We Hit Double Digits!!!

We did it! Paloma officially registered in the double digits on her growth curve today. Yahoo! This was a long time coming. A bit behind getting her 2 year well child check done, we headed in today while Mattea was at preschool. Are you all dying to know the measurements???

22lbs 6 oz (15%)
32 1/4 inches (18%)

She is almost dead on with her sister. She is measuring 3/4 inch shorter than Mattea at that age but weighs in 2 ounces heavier. What a relief. She handled her appointment beautifully since there were no shots involved. All is well until next time.

Sleeping Beauty

Dave and I went in to check on the girls last night before we retired for the evening. Paloma was falling out of bed - as usual- and so we repositioned her and tucked her in. When we looked in on Mattea, this is what we saw. The sweetest sight ever. She looked so content clinging to her baby Bella. Because she is a deep sleeper, I knew I was safe in snapping a photo of her. And in fact this morning when I went in to wake her for preschool, she was in this same position.

Life Verse

So I will admit to being a bit sad and even a bit angry about the latest situation at work. I am human and although I realize that God is in control at all times, in all situations, I will admit to being a bit shaken. There are moments throughout the day in which anxiety overcomes me and I realize - any day now I may potential be layed off from the job I have come to love. Each day I awaken hoping today is not the day. Trusting God with my anxiety has made the burden lighter though.
I am currently reading through the Psalms - not liking this book as much as some of the others at first. But as you dive in deeper, you can't help but realize the richness of the words that are written on the pages. It is taking me a loooong time to read through (and I'm still not done) but I have come away with a lot of good lessons.
Yesterday I stumbled upon

Psalms 94:19 When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.

Wow - I don't think I need to elaborate on that. When anxiety was great.... Who of us has ever been overcome with anxiety. I on many occasions - during my pregnancy's, during Dave's grad school, during our cross country transition, now. But God's promise stands true "your consolation brought joy to my soul."

I also reflected back over a couple of other passages I highlighted.

Psalm 62: 1-2
My soul finds rest in God alone;
my salvation comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

I challenge you to think about these two very important and meaningful versus and see if they are applicable in your life. Take a moment to ponder a time when you were overcome with anxiety or worry. The Lord is asking us to unleash our burdens and worries on him. With him, we will never be shaken.

Who's Your Daddy

Can you all guess who Paloma's "favorite person" is these days? Of course, it's daddy. She can't wait till daddy comes home, can't wait until daddy takes her to the potty, can't wait till daddy "holds me." It is too sweet - because I know there will be a day when she can't wait till daddy goes to work, can't wait till daddy leaves her alone, can't wait to push daddy's hugs away - mine for that matter as well. For now, we are relishing in the moment.

Allow Me To Post Just One More Picture Of My Sweet Baby Girl

Where Am I?

For those of you who check my blog on a semi-often basis, I bet you are wondering if I gave up or quit the blogging business. I think this has to be the longest break I've taken since I've started. There is much that I want to blog, but just not enough hours in the day to do it.
Let me catch you up on where I've been and what I've been up to.

I received a call last Friday night stating the hours at work were becoming scarcer and scarcer. Since I am a flex employee with no benefits and no commitments, I am the first one they look at cutting when the patient census declines. Literally, on Friday evening I did not know when I would be heading back into work or when I would next get a paycheck. Devastated at first, I then realized when one door closes, another opens. I began looking at the positive aspects of the situation and began contemplating all of the things I could do in my "spare time."

As many of you may know, to supplement my income, I began a home based business just recently. It involves telecommunications and I believe will be successful for me once I can get things off the ground. This new found amount of "time" that I now had allowed me to place more effort towards the business. Of course, this is a step out of my comfort zone but I believe I can do it - it is a matter or me putting my mind to it. So to put a quick plug in for my business - anybody out there who is up for a cell phone renewal - drop me a comment or give me a call. We can renew your contract through my business and save you money while doing it - all while maintaining the convenience of your current plan. That's all I'm going to say about that right now.

Please know that I am seeking out moments in my day where I can steal away and blog my little heart (such as now - was up before 0600 to do Bible study, email, bills, twitter, blog, business stuff, laundry, etc - but I imagine my children will be starting to stir soon.) 24 hours just doesn't seem like enough. It is a difficult and challenging time for our family right now - a time of concern and uncertainty. Through it all, our God remains faithful. I had a moment - several actually since I'm not working - to think about where we are as a family right now. Although things are not perfect, we are still blessed. We have always been blessed. We have so much to be thankful for. I will continue to praise God "in the storm." I know there is a light out there - I will hold true to God's promises and realize this is only one of those trials that I/we must endure. On that note, I'm off to fold a load of laundry and start another and maybe just maybe sneak in one more cup of coffee before Mattea comes stumbling downstairs demanding breakfast.

Blessings

Peek - A - Boo

Can you believe that I turned 2?

Mattea Moments

Today as the girls and I are playing in the playroom, Paloma leans over and says "Mr. Kody stinks."
I had to agree since our big, not so bright Dalmatian often rolls around in mud and dirt, getting into mischief on many occasions.
I replied "He is kind of stinky but he is still a nice puppy"
Mattea's quick response: "God still loves him even if he stinks."

Your right honey - if God can still loves us after the sin that we commit day in and day out, I'm sure that he can still love your puppy despite a bit of body odor.

Simply Stunning

Wordless Wednesday

Random Thoughts From A Rambling Mother

I have so many thoughts and ideas written down on little post it notes all over the house that I thought I would sit down and compile them in a long and rambly but fun to read post.

*I had a fabulous week of running last week. If you know me at all, that is a statement I bet you thought you'd never hear. I have never really liked running - did it a little bit in high for the cross country team one year - but never really enjoyed it or was good at it. In fact, the girl who ran alongside us also ran for Special Olympics and she ended up placing before me in every race. Again, never really my thing. BUT, when I met David he was an avid runner - loved it and was good at it. Through the years I kind of just picked it up as a way of being able to do something he too enjoyed. Most recently, I keyed into the fact that running gains way more weight watchers points for the least amount of time at the gym. So I started. I started running .5 mile, slowly increasing through the weeks and now I'm up to about 5.3 miles. Nothing to write home about but definitely more than I ever thought I'd do - especially after having two kids. So the lesson to me is - I can truly accomplish something if I'm patient and work hard at it.

*Paloma ended up getting sick one night last week. I don't really think it was the flu because it was once isolated incident in the wee hours of the morning. We heard her stirring and went in to comfort on a couple of occasions. She was been waking frequently through the night and we're not sure if she's having bad dreams or continuing to have breathing problems. BUT, anyways, we heard her again cry out and Dave got up to comfort and I asked that he hold back and see if she could "cry it out." Bad mothering mistake since her whimpers quickly turned to shrieks and before I know it she was standing in her doorway with vomit in her hair, on her bed, smeared on her door, in her hand.... Are you seeing the visual. I walked into her room with a handful of vomit that she put in my hand. Ugh! My poor baby. We cleaned her up and placed her on a mattress in our room. She continues to talk about her she had "momit" in her hair. Luckily it was an isolated event.

*I, as posted previously, had my first real experience of Pinching Your Pennies/Double Coupon Shopping. Totally feeling domesticated at this point. But man, being a bargain shopper is a lot of work and requires some serious organization. I had such a good experience on Sun, that I decided to turn around an make one more round yesterday -except that I had the children with me. Not exactly my smartest move - but I still managed to get some great deals.

*Dave and I are battling with Mattea right now. She has entered a very defiant/disobedient stage that is driving us nuts! For anyone out there who has experienced it and has ideas how to end it - send along my way. Mattea is usually a really well disciplined little girl but lately she has just lost all control over her thoughts and emotions. In fact, one night at the grocery store, Dave had to pull her off me - kicking and screaming - and "administer" a good ole spanking in the men's bathroom. The look on the guy's face after leaving the bathroom while all this was going on was priceless. I just stood outside and acknowledged "she's mine." Very challenging and frustrating.

*Mattea moments:
~"Mom, let's play Costco." Ok honey, sounds like a lot of fun to me.
~As Paloma is throwing a big fit over sharing the beloved toy cash register, I hear Mattea scream out "You crabby old girl." When the shoe fits - wear it.

*I shared an amazing moment with Mattea last week. Had been struggling all day with her tantrums and behavior but was rejuvenated during nap time. Mattea woke up and stumbled into my room while I was folding laundry. She simply said to me "I will help you." I graciously accepted and Mattea began helping me fold towels. We started making silly faces and silly noises and before long Mattea was giggling up a storm and laughing at absolutely nothing funny. It then escalated into an all out "towel fight" with all of the freshly laundered towels we had just folded. Who cares though - it was fun and the sound of her giggles still can be heard in my mind. A very special time for both of us.

Well, to be quite honest, I must wrap things up. I'd love to go on but I've been intermittently working on this all morning and now I'm scheduled to be at work in just over an hour so....

Here's hoping you had a wonderful and memorable week...

Plea

I just experienced an amazing video from over at Bring the Rain. If you have not been following that blog, this might be your chance. Please take a moment and hop over there. Angie has produced an amazing video for the daughter she lost one year ago. She was able to spend a couple hours with her daughter before she passed away. An amazing tribute that is well worth watching.

Not Me Monday

Oh No - Is it Monday again? Indeed it is, which means.....




Here's hoping you all had a great week last week. I know I did. In fact, let me share with you all the details of my week.

1) I absolutely did not take the children out for lunch 3 days in a row. Being the good and diligent mom that I am, I would have been prepared for all of the outings we took and organized my time better so that the children were not out playing/running errands/etc right around lunchtime when I had nothing but a few suckers in our bag. Who has the money for lunch with two kids (whom actually eat a lot)3 days in a row - Not Me.

2)I certainly was not awakened by my youngest daughter at 3 AM who we believe his having bad dreams. I did not scoop up my sweet girl and rock her until we both fell asleep for an hour in the rocking chair. I most certainly did not awaken, look down, and completely treasure that moment we had together at 3:00 in the morning. I value sleep way too much for that - Not Me.

3)Being the OCD, overachieving, ultra organized, ADD mother that I am, there is no way that I would even think of laying down for a nap for two afternoons in a row while my two young toddlers were dozing away to dreamland. There is so much to do and not enough time to do it - taking a nap would most certainly put me "behind schedule." Ugh - Not ME.

4)I did not inhale a King Size candy bar that I begged my husband to buy me on an impromptu trip to the store. And if I would have eaten that ridiculous size candy bar, I would have taken longer than 4.25 seconds to do it, AND I would not be blogging about it. Ha - Not Me.

5) I did not - I repeat - did not start packing a wooden spoon in my "diaper bag" this week. I obviously have a tight reign over my kids, and simply asking them to obey is enough for me. I would never have to resort to the ole wooden spoon. Oh no folks - Not Me.

6)And finally, there is no way that I would ever pass down Mattea's underpants to Paloma under any condition. I don't care if Mattea had outgrown her 30 pairs of perfectly good underpants and Paloma only had 4 in her drawer. I can understand and appreciate the concept of sharing - but some things are off limits. No way would you find this conservative mom doing anything of the sort - Not Me.

Blessings to all this week.....

Flashback

Worth The Money

We are definitely pleased with our trampoline purchase for Paloma's birthday. It is safe, fun, and a fantastic way to release the children's inner energy. Would encourage all mothers with young children to acquire one.

Double Coupon Days

Let me preface this post by saying my double coupon shopping does not compare to that of my coworker and friend Kim. I was fortunate enough to check her blog last night and noticed she had done some serious shopping at Albertsons who is currently sponsoring double coupon days.
Scrambling to get organized and clip some coupons, I headed out to the store today while the girls were napping. I was on limited time so I only picked up a few things but here is a sampling of what I got.
*Bodywash
*Mascara
*8 Bottles of cleaning solution
*Cereal
*Toaster Pastries
*Big Bottle of Aleve
Again, a brief sampling. My total bill rang up $89.11. Once all of my bargains were factored in and my coupons were exchanged, I swiped my debit card for a mere $33.47. It was beautiful. If you get the chance to jump over to Kim's blog, you'll be amazed at the savvy shopper that she is. She is an inspiration to us all...

The Alphabet Game

Alphabet Game!

A. Attached or single? Attached - Married for 6.5 years

B. Best friend? Since my husband knows almost everything about me and loves me anyways, he qualifies as my best friend.

C. Cake or pie? Both if they involve chocolate

D. Dog or cat? Dog lover for sure. We have two dogs - 1 Dalmatian & 1 Shepherd mix

E. Essential item? Chap stick - must have at all times.

F. Favorite color? Since having two girls, I have come to love the color pink but I'm also quite fond of black. I counted at least 9 black dresses in my closet right now.

G. Gummy bears or worms? Gummy bears - did you not see that post.

H. Hometown? La Crescent Minnesota - I know you are all asking "where is that?"

I. Favorite indulgence? Wine for sure!

J. January or July? July - I despise the cold. Why do you think we left the frozen tundra and headed south for New Mexico?

K. Kids? 2 little girls- love them to pieces. Are starting to talk about adopting a third

L. Life isn’t complete without? God

M. Marriage date? Sept 7, 2002

N. Number of brothers and sisters? 1 sister

O. Oranges or apples? Since I moved from the "Apple Capitol of Minnesota" - that is a no brainer.

P. Phobias? No real phobias but I despise junk, bugs, and procrastination.

Q. Quote? "Mom, which way do my granny panties go?" - My daughter Mattea

R. Reasons to smile? My children. No matter what kind of day I'm having, they will always make me giggle.

S. Season of choice? Fall

T. Travel dreams? Anywhere as long as Dave is by my side.

U. Unknown fact about me? I vacuum my the downstairs of my house 6 times a day, I believe myself to have OCD, I have become fond of the Veggie Tales, and I am deathly afraid of becoming pregnant again!

V. Vegetable? Asparagus

W. Worst habit? Vacuuming

X. X-ray or ultrasound? Neither

Y. Your favorite restaurants? I wouldn't know since it has been too darn long since my husband and I have gotten to frequent any restaurants.

Z. Zodiac sign? Sagittarius

I picked up this quaint little game over at Living Our Own Fairy Tale. I'd love to have you play.

What Is Mattea Up To Now?

Look what my little Mattea is up to now. Basketball - yikes. Dave and I HATE basketball and most competitive sports for that matter and so when Mattea asked me if she could learn to dribble a ball I was mortified. But, the YMCA has a great little program that introduces kids 3-5 to sports and this month happened to be basketball. So Monday morning we headed over to the local Y dressed in workout clothes and our water bottles and Mattea learned to stretch, warm up, run laps, and dribble. Her coordination is most amusing but she had a good time. There is another little girl in her class which made it even more fun. I'll keep you updated about whether or not she ever makes a basket...

We Have A Winner

Uncle Mike.....
You are the lucky winner of the "What Coated My Refrigerator" blog contest. I bet you are feeling like one lucky man right now.
And technically you didn't win BUT... your guess was the closest - so by default, I named you the lucky winner.



The mysterious contents coating my refrigerator was my $40 bottle of liquid vitamins. Dave and I began taking Mona Vie about 2 months ago and have felt a ton better since starting. Although a bit pricey, we are hooked. Easy to stomach, we do our traditional shot together in the morning and feel better throughout the day. And since it looks like wine and sits in my wine rack, I decided Uncle Mike's guess of wine was the closest guess.
We determined that when placing the bottle upright in the refrigerator, the bottom literally just fell out leaving acai berry spilling out everywhere. Wasn't pretty but my poor husband helped and we got the majority of it cleaned before too much staining occurred.

So thanks all for joining in. Mike - I'll be mailing you wonderful gift out soon. Be patient with me as I thought the gift would go to a mom or the very least a female, so we are in the process of altering it. I do follow through though.

Have a blessed week.

Not Me Monday

Here is hoping everyone out there had a fantastic week - actually a fantastic couple of weeks since I did not play "Not Me Monday" last week. For me it has been a couple weeks filled with excitement, laughter, and of course real-life blunders. We couldn't get through the holiday season without them right?
So once again......



1) I did not run my vehicle off the road two weeks ago and into an irrigation canal with my youngest daughter in the car after a local snow storm. I did not sit around for almost two hours while the "locals" attempted to help pull me out. After much attempt, 911 was called and a tow truck was dispatched. That nice sweet man did not charge me an absolutely absurd amount of money to hoist my Pilot out of my predicament. Nor did he moon my daughter and I while trying desperately to connect my car to his ramp "thing." Ugh. Nope - not me.

2) While sitting in my vehicle for almost two hours waiting to be "rescued," Miss Paloma did not poop her pants and then become upset because now that she is potty trained, pee/poop in her pants is almost unheard of. I was not forced to change her in the front seat using a combination of toilet paper and snow because I had apparently forgotten to pack more wipes after we had donated ours to the nice family in the grocery store who's son had thrown up all over their groceries. Paloma was less than thrilled to have her bum wiped off with the makeshift wipes. Nope - not me.

3) I did not polish off (along with the help of my husband) the children's M & M's that they had received in their stocking. I was PMS'ing and the children don't really need them anyway - right? Besides, technically, I was the one who purchased those M & M's in the first place. Not me.

4) I did not find cobwebs in my play room while cleaning this week. Yuck. I consider myself to be the queen of cleanliness and finding cobwebs in the area where my children play daily would be down right wrong. Nope - not me.

5) I did not become overjoyed this week after my youngest daughter finally turned two - which among other things meant she could be dropped of at the Fred Meyer playland along with my oldest daughter to play while I got the grocery shopping done. Granted, I was terribly distraught over the idea of my "baby" becoming an official toddler - but man - grocery shopping without having any children with me is too darn good to pass up. Not me - no way would I become excited over something so small.

6) While shopping alone at Fred Meyer while my children were hanging out in playland, I was not paged back because of a "bathroom emergency." Of course we made it to the potty in time. Paloma with her bladder of steel would not even think of urinating all over herself in public. Gasp. But what I did not realize was that she was not calling me to pee -she wanted to poop and apparently a small amount came out before she was alerted to the fact that she should finish on the potty. Therefore, I was not forced to pick up a piece of poop from Paloma's shoe after thinking I was free and clear from any bathroom blunders for the day. Not Me.

7) And finally, I will not/am not wearing clothes to bed tonight simply because the kids and I have to get up early for a special sporting event and it is way easier to get two kids ready for the morning vs. two kids and an adult. These clothes are comfortable enough to sleep in - right. No, who would do that? Not me.

Oh I could go on and on...I have had a pretty eventful two weeks. I'll stop there - in part because I am just too tired to type anymore. Here is hoping you had a great week. If you decide to participate - let me know. And always, if you are visiting from Mck Mama's blog, drop me a comment. I'd love to know you stopped by to visit and I will be sure to check our your Not Me Monday post.

Have a blessed day.

I'm Diving In, I'm Going Deep.....

Contest Winner

SO.....
I have picked a winner in the 2nd annual Living La Vida Loca blog contest BUT I have expended my energy for the day and just can't find it in me to post about it tonight (plus, I'm spending the remainder of the evening with my wonderful soul mate). I will be posting the winner soon though - I promise. Stay tuned. And with that.... Good night

Hooray For You!

For quite a long time, the world saved a place.

Millions were born, yet none filled your space...



Until the second of a minute of one special day,

you took your first breath, and the world said

Hooray!

"Hooray For You" Marianne Richmond

Contest Below

Ok blog readers - I know it is the holidays and all but....

Please see the post below on the latest contest that I'm hosting. Only 1 answer thus far. I know there are more of you out there wanting to cash in on a great prize!!! Leave your ideas about what exactly exploded and coated my refrigerator the other night and I will mail you out a fantastic prize well worth your efforts. I'll extend the contest until Friday night or even Saturday morning. Good luck!