Six Months Old

Rocio is now six months old. So it's time to take the picture I, at some time in the future, want to have on my walls. I was planning on getting a professional to do it but then we bought a house instead. I like my pictures better than the ones at J C Penny's or some place like that so I decided I would do it myself. The day we decided to do it they were both a little upset so I think I'll try again sometime this week but here are the ones we have so far.

My sister likes this one because she can here them saying "Them, I don't know them!"





These are the push-up pictures for my dad.


And these are the pictures of the two of them...this is the main reason I'm taking more pictures because there are no good pictures of them together.

Chio at Six Months. She:

• is getting more hair
• is almost crawling
• is standing at her crib bar
• is "talking" all the time
• has adorable dimples
• takes a nap before she goes to bed for the night
• loves to listen to people singing
• loves to watch her brother
• gives great kisses (to everyone but dad)
• loves rice cereal
• loves taking baths
• still loves to be bounced on the yoga ball
• likes sipping water out of glasses and trying to eat food off the table at dinner
• is a pleasure to be around
• will finally take a bobo (pacifier-as long as it's the right one)

Update: Chio is now crawling.

Sleep Pre and Post Children

I think I have finally figured out the difference between sleeping before you have children and after. I had my share of barely sleeping in high school, college and while I was pregnant with alex but for some reason not sleeping now when I have kids seems harder. I used to think that it was because I was younger then but really that was just a few years ago and I don't think it would make this big of a difference. On Saturday night I think I figured out the real reason it's so difficult: it's the lack of sleep combined with the uncertainty of when you actually are going to sleep again. In college you would eventually get a day off work when you didn't have something you procrastinated due the next day and you could turn your phone off and sleep uninterrupted for a couple of hours; these could also usually be planed so you could get yourself through with "I'll be able to sleep ______" (and it's not the ambiguous "next decade .... when I have teenagers? ..... maybe not ..... maybe after they move out?"). Now there's no telling when the next time I'll be able to sleep is. Alex could come home from work with the same amount of sleep as me and that would mean I would be way more functional than him (the Nield's know what I'm talking about) so he would have to sleep and that would push back any significant amount of guaranteed sleep for me back another three days and even that would be uncertain. The uncertainty is the killer. It makes it more understandable why someone without the gospel would have trouble living the commandments and why birth is easier when you think "after this baby is born the pain will stop and I can hold her". This may not have made since because, as you may have guessed, I'm running a little low on sleep. Here's an account of my Saturday night, the night that inspired these reflection.

Saturday night I had to be at the church for a couple of hours and because Alex was working I asked my friend to watch alex. I gave alex a later nap so he would be more agreeable and left him with the hope that it would work better this way than if I had taken him with me as I usually do. Rocio slept for the whole time I was at the church and I started thinking how thankful I was to have such wonderful friends so that I could take an evening off. When I got back to my friend's house, however, I regretted my decision. Much to my mortification I discovered that alex had pooped his pants. alex is at the point where we don't used diapers anymore so I let my friend know that he wasn't in a diaper and as I was going in to take him to and show him the bathroom she said that I should get going so I wouldn't be late; against my better judgment I left to her assurances that everything would be fine and I shouldn't worry. Apparently in new environments he doesn't ask to be taken to the toilet-now I know (note to potty training moms: even if it has been over a year since your child has pooped his or her pants you're still not in the clear and always bring a change of clothes). My friend is wonderful and just washed his clothes and gave him a bath like nothing was out of the ordinary but I'm still too embarrassed to think about it. When we got home it was around 9:45 and I let alex watch blue clues as I fed the baby and put her to sleep again. At about 10:15 I finally put alex in his bed and sat in his chair at his request until around 10:30 when Rocio woke up and I left him to fall asleep by himself. She was wide awake since she had just spent the last 4 hours sleeping so I let her play in the living room as I cleaned up and got the Sunday clothes set out. Around midnight Rocio started giving off signs that she was ready to go to sleep but when I laid her down she would start screaming, I didn't want her to wake alex so I started bouncing her on the Yoga ball. At about 12:15 she was asleep and I laid her down in my bed next to me and went to sleep. At 12:45, before I had fallen asleep, alex woke up crying. As I waked into his room I could hear people fighting at a party that they were having down stairs and it sounded like they were in the next room. I tried taking him in to sleep with me but he wasn't being quiet and I was afraid he would wake up the baby so I went in to sleep in his room with him. Around 2:00 they were still fighting to music playing loudly so I called the police, I couldn't take it anymore, they said that they had already received complaints and they were coming to check it out. At 2:45 -our police are so prompt-they finally got finished talking to (read: fighting with) the police and shut up. alex went to sleep around 3:00 and I went back to my bed. Around 3:15 I was pulled out of sleep by Chio crying to be fed. After she ate every time I would put her down she would yell and wake up again and after a couple of tries I let her cry for about 20 minuets (our usual crying limit) and when that didn't work I decided I would try to sleep in the recliner with her. From around 5:00 to 6:00 both kids were asleep but I couldn't fall asleep and around 6:00 alex woke up. I watched him put some puzzles together and then got his some breakfast as I went to feed the waking baby in my bed. She fell asleep nursing and I was able to slip away with her still asleep and 7:00 I convinced alex to come and lay down quietly with us and I would rub his back. At 7:45 Alex came home but I had locked him out so I had to get up and let him in. By this time I just gave up and got ready for church. The good thing is that usually sleepless night are associated with sick kids but they are much more bearable when everyone is well.

a really long post...what a great title...

...My mother and sister have now gone home and Alex is at work:(

I find it odd that you miss people the most right after they leave (or is it just me?) it seems like you should miss them the most right before they come to visit just like it's the coldest right before the sun comes up. I assume it's because you forget how awesome everybody is when they've been gone for a while but right after they leave their absence painfully apparent. alex wasn't very gracious when they were leaving and the hugs were few and far between I don't think he got what was going on. After about 15 mins he started asking when they were coming back, when I told him that they went home he started crying for about an hour and is now coloring in resigned silence at my feet.

Their spring break visit once again coincided with our anniversary (FIVE YEARS! HOORAY!) and we once again left them home with the kids while we went out. It has been forever since we have gone out alone and yesterday I remembered why. Earlier in the week I had some easter chocolate and some of the previously mentioned Lime Coconut Cake. As a result Rocio was a little fussy so I resolved to be more careful with my eating. I didn't eat anything containing milk at home which was hard since my mother was here we actually had food in the house tempting me. However, while we were out shopping one day I started getting hungry and my mom had some convenient peanut bars in the car (my mother is always prepared) so I ate one and it was delicious-that should have been my first clue. I'm not accustomed to eating much prepackaged food; most things I make from scratch at home and just adjust the recipes so that they don't contain dairy. When I was halfway through the bar my mother mentioned that I should check the label for milk content; sure enough, the pit in the bottom of my stomach sunk lower as I read "milk" and several other dairy products listed in the ingredients. The next day I found that my apprehension was merited when a hour before Alex and I were going to go on our anniversary date Rocio started getting fussy and then inconsolable. I am hesitant to leave Rocio with poor unsuspecting young women because I don't want them to get turned off on motherhood forever because they watched my colicky baby or have Chio become overwhelming for somebody and they hurt her to keep her quite - unreasonable I know but I'm a paranoid mother and she's frequently overwhelming for me and I love her more than I can say. I can't calm her down any better than anyone one else (and I make myself sick with guilt trying) when she gets like this and the best thing to do is drive her around until she falls asleep (which is what my mother ended up doing) so we left the car seat and went on out date.

We had a great time! It's amazing how marriage gets better; you still have the same fun like you did dating and at the beginning of marriage but the comfort increase exponentially. It's weird how you have to experience it to understand. Alex is amazing still and I'm so lucky to be spoiled by such a great guy. He's amazingly calm, understanding and probably on of the funniest people I know. But most of all he's my best friend and I love hanging out with him. I know you're not supposed to compare but I think I appreciate him the most when I hear other people talk about their husbands and I think 'I'm pretty sure that I'm married to the most amazing guy on the planet!' Thanks for treating me so great, sweetfart! Happy Anniversary! As part of his anniversary present he got a 10 day free chess mentor trial with his chess subscription so I probably won't post much this week either. I'm pretty sure he's going to claim the computer all week (that's why this one is so long).

And yesterday was also my friends birthday (I think it was fated that we would be friends because this way I'll never forget when her birthday is). She's seriously the best person ever strong, amazingly nice and a great example; I don't know what I would do without her. I tried to throw her off by giving her her birthday present early and telling her I was busy on my anniversary but without apparent difficulty what soever she discovered it was us who heart attacked her house (I assume she thought who is the most immature person I know and my name came to mind). So since it's not a secret as planned I'll tell you the story:

It was the last night her sister was going to be in town visiting and even though they had had quite a long week, with a house full of kids and battling sicknesses, I thought they might still stay up late talking. So we watched a movie and headed over around midnight. When we got to her house the police car in her neighbors house tipped me off she had a cop for a neighbor - I did know this but I forgot about it when I was forming my plan. As I was turning to park the car up the street instead of down in the light by the cop car I vaguely pictured having to knock on my friends door to convince her not to press charges as she assured the officer she had no idea who we were and to do whatever he pleased with us. But luckily his light was off just like hers was. (sidenote: as my mother, my sister and I were running to her house I had the unwelcome realization that babies cause a lot of things to jiggle and wondered how it was even possible that we could get fat pockets on our ankles.) When we got to her door my sister and I tried to quietly open the squeaky screen door that was probably more quiet than our giggles as my mother put heart clad shish kabob sticks in the lawn. Thankfully we didn't get caught by anyone because I'm sure it would have been the butt of way too many conversations that started with "You thought that only 12 year olds...." Why is it that we get too old to do things like this?

Here she is with my kids piled on her as well as hers. Thanks for everything and Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Goo

I've been neglecting posting because I have family here. Yay! My mother came to visit and brought the last member of my family that hadn't been to this apartment. We just realize that my mom came: by herself when the baby was born, with my dad, with Iwalani, with Teda and now with Chantel (who says the youngest is the only one to get spoiled?). Last night we had a birthday party for Chantel (who we call "Goose" and alex calls "Goo") even though she actually turned 17 two weeks ago. Here are some pictures of that.

The party except for dad who was taking the picture.

alex showing off the birthday garb.

And the birthday cake. Wow! We made the "Put the Lime in the Coconut Cake" from the food network show "Ultimate Recipe Showdown". It was amazing and I think that if the judges would have tried it on the second day instead of immediately she would have won. I tastes perfect today when yesterday for the party it was, we think, too sweet.

Here we're singing to Goose.

And now in a completely unrelated event here is Chantel trying to kiss the baby in an unconventional method (which if I tried to do I would probably hurt myself).

The Blue Man Group

Every time we go to the library for story time alex gets to pick a treasure. alex likes to pick the cheap little cars that he gets frustrated with because they don't drive well so the other day I convinced him that he would like one of those little stamps with a lid. It took me forever to convince him to get it -I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WAS THINKING! alex loved it all right - I would take a picture to show you but I threw it away after alex snuck it in his bed to sleep with.

This is how alex woke up and his sheets fared even worse.

Apparently Bobby joined in the fun too.

And here are some videos of the Children playing in daddy's chair. First one short second one long.

alex had to take over because I was going too slow.

The previous post has been updated

Guess What...

A while back my friend Desta(nation), who writes one of my most favorite blogs, announced without any hints beforehand that she was buying a house. How secretive of her! I am now doing the same thing.

Yep, we have bought a house.

At first we were a little hesitant because we're planning a big trip to Washington this summer but with some planning and our eternal solution to money problems (beans and rice lol) I think that we're going to be fine. We aren't actually living in it yet but the closing date is currently set for April 30th (we're hoping to move it up because that is the same day that we are supposed to be out of here). Alex was there all day with the inspectors (structure and termite) and we're still going through with it. The only problems were that we need a new dishwasher (not me) and the faucet in the kitchen leaks when you turn it on - not bad for a house built in 1950 (yep). We were budgeting to buy a new refrigerator (most of the houses we looked at didn't have one) so these costs don't really effect us because the refrigerator (while being old) works fine so we don't need to get a new one.

Some other features are 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, 2 car garage, 1,696 Sq. Ft. (but actual living area is 1,033 Sq. Ft. - we have no idea how they got the bigger number) a couple houses down from the elementary school that we wanted our kids to go to, and right down the street from the hospital and the park I went into labor at. There is lots more to tell you but I thought this would be enough to go with the initial shock.

Unfortunately, at this time I'm still a little overwhelmed/stressed so please refer all criticisms (positive or other wise) to my husband who is better equipped to deal with them than my-internalizing-self. lol.

Update: Alex has convinced me that we won't be pillaged if I put these pictures on my blog so here is the inside of the house from every angle you can think of. (I'll leave them up for one week)

Who are you?

I liked this one because, hello? how can you go wrong being a princess? -Thanks Calixta!


You Are Snow White!

Pure and trusting. You are a gentle soul who can get along with just about anyone. Everyone you meet instantly falls in love with you. How can they resist? You have a pure, lovable nature that's irresistable. Just don't trust everyone who comes across your path.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Swearing & Syrup

Today a lifetime of not swearing has just paid off. This morning I got up before my kids (an unheard of occurrence) and I decided I would take the opportunity to mop my floor. After I finished alex woke up first and I made him french toast for breakfast. Next Chio woke up and I went in and played with her and then she decided she wanted to nurse (another unusual thing- most of the time she waits a couple of hours until I'm leaking all over and begging her to eat). I walked by the table where alex was still eating and doing fine (he loves breakfast and spends a ton of time eating) and I sat down at the computer to nurse and read blogs. I could see alex out of the corner of my eye so I would know if he fell and cracked his head or anything so I just enjoyed my time nursing, reading and thinking how great my morning was going. When Chio finished nursing I discovered that I had left the syrup on the table instead of returning it to the pantry where it belongs. I made this discovery by watching a river of syrup slowly meandering over my newly moped floor. To his credit (I guess) alex didn't pour the syrup directly onto the floor: he first smothered his toast, which soon engulfed his plate, poured on to the table, cascaded down the table cloth and into the river of syrup. After the initial shock I said "Oh, Man". alex has now probably said it over 1,000 times today; the first 50 while he was helping me clean up the mess. Chio kisses him- "Oh, man"; he can't get his underwear on- "Oh, man"; his tower falls over- "Oh, man"; he has to go to time out; take a nap; take turns; clean up his cars; put his dishes away; can't watch TV; everything we did today was followed by "Oh, man" and often it was said several times in the middle. Who knew today was the day he was going to pick it up, I'm just glad it wasn't "Oh, something else"!

Photo Archives

Occasionally I'll look back though all the pictures that I took to find all of the things that I wanted to blog about but never got around to. This time there were a ton so as not to overwhelm you I'll just do a couple now and maybe get to the rest later (but most likely not-you know enough about our lives already).

This picture I took for my sister Teandra, who can find a face anywhere and everywhere. I'm super glad that I don't have this skill other wise I would probably be scared out of my mind most of the time. Have a happy day Teda!

This is a picture of alex teaching Chio how to say "cheese"-she was doing a lot better at smiling before he came along but I think that had to do more with getting poked in the eye than his presence.

And I can't remember why I took this picture or what was going on but when I saw it I laughed so I thought I would put it up without an explanation- it'll be like those picture books without words you can make up your own story!

And these are the videos that only grandmas really like so sorry to the rest of you. I'll preface them with this.

1. The second video is short for all you people who don't want to watch my kids play for three minutes straight.
2. We don't leave our kids unattended with balloons.
3. Yes, Alex leans over and casually farts thinking no one would notice; but he does it all the time so I thought that he wouldn't mind if I just explained it here to the world (I probably wouldn't have but it smelt really bad).
4. Rocio is sitting here watching these with me and laughing really hard I hope that you like them as much as we do.
   

Perspective

I'm posting this while I'm supposed to be at church because obviously I've stayed home. Yesterday we went to the ward Easter picnic which was colder than I thought it was going to be (not fun for breast infections by the way). So that brought the cold that alex has been fighting all week back into full force. I didn't want to expose all of the other children in nursery to it so I sent Alex to church so maybe he can enjoy a full block(which he hasn't done in forever)- hopefully since he doesn't have a child in the nursery today they won't ask him to help out and he can go to class. We had a blast at the party doing easter egg hunts, throwing rocks in the pond, and making rockets (which I'm going to teach you how to make on this blog so stay tuned to future posts). Unfortunately I forgot my camera so no pictures from that.

We spent the rest of the day traveling to/from and attending a wedding and reception of which our kids were two of four children not directly related to the wedding party (the wedding party had about five). Our kids were surprisingly well behaved (we had to let alex run around outside after the wedding and before the reception to get the bugs out) but we still stuck out like a sore thumb - I guess that a wedding is no place for children. They had wonderful food and we tasted the most amazing truffles called "Oreo Truffles" (so far Chio has taken the chocolate well so keep your fingers crossed) if you ever see Oreo Truffles you have to get them and try them immediately they're amazing-and then call me and tell me where you found them. Alex even thought so and he hasn't been deprived of chocolate for five months.

And now the point. Here is Chio in the dress that Iwalani and my mother found. Chio wore it to the wedding last night and she looked wonderful. We put a red ribbon in her hair and she looked so beautiful and girlie. (I'm sure that there will be better pictures then this in the future; I just took this quickly as we were walking out the door.)

And this is Chio today literally wearing the exact outfit that alex wore I thought looked so handsome and rugged; I now think Chio makes it look surprisingly feminine.

It's funny how your perspective changes. I'm pretty sure I'm going to think Chio is the most beautiful girl in the world no matter what!

Pictures by alex

Look how much alex improved in one photo shoot. It's like all of a sudden he learned how to aim.

I took this one- doesn't alex look innocent?

alex nield is falling down

In the past week alex has fallen down so many times that I now feel like it is blog worthy. I'm not sure what is going on but the poor kid just can't seem to stay on his feet; I won't be posting all of the instances, but here are the most notable:

1. The date with dirt.
• When we were leaving the library it was raining outside so I think that this fall can be attributed to that. He slipped on the walkway, which are paved with crusher fines, and landed right on his face (didn't even put his hands out because he was holding a book and an acorn); when his head came up his face was covered (you could barely see skin) in mud and little rocks. We went back in to get as much as we could off in the bathroom, but he still had a ton of little pieces stuck up his nose-which I assume have come out overtime because they no longer seem to be there.
• 
2. Scared to the ground.
• This one is definitely dad's fault. On Sunday alex, Chio and I were hiding under a sheet in the living room when we called for dad to come find us. He opened the front door and then closed it again so I assumed that he went outside to do something. I told alex that we should get up and hid in his closet so that dad couldn't find us - he thought that was a great idea; so we got up and started running for the closet. As we were rounding the corner for alex'z room Alex jumped out from the entry way and yelled "Boo". Poor alex was so scared he hit the floor almost immediately and his momentum carried him so not only did he slam into the floor hard he also collided with the wall. I can't blame him though I was so scared myself I almost fell over with the baby in my arms. This one we laughed A LOT after. Alex thought I was crazy for falling for it.
3. Just can't get enough.
   
• I don't think he can blame this one on anyone but himself. This morning when I was taking the trash out he was walking beside and he just tripped over (I assume) his own feet. He slid enough to get this nice looking strawberry on his forehead and his hands aren't in that great of shape either so I guess he didn't land straight on his face even though that's what it looks like.
• 

Whenever stuff like this happens, and keeps happening, I always think of my parents and the time they had SS called on them when Iwalani was little and kept getting black eyes. That used to be one of my favorite stories and I used to laugh so hard when I would hear my dad talk about how oblivious he was when they came to check out the house. Now that I'm a parent and we have these accident prone weeks I (in my mind) get a little scared to leave my house -we aren't actually housebound by these happenings so don't worry.

It's amazing how your perspective changes, huh?

Count your many blessings...

That post sounded a lot more bitter and depressing than I had intended. So I would like to make my blog more well rounded by telling you about last Sunday. During sacrament meeting I was thinking about how wonderful and beautiful my kids are (I'm so vain) when I was overcome with how much I love them, Heavenly Father loves them and how much He loves me-pretty much all at the same time; it was so overwhelming I was having trouble breathing. It's been a long time since I've had such a strong emotional and physical reaction to the Spirit; I was really greatful for it - and I was also greatful I was able to stay in my seat instead of jumping up and shouting for joy-which is exactly what I wanted to do! So I thought you all would be interested in a list of my blessings in no particular order:

1. My life-I'm so happy to be here!
2. The Gospel
3. My children
4. I'm married to the most wonderful man I ever met and we're sealed for eternity! He loves me just the way I am but still makes me want to be better
5. My Hair -truly- after fighting it my entire life I'm finally starting to enjoy it and not getting embarrassed every time someone mentions it
6. This blog - I love that I can "talk" to you all every day even though we are so far apart. I see it as something that's not never ending (such as laundry, dishes, dust, etc.) and I enjoy doing it
   
7. My Phone
   
8. My apartment
   
9. My Parents and family - I'm so greatful for the way I was raised
10. My friends- I have amazing friends that teach me so much and I love to be around

And now I can't get it out of my head so I might as well end with it..."Count your many blessing, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the lord has done." Don't forget to count your own blessings!

Note: as I was going back through correcting my spelling (a task which sadly takes as long as writing the actual post) I learned that "greatful" isn't actually a word so please ignore my stupidity, replace it with whatever it should be, and hope that my grammar will improve in the future - I left this in because I hear "greatful" used all the time, so if you didn't know before now you do.

Happy Birthday

Well to top it all off now my phone isn't working so.............

Happy Birthday Iwalani
and Zoe

I'm sorry we didn't call you alex loves to sing happy birthday though so hopefully we'll be able to call you later! In the meantime....

Make a free ecard - it's easy!

We love you have a great day!

I don't know what to say...

I'm thinking that today isn't going to be that great of a day-how pessimistic I know! Yesterday I wasn't thinking straight and I let alex finish his ice cream cone in the car on the way home (he was almost done, already covered in ice cream and I just wanted to get home). Rocio was crying so alex was supper nice and shared his ice cream with her. I wasn't turning around because I was really sore but when she was finally quiet for an extended period of time I looked to see why and freaked out yelling "Don't feed the baby ice cream!" this scared alex and he started to cry and then Chio started crying again as well. Apologizing to alex calmed him down but the baby cried for the rest of the way home. Sure enough a few hours later she started screaming uncontrollably and I started in with the Tylenol (that looks so wrong-is that even how you spell it?) and gas relief drops. Last time I had some milk the crying lasted about 24 hours so that is what I'm anticipating now- poor thing she barely slept all night - I feel like such a horrible mother I can't believe that I let this happen.

Then this morning I woke up with a fever of 102 which I hope is associated with a breast infection so I'm not contagious and about to put our little family through another bout of sickness. I'm sore all over and my breast hurt so much that I couldn't relax enough to breast feed (actually I could barely hold Chio on my lap with out wanting to cry when she moved-I'm such a baby)-so I called the doctor to make sure I wouldn't hurt Chio by overdosing her if I took something for my pain in addition to what she is taking for hers. She confirmed that you can get a fever with a breast infection (I couldn't remember) and then after my reluctance to agree to go to the doctor to get antibiotics today (I think Chio wailing, alex yelling and the desperation in my voice had an effect on her) she said that the baby would be fine if I took something, but I needed to watch my fever and the lump and if they didn't go away I really needed to go in before it got too bad. I thanked her and hung up. So that brings us to this moment when alex is taking a nap and I'm in front of the computer bouncing on the yoga ball to keep Chio settled. Unfortunately the area on me in question does not stay stationary during such an activity so her contentment is not bought without a price (but since it is my fault I don't mind that much-now that I have pain killers). So much for not wanting to use drugs. So I just thought that I would blog about it to get it all off my chest (ha ha ha).

Thanks...

...Grandma Diana for the books and alex's new "no, my car"- we love them. Among the bounty were also some cards. The one for alex had a train on it which alex loved; then he started to wrinkle it all up and I didn't understand because he is usually pretty careful with paper goods. I took it away and set it up on the counter and about five minuets later came back in and he was putting a lot of concentration and effort into crinkling it again- then I realized that he was trying to get the card open...it was a post card. What a Cutie-thanks again!

Getting Dressed

Much to my husbands dismay, alex loves to help me dress Chio up. We pick out her clothes, socks and accessories daily and he helps with the entire process. His favorite part is putting the hair ribbon on her though. Personally I think that it's fine for him to help because I let him help with everything else that I do; we're just glad that he has stopped insisting that we put hair ribbons on him- he must get that desire from you Grandpa Max, no more corrupting our son! alex put this ribbon on all by himself. I can't help but wonder if (because he is an older brother) he purposefully put it so close the her mouth that she felt compelled to eat it but could never actually get it in her mouth.

I think that she kind of looks like a bearded babe.

Sympathy Request: Yesterday I was going out for just a short time and I wasn't going to have to sit except for on the drive over so I decided that I would wear my skinny (pre-pregnancy) jeans. I've been trying to get them on since the week after I had Chio (at which time I could barely get the waist over my knees) so they have stretched accordingly over the last five months as I've been shoving myself into them on a weekly basis. Yesterday I could finally get them buttoned-kind of-and I wore them out. When we got home Chio was asleep so we put her on the porch in her car seat and, at alex's request, played in the melting snow. I realized (too late) as I was splashing through muddy puddles that I was going to have to wash my skinny jean! Oh no! Now they are going to shrink- I hope that it doesn't take me another five months to stretch them out again. lol.

Housekeeping... or Lack Thereof

Apparently I'm not doing as well as I thought I was in the housekeeping department. I'm mediocre at most things, lacking at some and my confidence is waning on the things that I thought I excelled at. I vacuum daily (and would actually do it more but Alex convinced me that I wear out vacuums too fast and it's not really necessary) so the floor gets cleaned at least once a day. The only other chore that I thought I was good at was keeping the kids bathroom clean- not so. I clean the bathtub out before each of Chio's baths, and now that alex is insisting that he can go to the bathroom by himself I clean the inside and the outside of the toilet and wipe down all the floors everyday (sometimes three or four times a day though-aim is still an issue). The sink and mirror look pretty bad with water stains from little hands washing (read: playing) in the sink, but I don't worry about that on more than a weekly basis because I figure that there is also an inordinate amount of antibacterial soap involved. Despite all this I still had a five year old little boy refuse to use my bathroom because it smelled too bad. I was sooooooooo embarrassed! Five year olds are gruesomely honest; and if there is one thing I have learned from being married it's that a smell has to be pretty bad for a guy to comment on it. We do keep our main trash in that bathroom so I guess that I can hope that is where the smell was coming from and not my insufficient cleaning skills, doesn't hurt to be optimistic, right? Unfortunately, I wasn't able to smell anything out of the ordinary; that my friends is where the problem lay- we've grown so accustomed to it that we don't even notice. So my new plan is to no longer have people over and save myself from further embarrassment. If this is where my top cleaning skills have gotten me I don't even want to think about my laundry skills bing critiqued. So this is my new most embarrassing moment that I'm never going to admit to again!

I hope that you are all warm, I'm really feeling sorry for all you Utahans because it's supposed to snow here again today (even though we hit 65 yesterday) and I'm already sick of it.

Snow Day

I may just be a crazy Texan and no longer have a concept of what good snow is, but this snow was amazing! This morning I took the kids to our friends house where we played in the snow and built a snowman. I am way out of practice because it took me almost 40 minutes to clean off the car to go, as opposed to the 5 or so in Utah. It was warm and the sun was shining bright so we didn't freeze our tushes off the minute we walked out; the snow packed into perfect snow balls almost instantly when you scooped it up, yet it wasn't so wet that you got soaked when you touched it or had every imaginable debris from the lawn rolled into your snowman. Unfortunately, I forgot the camera! (Sorry)

After alex took a nap we went out and played again. I haven't done a post like this in a while but, hello, it snowed (a lot) in Texas, so I took a ton of pictures and I want you to see them (fortunately for you I didn't put all of them up, for I took quite a few and you might have been bored).

Here is the same place where I took the picture from the previous post about four hours earlier-the sun was doing its job; I think alex may have been just as excited about the puddles produced by the snow as he was about the snow.

Smashing slushes.

Snowball fight.

Chio in the snow... and her imprint in the snow.

Dusting her off.

These were the only shoes that I had so my feet got really cold.

I forgot how bright the snow could be

Running through the dripping icicles.


Various treks through the snow


Oh, look what a sweet dad to be building a snowman with his son.

So big and strong, what a nice dad.

Nope, just making a snowball to through at mom; alex thought that it was hilarious.

And here is the result of the outing, right before he took a bath to warm up and his close went in the washer.

And this is Chio after with the weird face that she has been having.