In My Thoughts and Prayers

Dear Diary,

It has been over a week since I have written on here. I am not sure why I am slacking in the blog entry department, but I guess being busy has a lot to do with it.

So, here is a quick update on life - It is almost March, which means it is almost Olivia's 1st Birthday. I thought Addalyn's 1st year of life went fast, but Olivia's went much faster. She may be walking around and learning new things daily, but that little booger doesn't look anywhere near 1 years old. She's my little shorty and about the sweetest kid in the world. But, I'll leave all that for her Birthday post =)

I finally got a Kindle. I've been debating for a long time whether I wanted one. I thought I'd miss holding a book, but after having the Kindle for 5 minutes I realized I should have gotten one a long time ago. It is fantastic! My reading addiction just got a whole lot worse.

The Academy Awards are on tonight which I am excited for, although I am anticipating my Sunday headache so I may not be able to watch. I am not sure why my headaches are back in full force and taking over my Sundays, but here's to hoping they give me a break this week.

And on a deeper note, I'd like to share my feelings on something that has really weighed heavily on my heart lately. It seems as if I have come across so many stories of little babies fighting for their lives. I know children are faced with these obstacles every single day, but over the past few months my FB newsfeed seems to be filled with children and their parents needing prayers and it breaks my heart.

I can't speak for everyone, but I know that I take having 2 healthy children for granted. I feel guilty for wishing for early bedtimes and long naps and a few minutes of "playing nice" together so I can get things done. I am sure all of these parents who are spending their time in the hospital would love to stay up late rocking their baby or could be "wasting" their day playing with a healthy child.

I cant imagine what a parent would feel like going through such a scary situation. It absolutely breaks my heart and I hate that it takes little doses of reality like this to make me fully appreciate how lucky we are to have healthy babies. I will continue praying for all of these children and their parents and I plan to say an extra prayer for all of those families whose stories I haven't heard. I can't pay for their medical bills or take their worry away, but I can pray.

Sincerely Yours,

Breathe

Dear Diary,

Last weekend I was on a hunt for my Alanis Morissette CD's when I came across every CD I have ever owned. From Wilson Phillips to Hanson to about 3 dozen mixed CD's that I wish I had time to sit and listen to because I have no doubt there'd be some doosies.

I scanned through each one, snagging a few that I felt needed to come out of hiding, and among them was Michelle Branch's "The Spirit Room" and "Hotel Paper" CD's. I cannot tell you how often I listened to these in high school and how many memories that go along with them.

I think the primary reason I like them so much is because they remind me of Garrett and I at such a young age. "The Spirit Room" came out in 2001 when we first met and "Hotel Paper" came out in 2003 when we had 2 years of dating under our belt. In fact, Garrett surprised me by buying "Hotel Paper" before I could get a copy and he gave it to me for no reason at all, you know, back when CD's were still something people purchased.

I found the CD's in the playroom storage closet so I put it in the girl's DVD player for a quick listen. Here we were, in the middle of toys and playhouses with our two little girls running around and all I could picture was a 16 year old me and a 17 year old Garrett driving around Pittsburg in his Plymouth Laser.

I love those years of our life and I love that listening to one song can put me back in that moment in an instant. Not very many people can say they were high school sweethearts and I admit that it makes me proud that we belong in that category. We have spent a lot of years together for as young as we are and I feel so lucky to have as many memories as we do - teenage parties, high school dances, graduations, college years and now building our family together.

It is special, and sometimes I need a little Michelle Branch to remind me of that.

Sincerely Yours,

Sunday, Funday

Dear Diary,

Annnnddd it's Sunday. We had another good, and slightly busy, weekend. We mostly did a lot of debating on what to do, and then not really doing it, which makes you feel like you are busier than you actually are. Get me? It's okay, sometimes I am hard to follow.

Parent's Night Out
Garrett and I actually ventured out of our house this weekend without our kids. It is rare for us, but definitely something we should do more often. Thanks to Chelsea and Kyle making the trip up to KC to handle the ladies, we got to enjoy ourselves for a few hours with some friends.

I would be lying if I said the night didn't start out a little rocky. My awesome husband, who NEVER has an opinion about anything, decided to tell me 45 minutes before we were leaving the house that I shouldn't wear what I had planned on wearing. This statement would have been okay if he would have mentioned it 2 DAYS ago when we discussed wardrobe, BUT instead, my "never has an opinion" husband decided that minutes before leaving the house would be a good time to bring it up.

So as you would expect, I tore through my closet trying to find option #2. This would be a problem for any woman, but an even bigger problem for me, who literally has only two "nice outfit," choices - one of which I wore the last time we were with these people. I figured it out but not without a lot of eye rolling and choice words. It is safe to say that Garrett has learned his lesson. =)

Sunday Walking
Olivia is at the stage where she does not want to sit in the pew at mass for an hour when she could be walking all over the place instead. I remember going through the phase with Addy so I suppose Olivia and I will be spending our church time exploring the next few Sundays until she ventures her way back to the pew again. She sure did enjoy herself though. Especially crossing over the "river of doom," otherwise known as the two strips of black tile amongst the cream tile in the church lobby. My child would stop dead in her tracks before walking across the "oh so strange" black tiles and once she braved herself to make it over, would glance back with a look on her face like, "that was a close one... the river of doom almost had me that time."  I love kids =)

Baby Fever
I felt myself get a slight hint of "baby fever" over the weekend only to quickly hit myself over the head and say, "No Way!"  Lord knows I have my hands about as full as they could possibly be right now so why did the thought even enter my mind? I am not saying a 3rd baby isn't in my future, I am just saying it isn't in my near future. Pregnancy, blah. Breastfeeding, blah. Tiny Baby Schedule, blah, blah blah! Sometimes I just need that small little dose of reality to get me back in check so thanks for listening =)

Night O' Telo'
Tonight is the Grammy's. To which they already have a tribute in the works for Whitney Houston. I feel like I am 85 years old when I say I will likely have no idea who most of the nominees are, but that will not stop me from watching the show. PLUS Garrett and I's favorite show is back on tonight - The Walking Dead... Love. It. So it'll be a night of trying to entertain the girls while also trying to entertain ourselves. Always proves to be interesting...

Hope everyone had a nice weekend!

Sincerely Yours,

Yay, Me!

Dear Diary,

Both of my girls are asleep, a very rare occasion, although one is due to wake up any minute. My house is clean, the sheets are washed, part of my dinner is already made, a Target list is ready to go for later this afternoon and I actually got my hair washed and clothes on for the day.

I think anyone who stays at home for a living, or even if you don't, can appreciate the feeling of getting so much done around the house. As a stay at home Mom, I don't get a raise for doing well, a pat on the back for the job well done or a yearly review to go over my accomplishments. My girls are too small to realize everything Mommy does and my husband appreciates me of course, but I don't get a high five every time he walks in the door and sees the day's progress.

So I guess it is up to me to congratulate myself. I love productive days and I love even more having a clean house. As the caretaker of the home, I think it's important to pat yourself on the back for everything you do in a day's work and give yourself a gold star for crossing everything, plus some, off your list. If you can't congratulate yourself then you may never feel appreciated.

So, Lindsey, I want to say awesome job on the house cleaning today. Way to go on the sheets and the laundry and an extra pat on the back for actually moving all the living room furniture to vacuum underneath and also for scrubbing the floors. Not only do you deserve wife of the year for having tonight's dinner already started, but also for whipping up some little smokies for your husband to take to his poker night tonight AND for folding all of his laundry that he decided to start at 8:00 last night. A big thanks goes out to you for taking care of the girlie's all day AND for taking a little extra time to start movies, fix lunches, clean up toys and change diapers. You. Are. The. Bomb.

Sincerely Yours,

Coome's Wedding Recap!

Dear Diary,

What. A. Weekend.

The girls and I headed down south last Wednesday just in time for wedding planning, wedding decorating and wedding attending. Want a recap? Well I do, so here it goes:

We got to jump start the wedding weekend off with some of my favorite people in the entire world - The Flower Shop Girls. Ah, I love these ladies. Mom, Chels, Jordo, Melissa, Kristin, Brenda and I got to spend the evening joking, laughing, catching up and oh yeah, making a bouquet or two in the process. Jordan picked some pretty awesome flowers and when you combine that with our amazing skills, you get this:

Just a small dose of how beautiful everything looked. Some of us were dusting off our clippers after being out of the biz for a few years (by us, I really mean me), but several corsages, boutonnieres, bouquets and Oh's and Aw's later, we were reminded of how awesome we really are (by we, I mean everyone else). I feel so lucky to be part of this little group of people because you really can't have more fun than we do when we're together! LOVE!!

And so we move on to Thursday, a day of decorating. And with the organizational skills of THE Anna Boler, everything went as smooth as ever. Glassware was loaded and unloaded, tablecloths were put on tables, lights were hung, place settings were set and by Thursday night 400 plus chairs were dropped off and around tables. Did I mention this was a huge wedding?

By Friday we were down to the finishing touches. Melissa, Jordan and I were on flower duty - again, made easy because of the dynamic duo (Anna + Melissa = Awesome). I was able to take a close look at the glassware and tablecloths on each table in the process and Jordan and Mom are definitely nominated for Flea Market & Antique Mall Queens Of The Year. I think there is a crowning ceremony in the near future. By lunchtime on Friday the place looked amazing, as you can seen here:

... so by Friday afternoon we had plenty of time to relax and get ready for rehearsal dinner. You can't beat family, friends and food!

The Wedding Day started pretty early. Jordan, Chelsea and I headed out the door at 7:00, grabbed some Starbucks and headed to the salon. We left looking better than when we walked in thanks to Torey, Christy and Ashleigh so everyone definitely did their job and did it well. Addy got her hair done for the first time (she has never even had a haircut in her 2 years of life) and she sat still and didn't complain once. And I have to say, she looked pretty darn cute:

From the salon we were off to the church where everyone had to get dressed. Here is the outcome:

Jordan looked amazing, which I didn't expect anything less. The perfect bride for sure!

We slipped in and out of the church for a few pictures so Jordan and Brian didn't see each other before the wedding and then it was the waiting game. 4 flower girls, 4 bridesmaids, a couple Moms helping out and a bride all stuffed into an extremely small room makes 30 minutes feel like 30 hours, BUT it was finally 2:00 and we walked out to find a packed church waiting for the ceremony to begin. Nobody fell down, all 4 flower girls did exactly what they were supposed to, and Jordan and Brian looked happier than ever.

We said hello to Mr. & Mrs. Coomes for the first time, took a few more pictures and headed off to the reception for the party! Everything looked amazing and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I have never seen so many people pay attention to the Couple's First/Father Daughter/Mother Son Dance in my life. Very special moments for very special people.

And while a reception is slightly chaotic when you have 2 little ones to chase after, we still had a great time! We don't get out much, nor get dressed up, so I was happy to capture a photo of my little family looking our finest:

Like I said, it was a great weekend and we have Jordan and Brian to thank for it! You wont find many couples happier than these two and I am sure I speak for everyone when I wish them many, many years of love and happiness in the future! Love you both!

Sincerely Yours,

GPS (Not the kind you're thinking)

Dear Diary,

If one blog wasn't enough I now have two! Just another excuse to do some daily writing. And while I hope my second blog keeps me busy, I do not want to neglect this one, so here is a new entry full of my usual nonsense!

What will this post be about? Gymnastics, Pacifiers and Snow

Gymnastics: We have been attending a Parent/Tot class for a little over a month now and we LOVE it. I say we because it's true, I love it almost as much as she does! Every Wednesday Addy makes sure to get her nap in so there is, "No cryin' at nin-nastics!" We eat a quick dinner with Dad and Liva and then she asks every minute on the minute if it's time to go yet, "Okay, Nin-nastics?" Her and I get to spend 50 minutes together (along with several other parent/tot combos) playing ("jumping"), stretching ("drums") and learning basic gymnastics moves ("wolling") on an obstacle course that is new and different every time we go! The best part, however, comes the last 2 minutes of class when Addalyn gets her "sticker" - a stamp that she is always proud of and immediately starts lecturing me by saying, "No bath, yet!" because she doesn't want me to wash it off! We look forward to Wednesdays around here and Garrett is anxious for his chance to take her, although if I am being honest I will definitely feel like I am missing out of I don't get to go =)

Pacifiers: I am lucky this time around because Olivia is not near as attached to her paci as Addy was. She really only uses it when she sleeps and occasionally if she is cranky. You'd think after plenty of practice with the things, I'd have no issues, but that has proven to be wrong. What is it about pacifiers and disappearing? You can see it fall out of their mouth, you can even hear it hit the floor, but somehow the stupid thing has managed to land 3 bedrooms away on the top shelf of the closet behind those old boxes you haven't touched in years. Seriously! For example: Last night Olivia woke up and needed help getting  back to sleep. I first tried just rocking her while standing next to her crib and, as always, the pacifier fell out of her mouth. I heard it fall, I even think I saw it fall and no matter how hard I searched, the stupid thing had vanished. I quickly grabbed the replacement pacifier and headed into my bedroom to rock her in the rocking chair. OF COURSE, the replacement pacifier also fell out and after grabbing my phone to use as a spotlight as to not wake anyone up, the replacement pacifier was nowhere to be found. I was less than surprised to find it the next morning right out in the open where I had looked a dozen times. Ridiculous!

Snow: We had our first snow fall this morning. It wasn't much, but it was enough to cover the ground. I personally enjoy snow but I also don't have to leave my house. Addy really wanted it to snow for Christmas and didn't get her wish so she was happy to see it this morning too. Her first response was, "Go make snowman?" I explained there wasn't quite enough to make a snowman yet but hopefully someday soon we'd get to go outside and play. So, Mother Nature, could you please send some more snow our way in the near future so I am not a liar? You could even just dump it in our yard so the roads stay clear and everyone can drive safely to work. Thanks.

Sincerely Yours,

To Each Thier Own

Dear Diary,

It is quiet and relaxing this morning. My poor husband was up all night with phone calls and ended up having to go to work this morning. I am hoping he wont be there long but in the meantime, the girls and I are just hanging out.

Due to no husband, work that can't be started until errands are ran, and two busy children who don't need/want their Mom to play with them, I found myself doing something I rarely do. I logged into Pinterest. Everyone knows how I feel about that website - anxiety overload - so I never get on. This morning was no different, although I did copy a recipe that has potential. As I was scrolling down the website looking at all your pins, a picture really caught my eye:

My first thought, "Oh that's a cute idea." My second thought, "Seriously lady? 18 weeks? How can you possibly still look like that?!?!?"

Now, before everyone gets mad at me, I am NOT at all angry with this lady whom I have never met nor am I questioning her eating habits. In fact, I am extremely happy for her. She still appears to have 6 pack abs AND has a healthy baby growing inside of her that apparently is kicking. In fact, I am amazed that two people who are both young and healthy could progress completely differently during pregnancy. What to see what I mean? Take a look:

Okay, this is a slight exaggeration. I am not 18 weeks pregnant here (I didn't take a picture at that stage), but I am 24 weeks and I can guarantee the lady above will not look like this at 24 weeks! I can only imagine I was even bigger than this at 24 weeks with Olivia, but because preggo pics during round #2 weren't going to be fun for anyone to look at, I don't have a picture to prove it.

I got the question a lot during both pregnancies, "Wow, are you sure there aren't two in there?" Which, let me tell anyone who doesn't already know this (and you'd be surprised at how many people do not know this), but commenting on how big a pregnant woman has become and questioning her knowledge of how many babies she is having is NEVER a good idea. I have seen many women who look like Skinny Minny up there and I have seen many women who look like me during pregnancy and neither deserves to be questioned on their "growing" state. EVER!

I also envy the women who just weeks after giving birth are back to their "old" jeans or the ones who never really gained anywhere but their belly so if you were to look at head shot you'd never even know they were pregnant. I, too, gained weight everywhere and there is no angle that made me look flattering.

While I love the first picture below for a number of reasons, I can't help but look at my face and wonder who hooked me up to an air pump. Granted this was taken just days after Olivia was born but I am definitely proud to have lost the double chin, puffy cheeks, and extra round neck.

So I guess what I am trying to say is that like everything else with pregnancy, your weight is out of your control. If  any of you were Skinny Minny's during pregnancy then I say Congratulations! If any of you looked like me, then I say join the club. And to all those who wish to be pregnant in the future, no matter how skinny or how "fat" you become, it will all become meaningless when that little baby takes front and center over every other issue you once had!

Another random thought from this Momma!

Sincerely Yours,