Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Exercise buddies

I've been doing pretty well in keeping up my exercise routine. I try and get started as soon as I'm done feeding Jillian in the morning and sometimes, Annabelle is awake while I'm doing the workout video. Lately, she's been wanting to do it with me and so here's a video of us working out together. Forgive me for my makeshift weights. =)

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Talking

Jillian has discovered she has a voice. It's really fun to see her practice using it. Since this has only been going on for the past few days, I still think it's really cute. We'll see how cute I think it is in a couple weeks when she won't stop talking. =)

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Happy Anniversary!

Yesterday was one of the best days ever for many reasons. First, it was our 5 year anniversary, and second, it was just one of my most productive and enjoyable days ever. I got up early and did my running and workout video. Then, while Jillian took her morning nap, Annabelle and I worked in the garden. After doing about an hour and a half of preparatory work (removing wood chips, applying top soil, and mixing it with the old soil), we planted our first flowers. My mom is huge into gardening, and I wish now that I paid more attention to what she did to make her flowers grow so beautifully. I have never really done any gardening at all, except the occasional weed-pulling that my mom requested. I'm excited to see how my flowers do this first summer.
After Jillian woke up and ate, we all went outside again and played with a new bubble wand that Annabelle got. I am loving the fact that it's finally warming up. It's so nice to be outside. However, I think we're only going to get a few days of this nice, spring weather before the summer heat hits. Oh well. You can hear Jillian in this video laughing and making noise. She was sitting in the stroller just out of the view of the camera. She was fascinated by the bubbles.

Here is Annabelle singing Twinkle, twinkle, little star, while accompanying herself on the piano.

After taking a nap (I know, a nap! That's another reason why it was such a good day!) and getting ready, Michael and I bid the kids and the babysitter goodbye and went on a much-needed, much-anticipated date. We went out to eat and then saw Robin Hood (other than the fact that some of the workers at the movie theater kept walking around during the movie throwing free stuff like t-shirts and buttons into the audience, I thought the show was very good).
We came home just as Annabelle woke up. She was crying and I think it's because she's getting sick again and her throat hurt. I finally got her calmed down enough to go back to sleep ( this is after several incidents, including going to the bathroom, eating a cough drop, and vomiting). Thinking that I was in for a long night of Annabelle waking up crying, I was shocked to hear noise coming from her bedroom. Not the crying I was expecting, but instead she was..... laughing! I'm not kidding. Only 5 minutes before she had been crying and gagging and now she's talking to herself and laughing. It was truly bizarre. Here's a video of her making herself laugh.
Note: The video was shot in the dark hallway outside her room. I didn't want to go in her room because then she probably wouldn't have kept doing it. What she's doing is singing the wrong words to Row, row, row your boat. She changed the last line of that song to "life is but a bowl of spaghetti", something she read in a Dora book. And you may have to turn the volume up pretty loud to be able to hear her.

Anyway, after 5 years of marriage, I can still say that I made the right choice in marrying Michael. He is such a good man and I love him so much. He does a great job at providing for our family and is a great husband and father. I have more than I ever thought I would have after 5 years and I look forward to celebrating many, many more anniversaries with him.
And here are our beautiful girls!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Cute!

After finishing a conversation on the phone a few days ago, I walked into the kitchen to see this:

I also ordered some interchangeable headbands and flowers for Jillian to wear and when they came in the mail, Annabelle insisted on wearing one as well.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Mothers are GREAT!

Although it is approaching the end of mother's day, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to express my appreciation to my mom for the wonderful woman that she is. She raised 6 children and we have grown up to be successful, happy adults. She is a hard worker, a good friend, and a dependable person. I'm grateful for all that she has taught me. She has always been there for me and I am so thankful for all the sacrifices she made to give me a happy childhood. Happy Mother's Day, Mom.

I also want to pay tribute my wonderful mother-in-law who has so graciously accepted me into the family. She is very caring and a very good friend. In addition, her nurturing and guidance helped Michael to become the wonderful person that he is and I am grateful to her for raising such a good, honest man who is so dedicated to his family.

And now, I want to say just how much I love being a mom. I love my daughters and the joy they bring to my life. I love it when Annabelle randomly comes up to me, gives me a hug, and tells me she loves me. It's hard work, but seeing their happy, adoring faces makes everything worth it. I love you, girls!

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Backpack

Yesterday, we went to the store and Annabelle picked out a new backpack for school. It should come as no surprise that she picked out a Dora backpack. She loves it so much that she has been wearing it non-stop ever since we got it, taking it off only when she eats and sleeps, and even then, I sometimes have to use my authoritative voice to let her know I'm serious about her taking the backpack off. But I'm glad that she likes it. She is growing up so fast and almost every day she says or does something that reminds me of that fact. But it's exciting to see her getting older. Our relationship consists more of just mother/daughter. We are good friends and I appreciate her company..... most of the time. (I'll admit I sometimes need a break from her constant energy and non-stop talking.) But I sure love this girl!

Friday, May 7, 2010

"Brrrrrrr"

This morning and Wednesday morning, I went running in the morning after Jillian woke up but before Michael left for work. To make sure I was dressed appropriately, I checked the temperature both mornings and was not happy to see it was 28 degrees and 24 degrees, respectively. Regardless of this unfortunate reality, I made my out the door and completed my run. Go me!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Jillian's laugh!

Apparently Jillian really likes jumping on the bed.


Also, keep reading because I posted 2 other blog entries today.

Annabelle's School

Annabelle attended her first day of preschool yesterday. She has been so excited to go and hasn't stopped talking about it for days. Sunday night, she was awake in her bed for over an hour talking to herself about what she was going to do at school. Monday morning, she kept asking if it was time to go to school yet. (She's in the afternoon class and it was agonizing for her to wait.) Here we are about to leave.She had a great time and asks if she can go to school again about every 1 1/2 hours.

The preschool is great. It's run by the university, through the Department of Home and Family. Students wishing to get their degree in Child Development or something similar get course credit by being teachers at the preschool. They are very attentive to the kids and incorporate learning methods for teaching letters, numbers, and so forth. The classroom is awesome and there is even an observation room for parents to sit in to watch and listen to their kids without the kids knowing they are there. I'm excited to sit in one day and watch how Annabelle responds to other kids and to see how well she listens to her teachers.

Here are a few other things Annabelle's been up to lately:
Playing with bubbles in the bath
Leis from a luau party:
Making good use of Jillian's bumbo seat:

Ready, Get set, GET HEALTHY!

I'm starting a rigorous exercisie schedule to get rid this darned baby fat. I've been running inconsistently for the last month and a half, but haven't seen any results and I know exactly why. With Jillian, I am always wanting to snack. It's been really hard when I go grocery shopping not to give into my cravings. After Annabelle was born, life was so stressful and hard that I didn't experience the wanting-to-snack feeling. I lost the baby weight without even trying to. This time, I have an easier baby and a more secure lifestyle that I'm really struggling with losing the extra weight around my midsection.

So, you're probably asking yourself why I'm blogging about this. I will be periodically giving updates about my status. I feel like with I'm reporting to people about it, I'll have more incentive to stick to my routine and not give in to that bag of popcorn at night or indulging on some of Annabelle's fruit snacks after lunch.

My plan consists of running every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and doing a workout video on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Then, I'm not allowed to snack except for in the afternoon between lunch and dinner and I can only eat fruit, veggies, or healthy granola bars.

My "get my body healthy and in shape" operation began yesterday. So, here we go. Wish me luck!

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Reflection

I'm in a very unique situation that I don't think will occur too often. Both of my girls and Michael are taking a nap and I'm the only one awake. I thought I would take advantage of the quiet, alone time and reflect on life.

Sometimes I get this incredible feeling of gratitude for all the many things I have. It hits me hard and reminds me to be humble. Three months ago, I had a beautiful baby girl. I have absolutely loved having her in our family. Because Annabelle was such a difficult baby, I didn't really enjoy much of her first year. Jillian is so much calmer that I can't stop looking at her and loving her. I think because I missed out on bonding with Annabelle as a baby, I'm not taking this time with Jillian for granted. She's growing so fast. Annabelle is a great big sister and helps me out so much. Although she can be very difficult sometimes, she just really wants to help and please everyone. I'm so proud of her and grateful that I'm her mom.

Michael continues to work hard to provide for our family. Not only is he working at the law firm 8-10 hours a day (or sometimes more), he is also teaching a 400 level Sociology class at the university here and spends many hours preparing his lectures. Add to that his calling as the Young Men's President at church and the demands of a growing family and you can see how crazy busy his life is. But I'm so grateful for him. He is a wonderful husband and father. It's hard to put into words how much I appreciate him and value his friendship and love.

I am enjoying teaching piano and love to see the progress of my students. I have a nice house and live in a wonderful neighborhood and am in good health. I love my family and when I really think about my life, there's really nothing else I could ask for than what I already have.