Audrey's Suprise

We surprised Audrey with a new bunk bed last weekend. She was so excited.

My Gift to Curtis

For Valentine's Day I had all of our wedding pictures transferred from negative to digital. Here are some of the pics we now get to see all the time on our screen saver.










I love seeing these.

An Early Valentine Present

I got out of the habit of wearing my wedding ring when my fingers swelled a little toward the end of Claire's pregnancy. When I couldn't find it off hand, I didn't get too worried because I knew it was in the house, I just hadn't looked hard enough yet. But then when I did look hard and then harder and then even when my mom and dad came over to help me find it and it was still missing, I came to the conclusion that I may never see it again. That made me really sad. It was an heirloom and very unique. I soon wrote this as a Facebook post:

Ode to My Wedding Ring: Oh how I miss you, your unique beauty, your sparkle, your symbolism. How I long to have you back again. A replacement will always be just that, a way to fill the empty place where you used to be. Come back to me please. I promise to never take you for granted again.

Thanks to the generosity of my mother and aunts, I was given my grandma's ring. It is simple but still meaningful and very low maintenance, I don't have to take it off all the time in fear of hurting it. For Valentine's Day we had it resized and shined up.


I love it and I love feeling married again.

Cleaning a Room is Fun To Do!

This is my favorite way to clean our family room.

Yes, that is a leaf rake. I rake everything to the center and then have the kids pick up an item and ask themselves, "Where does this go?" It goes so much faster than picking up one thing here or there and having them get distracted. My mom adds the threat, "Whatever is left in the pile, goes in the garbage!"

Notice the little purple baby ball. No I did not rake her up, but Audrey kept moving her around reminding me not to.

The Tooth Fairy

Audrey's tooth finally fell out and the Tooth Fairy brought her the promised Zhu-Zhu Pet (actually it is a Furry Fenzy, same thing right?). So today we made it a tutu, a sleeping bag and a sling carrier (like a purse for Audrey to carry it around in). Now Nathan really wants one, so I said when he makes it all day without getting his underwear wet we will go buy him one. Day 3 and I have cleaned up more poop and pee than I care to. I think he's just not ready yet, but we'll keep trying.

Entertainment Center

I have been wanting and looking for a new entertainment center for a very long time. Our tv was too wide for the stand and looked silly and our shelves were just cheap and didn't hide anything. When I saw just what I was looking for last week on KSL, I ran up to South Jordan to buy them.

Before:

After:

The skinny shelves on the sides hide all the DVDs and diapers, the kids books and large toys are in the lower cabinets and most of our books will be on the black shelves which we moved to our bedroom. Now I just need help "decorating" the new shelves.

Of course Curtis didn't feel we needed anything new at all, but he was still willing to help me move everything around. I think he likes how it looks now.

Venn Diagram for My Valentine

I made this for Curtis, but can't really think of a way to use it, except to share it here.

In One Week...

In one week I...
change 56 diapers
make 13 meals
wash 26 pots
say "Nathan, leave her alone!" 4809 times
do 4 loads of laundry
spend 29 hours holding a beautiful baby
load and unload the dishwasher 5 times
pick up 103 train tracks
get 27 hours of sleep
spend 18 hours breastfeeding
have 10 night time feedings
kiss Curtis at least 40 times
cut 80 fingernails and toenails (at least I should)
clean up 11 cups of spilled milk or water
get kids dressed 84 times
sweep the floor 6 times
check Facebook 16 times
start 3 different projects
finish 1
kiss 23 boo-boos
drink 35 glasses of water
go to the store at least 2 times
have a list of 41 things I should do, but don't
eat 1,647 calories too many
watch Toy Story 1, 2 or 3 or Cars 8 times
wipe 163 messy/snotty faces
...just to name a few.
No wonder why I'm tired.

And yet I know I am not out of the ordinary, so many moms do so much more.

FYI, I was interrupted 24 times before I finished this blog entry and 78% of it was written with one hand.