...And Everything Nice

I'm in love! I have my darling little baby girl Eliza. She is beautiful and perfect in every way. She was born Tuesday at 1:19 PM. She weighed 9 lbs 1 oz (we STILL didn't fall below the 9 lb barrier) and was 21 inches long. I came home Thursday and things have pretty much been oriented around eating, changing diapers, and sleeping (mostly her-not me). Samantha is so very, very thrilled to have a sister and thanks Heavenly Father every night for giving her Eliza. Tommy is less fond of her and the only interaction they seem to have is for him to pat her a few times nicely and then make a grab at her feet to pull her onto the floor. I'm sure he'll come around. Here's a few pictures of the gorgeous girl.

Three Little Words

Three Word Answer Tag

What is missing from my life? A new baby
Will I find love? Every single day
Will I become rich? Richer than rich
Does someone have a crush on me? I think so
Am I good looking? With some help
What makes me the most happy? Family, Friends, Church
What is my biggest regret? BYU Scavenger Hunt (this would take some explaining, but that's not allowed obviously-so ask Tom and know that we were this close to 500 dollars)
How will I die? Post-traumatic stress
Do I act my age? What's that mean?
What type of tattoo should I get? Hypo-allergenic, removable
What is my spirit animal? hmmm-like dead?
Do I like pain? With an epidural
Is there anyone else like me out there? A few actually
Do I love to party? All the time!
Where should I move to? My own house
Am I secretly gay? That's just silly
Will I ever be president? Maybe Vice President (props to Sarah Palin)
What is fun for me? Girls night out
Will I ever learn to fly? I don't know
What is my super power? Super tv-watching
What can I do to move on? Talk to Tom

One Week from Today

I will have a new little baby!! For those of you who know how I feel about induction you should know that I did put up a fight. I pushed it back from this week until next. Plus...my resolve and belief in natural beginnings to labor have weakened substantially given that I have typical 9 month pregnancy misery. I'm excited to meet my beautiful baby. I'm so glad I didn't find out the gender because there are no surprises for me. I had the 3D ultrasound so I have a good idea of what the baby looks like. I had the fetal weight check, I will have a baby mid to high 8's. So...take my poll and tell me what you think the baby will be!

Oh, and could you PLEASE tell me how I'm supposed to do this. I have two kids and I honestly feel like I have no idea what's in store. So my mom friends out there, those that want to be moms, those that have observed other moms-please tell me something, anything, any advice you have, things you've heard, things you remember. I can't seem to remember what to do. Wish me luck :)!

Happy Labor Day

From Our Family To Yours....

*I'll just let you guess about my pants-less kids. Happy Labor Day everyone!

A Happy, Happy Birthday from me to you

Happy Birthday to such a wonderful friend! We miss you. Here are some of our together pictures. Man-there could have been a bazillion more if it it was of kids together rather than the two of us.

Tagg-tastic

I'm addicted to these things, I think they're fun. I have two, one from Amy, one from Delee:

If my life was a Movie Soundtrack-what would it be?

So, here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc.)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the "next" button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool!

Opening Credits: Whole Wide World-Wreckless Eric (a cover of the Monkee's tune)
Waking Up: Like a Rolling Stone-Bob Dylan -haha
First Day At School: Boulevard of Broken Dreams-Green Day
Falling In Love: I will Survive-Cover by Cake
Fight Song: Piano Man-Billy Joel
Breaking Up: A Praise Chorus-Jimmy Eat World
Prom: Gone Daddy Gone-Violent Femmes
Life's OK: American Idiot-Green Day
Mental Breakdown: I Miss You-Blink 182
Driving: My Girlfriend's Dead-The Vandals (kind of a non-sequitur)
Flashback: 'Til Kingdom Come-Coldplay
Getting Back Together: 99 Red Balloons-Goldfinger
Wedding: O Holy Night-Josh Groban-really!
Birth of Child: Vindicated-Dashboard Confessionals
Final Battle: Hear You Me-Jimmy Eat World
Death Scene: Shelter from the Storm-Bob Dylan
Funeral Song: Crimson and Clover-Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
Credits: Oi to the World-The Vandals

The next is actually a tagg for Samantha sent by Jaxson and Miss Delee.

Favorite Activities:
Play with Daddy
Favorite Movie/TV Show:
Letter Factory/Clifford the Big Red Dog (I don't think that's true-I would say Arthur or Curious George)
Favorite Places to Go:
Williamsburg (Lie!)
Favorite Vacations:
Going with Grandma Marti to Disneyland
Favorite Things to Eat:
Some cereal and rice (hopefully not together)
What she Wants to be When he Grows Up:
A mommy (ahhhhhh :))
Favorite Preschool Activities (or Nursery):
Read her books, Play

If you like Taggs-go for it!

Just Give Me Mother of the Year Award Now

Okay, so I'm fairly confident in my mothering abilities. I've gotten over a lot of that new-child anxiety from when I first had Samantha. I can listen to other people's opinions most of the time without becoming unhinged thinking of my own ineffectiveness or conversely-defensive in my position. I'm even fairly happy with my performance most of the time and try not to waste time with guilt. However....I've had a couple of tiny experiences lately that mostly are just funny but also make me wonder if I will ever fully get the hang of this.

Example #1: Samantha "draws" me like 30 pictures a day. Not only is that a drain on our paper supply-but they are mostly scribbles. She can draw a sun and a very scary stick figure but otherwise-scribbles. So what to do with 30 pictures worth of monochromatic scribbles a day? I do the only thing that seems wise, I throw them away every night. Most of the time I do a very good job burying them in the trash, etc. One night I must have been in a hurry because they were at the top of the trash. She found them the next morning and was DEVASTATED. They were her special pictures and she drew them for me! So....what did I do? I lied and told her that her brother must have thrown them in the trash. So not only did I crush her little spirit but I blamed it on my other child. Great.

Example #2: So the next thing I am highly ashamed to admit has not just occurred once but basically happens every day. Tommy spills about 1/4 of his cereal every morning. As I frantically try to clean off his highchair and then sweep every morning (which I really do every morning) he utilizes the time I'm wiping and sweeping to finish his breakfast...off the floor. Could I sweep before I got him out of his highchair, why yes I could. Has the thought occurred to me before I started writing this this? NO-okay!

What I DO do is tell them I love them, I spend a lot of my time reading stories, playing games, and arranging fun things for them to do. I teach them the Gospel. I hug and kiss them a lot. I guess I'm not ready for Mother of the Year Award yet, but I'm sure it's around the corner. In fact, tomorrow I just might have Samantha draw me one.