Silent Night

I just went in to check on my little sleeping beauties. Just a quick look was all I needed and my heart melted like it does every time I watch them sleep. I don't know what it is about a sleeping child/baby, but it sure is precious. Plus, my girls are always sleeping in some new, funny position, so it adds a little comic relief to my life.

Tonight, I was taken by surprise as these sweet thoughts entered my mind. As I put them to bed a couple hours ago, I was very frustrated. Today was just rough. Kylie refused to nap. This resulted in many breakdowns and she was a complete bully to her sister. Eve must be going through a growth spurt because she ate a bottle almost every hour, and that's not counting all the solid food she gulfed down throughout the day as well. She was also quite fussy, maybe because her sister kept pushing her down and stealing her toys, or maybe it had to do with how hungry she was all day. Whatever the reason, I tried to cuddle her often to soothe her, but every time I held her, she found great enjoyment in pulling my ear to her mouth and squealing as loud and high-pitched as she could. By the time I put them down to sleep, I was emotionally exhausted. Jason didn't get home from work until after bed time, so that just added to my stress. He is such a calming presence {and a great helper too, I should add! He might be upset if he reads this and finds out I only called him a "presence"!}

It was just one of those days. This post was not intended to complain, I understand that every parent has days like these. It's not really that big of a deal. What IS a big deal, however, is how quickly all my "bad" feelings disappeared as soon as I saw their peaceful faces sleeping. I instantly thought how adorable Eve looks all sprawled out in her crib. I laughed at all the animals that were in her crib with her, since those are all "gifts" from her big sister. Kylie always fills Eve's crib up with toys, to the point where we had to take out most of the toys from their room for Eve's safety. I smiled when I saw that Kylie was still clutching her night time book. She had insisted that she keep it in bed with her after we read together. {I should have left it there for the picture, but I put it away before thinking of taking pictures.}

My sleeping babies just reminded me that tomorrow is a new day. A new day to make {better} memories. Yeah for having a great day tomorrow! {I just hope that Eve waits until morning to wake me up. She likes to wake up in the middle of the night to "play", but that's a different story.}

Mr. Potato Head

The title of this blog post really says it all. It's what Kylie has been obsessed with ever since she received a couple "mister tato heads" (as she calls them) for her birthday. She and Daddy have played so many times together with this toy, I'm not sure which one of them loves their 'tato heads more. Regardless, I love to watch them having fun and spending some quality father/daughter bonding time. I know it requires a lot of patience because she is never satisfied with a final poduct of Mr. Potato Head, she continuously wants to change every little body part. It just makes me fall in love with Jason even more as I notice how well he takes care of our children. Such a great feeling.

This crazy lady potato head got arrested and handcuffed. I don't remember this toy having so many accessories!

Two years ago

Kylie one hour old

Kylie 2 years old

On December 15th 2007, 6 days past my due date, I was pouting. Jason was the one going to see the doctor, and not me. Turns out he had a hairline fracture on his foot. I was so jealous, why couldn't it have been me who was seeing a doctor to deliver my baby? Little did I know that later on in the day, I would be getting my wish. I remember everything else so vividly from that day:

• My grandma's house filled with family from the area who didn't have any electricity due to the ice storm that happened 4 days prior.





• The chili I made for all those people, made extra spicy in hopes it would cause some contractions.





• Letting my sister Kelly play with my stomach as I got contractions. She was fascinated with how hard my tummy got! I had been having contractions for weeks, so it didn't strike anyone as odd that we were 'playing' with my contractions. They were painless at this point.





• Walking the dogs with my mom on the icy roads.





• Driving to Walmart with my mom to find special shoes for Jason's broken foot





• The guy in Walmart who took one look at my big belly and said: "Woah! Congratulations!"





• Timing my contractions as we shopped, and when we noticed they were 2 minutes apart, I said: "We must be doing it wrong. I'm pretty sure I'm not in labor."





• Having some serious painful contractions in line at Walmart and trying to figure out if I should tell the people in front of me that I needed to go ahead of them since I was pretty sure I was now in labor. [I decided not to say anything, I didn't want to look crazy for purchasing shoes, chapstick and toilet paper while in labor. But boy was it hard not to cry out in pain while standing in line!]





• Calling Jason from Walmart to tell him to meet me at the hospital, but to tell everyone at my grandma's house that he was just bringing my mom and I our 'forgotten' wallets. [I didn't want anyone to know when I was in labor. I wanted it to be a surprise. Even to my mom, but she was the one who ended up driving me to the hospital.]





• Arriving at the hospital in the most pain I have ever felt in my life, and getting an epidural right away.





• One hour later being told it was time to push, and being shocked by how quickly it all happened.





• Telling myself that I didn't want my daughter to have a cone head, which motivated me to push as hard as I could.





• 5-10 minutes later, holding my daughter for the first time and checking immediately to see if she had my ears. She doesn't.





• Watching Jason hold Kylie for the first time as they stitched me up. [ouch]





• Falling in love with Jason all over again as I watched him pace the floor holding our girl and tell her how much he loved her and was so happy she was here.





• Telling Jason to sit down and get off that hurt foot!





• Waiting a little bit to call anyone, so we could enjoy a little bit more time alone with Kylie.





• Watching each one of my sisters and my parents fall in love with our little sweetheart as they came to visit.





• Being completely amazed by how this little darling girl was for Jason and I to 'keep'. It's a strange feeling and I really can't explain it. 'Keep' is not the word I want to use, but it's the only thing I can think that could hint at what I'm trying to say.





• Being disappointed that I still looked about 5 months pregnant.





• Taking as many pictures as I could. Before having Kylie, I never took such an excessive amount of pictures!

Really I can't describe how quickly I fell in love with my sweet little Kylie. I know that some people say that it can take a while to bond with your new baby, but that was not the case for me. I was so amazed about everything about her, from her thin sandy-colored hair to her "huge" [for baby standards] feet and long toes. What's really amazing is how, even though I loved her so much when I first met her, my love for her has grown right along with her! Now she is 2 years old, and I am still loving her as much as ever!

I will post pictures of her 2 year old birthday party later. I won't in this post because this post was supposed to be about how my life was changed so much 2 years ago! It was a wonderful day and I wouldn't have changed a thing.

Tiger outside and happy birthday with a hat

Kylie has been saying some pretty funny things lately. It's kind of fun because I can still say "She says so many things and she's not even two yet." I only have one more week that I can use that phrase, so I better take advantage. Here's a little conversation we had tonight as I was tucking her in bed:

Me: Kylie do you want me to go find your night night pig?

[We had cleaned her room earlier and she had put her stuffed pig in her toy box. She usually sleeps with him every night.]

Kylie: No mom. [She thinks for a minute.] I want the tiger!

[The problem is I don't think we have a stuffed tiger anywhere.]

Me: Sweetie, there is no tiger in the house.

Kylie: Yes! Tiger outside!

Me: Kylie...

Kylie: Roar [giggle] I want the tiger please.

Me: Let me go look in your toy box and see if we can find another animal for you to sleep with. No tiger, sorry.

Kylie: Ok [thinks for a minute] I want hat!

[There is a toy hat in the toy box. I'm pretty sure Kylie had that specific one in mind.]

Me: [surprised] You want to sleep with your hat?

Kylie: Yes, hat.

Me: Ok, honey. Here you go. [I hand her the hat.]

Kylie: [starts singing as she holds the hat on her head. It's a toy hat and so it doesn't stay on her head unless she's holding it.] Happy birthday you, happy birthday you...

[I really don't know where she heard the happy birthday song, but she's been singing it for about a month now. It's not as if she has had a birthday recently - she turns two next week remember?- and she hasn't been to any birthday parties that I know of. The first time I heard her sing that song was a month ago out of nowhere. Well actually it was when I gave her a small candle that was "kylie's" so she could only touch that one and not "mommy's". Not that I light them when she can get to them, it's just that she is obsessed with them, so I gave her one and her obsession with my bigger ones ended. How she knew that the happy birthday song goes with candles in a mystery to me, but now I've let myself get sidetracked.]

Below is a picture of the hat she is now cuddling in bed with. The picture is several months old, but you get the idea: