What? It's the end of January!

Ok, so I had fully intended on blogging weekly. As you can see, that hasn't happened. Olivia's birthday and Christmas came and went faster than I could type. It's already the end of January. I'm sitting in my room listening to Sophie and Olivia fight, while they should be sleeping and Gary is in the front room playing guitar. Gracie just woke up because I yelled at the girls to be quiet. Sophie is insisting that she never wants to sleep in Olivia's room again, which will be a problem, because Olivia's room is Sophie's room too.  HA!  And you know what, I don't care. :)

Since my last post, Olivia received the pump. She picked lime green and she loves it! In fact, we love it too. It makes her life a little bit easier. She no longer has to carry around pen needles and worry about giving herself shots in public. She still needs to do finger pokes, but that doesn't seem to bother her too much. She can eat more freely, snacking isn't as much of an issue and now she can go to birthday parties without worrying about shots.  She's an amazing kid. I'm really proud of her. I was fearful of getting the pump because I didn't know what to expect. I had gotten used to our routine of diabetes care. She, however, had a different plan for our family. She insisted on getting the pump. I was hesitant, as usual, because that is how I am. Olivia wasn't nervous at all. That is what I love about her. She knows what she wants and she isn't afraid to try. I could learn a thing or two from her.

Gracie has begun crawling and manages to get everything from the floor in to her mouth, luckily, we have Sophie, our floor monitor. Sophie is an awesome big sister. She's searches the floor often to make sure there isn't anything that Gracie could get a hold of and choke on. She takes the responsibility of being a big sister very seriously. I can always count on her when I need a helping hand.

I can't think of anything else to report. Our life has been pretty uneventful the past couple of months. Until next time, goodnight!

Temple Lights

Gary and I took the girls downtown tonight to see the temple lights. It was cold, but we bundled up and headed out. We didn't tell them where we were going, we just told them to get a hat, a scarf, some gloves and their coat. Naturally, they assumed we were going sledding, but I told them we were going for a long walk outside. I didn't want to spill the beans just yet. They were slightly disappointed. Sledding... Walk... Which sounds better to a kid? To my surprise, the kids were awesome and they enjoyed the lights. Gracie was great, as usual, and we were very proud of Sophie, she walked the entire time, no complaints!!! Olivia really enjoyed stopping by the Gallivan Center to watch the ice skating. She begged us to go ice skating, but we had the perfect excuse, what would we do with Gracie...? Actually, the skating looked like so much fun, I'm definitely going to try to talk my sisters into going ice skating next weekend while they are in town. Wish me luck...

The Girls


US!

What's in a yolk?

I made boiled eggs for my girls tonight. They love hard boiled eggs, they always have. Sophie and Liv both finished peeling their eggs and began discussing which part they liked better, the yolk, or the egg white. Liv likes the egg white and Sophie likes the yolk, which is funny, because if you had this discussion with them a year ago their favorite part of the egg was reversed, Liv liked the yolk and Sophie liked the egg white. Anyway, Sophie had eaten all of her egg white and was down to the best part, the yolk. She came up to me and said, "MMMM, I love this fluffy yellow stuff. Mom, what do they put in the yolk to make it taste so good?" It was the cutest thing I have ever heard. I tried to explain that it was an unfertilized chicken egg, but I confused the hell out of her. By the end of our conversation, we agreed that she was eating a baby chick, but not the cute fluffy kind... LOL!

So blessed...

I am so blessed. I feel so fortunate to have these beautiful babies and husband in my life. As most of you know, after I had baby Gracie, I was diagnosed with Peripartum Cardiomyopathy. I've recently visited the Cardiologist who informed me that my heart is getting healthy again and I can stop taking my medication! I am so lucky! I feel like I will be around to be a wife and mother. I was so scared. When I heard the words Cardiomyopathy, I thought I was going to die. Yes, maybe, I was jumping to conclusions, but that is a scary word... Anything heart related can't be good. I called both of my sisters and cried like a baby. Both of them told me I would be OK and not to worry. I'm sure they were both just as scared as I, but they were strong when I couldn't be, I am so grateful to have them in my life. Life throws you many curve balls. How can you prepare for them? Life is so unpredictable and I just feel fortunate to be alive and healthy each and everyday! My family is so amazing. I often wonder, how do I deserve this life?

Sophie needs to clean her critters...

This morning I was in Gracie's room getting her ready to go to Aunt Jen's and I hear Sophie get a diaper wipe and say, "I need to clean my critters!" I'm thinking she wants to wipe down her stuffed animals or clean a baby doll. So I say, "What are your critters?", She replies, "Mom I clean my critters everyday before school, I like them nice and shiny." I'm thinking, she does this everyday and I don't know about it?... She then proceeds to tell me that she likes to shine her critters (black boots) every morning because she doesn't like to wear dirty shoes. She's so cute!

Freezing cold Sunday

I am not ready for Winter! I'm usually the first one listening to Christmas songs on the radio and I usually can't wait to decorate, and I usually love snow. Every time it snows, I cringe... This is not like me! It's the middle of November, its supposed to be snowing, right?!

The point of my story is, I am freezing today! I've had a thick sweatshirt on all day and I've even had to wear the hood to keep my head from falling off due to the cold! As I'm typing, my fingers are turning into Popsicles, seriously!

I really want to make a blanket to give Gracie for Christmas, maybe I'll brave the cold and take the older girls with me to pick out fabric.

At least Gracie is ready for winter...

An Honerable Mention worth mentioning

Olivia is the proud winner of an Honorable Mention for writing a poem in the reflections contest at school this year. I admit openly that I didn't help, at all. As she was given the award I felt two emotions, extreme guilt (I'll explain that in a moment) and pride.


Extreme Guilt -
After I get home from work and clean up the morning mess, get myself and Gracie situated, hear all the stories from school, cook, and clean, I get tired. I just want to relax. When Olivia came to me a while back and asked about the reflections contest, it seemed like one more thing to add to my "to do" list. I kept shrugging it off and saying OK, but never really paid attention to the project. The day before reflections was due Olivia told me she had written a poem for reflections and she just needed me to sign the entry form. Honestly, I was elated! Woohoo, she did it and I didn't have to do a thing... I briefly scanned her poem, signed the slip, and in my mind a little check mark was placed on my "to do" list next to reflections. As I'm sitting at the awards ceremony, the guilt sets in, I realize that I have no idea what she has written. I didn't take the time to acknowledge what was so important to my daughter, I was more concerned with making sure my "to do" list didn't get any longer. In hindsight, my "to do" list is usually full of meaningless tasks that will never get completely done and I should've taken the time to enjoy my talented little poet. She'll only get excited about entering a school contest for a little while...

Pride -
Now that I've been hard on myself and I feel better, there is a flip side to this story. I am so proud that Olivia was determined enough to complete this project without me. Even as I write this, I feel a twinge of guilt, but she could have easily decided not to submit anything because I kept sweeping it under the rug. Her entry was adorable and she worked really hard on it, not for me, for herself. That is impressive. She wrote in her best handwriting and the poem is filled with emotion. I've posted her entry below for your enjoyment. I've typed it verbatim. The theme for this years reflection contest was Beauty Is....

Beauty is...
Helping each other
Helping each other is like seeing waves that just past by. It is also like seeing the sun just set down behind the mountains. It is also like flowers that just blossomed in the spring. It is also like baby birds were just born. It is also like I just saw a water fall. And that is the beauty you feel when you help someone.
-Olivia

I couldn't be more proud! So innocent and perfect. I've learned my lesson.