Because of Him

In our house we have watched this video over and over. Elanora always wants me to read the words out loud to her. It's hard to get through the whole thing without getting a little or maybe a lot teary eyed.  

 



Not Endorsed by La Leche

The La Leche League definitely does not endorse the following post.

 

I've said it once and I'll say it again. Nursing is not my favorite thing. The second round has been easier. Everly and I picked it up faster than Elanora and me. It wasn't as stressful but still involves a little pain, being the only one that can feed at night, feeding little loves in comfortable places such as, backrooms, mother lounges and cars, and pumping.

 

Pumping is the worst! If pumping is the worst than pumping at work is just plan awful. 

Every once in a while the universe sends you awesome little gems of life that make you laugh so hard you almost pee your pants. These great experiences make the not so great experiences bearable.

 

One of these said experiences happened at work on Thursday. 

It was pump up the jam time so I grabbed all the equipment and headed to the assistant principles office . My school has a nice set up for all the pumping mothers (there are three of us). The ladies in the office have put butcher paper in the windows of the counselor's and assistant principle's offices that can be rolled and unrolled as needed. I'm lucky to have awesome co-workers who even decorated the butcher paper with pictures of funny babies for my entertainment.

   My favorite picture hanging on the paper is this one

Look at that cute baby's little face. Funny, right?

 

Anyway, I made my way to the office, where I discover that both rooms were in use. The assistant principle had a great idea. I could use the principles office because she was gone for the day. One problem...no butcher paper window. Being the problem solvers that we are, we found a lightweight, scarf-like blanket and some packing tape and I was in business.

  I was in business that is, until I heard a tearing sound. Yep you guessed it, I turned around to figure out what the noise was, just in time to see the blanket fall to the ground. Awesome. 

I jumped up, dropping all my equipment and ran to the window, all the while trying to pull my  bra back up and my shirt down. I grabbed the blanket and was holding it over the window while wrestling with my shirt. It wasn't working. I decided I needed to wrap myself in the blanket and take care of the shirt situation before anyone walked by and of course right then someone walked by. Luckily it was one of our female secretaries. She started laughing as she was yelling through the window, "What can I do to help."  (The door being locked, she couldn't help) I was laughing and adjusting. 

The counselor hearing the commotion started coming down the hall. Did I mention the counselor is a male? The secretary started shouting, "Don't come down here Spencer."

Don't worry, I got things sorted out with minimal flashing. Everyone involved laughed pretty much the whole day. 

Life is pretty awesome sometimes!  



Pudding Filled Happiness

Birthdays for three year olds are big business. Our little big Babyface's b-day was no exception.

Now, we threw a big party for her first birthday because, well it was her first birthday so it was pretty much a given that I wasn't not going to staple colorful table cloths to my ceiling to make a magical, wonderful, rainbow tent 

Last year's party was pretty low key. Cake at Grandparent Page's house with the cousins and then cake at Grandparent Brown's house with the cousins.

That was the plan for this year but then Everly's baby blessing happened. We had a luncheon after Ever's blessing and I decorated a little here and there...no awesome rainbow tents. After everyone left the luncheon, Nory love looked at Chris and me with those hopeful, baby blues and said, "We'll have a party for my birthday, with a big cake. Just like we did for Everly, right?"

Of course we will!

Elanora talked about how awesome her cake would be weeks before her birthday. Dreaming and imagining the awesomeness that would be her cake. We couldn't disappoint.

The theme for her party was a little confusing because she loves Strawberry Shortcake so much but she wanted an alligator for her birthday (which she got and then promptly named him Sand.)

I compromised, Stawberry Shortcake decor, alligator presents.

Everyone knows that the key to a successful party is the cake. The extent of the birthday girl's happiness is directly proportionate to the perfection of this yummy baked good.

Not having much time in our hectic schedules, I didn't bake anything epic (me bake, ha). So Chris called the local grocery store bakery and ordered a Strawberry Shortcake cake. Easy enough. 

The big day came, we picked up the cake and slowly slid that frosted dessert out of the white box. Imagine our surprise when we were staring face to face with this bad boy

   What the crap? Nora looked at it and said in that sweet little voice of hers, "Who is that lady?" Who indeed. 

Lucky for us we had a bubble machine to save the day

Heaven knows that cake wasn't helping out the party vibe. Although it did add a certain mystery and intrigue to the party. "Who is that creepy lady and why is she starring at me like that?"

She was tasty. There was pudding in the middle, yum.  

  Although, those crazy eyes seemed to follow the camera, they didn't seem to slow the wild child down much.

Who am I kidding? Presents make everything okay. She got an alligator, a princess piano, and Frozen. I think this cute cradle was her favorite present.

My father-in-law made it and my mother in-law made the pillow and blanket to go in it. Those Browns are so darn talented. Is there anything they can't do? The cradle definitely took the cake, which it can have, because, yikes that cake was something craz-o. In case you forgot, go ahead, have a second look.

 

 

 

 

 



1, 2, THREEEEEE

This spunky little love is three whole years old. I have a three year old, crazy. We were so surprised to get this perfect, little lovie. I hardly remember our family without her. We wanted her so bad and it just wasn't happening. It seems like yesterday that we were telling our families that we couldn't have kids. 7 long, hard years and then BAM

All of a sudden we had this wild, whip of a thing.

I've always called her my wild child and wild she is. She is always moving, energy for days and days. We are always running from monsters, singing at the top of our lungs, hiding in tents, painting, coloring and laughing.

Lucky for us this wild baby is so much more than wild. She just happens to be the sweetest girl. She makes friends everywhere we go. If we are at a restaurant or store and she sees another kid, she always yells, "Look mom, there's my friend." She has no problem making friends and including everyone.

My wild child is so curious.

She asks hundreds of questions and loves to learn new things. She retains things like it's her job. She has known her letters before she was 2 and now she is learning her letter sounds. She remembers the name of every band that comes on the radio and most of the time the song they are singing.

One day we were driving to see Chris at work and she asked what he "did for work." I told her he drew buildings. She told me that I work at a school with kids. Then, I asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up. I named a bunch of occupations. She thought for awhile and then she said, "I want to be a Dr. to help kids when they are sick." She likes to practice on her little sis.

  And boy, does she love her sister. I thought it would be a hard adjustment for her, nope not for Nory. She is so helpful and loves to hold Evers. Just tonight she was playing with Everly and had her laughing so hard. We really haven't had any trouble, although last night we were going for a car ride and Elanora asked if we could leave Everly home and let Ana (her doll) ride in the car seat.

We love this this spunky, wild, caring, smart, Girl so much!!!