Hair

Lacey finally is getting a little more hair. Not that she really has enough to do anything with, but now I don't know how I should handle it. I've done pig tails in the past, but now the top hair is getting longer but it doesn't quite fit into the pig tails. So now I'm not sure if there is any way for me to do her hair cute while its in this awkward stage.

clean kitchen

There is something so relaxing about having a clean kitchen. I seriously let the whole house become a disaster zone while Lacey was sick. I never knew how much time goes into taking care of a sick little kiddo. It was tiring being needed 24/7, without any breaks. As soon as Scott got home from Chicago he devoted some much needed attention to the kitchen. I just feel better knowing it's clean in there.

It's the little things

Today I went down to the basement to do some laundry. Lacey has pretty much thrown up on everything we own the last few days so we have a lot of laundry to do. While I was down starting the load a bunch of clothes came down the laundry shoot. I just figured Scott was sending down a couple things to add last minute. Then I saw that most of the clothes were clothes Lacey hasn't even worn yet, tags on and everything. I was trying to throw in the rest of the laundry, and every once in a while a couple more peices of clothing would drop. I came back upstairs with an arm full of clean clothes to find Lacey running back and forth from her drawers to the shoot. She was emptying her drawer and growing everything down. She cracks me up, I guess that's what I get for leaving the shoot door open.

Mmmm... dinner

Scott found out they were going to open up a Costa Vida down in Chicago. He has been itching to go ever since. Scott LOVES Costa, and I think that's what he missed most about living in Utah. I swear that he spent half of his paycheck eating out there so it is probably a good thing Chicago isn't closer. 

Since Scott was already in Chicago for a dental convention he made plans to go out with the guys for dinner before heading home. They had a large lunch so they weren't ready to eat again when they left the convention so they decided to see a movie, and then swing by to grab dinner. They showed up at 7:50, 10 minutes before closing and they wouldn't let them in. To say Scott was disappointed is an understatement.

At least I got to eat yummy food tonight. I went to Olive Garden with one of the other dental wives. It was super yummy. I've been craving mushroom ravioli, and it didn't disappoint.

My worries

I remembered what I was going to blog about today. One of our neighbors had their second baby today, a beautiful little girl. The mom posted a picture of her first on Facebook talking about how she worries about him with the new baby coming. She worries about him loving his sister, being jealous. She also talked about how she worries about how she will do as a mom, if she will be able to give him the attention he deserves, make him feel loved, and everything else that worries about having two. Her two kids are 22 months apart, he same that Lacey and our next little one will be. I have the same fears and worries about Lacey and whether or not I will be a good mom with two when I feel like I fail at being a mom of only one sometimes.

Lacey hates when I give my attention to other babies. If she ever catches me holding another baby she wants to be held. If I'm playing with another baby she will come out her face in between mine and theirs. I'm sure she'll have an issue with the whole jealous thing. 

Yesterday I got a small glimpse of something that made me excited for two. I picked one of my friends and her little baby up at the airport. Her baby girl cried most of the way home. The entire time Lacey was so concerned for the crying baby sitting next to her. She kept tapping the the handle to her infant carrier and then she started singing. It was very sweet, and made me realize that there are sure to be tough moments, but there will also be these kind of moments that just make my heart burst. 

Lacey is growing up faster than I want her to. We still have six months before we add to our family, but I think she'll be a great older sister when the time comes.

What a stud!

The last couple months I have been pretty much worthless. I can count the number of loads of laundry, number of meals I've cooked, and number of dishes I've washed on one hand. Through all of it Scott has been a rockstar. He has done dishes and laundry and vacuuming and cooking and childcare. He goes to school all day and then comes home and asks how he can help, or what needs to be done around the house. I don't think I would be as understanding if he all of a sudden didn't do anything all day long.
With Lacey being sick the last couple days he has been an amazing dad! He has been playing with blocks with Lacey. Cuddling her when she starts to get sleepy. He's helped in the middle of the night when she wakes up crying and moaning. He truly amazes me. He works so hard during the day and then comes home and puts in more effort. I don't think I could ever do what I do without him. He has been such a stud, especially the last little bit.

Poor baby

I've been debating whether or not I should take my blog private or keep it open to the public. I plan to start posting more pictures of our family, and I am leaning towards making it private. To be honest, I doubt there are very many people who actually read my blog on a regular basis. If you want an invite let me know, more than happy to send out invites to people I know.

That being said, today was rough. Luckily I felt pretty good today. Man, it feels great to be normal. Lacey wasn't feeling very good today. This is the most sick she has ever been. She has had a fever of 101 all day. Her nose is constantly a discusting mess of smeared snot. But of us have been covered in throw up today. She has been super clingy and has just wanted to cuddle all day. That is very out of character for her. She napped for about 15 minutes before she started crying and moaning. The only way I could get her to sleep was to hold her and rock her to sleep. It makes me so sad to see her struggle so much. I never knew how much it would hurt me to see her get sick. It's the saddest thing ever.

I hate knowing that there isn't anything that I can do, but I do love the extra cuddles. I can't wait to have my cute, happy little girl back.

Well, this is new

I feel like a brand new person. Today is the day I have been waiting for the last couple months. Today was the first day that I feel like a normal human being. I ate food today without cringing. I ran around and chased Lacey instead of turning the tv on. I smiled more today. I made dinner today and it wasn't even Mac 'n cheese.
I am so looking forward to the coming days. If I remember right, I had a couple great days squeezed in between the sick days, and then one day the sick days just went away. I am aware that I might not feel this great in the morning, but for now I'm just going to enjoy feeling good. I'm going to celebrate the fact that I don't feel sick to my stomach for the first time in what seems like forever. To celebrate the fact that food actually sounds appealing.
Thank you second trimester!!

right now

Just a few days ago I wrote about how I was anxious for Lacey to start talking. I had a realization just yesterday. I was talking with one of my friends about nursing and I can't remember how it happened. One day she nursed and asked for it all the time, he next day she didn't even ask. I realized that one day she needed me and the next she didn't. It wasn't a slow and gradual change, it happened over night. How many things have changed like that where I haven't noticed. Lacey will only be this age once, and I really don't want to miss out on this.
The last couple months I have been pretty sick and I feel like I've been a pretty terrible mom. Lacey has been watching much more tv then I would like to admit. The last couple days I am actually starting to feel more like a normal human being. It's time to step up my mommy game. I only have 6 more months of having Lacey as an only child. After that, life is going to get crazy again and I'm going to have to figure out how to manage having two.
There are so many areas of my life that need some improvement, but for now, this is where I want to start. I want to be the best mom to Lacey as I possibly can. I want to spend time reading with her. I want to spend time chasing her around the house. I want to take her to the park and watch her run around in the sun. I want to enjoy this stage instead of being anxious for the next stage.

We're pretty excited

So the last couple months have been rough. I forgot how sick I get when I'm pregnant (it's probably a good thing that I forgot). I think that I am finally nearing the end of this whole being sick all day every day. I'm due on the 27th of August. I swear that being due at the end of the month is the worst. People can remember the month that you are due, but not the actual date. So, once August hits I will be asked a million times if they baby is coming. Then the month will just drag on. I went over my due date by a couple of days with Lacey, so I'm guessing that it will be the same way with this one. We are pretty excited about having another baby even if we don't have any idea how we will manage having two. Crazy!

Milestones

Lacey is pretty amazing sometimes. She has always hit her milestones way before she needed to. She learned to walk quickly, she learned her animals quickly, she learned how to do her animal sounds quickly. She is just a really fast learner, and I think a part of me is pretty proud of that fact. She learns so quickly and is constantly picking up new skills and learning how to respond to more and more questions. I know that she understands a lot of what I say because she will get excited, say yes or no, point out the object I'm talking about etc. She is super smart and I feel like everyday she is just getting smarter.

5 months ago she was really good with all of her animal sounds. She knew about 15 of them and I would quiz her all the time about what a monkey says or what a cow says. In the last couple months I feel like she has regressed a little. For example, she used to say woof for dog, now she just breathes heavily. She still doesn't say "mom" if I ask her to say mom she says bob... she's almost 16 months. I would love to have her say mom sometime soon. Because she always was hitting milestones early I guess I expect so much more of her than I should. She meets all the milestones that she needs to, but for some reason I just wish that she was a little better with her verbal skills.

I know this is a silly thing to worry about. I know she isn't behind, she just is taking her time. Which is fine. I know that she is smart and she understands the words. I'm just waiting for her to figure out the whole talking thing instead of babbling.

Just don't look at me

I have come to accept that I will be spending the majority of my days alone with lacey with little to no adult interaction. It's been that way since lacey was born.  I enjoy the occasional play date and group outing but some days I love having the morning to ourselves with no interruptions. 
This morning was great.  Lacey and I  were able to play for a bit,  eat breakfast together,  ready a few books. She is so full of personality and is the sweetest little girl. She started to get a little tired so I put her down for her nap.
Lately she has been great at sleeping for about 2 hours when she naps. Today I decided to watch a movie.  Something that Netflix recommended.  It was a very sweet,  very sad movie. I don't know what got into me,  but I bawled. Not just a treat or two,  but streaming tears. I'm not a pretty crier... if there even is sick a thing.  My face gets red and blotchy, my eyes get bloodshot and puffy,  and it stays for a good while after the tears stop. 
I'm just glad no one was there to witness it. Until I got a call that someone was locked out of their apartment.  They stopped by mid-cry session and I had to run to the door with red puffy eyes. I then turned my movie back on and returned to crying my eyes out. One of my friends stopped by to drop off a tutu I had let her borrow. Again, I had to go to the door,  this time the tears didn't stop. They just kept on running  the entire time my friend was over. It was only like 2 minutes but it felt like forever.  I couldn't even look her in the eye.  I felt like a total moron.  It was pretty embarrassing. I guess I'm too emotional (and apparently popular) these days to handle a sad movie even when I think I'm alone.

My one and only

Today is one of my favorite people's birthday.
He is so hardworking.
He is extremely intelligent.
He is super attractive.
He is full of stories (many funny, some not so much)
He is an amazing father.
He is playful.
He is clean (I need to learn from him on this one)
He is always encouraging me to be my best self.
He is great at cooking... Asian food
He is super sexy.
He is always willing to lend a helping hand.
He is wonderful at getting up with Lacey in the middle of the night.
He is simply amazing.
Lacey and I adore him.
He is my best friend.
He mashes new feel like I'm the only person who matters.
He makes me smile.
He means the world to me.
Happy 27th birthday Scott.

Cheese

The moment Lacey sees my phone she squints her eyes and says cheese. I hardly ever get the chance to capture a picture with her normal smile. Her "cheese" face is cute, but her genuine smile is so much more adorable. Today I had the other little girl that I watch, who I put down for a nap in our office at the same time as Lacey, so much for getting my blog done early today.

The last thing I do before bed

I put off blogging until the very end of the night. Then I kind of dread having to come in and post something. I end up writing a couple of sentences and then I call it good. For the next week I am going to use Lacey's nap time to blog in hopes of me putting in a bigger effort. Sure, I have blogged every day, but I don't put very much effort into it. I want to record fun memories and pictures and be able to look back and be glad that I blogged. Currently I'm not writing much that is entertaining or of much value. Starting tomorrow I really do want to try a little harder.

I need birthday ideas...

Scott's birthday is on Wednesday and I don't have anything planned yet. I need to figure something out, and really don't have much of a budget. I have tried pinterest and google, but I haven't come up with any stellar ideas yet. I have done the whole coupon book thing, he never used them. I will definitely do a cake or dessert of some kind. I would take him out to dinner or something, but I have to go to a young women's activity that night. Scott hates surprises, and always has a way of finding out my plans before his birthday. I'm hoping that the fact that I have procrastinated planning anything will play to my advantage so I can do something fun.

New to teaching

I haven't had a calling at church that has required me to teach in a few years.  Tomorrow is my day in young women. I should have started my lesson plan earliest,  but I'm hoping it turns out okay.  Wish me luck!

Sleeping in

There is something magical about sleeping in. Lacey has been AMAZING at sleeping this last week. She normally wakes up between 7:00 and 8:00. Then the newest deveopement is that she will hang out in her crib for roughly an hour before she calls for me to go get her. That means I get an extra hour or so of sleep. Lacey, you're doing great and thank you!

Valentines for Lacey

Today we went to a play group with a bunch of other people from our ward and the other ward in Milwaukee. There were like 30 kids there and it was so much fun. Lacey got to decorate a Valentines Bag. This is the first time that I have let her use stickers and she thought it was the greatest thing ever.

Everyone lined up their bags on the stage and we went through and dropped a Valentine into each one.

This was only half of the bags

Her cheese face

Lacey was able to decorate a sugar cookie while we were there too. By decorate I mean she tried to shove as many sprinkles in her mouth before I stopped her. I ended up throwing a couple sprinkles and some mini m&ms onto her cookie and then called it good. They sent us home with our cookie in a little box. It was so much fun. 

There were a couple of us "dental wives" there so of course we had to do our little presentation about dental health. February is Dental Health Education Month so we get to do presentations all month. 

After we got home, Lacey was rummaging through the diaper bag. She usually empties all of the contents and then I hurry and shove them all back in when we need to go somewhere. She was on the other side of the couch and was being oddly quiet. I had forgotten that I left her boxed sugar cookie in the bag... such a mess, but also such a cute and happy girl.

Don't mind the laundry in the background

Today was so much fun but it left me wondering why are suckers such a popular thing to give? I think they are gross and they are terrible for your teeth. We got like 15 suckers today, and they all ended up in the garbage. 

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!

Grocery Shopping

Today is the first time in like a month that I actually went grocery shopping. We live like 10 yards away from a grocery store and so it is so easy just to send Scott for a nightly run to pick up what we need. It isn't very cost effective to do it that way, but whatever.

Today I actually made a grocery list and went shopping. We actually have food options. Which is fantastic. It is so nice to open the fridge and find multiple options for what I can make for lunch. I am pretty sure that both Lacey and I are sick of eating peanut butter and honey sandwiches every day.

I don't actually mind the grocery shopping part. I like being able to get out of the house for a little bit with Lacey. I feel like the only time we leave the house these days is when we go to nanny. It's freezing outside (and this weekend it is supposed to be in the negatives... grrrrr) and I hate having to get bundled up. The part I do hate is having to carry in all the groceries and then put them away. The problem is, if I let Scott put away the groceries I can't ever find anything when I need it.

Moral of the story is we aren't going to starve anymore.

Galentines Day

One of my friends decided to host a waffle galentines day party for all the third year wives. (Is it weird that I still want to call us the first year wives? In a few months we will be 4th year woot woot!) It was a lot of fun getting together with all of the girls and just catching up. Galentines Day is a made up holiday from Parks and Rec. I'm thinking that it was a fun tradition that maybe we should continue to do in  future years.

For your enjoyment

I'm too tired to really think about what I want to blog about today.... so for your enjoyment here is a video of Lacey. It's worth the watch. Sorry, I posted the wrong video last night. Just edited it.

Super Bowl and Super Clean

Scott had a couple of our neighbors over tonight for the super bowl. I like watching sports... when I have some kind of connection with the teams playing, but tonight I couldn't care less who won. Having a little get together was great though. I got to stay in the comfort of our own home and let Lacey run around like a wild child.  I just love our situation out here. I couldn't ask for a better place to live, or better friends. It is so much fun having so much in common with the people living next door.

We had a bunch of food sitting out on the table for people to snack on. I walked back into our living room to find Lacey trying to shove an entire brownie into her mouth. I assumed that Scott gave it to her, and was a little bugged because she hadn't really eaten much dinner yet. Then I noticed that the brownies were sitting somewhat close to the edge of the table. Our little stinker's reach is getting longer and longer every day. She is learning to climb to get what she wants and that terrifies me a little. How do they grow up so fast.

On a side note, another pro to having friends over is the cleaning that takes place before hand so our apartment is in presentable condition. Thank you Scott for your hard effort in making our home a more inviting place.

Good job Broncos... Payton deserved to finally win a super bowl.

Poison Control

Today we had to call poison control for the first, and hopefully the last time. Lacey was playing in the kitchen and then she came back into the living room. She gave Scott and I the cutest look and then started throwing up... into my basket of clean clothes. We walked into the kitchen to find what she was eating and found a our dishwasher soap pods on the floor. One of them had a bite mark in them. I panicked. I have read horror stories of little kids eating them and ending up in the hospital. We immediately called poison control and they said that because she didn't really break open the large part of the pod she should be okay. We watched her for an hour to make sure she didn't throw up anymore and she ended up being just fine.

I swear the cupboard under the sink is always locked. I have never been so scared in my life. I'm just glad that she's okay.

Hidden muffin.

Lacey and I made some blueberry muffins yesterday. She had a good time trying to mix the batter and pretty much single handedly destroyed our once clean kitchen. After the batter was made I left her at the table while I went to fill the muffin tins. Two seconds later I hear a crack and she was taking eggs out of the carton, that I stupidly left right next to her, and was dropping them on the ground. She thought it was the best thing ever, and I thought it was the messiest thing ever.

She loved the muffins. Today we had one left and I let her have it. Usually I try to only give her food at the table, but I thought that maybe the muffin would keep her busy while I took care of a couple things on my to do list. Scott and I had ordered something and the box was sitting in our living room unopened. This evening we opened it and found almost a full muffin sitting in the box. We figure she must have stuffed it in the hole in the side of the box that was meant to be a handle. Scott was so confused when he saw the muffin, he actually thought it was a error from the warehouse.

Why is it still cold outside?

I was born in Arizona, and lived there until I was 10. I think that I was just meant to be an Arizona girl. I am not a fan of the cold weather. I keep telling myself that I will get used to it, but honestly I don't think I ever will. If the weather is colder then like 20 degrees I pretty much make up any excuse that I can so I don't have to go outside. By the time February comes around I am so ready for it to warm up. I get antsy and even more cranky about the freezing temperatures.

Can it just be spring already? Both Lacey and I would really appreciate it.

New Calling

I was just called to in the young women's.  I'm actually really excited about this calling.  Everything is so different here then it was in Utah. It's going to take some adjusting,  but I'm sure I'll catch on spoon enough.

Shots

Lacey had her 15 month check up today. She is finally starting to grow taller! She has been short... and dense for a long time. Now her height is finally starting to catch up with her weight. I wasn't ever worried about it, but I'm glad that things are starting to even out a little. The worst part about going to the doctor is having to get Shots. I feel like we never get a break, she has to get 2-4 pretty much every time we have gone in since she was 2 months old. She is a trooper, today she cried for minute (then asked for her dad... what the heck was that all about?) and then she was ready to go. On the plus side, I got a lot of extra cuddles today.

celebrate

Tonight I'm just going to do a little dance that I made it a full month blogging daily. Whew,  I'm hoping it gets easier.