Olive turns two!

Wow, am I behind.  It was my intention to "catch up" on this blog, but too much time has passed.  So will post about Olive's b-day and then move on to the more recent.

On December 3, our baby girl turned two!  I can't believe she is two already and in some ways, I can't believe she is ONLY two.   She thinks she is so much bigger and older than she is, and really she is quite independent for a two year old.   She can talk as well as Logan and even talks more than Logan, which if you know Logan, is not hard to believe.

Olive loves baby dolls and can't wait to be a big sister.  She likes to play dress up, take her babies "grocery shopping" and make pretend cupcakes for them to eat.   She sleeps wonderfully and shares a bedroom with Logan.   We have to make sure we put her to bed before Logan however, because if we don't she will talk his ear off all hours of the night.   She loves her big brother so much, and even turns to him for comfort more often than she does me.  If she gets hurt or sad the first person she looks for is Logan and Logan is always quick to give her hugs and kiss her owies.   I do find him from time to time however telling her that "he doesn't feel like talking right now."  This is his attempt to get her to be quiet for just one moment although it rarely works.  Olive loves to give kisses and be held.  She also "loves" everything.  She tells me every day that she loves my hair, loves her breakfast, loves her cups...whatever it is, she loves it.   Her favorite phrase is "yeah, but that's okay."  She usually says this after she gets caught making a mess or doing something she isn't supposed to do.

Olive is an amazing little girl and we are so blessed to have her in our lives.  This year we woke up on her birthday to snow, which was especially sentimental to me because she was born during a snow storm.

Utah

Last week we decided to take a last minute trip to Salt Lake City to visit Scott's family.   There was already a "reunion" of sorts going on so we thought we would take advantage and visit as many people as possible.   We really enjoy going to Utah and always feel so welcome and at home when we travel there.   Salt Lake City is an amazing place to go when you have little ones and we really enjoy all of the activities and visiting with family.  We started our trip at 8:00 pm on Wednesday night and drove to Montecello.  We arrived there at about midnight and stopped at the Rodeway Inn.  The next morning we got up around 7:00 and headed to Salt Lake around 9:00.   We stopped in Price to play at a McDonalds and grab some lunch and then on we went.   I will say that I was not impressed with the Price McDonalds as the women's restroom was under construction, had step ladders all over the place and the TP was just stacked on the floor in the stalls.  There were no mirrors, no soap and no paper towels or air hand dryers.   In addition to all of this, the kids in the play land were way TOO BIG to be playing there and were not nice and considerate of my little ones.   Once we got to Salt Lake we basically just hung out with Scott's AWESOME family.   Logan had his face painted for the first time ever and was so excited.   At first I didn't mention anything to Logan about having his face painted because I wasn't sure if he would be interested or not or just freaked out by the whole idea.  He is very particular these days.   Well, I guess he saw the other kids having their faces painted and maybe Scott suggested it to him, but he was so excited to have a snake painted on his face.   I didn't attempt to have Olive's face painted.  I doubt she would sit with a stranger touching her face.   Olive had a great time playing with cousins at the park and catching bubbles.   We even played our first ever game of Frisbee Golf and had a great time.  Logan lasted for about three holes and Olive for one.  They enjoyed walking in the park, picking up sticks and using their Frisbee as "plates" to make pretend food out of grass, rocks, sticks and other things you find in a park.   Unfortunately, the playground equipment was way too hot to enjoy...I really think engineers should come up with a better material to make slides out of...what good is a slide if it burns your buns on the way down?    We left Salt lake for home at about 8:30 on Sunday night and again stayed in Montecello and then made our way home on Monday.   We had a great trip, our new van did great and as always, the kids were easy going and well behaved.   We can't wait for our next road-trip....maybe Tennessee in October.

Playing London Bridge on the Trampoline

Helicopters in the park

Logan being patient as always

A work in progress

Proud Boy!

Jump Rope!

I thought you were supposed to kiss frog...either way it didn't turn into a prince

Limbo

Bubbles with Daddy! 

Catching up

I have been looking through the endless pictures on my computer from 2011 trying to decide which ones to use in order to catch up my blog, and I have realized that we really haven't had much going on.  Well, besides being busy with a full time job (3 if you count Scott's 2) 2 kids, one on the way and an energetic dog.   Our days are busy and fun and my house is always a mess.   Instead of creating a separate blog entry for each of the "events" over the past 6 months, I figured I would just create on entry and try to hi-light on the big ones.

In February, after recovering from strep throat I starting training for a 1/2 marathon race (against myself) in April.  My original plan was to run a 15.3 mile race in White Sands in March, but with having two kids with Chicken Pox, one with possible encephalitis and strep throat myself those plans were quickly derailed.   Oh, and while all of this was going on, Scott was working in Roswell every Sunday through Friday.  At any rate, with the help and motivation of a great friend I started a 10 week training program to prepare for my first EVER race.  I had never run a 5k or a 10k or even a 1 mile fun run race before.  I doubted myself at times and thought I would never be able to run outside on the hard pavement without hand rails to hold on to, as all or most of my running experience had been on a treadmill.   But I pushed hard, created a great play list on my i-pod, which if you know me this won't come as any surprise to you, I listed to over and over and over again .  I ran in the foothills outside of my house for most of my short runs, got lost once on a "long" run and found a great running partner in Bunsen.  I would complete my long runs at lunch time on the Fridays that I worked, with Noel who really was my inspiration.   One day I had to do a "long run" by myself and I thought I would never make it.  She was great at pacing me and encouraging me to push harder when I thought I couldn't go any more.  When race day came, I was so excited and nervous I couldn't sleep the night before.  It was a great morning for a run though and I was pumped.   We started out slow and steady and kept a great easy pace.   In fact, I would say I finished my 13.1 miles with ease and even thought when it was over that I could run a full marathon.   Here is a picture of me at the starting line with my running buddy.

That afternoon after running my half marathon I was tired and didn't quite feel right.  I felt a little queasy, uneasy and anxious.   Without any real prompting I started to wonder if I was pregnant.  I immediately went to the store and bought a home pregnancy test and discovered that I was indeed expecting our third baby.  I was so happy that I didn't suspect anything until hours after the race rather than before.  I think if I knew I was pregnant while trying to run a 1/2 marathon it would have gotten in my head.   So there it is, our last baby is due on 12/31/2011.  A little earlier than I would have liked, in my ideal world, but we are thrilled and excited non-the-less.  

Next in April was Logan's b-day.   I can't believe my baby is three already.   Logan loves to play with Olive and really is such a sweet and caring boy.  He isn't crazy, obnoxious or overly hyper.  He has a very calm and shy demeanor which I love.  I try hard to get him to come out of his shell by giving him plenty of opportunities to interact with other kids and be independent.  For Logan's birthday this year we were going to get him a bunk bed and thought it would be fun to take him shopping so he could pick his own out.  Well, while shopping for the bed, Scott decided it would be more fun if he and Logan made the bed themselves.   I agreed and we bought just a double mattress because I knew that Logan's uncle John was buying him Spiderman sheets and a blanket for his new big-boy bed.    Logan had two birthday parties this year, one with just family at our house and one with friends at Gymboree.   Oh, and one other thing, Logan and Scott both had the stomach flu the week of Logan's birthday, this has been the case every year since Logan was one.   A birthday tradition I HOPE does not last.

Logan in his Buzz Light Year rocket ship

Logan and I opening his b-day gifts while the rest of the house was sleeping (or puking).

In May we took a family vacation to Florida to visit Disney World.   We had a blast, despite my severe "morning" (all day really) sickness.  The kids had so much fun playing in the hotel pool, going to Disney and Sea World and playing at the beach.   And as always, my kids surprised me and traveled very well, with little drama and no melt downs.  Here are just a few of our pictures, there are many, many more on Facebook.

The only family picture, this is in line for "it's a small world"

June and July have been relatively slow months for us.  Just hot and pregnant!   I have been riding the rail runner and bus to work and that has been saving me a ton of money and I get a little time to myself everyday. It does make for long days however as I leave the house at 5:30am and don't get home until 6:00 pm.   We went to the Annual Placitas Village 4th of July parade this year.  Scott and I had fun and the kids did too, well until the fire truck sprayed us with water.    That is it for "catch up" hopefully I can keep on top of things and can avoid having to do too many more "catch up posts" in the future.

Chicken Pox!

Logan and Olive have both been sick the past few days with a fever.   This morning, Logan woke up with a rash on his face...just a few pimple looking things.   I honestly thought they were just pimples from all of the lotion and petroleum jelly I have been rubbing on his face/nose to keep him from chaffing due to all of the nose blowing!   Well, I decided to take the the kids in to the Dr. because I wasn't sure what Olive had.  She just had a fever with no other symptoms.    And the diagnosis is....Chicken Pox for Logan and Strep throat for Olive and mommy!   The chicken pox are so rare these days that the Dr. was very surprised to see them.  Logan has been vaccinated for the chicken pox, but apparently even with the vaccine, it is possible to get them anyway, however it is usually a very mild case.   Logan has been such a good boy and really hasn't complained much, he really is a tough guy.  And Olive is tolerating her antibiotics well, which is always a concern since we have allergies in the family.   I can't remember the last time I had strep throat...I think it was in the 2nd grade right before I had my tonsils out.    It is horrible!  I feel so bad for my kids now, I have been so sick even my skin hurts to the touch!   I can't believe that such a common infection could make someone feel so bad.  I guess I thought that strep throat was just a bad sore throat!

Christmas 2010

                                                             Ethan and Logan and Grandpa's Cabin

                                        Christmas Dinner at our house...Pizza in the living room!

                                                    Olive, making messes at Grandpa's Cabin

Christmas was great this year!  On Christmas eve before bed, Logan put some reindeer food out on the front porch and some cookies out for Santa Clause.  He wasn't totally convinced that any one was going to come and eat the food, but he played along anyway!   In the morning he immediately went outside to see if the reindeer food was gone, and much to his surprise it was!  He was so excited.  We then opened presents at home and then went to John and Peggy's house for the family Christmas gathering.   My kids were spoiled as usual and ate way too many sweets.   That's okay, all of the fun and the sugar crash makes for a great nap for everyone!   Santa brought a rocking horse and Mr. and Mrs. Potato head to the kids.  They had so much fun with their toys.    On the 26th we were supposed to fly to Tennessee to spend the last half of our Christmas break with my family, but our flight was canceled due to major snow storms in the southeast, so we got to spend one more day at home enjoying our family and taking it easy.   On the 27th, we ended up being able to fly into Tennessee.  We had a lay over in Atlanta, with only 40 minutes to catch our next flight...needless to say we didn't make it.   We were only seconds late, which was a bummer.   We were able to get on the next flight out and landed in Nashville at about 10pm.   After that we had to get our rental car and drive an hour and a half to my parent's cabin.   The kids were great troopers and slept most of the way to the cabin.   We didn't do much in Tennessee, but it was great to hang out with my parent's and sister and her family.  We flew home on New Year's Eve, again through a snowstorm.   It was funny though, this time we had a lay over in Minneapolis, where it was snowing like crazy.  I thought for sure our flight wasn't going to go, but it DID!   It is amazing what a difference snow makes in a place where they are prepared for/used to it rather than in somewhere like the southeast!   Over-all, we had a great holiday season!