Tired

What can I say...I'm just tired! Long days, short nights...Olivia is still sleeping well though the nights, just maybe going to bed a little later. I still need to buy her a crib, she's in her pack-n-play bassinet but I think the mattress is a little saggy and I'd like something with more support for her. Madi's getting a lot better with her...being more gentle and less jealous.
I need to go to bed earlier, but it's so hard because I like to stay up to go online and read books and sew and, well, do normal stuff I like to do but can't during the day with two little kiddies!! Hence the dilemma....go to bed early and get good rest, or go to bed late and still have to wake up early and be tired all day!

Mleh

I'm having a "mleh" kind of week. Just need to write about it so I can look back and laugh I guess. I'm in an emotional funk lately that I need to either snap out of or get help for...could be PPD sneaking up on me I think. I also can't believe that the other day Rob was driving the motorycle home from work, and the SUV in front of him decided to suddenly stop in the middle of the road and throw their car in REVERSE! They backed right into him and didn't hear him, so he had to yell for them to stop! Luckily he was able to stay on the bike and didn't get run over...God was watching out for him for sure...All that was damaged was the front fender of the bike, which he was able to pull off and strap to his backpack for the ride home. I was so angry that this lady did this to him, and didn't, in his words, seem very apologetic! She made it seem like it may have been his fault. Anyway, he's ok, but it was a little scary to say the least. Could have been a lot worse though.
On a lighter note, I can't BeLiEvE that BOTH girls now are sleeping through the night! I praise God for this...Olivia is not even 4 month's old yet and for 2 weeks now she's been going to bed around 7 and sleeping 11-12 hours straight in her own room!
Now, if I could only get to bed a little earlier....

Extreme Makeover Watkins Edition

A year goes by so fast! I can hardly believe that we've been in this house now for 1 whole year (as of July 4th). Within this last year, we also decided to dive right into a major construction project (hey, if you're gonna do it, do it big, right? get it all done at the same time! hmmmm....let me tell you...it sounds like a good idea...but it's also a little, how do you say...CrAzY!) That's ok though. Live and learn.
Anyway. Here's what it looked like before:


Not much going on here, just some plain white walls and ugly carpet. We had just moved in...but yeah so anyway, Rob wanted to make changes. Fast. Boy what were we getting ourselves into...
Here are some pics of the first hacks into the kitchen wall:


And the stockpile of "Red Oak" which would become our new floor:



And like Jericho, the walls (and cabinets, and appliances...and well, the whole dang kitchen) came-a tumblin' down:


And then came the work: my husband working all day at his day job, and coming home and working several hours more past midnight, on this re-modeling monster. (I was hoping I wasn't turning into a monster throughout this whole thing myself, he he. Ahem. I digress)
Oh did I mention, we had to move all our bedroom and living room furniture, clothes, and furnishings downstairs throughout most of this process? We were esentially living in a one room apartment (while I was pregnant and taking care of a toddler! ) Here's what the chaos looked like shortly before everything was finished upstairs (and right up until I had the baby):


Poor Rob. He worked sooooo hard (and still does). It's not completely finished, but its sooo close. We finally have moved upstairs again. We had the baby on April 12, and came home a few days later and moved our belongings back where they, well, belonged. I'm so happy to be upstairs again and have my kitchen back..well not really back, but replaced! I love it now, it's a big great-room where I can cook and eat and watch the girls all at the same time. I'm blessed to have a guy who is so handy and is such a hard worker. He did a great job! And thanks to his friends and family who helped him at times along the way!! We haven't had much time to decorate or anything yet, but I'm not worried about that. What matters is that it's functional again! Here's a pic of what it looked like before we put the steps/rails up (I'll put a really updated shot next time):
And again, to contrast:

My girl can talk!

As I was just re-reading my last post from November where I named off a few words that my then 16-month old could say (ie. grapes, shower, etc.) I'm thinking about how much her brain has grown in just 7 or 8 months and I'm just in awe thinking about how God created us. I can't believe how He designed us and how complex we are and how fast our brains absorb infomation and grow...how could we have come from monkeys?!
My little girl went from saying "zsha-zsho" for shower just 8 months ago, to today (at 23 months) saying "In-a take a showa too?" Amazing! She can say multiple word sentences now! I'm astonished.
Some thing's she also says...
"Mommy i have a cookie?"
"See baby Ivia?"
"Stay right there"
"Mommy sit right here"
"I hear sumping"
"I see birdies!"
"I knocked-a gate ovah!"

and one of my favorites...
"where'd dat come fom?"

She's so smart. I can't help but say it. Such a little sponge. She really absorbs and remembers things so quickly...She is not afraid to repeat words and attempt them even if they're hard to say. Its fun to ask her to say something and see what she comes up with...like helicopter..."hepicopta". :) So cute.

So much for time...

Not enough hours in the day....if there were more hours in a day, I think they would likely be filled up just as easily and quickly as they are now. I think the key is prioritizing tasks and managing time well. Something I really need to work on. I tend to get so scatterbrained when it comes to doing housework especially. I start on one thing like doing laundry, and on my way to fold clean clothes, I stop and pick up toys and look over at my computer and then go check my email and facebook for half an hour. Before long, the babies wake up and I still have a pile of un-folded laundry!
Anyway, since I last posted, I've had another baby! I can't believe the last thing I wrote about was in November..so much has happened since then.
I love my house, Rob has been working steadily on it since Thanksgiving, and it really has been a real-life extrememe makeover. We were living in the basement for a couple months (while I was prego, I'll have you know) while the upstairs got hardwood floors and a new kitchen. Most of it's finally done now, save for a few painting and finshing things.
Also, in April our second little girl was born. She's been an adjustment for Madi, but Madi seems to be getting a little better and better with her as time passes. She has really good days being nice to her, then other days where she is not so nice...but I have to be patient and remember that I was the same way when my little brother was born (we are the same distance in age apart as my two girls...a year and nine months).
Anyway, God is good and has also provided us the opportunity to get a new van...just last week before our first trip to the beach. Don't know how we would have made it without it...you can really pack a LOT of stuff for a couple and two babies! It's been great, but now we're really broke! A good lesson in saving and watching where the money goes...it'll be good discipline. :)
I'm thankful.

Today

I woke up this morning not wanting to wake up...but my job (as a mom)required that I do otherwise. My spawn likes to rise bright and early (I can't complain, its usually around 8 am) but my late-night habits make it seem way too early to be getting up.
So alas, I rose and got the little bugger out of bed for the day.
We did our usual morning routine...breakfast (cereal, eggs, fruit - that girl can eat!) and getting dressed/changed.
Right now we are renovating the upstairs of the house, so most of our daily tasks remain downstairs..it's kind of like a little apartment, which I feel blessed to have. We have an extra kitchen-ette down there so we can still do the normal thing we do while the upstairs is getting remodeled.
I can't believe how the little one can pick up so many words already! She's like a little parrot! Today the latest word I've deciphered is "shower". She had been saying something like "zsha zsho" to me the past couple days, and today when I got her up from her nap, I had a towel wrapped around my head, so when she said it - i figured out she was recognizing that I had been in the shower!
Some of her other words include "luna" (spanish: moon) "brrrrats" (grapes) "mook" (milk) "buggy" (bunny) "mlah" (frog) "bakum" (vacuum) and "meese" (please).
I can't name everything she says, because she repeats things so much and attempts to say a lot! But those words are some of the ones she is consistent with.
Other things we did today included walking the baby around the block in her new wagon (from Craigslist!), visiting the recording studio (the new DRCC album Holy Rain 2 is coming out soon! - but that's another story), and having dinner with my in-laws.
It was a good day. I like busy days.

Family Update

Well it's been a long while since my last post and a lot has gone on... Madi has since turned the big "1". We just bought a house. And we are expecting our second baby. Well much more than that has happened too, but its way too much to explain. Those are I guess the "big 3" that I can think of.

I've been a lot more sick this pregnancy and am wearing out the phrase "I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired"... but I'm hoping that this too, shall pass (as they say usually the sickness subsides around 12 weeks, which I am approaching).
I am excited that Madi and her new sibling will be so close in age, but I'm also nervous about the task of now caring for 2 young children during the day by myself. I'm sure God will give me the strength I need, but it seems a daunting task when I think of how exhausted I've been with one little one in the mix. I know that God's timing is perfect and that the next little guy/girl will be a big blessing to us, and will hopefully be a nice little friend for Madi.

Buying our first house was another exciting but scary thing, as a purchase is a lot different than a rental. We rented for the first 6 years, and now having already moved, I see how much work owning a house really is - there is so much to do and so little time - espeically with kids! But it's a process...I've talked to several older people who have owned homes for years and they all say the same thing " there's always SOMETHING" . I think the lesson is to prioritize what needs to be done first, budget in mind, and not get overwhelmed and think it ALL has to get done NOW. Because that's pretty much impossible. As soon as you finish one project, something else comes up. Or your eye sees something it would like changed or "updated". (ah how the grass is always greener)... I hope this experience will teach me how to be patient, a good steward/budgeter, and content. I hope I can have fun with the house but not get sucked into the "always need to change something" mindset. I hope we can just enjoy the place and the blessing that it is...do some projects, sure, but just not get too carried away.