Easter Pictures

I took some shots of the kids yesterday for Easter. I wanted to make sure Ella's Easter dress fit her, and it does. Not much is new at our house. Noah is getting excited for his birthday. Tomorrow is is last swimming lesson, and then we're going to take a break from swimming for awhile. He will start soccer at the end of April.

Ella is getting closer and closer to walking. She is sleeping better lately, too, which is nice. She loves to give hugs and kisses and is such a snuggler. I wish she could stay this age forever- she's so sweet!

Fun for all ages!

We went to the circus last night with Seth's family. Somehow we ended up with front row seats! The kids loved it! Before the show started some clowns walked around and talked to the kids and squeaked and did other clowny stuff. Noah was so excited! He had been asking every day for the past week "how many more days until the circus" the minute he woke up. He liked the tigers and the elephants the best.

While we were driving downtown Noah said from the backseat "I have a feeling we're not on Wirt St. anymore". I cracked up!

Speaking of cracking up.... we went to church on Saturday night and sat by Derek, Michelle, Delaney and Gavin. The kids were all coloring and making each other pictures. Gavin drew a picture for Noah and Noah said (very loudly) "Thank you Gavin, that is very thoughtful". Two seconds later he said "Gavin, you can't color in this book. Only Delaney and I can color it in. Only nice people can use this book". So much for getting along.

When it was time for the offering, Noah went up and put his dollar in the basket that the priest holds up at the front for the kids. By the time he came back, Delaney and Gavin had money that they wanted to take but they weren't sure where to go. I told Noah to show them, so he took off running yelling "come on guys, follow me!!" and they started running after him. He got to the basket and made a circling motion with him arm pointing at the basket. Then they all started running back to our seats, but they couldn't remember where they were. They were all running in different directions and turning around and running into each other and 1/2 the church was laughing at them. I kept myself busy with Ella and acted like I didn't know any of them. Then, when it was time to go up for communion, there was a man in front of us with a cane. Noah asked "is he old?" I said "ssshhhhh". Then Noah asked "is he going to die?" I thought I was going to die of embarrassment!

Ella was not all innocent during the mass either. She had her hand in her mouth at one point and then, before I could stop her, reached out and touched the man (the old one) in front of her and left a big drool spot on his jacket. Then she kept turning around in the pew and blowing raspberries at the people behind us.

When it was over Derek said that we paid too much for our circus tickets... we can just take the kids to church for free!

Need some Motivation!!!

After I had Ella I did Weight Watchers points until Christmas and was able to lose 30 pounds. I was within 5 lbs of my goal, and it was Christmas, so I stopped, thinking I could start again after the new year if I need to. Well, I needed to, but I haven't. I am having a really hard time lately with Seth being gone at work and out of town, it's a lot of effort to get to the gym because I need to get a babysitter, and I try to work out at home after the kids are in bed, but sometimes I'm so exhausted that I just want to sleep, and if it comes down to hopping on the treadmill at 9:30 or going to bed... bed usually wins. I just feel very unmotivated, but when I think about how I want to lose about 10 lbs, I feel a pang of anxiety about it. I feel a little isolated being with the kids 24/7 without a husband much of the time, and with the cold weather, am just feeling a little depressed.

I've been thinking about what will help me feel better. I know that losing 10 lbs isn't going to make me feel automatically happy, but I do think I would feel better knowing that I set a goal and achieved it. I really think it would help for me to join WW and go to meetings and have someone else look at my weight to help keep me motivated. I just don't know how I can get to meetings when I can't even get to the gym.

So..... I've decided I'm going to use my blog as a way to have others see my progress since I know that a handful of my friends and relatives look at it every now and then. I know others don't care, but it will make me feel like I have a little pressure to NOT eat 5 cookies at one time, since the scale will be able to tell if I've done that!

I thought about posting my weight each week, but I don't think I can bring myself to do that! So, I've decided that once a week (Saturday) I will just post my progress (weight lost or gained), and see how that goes.

Okay, go team! Wish me luck!!!

Help! I can't stop eating ice cream!

I've had a pretty nasty cold lately and a really bad sore throat. It feels better when I eat ice cream so I had Seth buy me some (frozen yogurt actually, so that's better, right?) He got it last night, and I think I've eaten most of the carton. In one day. It does feel better on my throat, but not so good for my waistline. Oh well.

Noah has been into drawing and painting lately and other various "art projects". He's getting really good at drawing people. I keep asking if Daddy drew that, and he keeps saying that he did, and then I don't believe him, but it turns out he really did. I'm sure Daddy doesn't appreciate that I can't tell the difference between his drawings and a 3 year old's!

Ella has really started babbling lately. She says "babababababa" for hours at a time. I swore she said "book" the other day while she was holding a book, but I'm sure it was just a coincidence. She does give kisses though, which is so sweet. I say "give mommy kisses" and she comes at me with a big, sloppy, open mouth smooch and then lays her head on my shoulder like she's giving a hug. She's so sweet! And ornery! I bought her a shirt the other day that is perfect for her- it says "angel with an attitude". That describes her perfectly.

Brotherly Love

It is 2:30 in the morning and I am having to let Ella cry it out in her bed again because she has been up every hour for some reason tonight. Man, she's really working it in there. Anyway, I always welcome the opportunity to have time to work on my blog....... I just wish it wasn' t in the middle of the night as my baby is screaming, literally SCREAMING, in her bed. "AAAAAAAAAAAAA, breathe, breathe, breathe, AAAAAAAAA, breathe breathe", etc.

I thought I would make my post tonight be about how amazed I am at the way Noah treats his little sister. Sure, he has his moments when he acts like a 3 year old and will take a toy or two away from her or get frustrated when she gets in his things, but for the most part he is so sweet and caring and loving toward her. And she, in turn, LOVES her big brother!! She gets so excited when he comes by her and laughs and kicks her feet, and has been that way since she was old enough to know what was going on. She literally follows him around the house like a puppy, and he eats up the attention from her!

Today as I was putting Noah to bed for his nap, we were laying in his bed reading books. Ella was in his room with us in the exersaucer. She was getting fussy and I thought she was hungry, so I put her in the bed with us so she could nurse. That lasted about a second and then she was crawling around on the bed and playing. She was pulling herself up on the railing on his bed and kept scooting closer and closer to the end of it. I was getting up to grab her before she fell, but I was too late and she fell out of his bed. Luckily, as far as I could tell, she wasn't hurt, but I was pretty shook up. Noah was just as upset as I was! The look on his face was sheer panic. I think it's so sweet that he is so protective and caring for her. When I was little, part of me always wanted an older brother (the other part of me liked being the bossy oldest), so I am glad that Ella has a brother who will look out for her.

After naps the kids were playing in the family room while I was trying to clean the floors. I had moved all the kitchen chairs and table into the family room so I could sweep. I had asked Noah to pick up some blocks while I was sweeping. Instead, he and Ella kept getting more out and were both just laughing hysterically. I felt a little annoyed because they were making such a mess and seemed to be laughing at my expense!! But then I thought about how cute it was that they could play and "gang up" on Mommy. It's cute now... but I think I'll have a long road ahead with those two conspiring against me!

It's quiet now- she only cried about 6 minutes- so I'm going back to bed while the getting's good.

Valentine's pictures

This is HARD!!

It is 12:50 am and Ella has been up three times already tonight. I've decided enough is enough and am letting her cry it out. Noah keeps coughing because she woke him up. She's going on 10 minutes now, and no end in sight. We have to do something, though, because I can't get up every hour with her anymore. I am so tired! We always have the worst nights when I have to work in the morning, and then I am NOT a safe driver. Noah is still recovering from his adenoid surgery. Last night he woke up with a bloody nose, which was scary. What made it worse was that Seth got sick and passed out while I was trying to help Noah and also hold Ella, who of course wanted up where the action was. She's now been crying for 15 minutes, and her cries have gotten stronger. What a stinker!! I think I'll go get some ironing done. Might as well be productive if I'm not sleeping.