Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Life Lessons

Dan and I feel that it is important to start teaching our children good habits and life lessons early on. For instance, when we go out to eat at restaurants we encourage Stella to order for herself. We believe that it not only helps her to learn manners but that it also teaches her a sense of independence. Although Stella is 13 years away from getting her drivers license we also believe that it good to start teaching her good habit or skills while driving, this we do more by setting an example for her by the way we drive. Last Friday we were driving in pretty decent rush hour traffic, it was very slow moving with a lot of stopping. Stella and I were having our own personal dance party in the car when all of a sudden she started screaming in delight “the car is driving itself, it’s drive all by itself!” Not thinking she was talking about our car I frantically replied “where?!?” “OUR CAR IS DRIVING ALL BY ITSELF! YOU AREN’T HOLDING ON TO THE WHEEL!” she replied. I then looked down and realized what she was talking about. I had been steering with my knee so I could have both hands free to dance. I explained to her that since we were going so slow that I was using my knee to steer. Well, this is pretty cool to a 3 year old. She started laughing saying “again! again!” I am so glad that I was able to teach Stella a lesson in responsible driving that day: that it is more important to have both your hands free to dance than it is to actually keep them on the wheel and pay attention to what you are doing when you drive.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Big Announcement!


I am so trilled to tell you all that I will be announcing my first giveaway next week! I am so excited! Ever since I started this blog I dreamed of being able to do something fun like this. Make sure you check back next week so you have a chance to enter!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Sophie has come home

That's right she's back! Where did I find her you ask...under the couch. I litterly tore the house apart looking for her and all along she was under the couch. Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers. I know you all lost sleep worrying about where this 20 dollar toy might be. We're happy to have her back and thankful for her safe return.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.4.8

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Where's Sophie?


For the first time in the four years we have lived in this house I have kept it pretty clean for longer than a week. I am keeping up with the laundry and actually putting it away as it is done (normally I just pile it on the guest bed) so how oh how did I lose something amongst all this tidiness? What did I lose you ask? The ridiculously expensive teething toy that Carter only started taking an interest in the day it went missing named Sophie. For you moms out there you might be familiar with her. Moms rant and rave about Sophie the giraffe and how their babies love her and snuggle her and gnaw on her. Finally, last Saturday Carter got the hang of it and started chewing away....then she went missing. We don't know where she is and I have looked everywhere. I asked Stella who is actually usually good at keeping track of where random things are and she doesn't know either. I am hoping that she shows up soon because I am losing sleep over where this $20 plastic squeaky toy could be....maybe I should make some lost puppy type posters and poster them around.

Friday, July 16, 2010

What are the chances?


One of my best friends growing up was a boy named Josh. We met in middle school and were great friends, we went to the same church and attended the same young group. We remained friends through highschool and then at some point while we were both in college lost touch. When I gave in and signed up for a facebook account 2 years ago I saw that his little sister was on there. From looking at her pictures I saw that he had gotten married, I was obviously so happy for him so I asked his sister to tell him I said "Congrats." He emailed me the next day and we began catching up. He told me about his wife Denise and how alike we were, he said "if you are the same person you two would get along great." Well...I don't think he really know how great we would get along. The first time we met we were instant friends, it was like we had know each other for years. We had already had Stella when we met and Josh and Denise were trying for their first baby. Well I found out I was pregnant with Carter and Denise was one of the first people I called. She was very excited for us although I know a litle sad that she wasn't pregnant yet. Little did either of us know that she was pregnant as we would find out a couple day later. We knew our due dates would be really close and when we both went to our seperate doctor found out that they were in fact one day apart. Well due to the fact that she needed to have a c-section and I was being induced we ended up having our babies on the same day, hours apart. She had Addison Lauren and a couple hours later Carter arrived. We call them the twins. It is so crazy to think that my son shares a birthday with my childhood friend's daughter, and that his wife would have ended up to be one of my best friends. Really, what are the chances?

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Male Nesting

Let me tell you a little story. You know how when women are pregnant they “nest”? Well I completely believe that Dan nested when I was pregnant with Stella instead of me. The only problem with that is that he did MAJOR projects. I remember waking up one Saturday morning to find that Dan along with several other male neighbors were ripping out our deck. Nothing was wrong with it, Dan simply decided that morning to rip it out and put in a cement patio, a decision he know regrets. When I was nine months pregnant we had no flooring in our downstairs, the oven and refrigerator were living in the garage and there was no toilet in our 1st floor bathroom. I told Dan as nicely as a 9 month pregnant woman could that the toilet better be in by the time I come home from the hospital with that baby or I would be peeing on the floor and he could clean it up. While I was in the hospital with Stella, our neighbor finished the work, that's how close it came to the wire.

You think these are all a little crazy, right? Well, I saved the best for last. Right around the time of the whole deck being ripped out situation which was when I was very newly pregnant, Dan also decided to rip the toilet paper holder out of the wall in our upstairs bathroom. It was one of those old school receded toilet paper holders and he wanted to patch the hole and just put a new updated hook or something there. When he took it out it left a huge open hole in the wall, exposing the insulation and drywall. Well it has now been 4 years and we still have a hole in our wall. We put our toilet paper on the counter top and every single day I look at the whole. Well last week my mom and I decided enough is enough. We went out and bought a new receded toilet paper holder, which are not easy to find since they as old as dinosaurs, and today, we put it in the wall. It took us a total of 15 minutes and cost us $11. It looks like a whole new bathroom. My mom said now we can finally have an open house. I ask myself why it took this long to do it but then I remind myself that Dan is both impulsive and non handy. However I find it amusing that my mom and I were able to do something that he couldn’t in 4 years, in 15 minutes.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From The Tree

I often say that I don't think that Stella got any of my genes. Somehow when she was conceived two of Dan's little swimmer must have joined and made her and I was just the housing unit. She looks like him, acts like him, and is completely in love with him. Tonight however she said something that was so like me that it gave me hope that she is in fact my child.

When Dan was laying in bed with her tonight he asked her what she wants to be when she grows up. "A married girl" was her reply. A huge smile came to my face when I heard this, the reason being that if you would have asked me the same question when I was her age that is exactly what I would have said. My mom likes to tell the story of my first day at K-4. I got off the bus after my first day of school and my mom asked me how my day was. My exact response was "there is the cutest little boy and his name is Chad." I would dream about being a wife and mom, I would even pretend to nurse my cabbage patch kids (a little freaky I know). Don't get me wrong, I don't want Stella to be boy crazy or for her value to come from what boys think of her. We will raise her to be a self thinking, strong, intelligent woman but I do know her heart because it's the same that mine always was, even from a young age. It's the heart of a wife and mother, it's something that we were born with and I wouldn't want it any other way.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Really Girls?

I didn’t get the memo boy shorts disguised as jean shorts were the new staple for young girls. I was made highly aware of this new trend this holiday weekend. I don’t even know where to start with this whole situation so let me just start by trying to explain what I am talking about. These shorts are the tiniest things I have ever seen; they can’t have real pockets because if they did the pocket would hang at least 5 inches longer than where the shorts end. .I honestly think you should have to be 18 to purchase them since when you where them you are pretty much soliciting one thing. I am totally disgusted by them. Sure these young girls are skinny and tan and have great bodies but they are girls, not women! I saw at least a couple of girls whose butt cheeks were hanging out the bottom of the shorts, that’s how short they are! Do these girls not understand that they are completely devaluing themselves? When you wear clothes like that you are sending one message very loud and clear to boys. Where are their parents? I can tell you one thing, there is no way my daughter will ever wear something like that, she will be raised to have more respect for herself and us to want to convey herself in that way. And I will never allow my son to date a girl like that; I want him to date a girl who has value and substance not a girl who wants guys to look at her for one reason only.