Deja Vu

We're moving.  Again.  This time to Colorado.  We don't like to stay in one spot for too long, apparently.  No, really, it just makes good business sense for my husband's business right now.  And I'm extremely happy because Colorado has significantly cooler summers than Las Vegas!

There are some good things about moving to CO.  

• Being closer to family (on my side)
• living in a small town
• not traveling 12 hours each way for business every month or so
• cooler weather

There are some not so good things about moving to CO.

• Being further away from family (my husband's)
• not many options for entertainment (Las Vegas has tons of free entertainment!)
• No temple in town
• Packing.  Without packers.  Yikes.

So, I've already started to pack.  Yeah, the thought of packing with 2 kiddos was a little overwhelming.  But since I've started it already seems like I'm making progress.  It gives me hope that it'll all be done in the 4 weeks that we have left.  Luckily, we saved all of the boxes from our last move (thanks to the forethought of my husband) so we don't have to stalk people and businesses for boxes.  We just have to tape them up.  Easy!

Wal-Mart Deals

In my hometown, my mom was at wal-mart and came across some kids sweatshirts for $1 (that is not a typo!).  So she bought a couple for my kiddos (Thanks, Mom!).  Yesterday I had a couple of returns to make to wal-mart and as I was driving into the parking lot I thought, "I wonder if there will be any $1 deals here".  Maybe not those exact words, but the right thought.  Well, as I was looking in the toy department for a 2 year old boy toy (birthday party this week) there was an announcement made that there were racks of clothes for $1 by the infant/toddler section.  By the time I got there, the area was packed.  I managed to find a shirt for me and a shirt for my toddler, and then I headed back to the toys.  However, as I was walking, I saw a shoe display that had a $1 sign above it.  Dress shoes, for toddlers.  Now, some of you may know how expensive kids dress shoes are.  Some of you may not.  And they're especially expensive when you take into account that the kids wear them once a week.  So, I proceeded to fill my cart (not really).  I got at least 1 pair for each of the next 5 sizes my toddler will be in (they're all the same style, though there are some changes in color).  I also took the only pair of boys shoes on the rack (size 4 tennis shoes) for when my baby grows.  Thus my wonderment was answered.  My wal-mart does have $1 deals!

My Garden

I love having a garden.  Okay, truth be told, I love my grandpa having a garden.  His harvest is always delicious and nothing else compares - even my parents garden doesn't hold a candle to it.  When I lived near him, I always enjoyed visiting them and eating their homegrown tomatoes.  Yummy!  Since being married, I've attempted to have a garden each summer.  It has always been in containers.  It usually does okay for a month or so, then it dies.  But I will NOT give up, so we're trying again this year.  Here is a picture of our garden.

We've planted tomatoes and basil from starts, and carrots and cucumbers from seed.  We're keeping our fingers crossed that something will grow that will be yummy to eat!

Timing

On April 8th, I started to potty train my toddler.  On April 9th, I stopped potty training my toddler.  I decided that when your head feels like it's going to explode every time you bend over is a bad time to potty train.  So we stopped.  She missed her "potty toilet" for a few days, then seemed to forget about.  She brought it up again a few days ago, and I thought, "Sure, we can try again.  We'll start with the new week."  (tomorrow)  Well, my baby has a dr's appointment tomorrow, play group is on Wednesday, and I know my toddler would love to go, after being cooped up in the house for nearly 6 weeks (due to both new baby and sickness that would not leave our house), my toddler has a dr's appointment on Friday, and story time at the library is always a favorite Thursday activity, if baby cooperates.  Baby is nearly out of diapers (that one crept up on me!), and I haven't been grocery shopping (with a list) in over a week.  Case being, except for Tuesday, this week really isn't good for potty training.  Then the question arises, which week will be good?  Is there any week when we will have absolutely no obligations? Doubtful.  And like my husband said, "There's no point in dreading it."  

Forgetfulness

There are things that your forget about until they come around again.  Here are a few things that I forgot about babyhood:

1. Babies are fussy.  You comfort them, they still cry and it's okay.  It's normal.
2. Babies sleep A LOT.  We all want to play and cuddle with him, but all he want is sleep.
3. Babies have their own schedule.  There's nothing you can do about it.  
4. Babies use a TON of diapers.  And here I was thinking that one 200+ box would last us all month.  Not a chance!
5. Babies are adorable!  At ALL times.  It probably helps that they can't disobey or talk back.
6. Getting out of the house with a baby is a big job.  Making sure the diaper bag is fully stocked, baby is dressed appropriately and all of the "what if's..." are covered.
7. Your time is not your own.  You must be ready to drop everything at a moments notice.
8. How cute baby clothes are!  And how small!

Life goes on...

I really don't have much to blog about. I'm getting accustomed to 2 kiddos. A little at a time, it's seeming more normal. We haven't left the house much, and now we're all sick, so our plans to get out today were foiled. Maybe tomorrow.... My house isn't as clean as I'd like, but I've decided that some things, mopping for instance, can wait. As long as the kiddos are out of their PJ's by 10am, I feel good. I'm a zombie by 9pm, so I go to bed. Life goes on...

Freezer Meals

In January, my ward did an enrichment activity on freezer meals.  A couple of girls did demonstrations to show how easy they were to put together, and talked about how convenient it would be to have something in the freezer and not need to think about which ingredients you have and how much time it's going to take, etc, etc, etc.  When I left, I called my mom to tell her about how great this was and wouldn't it be perfect for when my baby came?  She looked up the book that the girls had used on Amazon and ordered it for herself, along with a couple of other cookbooks for make and freeze dinners (my mom really enjoys cook books.  She's always buying new ones, and gets emotional when she has to make room on her shelves by getting rid of some.  It's great for me, because she does the legwork and then passes on the good recipes).  After looking through her new books, she decided to order them for me and for my sisters-in-law.  The week before I had my son, I prepared a freezer meal every night.  Because most of the recipes make 2-3 dinners, we would eat one, and put the others in the freezer.  It didn't take any more time, either, to prepare 3 instead of just 1.  All of the ingredients were out anyway.  Add my husband's thoughtfulness of making frozen pizzas (he makes me pizza every week.  I love pizza!  Now we have some on hand for whenever I want one!), and we have enough meals for a good two weeks.  It has been FANTASTIC!  The RS brought in meals, of course, but they can't do that forever.  So having meals in the freezer and not needing to think about preparing anything has been wonderful.  I will get back to cooking one day, but until then, this works.  The freezer meals even taste good after they've been frozen.  And even when I do get back to cooking, I will definitely be preparing 1-2 freezer meals a week, because, really, it's awfully nice to know that you don't have to spend time in the kitchen when you have other things you need/want to do.  

He has arrived!

My baby was born on Wed. March 11 (he has his own blog, so no more details here.  If you would like an invitation and haven't received one, let me know and I'll send you an invite to see his blog).  We're now home and getting accustomed to life as a family of four, instead of three.  So far, so good!

One funny story about the whole experience.  When the nurse decided that I was ready to deliver, she sent word to the dr. and got the delivery room ready.  Halfway to the hospital (his clinic is attached to the hospital) the dr. got a call from the other hospital that he services, saying one of his patients was ready to deliver.  Since she was going  with natural labor, and I was on an epidural, he went to deliver her baby first (I had no problems with that.  Kudos to her for going natural!).  So the nurse then de-prepped for delivery, since she wasn't sure how long it would take the dr. to get back to my hospital.  He delivered the other baby, and made it from one hospital parking lot to the other hospital parking lot in 7 minutes.  I'm not sure which hospital he was at, but I'm pretty sure there are no hospitals within that range, if you stay in the speed limit.  He made it back in time though and then our son was born! 

Countdown

Well, we're down to less than 2 weeks.  The doc said he would induce me on the 11th.  Wow!  That seems a lot closer than the 18th!  People keep asking me if I'm ready, etc, etc, etc.  Are you ever really ready for a change when you're not totally sure what it's all going to entail?  I mean, we have clothes for him, a place for him to sleep, a baby bathtub, etc.  But does that mean we're ready?  I'm don't know.  I think we'll know we're ready for him when he comes home and there's no turning back.  Not that we'd want to turn back.   But we might find we're less prepared than we thought.  Or maybe we'll be amazed at how easy it is to go from one child to two.  My big wonderment is how our toddler is going to take to not being the center of attention.  She's enjoyed two years of stardom.  Being a big sister might not be as much fun as being the one and only.  We've tried to prepare her, but we'll have to see how much she's really been understanding.  

Note:  When he does come, he'll have his own private blog.  If you'd like an invitation, just leave me a note in the comments and I'll be sure to send you an invite.

New Blog

Because of my interest in photography, I've started a new blog, just for my photos. Because I know that all of you are deeply interested in my gorgeous art, I've decided to share the link with all of my loyal readers. I would love to receive feedback (positive and negative) on the photos, so that I can know what non-biased people think (because my husband is definitely biased when he says that every single picture is incredible!  Though having a biased opinion definitely helps my ego!). Enjoy!

changraphics.blogspot.com