White Christmas

What perfect Christmas weather this year. It started to snow around 2:00pm on Christmas Eve and it continued until around 6:00pm. This is the first shoveling we have done and luckily Nick had picked up a snowsuit for Emma the week before so she got to help. She had a blast helping dad, making snow angels, and throwing snowballs at us through the window. Then, Christmas Day was bright, sunny, (really cold), and absolutely beautiful.

Brielle

My gorgeous younger daughter. She is 11 months old today and making me wonder where the last year has gone. The first couple months I am sure I was sleep-deprived (because you don't get to "sleep when the baby's sleeping" like you do with the first child). Then, came the period where she was content to stay in a swing or bouncy seat while I got things done. Now that she crawls, climbs stairs, and finds petrified mac n' cheese off the floor I feel like we go from one activity to another in 2.7 seconds. Brielle seems busier than Emma was and I don't know if it is because she watches Emma and wants to mimic her energy or if it is just harder to control this energy when you have a preschooler. She is still a "mama's girl" which I hope doesn't change when she realizes her daddy is better at playing around. She still will cuddle when she's tired and every now and then I let her nap in my arms so I can relish being a mom and remember the miracle of human life. We are extremely happy this week because we took her in for a weight check and she has reached 15 lbs!! Although she will eat pretty much anything we give her (except bread....she's a little too good for boring bread) she hasn't been gaining weight. I try to ease my mind by saying that everything else developmentally is on track, but sometimes I can't help compare her to the chubby babies. So my most recent photo of her has to be food related to show that she really eats. And you cannot deny how cute it is when they eat!!

An Oldie but Goodie

December 6th, 2007...a monumental day. My husband, Nick, turned 30! For those of us that are still making the climb to 30, it is easy to tease and laugh about this particular birthday. I don't think Nick was all that excited. Even though he had hinted at having a big celebration with a 6ft sub and lots of treats, I had hinted that I was too stressed to do a party in December. Little did he know what a good liar I was! So Nick pouted all week about how old he was feeling...and the night of his birthday was nothing out of the ordinary. We saw a movie with the girls and went to dinner by ourselves. But the NEXT day, I had big plans. I had sent out invitations a week earlier to family and close friends that I was attemping a surprise party. I had ordered a 6ft subway, a cake (photo above), and gathered chips, pop, and ice cream to celebrate. Everyone was to arrive when Nick was getting off work. He had wanted me to meet him in Layton to get some shopping done, but I had persuaded him to come home first. We waited...... anticipating his arrival.....my stomach had butterflies because I was so excited to see his reaction. When we heard the garage open, we ran to the family room. We waited......(he was scraping off his car).....he walked into a pretty dark house and slowly walked up the stairs. He caught a glimpse of his grandma and realized what was going on. By the top of the stairs, he had a huge smile on his red cheeks (from embarassment?). SUCCESS!! We totally shocked him. It was one of those moments when you know you have made your spouses day. The rest of the party was a blast! Hopefully, Nick will look back at this birthday and smile--but I better watch out because I think he wants to even the score!!