Dear Bloggy World,

Alright, let’s just get this out in the open. You know you’ve been thinking it.

I’M A BAD BLOGGER.

There I said it.

Do I have a good excuse? I do! Several, in fact.

1. Work. I’m a working mother. I go to the office 25-30 hours a week. I enjoy going to the office, but trying to take care of everything that needs to be done in the week without those hours at home is difficult. Very, very difficult. Not to mention, when I’ve been sitting in front of a computer all day, it’s the last thing I want to do at home.


2. My camera. It’s slow. And I have two wiggly little kids. By the time the camera actually snaps the dang picture, I’m left with an image of the back of their cute little heads as they’re running away from me (well, crawling in Gage’s case). Or, I get a picture of Haylee trying to snatch the camera out of my hands. And really, what good is a picture-less blog entry? I find them to be very disappointing. (Mike, if you’re reading this….HUGE hint about what I want for Christmas!!)


3. Time. It’s been a crazy busy summer. We sold our townhouse in May and begrudgingly moved into an apartment with our fingers crossed that the short sell we had put an offer on would actually happen. And….IT DID!!! It only took FOUR MONTHS from the time we put an offer on the house until we actually closed the deal. On July 31st (my birthday!!) we moved into our dream home. It’s absolutely beautiful and we’re so lucky to be here. But two moves in two months is enough to make a woman crazy. Life is settling into place. Life is good.


4. Envy and Inadequacy (is that even a word?). I’m a huge fan of the bloggy world. I religiously follow many, many blogs. Most of those blogs are written by moms just like me. I envy their creativity, vocabulary, and profound messages. They keep me laughing and crying. They motivate me. And then I sit down at my computer and have nothing more to write about than snotty noses and potty training.

So, there you have it. I considered giving up on blogging all together, but I have hopes of someday having a lengthy, fun, detailed blog for my kids to read when they’re old enough to appreciate it. And that will keep me going. And as long as you don’t mind rushed, picture-less posts about our simple lives, then please keep reading. All three of you.

A couple of samples of my awesome photography skills:

Mini Vacation

It's a rare occasion when I get a break from my kids. Haylee is a night owl and Gage is an early bird. So, I go to sleep right after Haylee each night, and then I wake up with Gage. He's been getting up between 5:30 and 6:30 every morning. Every. Morning. I don't mind getting up early, especially to that adorable smiling face. He's so happy and content in the morning and we get our Mommy/Gage alone time. It's great. But secretly I always hope each morning that he'll sleep in just a little bit. And today it happenend!! I woke up at 6:30 and realized that he was still asleep. I was too giddy with the hopes of possibly sleeping in.....I couldn't go back to sleep. So I got up early and GOT READY ALL BY MYSELF! No kids at my feet, no noise but the chirping birds outside my window. It doesn't sound like much, but it was like lounging on a sunny beach sipping a cool drink. It was marvellous. And it lasted about 25 minutes. And then? I missed Gage and went and woke him up. What a fun little guy.

Happy Mother's Day!

To all the Moms out there, I hope you have a wonderful day. I know my day started out great. My wonderful husband had flowers waiting for me when I woke up. I told him once when we first started dating that I think flowers are a waste of money. I'm glad he didn't listen and suprises me with them every now and then. True, they die within days and cost waaaaay too much (especially on Mother's Day) but I love to know that he was thinking about me and wanted to do something nice for me. It's a gesture that goes a long way.

The other day I heard a mom say "I have no free time on my hands but tons of free time in my head". I know exactly what she means. I'm busy ALL the time. Some days it seems I never stop. But my brain never seems to be stimulated. I read kid books, do kid puzzles and play kid games. I love it, don't get me wrong. I just have lots of free time in my brain for day dreaming. Mostly of a new home. (If you didn't already know, we've sold our townhouse and we're desperately searching for a new home.) I think about how to decorate, what furniture to buy (what furniture we can afford to buy), what will the kids think, how hard will it to be to make the mortgage payment.....is it all worth it? YES! I think we'll be house poor for a while, but that's just part of life, right? Eventually our car will be paid off and raises will come in (hopefully!) and everthing will work out. I have my eye on one particualr house, and it's all I think about. Its' perfect and I don't want to get my hopes up, but I already have. I hope it works out and I hope when we're settled you all come to see it. Just don't make fun of our lack of furniture to fill it up, after all, it's three times the size of our current home.

(Sorry for yet another picture-less post. I'll get better.)

PERFECT!!!!

There are VERY few days in the year of perfect weather....but today is one of them! It's not too hot or too cold. It's not windy or cloudy. It is PERFECT! I'm an outdoors girl, and luckily so is Haylee. Mike much prefers being inside and so far I think Gage is turning out to be more like his dad. He's not sure what to think about the grass and he thinks the sun is way too bright. He'll hardly even open his eyes and he won't look up. He'll come around. I'm sure of it. How could you not love being out? I think it's time to fire up the grill and clean up the patio furniture. It's hard to beleive that just four days ago there was 6 inches of snow out there. Now it's sunny and beautiful. You might be asking yourself why I'm inside blogging about the fantastic weather and not out enjoying it. Hmmmmm. I don't have a good answer for that......but I'm headed out right now. Hope your weather is as good as mine!

1 2 3 and A B C

Can you believe Haylee is 3? Okay, she's been 3 for almost a month but I'm a horrible blogger. She had a fun filled day. We took her to the Kangaroo Zoo, a super fun facilty filled with huge infatable toys to jump on, crawl through and slide down. She had a blast. In true Haylee fashion, she was timid at first but as soon as she got the hang of it, there was no stopping her. She was fearless! She didn't want any help climbing up the back of the slides and they are really tall! She kept saying "Do it by myself". That seems to be her favorite saying lately. Miss Independant! She came home to a house full of presents to open. What a spoiled child! She got princess dress up clothes, a Princess Wii game, books and toys. Her big present this year is a sand box. Unfortunately the weather has not been cooperating and we still haven't set it up for her to play with (she doesn't even know about it yet). But next week the weather is supposed to get much better so Mike should be able to get the spot in the yard ready and get it set up for her. She's going to love it!! She was so cute when we did her birthday cake, we sang Happy Birthday to her and before she blew out the candles she closed her eyes and said "I wish, I wish". I don't know what she wished for, but it was super cute!!

Haylee suprised me the other day when she sang the alphabet from A to Z all by herself. We sing it all the time, probably every day, but we always sing it together. It never occured to me that she probably knew it well enough to sing it by herself. My little girl is growing up way too fast! I keep thinking that my kids are at the perfect stage and I don't want them to grow anymore, but then they learn something new and I think "okay, this is perfect, don't change!". But with everthing new stage in life, they just get better and better so I guess I'll let them keep growing.....as if I have any say in it!

Here are some cute pictures.....enjoy!

Potty Training Problems

How cute are my kids? Here they are celebrating Haylee's "success". She is going to be three this month and we are trying sooooo hard to get her potty trained. We tried a few months ago with no success. I decided that she wasn't ready so we took a break and now we're trying again. When I woke her up a few days ago I announced that she isn't wearing diapers any more and its time to use the potty. She actually seemed excited about the idea. Three days later she had only gone on the potty once. ONE TIME IN THREE DAYS! But we threw a party in her honor with balloons and toys and treats that I had been using as bribes the whole time. I thought this might get her excited to keep it up, but I was wrong. Am I doing something wrong? I'd gladly accept any tips or advice anyone might have. I'm desperate!

Valentine's Day 2009

Mike had to work a double shift on Valentine's Day so we didn't get to see him all day. We had fun making a card and cookies for him so that he would know we were thinking about him. Haylee was my big helper, she loved decorating the cookies with candy and sprinkles. Gage helped too by sitting so quietly and smiling so big. I think they both had fun. We love you Honey! Happy Valentine's Day!

Where did all of his hair go?

Notice anything different about these two pictures? Yes, it is the same baby boy. He used to have sooooo much hair. I loved it. But it is almost all gone now. I'm so sad! It was dark and soft and beautiful. Don't get me wrong, he's still super cute but I miss his gorgeous head of hair. You know what more than makes up for it? His whole-body smiles. You know when you walk in a room and a baby is so happy to see you that not only do they get a huge smile on thier face, but their whole body shows their glee. His arms start flying around and he kicks as hard as he can. I love it. I love him!

My Plastic Breakfast

For Christmas Haylee got a play kitchen and all the plastic utensils and food you could imagine. She loves it so much that she could not understand why we kept asking her to stop playing with it and open more presents. It's now up in her bedroom and its the first thing she plays with every morning when I wake her up. At 5 a.m. this morning I heard her outside our bedroom door yelling "Open please". When I opened the door, she was standing there with plates full of plastic hot dogs, hamburgers and potatoes. She was bringing me breakfast in bed, but the only thing I could think of to say is "No Haylee, it's night time". She let out the longest, loudest cry that woke up the whole house, maybe the whole neighborhood. I felt so bad. She had spent who knows how long slaving over that cold stove to make me breakfast and I didn't appreciate it. So I got down on the floor and ate my breakfast. The great thing about two year olds is that they forgive so quickly. After a minute I was able to convince her to come lay in her bed with me. I must have been forgiven because she sang be lullabys about Christmas trees and cheetahs. She never did go back to sleep but we were able to spend some much needed alone time together until I had to get up to go to work. I love her. I think I'll keep her.