch a good smile of Addysen while I'm trying to hold the camera and Chris isn't around to entertain her. I managed a few cute ones but it was definitely a juggling act! It definitely explains why picture 3 is blurry!

A few perks to having a newborn...

And no I'm not being sarcastic...

1. I was up at 6am feeding a baby. Elodie was already wide awake and we all saw Chris off to work.

2. No sense in going back to bed after I fed Addysen so I got up, showered, got dressed, dryed my hair, and put my makeup on...all before 7am.

3. Made my bed...

4. Breakfast for me and Elodie 7:30am

5. Pilates

6. 2 loads of laundry washed, folded, and put away all before 9:30am

7. Fillings and frosting made for a cake I'm doing for Saturday

8. Kitchen cleaned

9. Emails and phonecalls made for cake on Saturday

10. Blogged twice!

See how much I got done? All before 10am! I knew there were some perks to having a newborn to feed and a 3 year old up and ready for the day at 6am. I'm feeling mighty productive!

Sigh...

I was orgnaizing my pictures this morning and came across these pictures of Christopher and Elodie. We were at the Mesa Temple for Chris' cousin Jason's wedding. 2 years ago in May, so Elodie was almost 2.

I love these pictures.

Swing Monster

When Elodie was born and up until she was 4 months old she pretty much lived in her swing. She loved it, wouldn't sleep anywhere else, and we didn't leave town without it. LITERALLY! There were a few times we broke it down and brought it with us to Snowflake so we could all have a good nights sleep. It was so bad that if the batteries went dead in the middle of the night and stopped the swing, it would wake Elodie up! And, it got so bad that we burned the swing out by January of '05..Elodie was born in September of '04...the swing lasted us a sad 4 months! And this was no rinky dink little swing either! Thankfully, we had kept the reciept and since it had only been 4 months, Babies R Us traded us for a brand new one. At that point we knew we had a problem! So from then on we slowly weined Elodie from the swing and into her own bed. This is a picture of Elodie in her swing just a few hours after we got it!

(sorry for the poor quality in the picture..it was taken with our video camera-but you get the idea)

Fast forward 4 years to little miss Addysen. We knew going in that we were going to make an extreme effort NOT TO GET HER ADDICTED to sleeping in her swing! The first few weeks I was so paranoid of the swinging burning out on us again and this time not being able to just trade it in for a new one! The only bad part is I have no place to put her during the day and she hates sitting in her boppy. So it was either put her in her swing to sit (which she will stay awake for atleast an hour before she falls asleep in it) or go out and buy a little chair for her which she would outgrow in a few weeks anyway! So into the swing she went, and went, and went! Now, 7 weeks later we are dealing with another Swing Monster! At night she sleeps fine in her bed, but I think it's mostly because she is pretty much out of it by 9 or 10pm. During the day is a whole different story! She fights and fights and fights sleep when you lay her down in her bed! Now I know what you are thinking...let her cry it out! I'm right there with you! But after 20 minutes of screaming enough is enough! My method is slow and steady...a little here and a little there..none of this cold turkey out of the swing you go!..atleast we are doing better than we did with Elodie! And I guess if we burn the swing out we will just have to get a new one! Oh the horror! I should count my blessings that she even sleeps right!? And besides, doesn't she look so cute snuggled up in her swing?

Zoo Day..

We took the girls to the zoo this morning. Christopher only worked until 10:30am and his office is right next to the zoo. Plus we had a coupon, by one get one, that was the main reason we wanted to go and it's only getting closer to summer so we wanted to take advantage of the nice weather while it's still here. It was still pretty hot outside and we definitely got our workout...whoever heard of putting a zoo on a mountain! UGH!

We had fun, it's been over a year since we have been to the zoo and Elodie enjoyed it. Who wouldn't enjoy the zoo when they are either being carried or get to ride on the stroller! LOL

This is what Addysen did pretty much the whole time we were there...


I did catch these pictures of her wide awake just after she was fed...



We enjoyed the elephants, the chimps, and Elodie's favorite, the giraffe...doesn't the chimp look thrilled to have his picture taken..poor guy!




It was fun hanging out as a family and we all came home hot, tired, and pooped!

Just because...

She looked so cute in her new dress and matching bows...and really, do I need a reason to take a picture of this girl!?!

Confessions of a 27 year old drama mama..

As I type this I am listening to 2 screaming babies. One, very small and trying to fight sleep. She has been fed, burped, and has a clean bum and has been wide awake for the last 3 hours. The other, well lets just say she's been up since 6:30am and lost it because I wouldn't put her on the kitchen counter while I was making dinner.

The sad thing is if I put both girls in the car and drove around the subdivision (or better yet to Sonic) they would both be out before I left the driveway! Why is that?!

My sanity comes from knowing Chris will be home in one hour and American Idol comes on tonight....oh and Elodie's bed time is 7pm SHARP! Maybe even 6:45 at the rate we are going!

I'm off to read Elder Ballard's talk again...

Caught on tape..

It took a lot of coaxing and patience but we finally got Addysen to smile so I could catch a picture! Chris and I both feel like our mouths are about to fall off because of all the smiling we had to do, but it was worth it!

Addysen will be 6 weeks old on Wednesday and all is well!




I also got a little bit on video...this ones funny...


And this one is sweet...

First Smiles..

We got 2 real smiles out of Addysen today..one this morning before church and the other during church. It's so exciting when you can tell your little baby is looking directly at you and grins!

Now the real challenge will be having her smile for a picture!

A Friday funny...

Time out is our choice of discipline. We even use it on Ginger...don't laugh..it works! When Ginger starts barking for no reason..birds, wind, other dogs, especially cats on the wall in the backyard we give her a warning..."Ginger, if you don't stop barking your going to be put in time out!" This usually works but occasionally, say
5am, a warning is not an option. 5am is when the stray cats like to walk across the wall in our backyard. Time out for Ginger is the garage..but since we just found a scorpion in there the other day, she probably won't be spending much time in there! YUCK!

ANYWAY, that's all back story...

This morning Ginger was barking and Elodie sais "I won't be put in time out because I'm NOT barking...Ginger needs to go to time out because she IS barking!"

I'm glad to know my child doesn't bark! Whine, pout, cry, scream..of course! But bark?! Not Elodie!

A Hosh Posh of updates

Lots of things going on but nothing worthy of a post all it's own....

-Christopher is officially out of the National Guard as of March 25th. I know that was a long time ago but he got his "Honorable Discharge" in the mail yesterday. Most of you might not have known he was even in the guard..he did the one weekend a month for 6 years and then was inactive duty for the past 2 years. That means he doesn't have to go one weekend a month but still stood the chance of being deployed. Now he is officially done with guard..he is a veteran! LOL! So no worries Moms..he won't be shipped off! We were certainly blessed and watched over that he was never called to Iraq. They say we are one in a million..well, I already knew that!

- We took Addysen last night to get her 5 week newborn shots done. Pictures that is. We took the exact same picture like Elodie's and after comparing the 2 pictures..my girls don't look anything alike!

-We tried the new Dairy Queen Tin Roof Blizzard..it's a must try for any of you with a sweet tooth!

-While at the mall last night we let Elodie ride the carousel. They just recently renovated it and now it's 2 stories. It's pretty cool but guess how much it cost now? 3 BUCKS!!! For a 25 second ride! Total rip off..it use to be a dollar and worth the ride but now? I only caved because we had told Elodie back at the portrait studio that we would go. Otherwise, I would have said no to that! And to top it off..I asked Elodie if the mall carousel was more fun than the carousel at Disneyland and she said the mall one was her favorite...next time we go to Disneyland she's staying at home!

-Christopher has spent the last 6 weeks playing on a softball team with work. He must have impressed some of the guys with his home run skills because they invited him to play on a Friday night league....I'm starting to have flashbacks of Snowflake when we spent 3 nights a week at the ballfield. This was of course before kids...

-We got Elodie into a preschool starting in August. I'm really excited because it's a lady in our ward and alot of the moms in the ward have or are using her. She will go 3 days a week for 2 hours. I haven't told her yet because I know she will be very excited and ask if she is going today. Then I'll have to hear about it the whole summer. No fun! Just happy to have that off my list and not looming over my head.

-Speaking of our ward..it rocks! When we got home from the mall last night there was a present sitting on our doorstep with an outfit for Addysen inside. 2 ladies that have been so sweet to me left it for me. AND, this morning I found a bag of freshly made rolls sitting on our doorstep. No honey butter this time mom! ;) Makes me feel like my service skills are severly dusty!! I'm inspired to serve more now! It should be like a monthly FHE for us.

-This one probably deserves a post all it's own...Addysen has developed a small sleep pattern at night...GASP!...she nurses around 8pm and for the last couple of nights isn't up again until 3am or later..this morning it was 4:30am! Elodie was sleeping through the night at 5 weeks and although I didn't have my hopes up for Addysen to do the same, I'll take this! I know with newborns schedules come a mile a minute but I'm hoping this one sticks around for a while..it's nice! I'm feeling the pain if you know what I mean but anything to have a couple of hours of sleep!

-Christopher bought tickets to see Dave Matthews in August..he didn't waste any time, he bought them the same day they started selling. We found out yesterday that John Mayer is coming at the end of July...looks like it will be a summer of concerts for our family!

-Chris' parents will be in town this weekend..we are excited to see them as we haven't seen them since Addysen's birth.

-While Chris' parents are here, Chris and his Dad are going to go to the Nascar race on Saturday. Have you noticed Christopher is having all the fun here? ;)

-We bought Elodie a new Strawberry Shortcake dvd over the weekend...I sat down and watched it with her and guess who looks a little more grown up..Strawberry Shortcake has a new outfit (Elodie called it her costume), she's got a new haircut, is driving around in a little convertable bug (how old is strawberry anyway!?!) AND she talks on her cell phone to all her friends. I don't know what to think...I guess "they" feel like Strawberry Shortcake has to appeal to the older crowd too now? Kinda sad!

- A new episode of the Office tonight...

The End.

Another Elodie Funny..

I'm in another room checking my email...just finished feeding Addysen so she is content in her boppy...Elodie is watching a show...

Addysen starts to fuss for a minute and I hear Elodie start to sing Fergie's "Big Girls Don't Cry"...It's time to be a big girl now..'cause big girls don't cry!!
It's currently her favorite when it comes on the radio..

LOL!!!

My favorite..

I just love conference weekend...it's the best of both worlds..you don't have to leave your pajamas yet you are still spiritually fed! Does it get any better...well, besides Taco Bell and Costco of course! HA!

The talk I enjoyed the most was given during the 2nd session today by Elder M. Russell Ballard...he spoke on the role of Mothers and emphazized the importance of enjoying our children, finding balance between our personal growth and our families, and living in the moment instead of rushing through. I wish I had the link to the talk but they won't be available until Thursday. Until then..my favorite part paraphrased...

"The Joy of Motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times...."

Said by a mother while looking at a picture of her then young children..."I wish I could remember what we ate, what we talked about, how they sounded, and how they looked that night when they slept...I wish I hadn't rushed through dinner, bath, book, and bed."

"I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting done a little less"
"I did not live in the moment enough. I wish had not been in such a hurry to move on to the next thing."

A sweet reminder of what is really important in life, to slow down a bit and enjoy the simple things in life. To not blow off Elodie when she wants a book read or rush through feeding Addysen. Taking time for Chris and more importantly, myself!

I feel blessed to be raising future mothers and I hope I can be an example to them!

Tagged again...

A-Attached or Single? Attached

B-Best Friend? Christopher of course! I've also been so blessed to have great sister in laws and girlfriends!

C-Cake or Pie? Cake…atleast the decorating part!

D-Day of Choice? FRIDAYS! Chris only works a half day and is usually home by noon! It's like a 3 day weekend every week!

E-Essential Item? Chapstick and lotion

F-Favorite Color? Depends on my mood!

G-Gummy bears or worms? Worms

H-Hometown? Baton Rouge, Louisiana GO TIGERS!

I-Favorite Indulgence? Chocolate Chip Cookies...Chris' chocolate chippies! If you haven't tried them...you are missing out!

J-January or July? January..the weather is FABULOUS here, the start of a new year, and the pace is definitely more laid back after the rush of the holidays!

K-Kids? Elodie (3) Addysen (1 month)

L-Life isn’t complete without? My family

M-Marriage date? December 15,2001

N-Number of brothers and sisters? 3 brothers, 5 sister in laws, and 2 brother in laws

O-Oranges or apples? Apples (the ones from Costco are the best)

P-Phobias or fears? Snakes, the dark, scary movies..when I was in college I had a huge fear of aliens and dumpsters!

Q-Quote? There are so many good ones!

R-Reason to smile? 2 little girls napping at the same time!

S-Season of choice? SPRING! Love all the colors and it's not too hot yet!

T-Tag 3 people: April, Brooke, and Melissa

U-Unknown facts about me? I love corn pops cereal

V-Vegetable? Carrots

W-Worst habit? Biting my nails...

X-X-ray or ultrasound? Definitely ultrasounds!

Y-Your favorite food? See post below!

Z-Zodiac sign? Scorpio

1 month!?!

So, Addysen is a month old today...CRAZY! It doesn't feel like she should be this old! Still trying to find that balance between enjoying every minute and anxiousness for her to grow up! I don't think that changes as you have more kids...life moves on..sigh...

She is a fabulous little girl..I feel my prayers have been answered and all of us have adjusted well to having a new little baby in our home. She is sleeping and eating well and is starting to stay awake a little longer. She is filling out and loses her newborn look a little more everyday. In the last week she has also started to make better eye contact with us (probably because she is staying awake a little longer) and it's so fun to SEE the connection we have!


This month has been full, I feel so blessed to have this healthy little girl in our family, and we love our little Addysen!

Mission Accomplished!

Since Addysen was born I have made baby steps into the role of mother of 2. At first, it was all practice since my mom was here for so long. After she left, we moved on to little outings...an hour trip to Target, the dollar store..just the 3 of us. I have to admit that going stir crazy at home forced me to venture out and overcome my fear of being alone with 2 small children! I was starting to feel pretty confident on my own with the exception of one small thing...

GROCERY SHOPPING!

To all you experienced veterans, this may not seem like a big deal..but to me, it has been huge! How in the world was I to manage a cart, a 3 year old, a diaper bag, and the huge carseat that sits so I can't see over it..only around it!?! Oh, and not to mention THE NEWBORN! All the while making sure I got everything on my list, price matched, stayed under budget with my handy dandy calculator, AND managed not to lose my wallet, car keys, or sunglasses. And yes, the sunglasses are just as important as the wallet here in the valley of the sun! It's like the visa card...you don't leave home without it!

I've been avoiding shopping trips during the day for a while...a month to be exact. I tried going with Chris..okay, but I prefer to be on my own time and not work around someone elses schedule...we also tried going on Saturdays..BAD IDEA! I can't stand Wal-Mart on Saturdays..unless it's just for fun, we avoid Wal-Mart on Saturday. And don't even get me started on Costco!! UGH! I love a good shopping trip to Costco but NOT ON SATURDAYS! And besides, I prefer to leave my Saturdays open for fun things...it's like saying "um, I'm not going to go to work today, I'll just go in on Saturday!" NOT! I try to stay on the same schedule as Chris..he doesn't go to work on Saturdays..why should I!?!

So, since both of those options were out, there was only one left...going it alone, wth 2 kids, during the week...DUM,DUM,DUM!!!

Well, today was the day. Thursdays have always been my grocery shopping days..every other week, the same day Chris gets paid. I buy groceries, hit Costco, and get gas...it's been like this for a long time and I'm not about to let a little 6 pound baby get in the way of my routine! SO THERE!

And so we ventured out this morning...we fed Addysen and immediately made a dash for Costco..got what we needed, filled up the gas tank, even stopped and got lunch! Addysen was fabulous (she already loves Costco as much as I do) and I managed to hang on to both my wallet and my keys...just don't ask me how many times I checked for those things!

After Costco, we came home, unloaded, fed a baby again and were off for Wal-Mart. I must say, besides Addysen crying the entire time we were in the store, I still managed to get everything on my list, price match, carry my calculator, AND end up $10 under my original budget! CHA CHING!

I must say, I'm feeling pretty good about it all and think we might have a good thing going...even with a screaming baby all through the store, it really wasn't all that bad! I didn't do it alone though..Elodie is an absolute saint! Maybe it's all the years of it just being the 2 of us..she always keeps her hand on the cart and is very good about sticking like glue, as my mother would say! I couldn't have done it without her! Now I just need her to learn how to load and unload the groceries!

AND! An added bonus...no need to start that work out schedule just yet..pushing a cart with 2 kids in it is a workout all it's own!

So bring it on role of mother of 2! If I can handle Wal-Mart with 2 under 3, I think I can handle just about anything!

It doesn't get any better than this!

Most of you know my pure love for Costco...it's pretty high up there...alot of you also know my love for Taco Bell...I consider it authentic mexican food, would rather eat there when I'm in the mood for mexican food rather than trying some restaurant I've never been to before and besides, it's cheap and our family loves it!
So imagine my happiness when we went shopping here this morning..

And went here for lunch because it's in the Costco parking lot!!!

I've known for a while that Taco Bell was being built in the Costco parking lot but everytime we went, they hadn't opened yet...that is until today! It was only 11am when we left Costco and we just got a couple of soft tacos but we had to celebrate!
I tell ya, the Costco Gods must have been listening to me because for our family, it seriously doesn't get any better than this!! LOL!

I could just eat these little toes!!!

Addysen doing what she does best...SLEEPING...atleast during the day!