Dixie and Zachie Dancing

We apologize in advance for any of you who are offended by Dixie's low cut jeans.  Eve warned me that the jeans were still too big for Dixie, but Daddy thought that Daddy knew best.

Phueuffffff

These girls are really kicking my butt these days. I am so exhausted; I don’t have the energy to write up any cutesy blogs. I know Im going to kick my self later though, because although exhausting, they do cute things all the live long day.

Heres a quick list of 10 cute things

DIXIE

1-     She is doing very well at preschool. Her teacher says she works very hard and is a good friend to her classmates. She absolutely loves it there.

2-     Dixie is FULLY potty trained, poo poos included, Hallejaleh!!!

3-     She is the best big sister. She is very protective of lucy and is always looking out for her safety. When she is on the stairs she makes sure that lucy is always on her tummy. When lucy gets hurt Dixie usually breaks out in tears as well, she is just that tender.

4-     Dixie Sleeps in her big girl bed, all by herself everynight!! She even wakes up in the mornings and comes to the kitchen looking for me and lucy.

5-     Dixie is still best friends with Zachy our neighbor. He comes over to play everyday and they have the more darling conversations on the planet.  One of these days Im going to write one of them down. Today they went on a ride together on a wiggle car. Lucy was driving and Zachy was in the back with his arms around her waist. Seriously the cutest ever!

Lucy

1-     Lucy is learning words! She can say; Balloon, shoe, Dixie, Mama, Dadda, Hi Doggy, and NO!

2-     Lucy has way bigger, louder, fiercer, explosive temper tantrums that Dixie ever had. Now that I think of it, Im pretty sure Dixie has had one full blown tantrum her whole life, she normally just whines.

3-     Lucy likes to put clothes on. Normally this means a pair of dixie’s panties on her head. But don’t even try to take them off, she will bite your fingers.

4-     Lucy bites all the live long day. I’ve started to flick her nose as a concequence and it has slowed down. But boy oh boy is she ever fierce.

5-     Lucy loves to try on big people shoes.  My shoe shelf is always empty by the end of the day with all of the shoes on the floor.

Ok, that’s it.  I LOVE my little darlings, but thought I’d let you all know that Im done making babies. These girls are more than enough and I fear if I had another I would go crazy, literally.

XO

Eve

Dancing With Cheetos and Suckers

Just a couple of videos showcasing dancing skills, junk food, and Dixie's manipulation of her wiggle car.  Enjoy!

Poo poo prizes gone wrong

Dixie and the Farm Animals

In our never ending quest to potty train our firstborn, we have resorted to the age old strategy of bribery.  After months and months of exploding diapers, we have finally experienced a breakthrough.  You see, Dixie usually holds her poos in for several days at a time.  The consequence of her unwillingness to follow her parents' commands is that she experiences huge poos when she is at play and having too much fun to concentrate on holding her poos in.  This has interrupted and even cut short many a playtime.  However, there is light at the end of the tunnel.  The combination of her maturation mixed in with bribing her with small farm animal figurines for her barn (the barn was a $1 purchase at a local garage sale because it lacked any animals) has proven very fruitful.  Alas, one consequence is that Dixie is now trying to go number two 5-7 times a day.  The logic of our little girl tells her that if she can go #2 five times a day, she will get five farm animals.  We just hope all that pushing does not drive her blood pressure too high!

 

http://youtu.be/QnsM8lcrmVo

So here's the story on my job

SO, on a whim about a month ago I applied for an accounting job online. I really didn't expect to hear anything from them, but the very next day I got a phone call to come in for an interview, which I did the very next day. It was a cool company, cool vibe, free lunch, nice building, plus I know a few people that work there in non accounting functions, and they absolutely love it.  So, I was pretty stoked that my interview when so well. It was 3 hours long and I met with 3 different groups of people.  I got an offer later on the same day, and I told them I'd think about it over the weekend. Monday rolled around and I called them and said I could work part time, 3 days a week for a certain amount of money.  They discussed it internally and agreed that it would work, yippeee!

SO, my first day comes around and I found pants that actually fit me.  (They were work pants that I purchased after I had dixie, not pre preggo preggo).  I was excited to get dressed for the day in banana republic dress pants vs. Gap stretchy pants!  Anyhooo, the day was pretty typical for a first day. Lots of HR forms, meeting people, computer access ect ect.  However throughout the day there were numerous red flags that this maybe wasn't the best fit for me as a mom, supposedly working part time. As I met people they found out what roll I was taking on (inventory accounting), and they all said they were "sorry for me".  They were mostly joking, but we all know that behind every joke is at least some truth. One lady in particular was not joking, or at least did not appear to be.  No one in the office could train me for the roll I was taking over, as no one was cross trained, and there were absolutely no documented processes, narratives or the like. Much different that a public company that is for sure.  I tried to piece things together and found that the files were a absolute mess. No formal processes, No Policies, No standardization, No paper trail. It seemed more like everyone was cleaning up mistakes vs. booking real entries.  So from an accounting standpoint, it was a total disaster, one that would take significant overtime to clean up.  And speaking of overtime, the accounting team worked mad hours. Seriously for 2 weeks every month they stayed until midnight. No joke.  They expected me to do the same, even though I was formally hired as part time. So really they wanted me to squeeze in 45hrs into 3 days, which is technically full time, but only pay me for part time. WTF, right?!?

So, I saw the writing on the wall, and realized very quickly that this was not the gig for me.  This might have been for me when I was fresh out of college, with no family commitments, and eager to make my way in the corporate world, but not with 2 girls aged 1 & 2, and a husband that works out of town half the month.

So, sufficed to say, I emailed my boss that night, and resigned. I feel really good about it, as I know I would have been miserable working all of those hours.

I think I might look into doing bookkeeping for small companies or sole proprietors from my home.  I need to research it a bit first and see if it would fit me, and its  really just a thought for now.

So, now Im back home enjoying life with my girlies, which I actually appreciate so much more after being away from them for just one day. They are just the cutest little darlings ever, and they really need me right now, so here I will stay for now :)

12 months!!

My little Lucy is growing up, she is a year old already! Although, I still see her as my baby. Perhaps it is because I have Dixie to compare her to this time around, but I remember thinking that Dixie was so much bigger when she was only a year old, and now Lucy is a year old and I still view her as my baby.  Anyhoo, a few of the things she is doing these days;

Lucy took her first steps a couple of weeks before her birthday (11.5 months), and now she takes several steps at a time. She looks really cute walking, she has a really wide stance that reminds me of my niece Ada when she was learning to walk.

Lucy Kisses!! She even makes the kissing sound when she does it. She kisses me over and over again.  Completely adorable J

Lucy Waves! Again, soooo adorable

Lucy just started feeding herself with a spoon.  Only yogurt so far, because it is the easiest training food (it sticks to the spoon no matter how it is positioned).

Lucy is a major climber. She climbs up the ladder on the bunk bed, up the steps to the tall slide at the yellow park and everywhere in between.  I had to put 2 stepping stools in my bathroom, bc Dixie and Lucy were constantly fighting over the one that was there originally. Lucy loves to perch up on it with a toothbrush, she puts it under the running water , then sucks on it. Im pretty sure she thinks shes brushing her teeth, just like her mama and sister.

Lucy can say DaDa and MaMa, although its only after I say them, and Im not sure if she associates them with me (mom) and Sean (dad) yet.

Lucy loves going for walks around the block in her little tykes car, while Dixie leads the way on her wiggle car or tricycle.

Lucy Loves doggies and birdies, and is constantly chasing them at the park.

I sure do love my sweet baby lucy. I cannot believe she’s already a year. Like they say, the days are long but the years are short! Im trying to enjoy every minute.

XOXO

Eve

A Royal Birthday

On June 9th in the year of our Lord 2012, Lucy Angel Werner presided over a most glorious occasion.  From her perch on her pink and white polka dot throne, the Queen allowed her subjects to frolic and amuse themselves in those activities common among the peasantry.  This was after all, the day set apart to celebrate Queen Lucy's day of birth.

 

Watching her subjects amuse themselves with trivial games such as club ye' ole pinata allowed Queen Lucy to reminisce on days from her younger year.

Of course, Lucy did not condescend to gather the spoils from said pinata.  Why exert the energy on such a task when she had so many of her minions scatter about and collect the candy for her?

Young Maiden Dixie Mae brought Queen Lucy her offering to honor her on this joyous day.

After her audience with the Queen, the stable boy begged Maiden Dixie to tell him all about her experience with the Queen.  Of course Maiden Dixie obliged.

After watching all of the rabble rousing taking place, the Queen decided to join in the festivities by opening the presents from her adoring subjects.

She even partook of the royal cake hand prepared for her by the royal baker (aka - Costco - that blessed consumer paradise)

At the conclusion of the Royal Party, the Queen ascended back onto her throne and bid her people adieu until next year.

Happy 1st Birthday to Lucy!!

Ok, so tomorrow, I am going to write a great first birthday post just for my baby lucy... but on the eve of her first birthday, I just had to tell you all, that this has been the hardest and most trying year of my life.

First off, I was extremely naive having my girls so close together (18months). Dixie was still a baby herself when Lucy was born, and I have been stretched so thin over the past year. Not to dwell on the details but , if i ever go crazy and decide to have another child it will be no sooner than 2 years from tomorrow, when Lucy is 3 years old, in preschool, potty trained, eating by herself, playing by herself and getting into her own car seat, pheuff!  But for now, I've sworn off any more children, and will simply love and adore the ones I have.  To all of you mothers of twins out there, I applaud you.

Secondly we moved from California to Utah. I single highhandedly packed and unpacked all of our earthly belongings when Lucy was just 4 months old.   Moving sucks and I hope to never do it again.

Thirdly, I am still a single mama 50% of the time, as Sean is still flying back and forth to California to work.  Again, I applaud all of the single mamas out there... its no joke folks. Thank goodness for my super duper babysitter Lela. I would have already jumped shipped if it weren't for her.  Oh, and a big thanks to Diet Coke.

Finally, My parents are in the midst of a divorce.  This has been emotionally the hardest part, and it got even harder today. They have been married 38 years, and now I'm an orphan with no place to call home (ect ect).

Besides all of the above, I really really love my little girls, my home in Utah and the fact that we still have a stable job in this economy. Divorce still sucks though... even at 31.

Tomorrow I will do a real birthday post for my little LuLu!!  Oh and PS, she took her first steps 2 days ago, 5 in a row and she was oh so proud of herself!

XO
Eve

my working woman anniversary 

So,, may 15 marks one year since i was a full time accountant by day and a mommy by night. I am somewhat filled with doom and gloom when i think about this. All my mad excel skillz totally going to waste. All my awesome email skills, presentation skills, research skills, totally unused and growing stale. I am very grateful to be in a position that i can stay at home with my babies.  I love them more than i can express. I love taking them fun places, I love making them giggle and watching them play, and i love being there to kiss their boo-boos and wipe their tears. I would miss out on a million moments if i was back at work right now, so yes, this is the right place for me to be (for now). Plus, i tried the working full time thing with Dixie and I just felt so guilty every single day at work, and I could no longer give 100% to my job, it was more like a watered down 70%, so that made me feel guilty on the flip side!

But, this doesn't mean i don't miss working. I love corporate life. I love spreadsheets. I love figuring out differences, I love acquisition accounting and I love a good project. Oh, I also love business lunches at fancy restaurants, and business travel to fun places.  (hello London with my bestie Harmandeep circa 2006!)

So, heres to the next few years staying at home until my babies are on school. I'm going to enjoy every second of them, as i know they will pass quickly.  I also know that im going to be an accounting dinosaur by the time they are ready for me to go back to work, so i might just have to work in a masters degree before I re-enter the work force. Hmmm... food for thought. Not sure if i can really handle being a student again?!? Decisions decisions!

Oh, and another thing.  As a mom, I am irreplaceable.  No one else can be Dixie and Lucy's mom.  As an accountant, I am completely replaceable. Anyone can take my job over.  This was made so apparent to me this last week.  The Controller of my former company (aka, my boss', boss', boss) was with the company just shy of 10 yrs.  I saw him on the day I gave my notice to my primary boss. I was going to say good bye to him too, but he seemed so incredibly stressed out, that I just didn't. It seriously looked like his head was going to burst.  He is normally, calm, cool and collected... but he wasnt that day.  About 2 weeks later, he had a major stroke. Thankfully, he has made a good recovery, he can walk and is not paralyzed, but his speech is very limited and he struggles to find words.  I called my boss last week to check in, and she let me know that he had been laid off. I was dumbfounded and heartbroken for him.  He has a family to support, he is such a nice guy, and he is/was amazing at his job.  However, the company's Board of directors really didn't care about his loyalty to the company, his past service, or his family. They just needed the job done and they found someone else to do it, that had a full vocabulary.  My heart literary sunk into my stomach when I found this out.  At the same time, I really for the first time realized that My job as a mom is way more important than whatever job I can get as an accountant. I am not replaceable to dixie and lucy. SO yes, this is where I need to be right now.

XO
Eve

11 months

My sweet baby Lucy is 11 months already! I cannot believe how quickly the time has gone. Seriously, since she started crawling (at 10 months), she hasn’t stopped. She entertains herself most of the time by pulling open drawers and pillaging the contents, stealing Dixie’s toys, and finding delicious morsels buried in the carpet, ha!

She pulls herself up to standing, claps her hands, and loves to play catch and peakaboo with a blanket. She is really quite playful.  She holds her own with her big sister Dixie. One day on stroller walk in the double bob, Lucy snatched Dixie’s popsicle with one hand and blocked Dixie from retrieving it with the other hand.  She is a lot more aggressive that Dixie ever was or is… probably because she knows its survival of the fittest around these parts.

I planted tulips in the fall, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at my yard. Lucy has successfully pulled out each one the very day that each has bloomed. I’ve decided not to plant anymore flowers this year, as I fear they will all meet this same sad fate.

I’ve had to move the diapers and creams from the diaper table (which is right next to Lucy’s crib). On more than one occasion I’ve went to get Lucy after a nap and her face is covered in diaper cream with diapers strewn about her crib.  The girl has got some mad reaching and grabbing skills.

Lucy LOVES the bathtub and will not sit still in it. She crawls the entire length of it, pulls to standing and loves to play with the faucet. She can even turn on the water, oh mercy me! I cannot even blink during bath time, for fear of a head injury/drowning.

Lucy’s favorite activity is crawling up the stairs. She make a B-line

for them anytime we are downstairs, which has kind of put a kibosh on my  Dora downtime (when I stick Dixie in front of an episode of dora), as I am now in constant chase mode. Im tring to teach her how to also go down the stairs, but I haven’t had much success yet.

Lucy loves to play “chase” with her daddy too.

Oh, and interesting to note that Lucy was always in the 95% for height and weight until she started crawling and she’s dropped just under 50% now. She is a mover that is for sure. She still LOVES to eat though and usually eats her food plus dixie’s at meal time. I’m pretty sure Dixie exists solely on otter pops and pirate booty these days.

Dixie and Lucy are becoming quite the little pair. Lucy terrorizes Dixie all of the time, but Dixie just continues to say things like “I love lucy”, “Lucy loves me”, and she showers her with kisses and hugs. Dixie is also very protective of Lucy. When we were at the park one day another little girl came up to lucy and tried to play with her. Dixie immediately swooped in, gave lucy a hug body guard hug, and said, “Shes MY sister”…..

We love our 2 little girlies. Its so fun to watch them grow together, play together and love each other. I continue to tell Dixie that Lucy is her best friend, and Dixie will often repeat this. Hopefully it sticks.

XO

eve

Home & Garden Show

Well, today was a fan-freakin-tastic day in mommy land. The sun was shining, it was a perfect 72 degrees outside (we played outside for literally hours), and I went to the home and garden show with one of my dearest friends Marjie!

We were out for breakfast at Kneaders this morning (My new favorite home grown Utah eatery, i seriously like it better than cafe rio, no joke), and she mentioned that she was going. I was like, "No way, I SOOO want to go!", she said "Come, I have an extra ticket", so later in the afternoon I packed up the kiddos and off we went. This is the first time I've ventured to a non kid venue with the girls, and you know what, they did just fine.

Anyhoo, all my dreams came true when I saw the tupperware booth! I've wanted my very own tupperware ever since I got married, but I've never known a tupperware rep, and it isnt sold in stores. I almost peed my pants with excitment. I ditched my kids with Ms. Marjie and headed staight to the sales lady. I just started picking up the items, asking a million questions, and dont you know, $100 later I was on my way. I got a few things that I remember my mom had growing up, the meat marinde container, the big juice jug, and then i got something she would just die to have today, a microwave pasta cooker! My mom LOVES microwave cooking, and owns several microwave cook books to prove it. I'll have to hide it the next time she visits, or it just might end up in her retro 50's suitcase back to Canada, ha! (just kidding mom). My last purchase was a veggie chopper. I just chopped my first zucchini tonight and it was divine. I cant wait to try an onion. If I can never dice an onion again, I will be one happy lady.

So I told the lady that I'd love to host a tupperware party. I need to spread the joy I felt today. Im sure there are plenty of thirty somethings out there that grew up with moms using tupperware that haven't found it since. I might even become a rep for it if all goes well... afterall isn't that what mom's in Utah do, ha!

Here are my purchases. And no seany-sean, I know this was not in the budget this month, and our "miscellaneous" envelope is definitely in the red. Time to pick up some more overtime sweetie :).

XOXO
Eve

Product Plug

I have like 20+ hair products left over from my hair school days that i am trying to use up before they go bad. So, I pulled out some of this Paul Mitchell Thicken Up.... and it was amazing on my super fine hair. Seriously, my hair actually feels thicker and healthier. I paired it with some PM super skinny (my all time favorite for pretty much any hair type), and the results were awesome. Fullness, silky smooth and shiny, a perfect combination if you ask me. I really like Paul Mitchell products. They are at the low end of the price spectrum for salon products, they are super easy to use (the name of the product generally tells you what its for), and they are available everywhere, not just high end salons (ie- bumble & bumble).

Single mama's & field trips

My respect goes out to all the single mama's out there. Seriously, it is SO MUCH WORK... and i'm only a single mama for half the time. My former boss (whom I loved) is a single mom to a 14 year old boy, (and was single since the baby was an infant). Anyhoo, her life always seemed like such a struggle, and my heart really went/goes out to her. So to all you single mama's out there, I tip my imaginary hat to you.

So, onto my single-mom-hood... I've found that the only way for me to get through the days are to pack them full of field trips and activities. This is what we did this week, while Sean was away ...

Day 1 (tues)- Trip to the Dinosaur museum at thanksgiving point, then off to the deli for a free toddler ice cream cone. Dixie loves the twinkle stars at the very beginning, as well as the motion exhibit. Oh and the toy store too.

Day 2 (wed)- Dixie's Toddler gym class went on a trip to the Farm at Thanksgiving Point. Feeding the goats, cows and duckies is a real favorite for me and my girls. I'm pretty sure I get more joy out of the baby calves then they do. They are so cute, and I want to have a cow one day.

Day 3 (thurs)- Trip to the Aquarium in Sandy and then off to Arctic Circle because it has the most toddler friendly play place of all fast food joints around here.

Day 4 (fri)- Trip to grandma's house to "help" her in the yard and garden. Dixie LOVES helping in anyway she can, and especially outside.

Day 5 (sat)- Trip to Kangaroo Zoo & then to Target in search of treasures in their dollar bins. Plus I may have picked up a bag of Cadbury mini eggs to get me through the rest of the day. And PS- Kangaroo Zoo is the absolute WORST place to go with a 2 yr old and a 9 month old. The blow ups are all too big for Dixie to maneuver on her own, so i had to hoist her up onto everything, while also carrying around baby lulu. That might just be my workout for today!

Along with all of the above, there has been much Dora (dixie's new favorite, she dumped mickey last week), and lots of playing outside since the weather has been so nice. We have the best neighbor kids across the street, and dixie just loves to play with them.

Its all really quite exhausting, and by the end of my 13 hour days, all i want to do is plop my big butt onto the love sac and watch my recorded shows on DVR. Again, no energy to work out, sew, cut hair, organize, clean or anything else that is actually productive.

To get through it, I have this AMAZING babysitter that I owe my soul to. She is a niece of one of my very best friends and she's a college student with her very own car (priceless in babysitting land). Anyhoo, she comes to my place for 2 hours a day when I'm on my own, and I usually work out, take my self to lunch, or go shopping during my break. Without this break, I'm pretty sure I would have moved back to Cali already, Ha!

What fun things do you do with your kiddos to keep them engaged, learning and active??

XOXO
Eve

No Big Poo Poo

I knew I was in trouble this afternoon when I was out for a neighborhood walk with Dixie (2), her friend Zach (2.5) and Lucy. I was carrying Lucy (ie, no stroller and no diaper bag), and Dixie and Zachy were riding a tricycle and scooter respectively. Both kids were running through a sprinkler with wet clothes and had discarded their shoes. (And yes, Its still too cold to be doing that, I'm really not sure why the heck someone's sprinklers were even turned on). That's went Dixie looked at me and said "No big poo poo mommy", which of course meant that she had a monster size poo that was leaking through her dora pull ups. Ugh oh... what does a mom do in this situation? It was a very LONG block away from home with no diaper, no stroller, and 2 excited toddlers that were not listening to me. Well, I made it home. Thank the good lord. Next time i'm bringing the stroller and the diaper bag... lesson learned. And if you are ever witness to a mom in such distress, please offer to take the scooter and tricycle home for her.

XO
Eve

M*O*T*I*V*A*T*I*O*N

Lately I've been wondering what has happened to the motivation I had in my twenties. In my twenties I would wake up at 5:30am every weekday for a 6am work out before work. Then I would work for 10-14 hours, and I'd get home and eat a healthy dinner. Steamed veggies, bocca burgers and lots of broccolis. I rarely ate sweets, or chocolate (my weakness). I would have double workouts on the weekends, and usually do something active like mountain biking, hiking, snowboarding or running the dish. On top of all that, I would also do various half marathon's and sprint tri's just for the fun of it.

Fast forward to my thirties (I'm 31)...... what the hell has happened to my motiviation? I look at my facebook profile, and its like I was a different person back then with all of these fun interests that I honestly havent done in years. Seriously, I am a stay at home mom at the moment, and I cant seem to motivate myself to get on my treadmill or elliptical, both of which reside in my basement, so It's not like I even have to leave the house to get there.

Plus, I'd way rather eat mcdonalds fry's and a diet coke then cook up broccoli. And a big old bag of M&M's will be gone in a week.

I need the find the motivation of my twenties. It is lost, deep down somewhere inside of me. Can someone lend me a shovel so I can dig it up? I am a blog stalker of this girl Jenna that was in my old ward. She has 3 kids all 18 months apart, and she is one hot motivated mama. I need me some of that.

Check her out; http://crandalls.blogspot.com/

XO
Eve

Little Lucy is 9 months

How is it even possible that my little baby lulu came out of my tummy 9 months ago? She has grown so much. I’m interested to see how much she weighs at her 9 month appointment.

update- ok so big surprise here... My baby girl has went down in percentiles for both height and weight. Shes been measuring 95% for both from 0-6 months. Now at her 9 month appt she is 52%weight & 33% height. (She's 18.25lbs & 27.25 inches tall). I had the doctor double check to be sure. He wasn't concerned about it though, so I guess I'm not either. Kinda weird though.

This is what she’s been up to;

She loves to take whatever toy Dixie is playing with, because they are oh so much more appealing that her own “baby toys”. Dixie is often squealing “LUCCCYYYY NOOOOO”.

She is on the verge of crawling, but not there yet. She really really wants to crawl. She gets up in crawl position, rocks her body back and forth, but then she just face plants in the floor instead of moving forward. She’ll get it one of these days though, Im not worried.

Lucy is very tactile, and always wants to be playing with something. Paper, plastic, toys, food, mommy’s hair, you name it, those hands have got to be occupied.

Lucy is FINALLY sleeping through the night! This is big! It only took about 3 nights of letting her cry it out and now shes sleeping from 7pm-6am. It was really more a matter of me being ready to let Lucy cry it out. Im sure she could have been sleep trained earlier, but i just wasnt ready. Now maybe i can start to focus on getting back in shape since I will be getting some uninterrupted sleep, yahooo!!!!

Lucy Loves solid food. She usually eats more than Dixie does at a meal… but this might be because Dixie is constantly snacking, so she’s really not all that hungry at meal time. Lucy loves pasta, fish, bread, strawberries, oranges, and milk. Cows milk. Horrible I know…since shes not a year old yet. But she hates formula, rice milk & soy milk, and I just cannot breastfeed all the live long day to quench her thirst. I’m so over breastfeeding at this point, and cannot wait for it to end already!

Lucy loves to laugh. Dixie is always making lucy laugh. Its adorable to see them interact and play together. It warms my mommy heart.

Finally, Lucy got her first tooth! Bottom left, so adorable to see her grinning with her very first tooth.

Happy 9 months baby girl. You are my cutie pie and I love you lots and lots and lots~

love, mommy.

My Kitchen Transformation

Ever since we bought our house, I’ve wanted to paint our kitchen cabinets white. There is so much wood in my house, I needed to brighten it up. Plus I just adore the Martha Stewart clean white kitchen look. Sean has been very resistant to this idea because well, you know how men are with their wood. I think they all want to be lumber jacks at heart. I finally just decided that since I am the one who spends the most time in the house (Sean is still traveling to Sunnyvale for work 50% of the time), that it was really my choice, not his, HA! He finally conceded my point (with a little push from my sister poo), and 4 weeks later, our kitchen is finally complete. No, we didn’t do the work ourselves (although, if I didn’t have 2 needy kids 2 & under, And Sean didn’t work in California, I probably would have attempted it).

This project took so freakin’ long because our first painter never showed up. He seemed so eager for the job and even confirmed the day before, but then he just never showed up….weird right? So then I spent the next week (2) getting new bids. Let me tell you that it really pays to get multiple bids. The price difference was enormous ($1050 vs. $2650). Naturally, we opted for the less expensive, non corporate guy. The following week (3) he finally got it done. At least I thought so. But the white I picked looked a lot different on the cabinets that it did in the paint bucket. In the bucket it was a creamy off white, but on the cabinets it is has a cool greyish hue to it. It’s super beautiful, but it is definitely not in the warm family of colors. This Cool Hued White did not work with my already antiqued white island, and the contrast just looked stupid (mixing warm and cool colors always looks stupid). Lesson learned, always test your paint color in your natural lighting. The lighting at the paint store is not the same as the lighting in your home, and lighting changes everything! So, week 4 I called my painter back and had him to the island the same color as the cabinets. I am in love. I’m so glad I did this, even though I’ve been without a kitchen for a month! We’ve been living off of premade Costco food. Its been kinda nice not cooking, but I’m way to scared to step on the scale.

Our painter is really a handy man, so we also had him move the kitchen light fixture to the middle of our kitchen table instead of the awkward position it was originally hung.

And here are the pictures, Drum Roll Please….. Oh, and please excuse the crappy pictures, my flash is in the shop and I took them at night, bc my kitchen is always a disaster during the day.

BEFORE- lots of honey colored knotty alder wood.

AFTER- crisp clean white, with a rustic feel (knots are still there, and the style of the cabinet is still rustic).

Dixie (26 months)

My little two-two is really hamming it up for the camera these days. She loved every second of this shoot, it was darling to watch. She stole the show from Lucy.... it was Lucy's 8 month pictures and dixie was just tagging along. Ha! (See lucy's pictures in the previous post)

Happy 8 months

Happy 8 Month Birthday to my sweet baby Lucy. We love her oh soooo much. She is giggling like crazy, sitting up, rolling around, eating bread crusts, baby cookies, donuts and anything else she can get her little paws on. She is still waking up a couple of times a night, but really i have only myself to blame for that because I suck at sleep training. It hurts my heart to hear her cry and I'd rather soothe her little soul then let her cry it out.

We got some photos at our local picture place to celebrate, and while Lucy is usually very happy and smiley, she was not cooperating for this shoot. So sad, because I booked it especially for her since she is sitting up on her own now. Dixie pretty much took over and was the star of the show. I can't really afford to do another one anytime soon, so I guess Lucy will just have to wait until she turns 1. Hopefully she's more smiley then!

Funny little things Dixie does or says

The fun thing about being a stay at home mom, is that i get to hear and see ALL of the funny things my girls do and say... its precious really. Heres a few to share with you, and so i dont forget about them when they are angry teenagers...

Fruit snacks- Dixie hates the Orange ones. She immediatly hands them to me, or tosses them on the floor and says "NO ORANGE"....

Goofy- I'm not sure what he did, but Dixie does not like goofy. She has a set of plastic figurines of all the clubhouse characters, and she always says "NO GOOFY", and tosses him off to the side, never including him in her play.

Sparkle Jeans- Dixie has a pair of jeans given to her from her best califorina friend Jade. They are sparkly. For some reason she Hates them, and whenever I am picking out her pants she says, "No Sparkle!"

Hotdog Song- At the end of an episode of the mickey mouse clubhouse (her favorite), they sing and dance to the hotdog song. Most kids I know love dancing along to this song. However, the moment it comes on Dixie says, "Another one", meaning that she wants to watch a new episode, and she'll have no part in dancing to the hotdog song.

Stickers- Dixie is a sticker fiend. Santa gave her a mickey mouse sticker activity book for christmas, and shes addicted. She can finish and entire sticker book in a day if I let her. She's already done 5 entire books. At $8 a pop, its not cheap either! I've scoured the shelves at costco and purchased the last 3 mickey mouse sticker books they have, and Im hiding them for use in emergencies (ie- when sean is out of town and Im about to loose it!)

Ok, so this post was all about Dixie. I totally love lucy just as much, she's just not in this funny phase yet. However, I can say that my little lulu LOVES food. She can pound an entire jar of baby food, whereas Dixie used to eat the same jar over a few meals. Lucy gets really angry when I dont get the spoon to her mouth fast enough, and she usually wants to take over, grabbing the spoon away from her slow mommy. Ha!


Ta Ta for now!

XO

Eve

Mommy's Girl

Dixie is all about her mommy these days. She wants almost nothing to do with Daddy when I am at home (which is 99% of the time). Also she does not ever want to share me with her baby sister Lucy.

These are a few of Dixie's Mantras these days...


* "Mommy do dixie, daddy do Lucy"

* "Mommy Up!" (this was recurrent theme at the zoo today, i seriously had to carry her around for an hour and a half. Sean and I were talking about how our 2 year old is our boss. I asked him how i can regain control, and he laughed saying "I'll let you know when i figure it out". Ha!

* "Daddy hold Lucy"

* "Lucy down"

I'm feeling very neglectful of Lucy these days. I feel like the only time I get to hold and enjoy her is when I'm nursing her, and even then its usually with Dixie sitting on top of her head or something, begging for attention. And its not like I don't give her plenty (of attention)! I'm pretty lucky that Lucy is super easy going right now. She is sitting up on her own, and is perfectly content sitting on the floor in the midst of the action (aka, Dixie playing), with a couple of toys. These toys are generously lent from miss Dixie's collection, who hand picks the specific toys Lucy is allowed to play with. Should Lucy grab a toy not allotted to her, Dixie immediately takes it away exclaiming "Dixie Toy, Lucy NO!". My poor baby Lucy. She's going to get a boatload of toys on her first birthday with her name tattooed on each if I have anything to do with it.

On another note, in early December my big sister Betina took a few pictures of my girls. They are pretty great, and she did them in 15 minutes top with challenging lighting.. not that you would know it. We love them... thank you Betina! (Her business is called Wits End Photography). Note, Lucy is exactly 6 months and Dixie is exactly 2 in these pictures.

Our Little Lulu

My darling little tutu!

My sweet dixie mae turned 2 on Dec. 8. She had 2 parties, one with her cousins in Colfax, WA, and a friend party at home in utah. Dixie is so special to us. She is determined, persistent, loving, sensitive and she likes to wake up at 6am everyday.

Santa Claus made an extra special visit to her Utah Party.
She whispered all of her hopes and dreams to him,
and hopefully he delivered.

Dixie has become quite the little baker. These are her "muffins". She baked these while her mommy made pumpkin bread for the neighbors. Dixie will never sit on the sidelines... she always wants to participate in the action.

Dixie is full of laughter, joy and curiosity. She's always got leftover treats on her little face. She loves icecream, candy and anything sweet. I think she might just turn into a tootsie pop one day.


This little girl changed our lives forever, and we love her a LOT!

Random Happenings


Dixie loves little Lucy and is quick to shower here with hugs and kisses.


Poor little Dixie would rather hide in various places and poo in her diaper than to just go poo in her lil' toilet. She is quite embarrassed by these episodes and does not want to want to talk about it.


The Farm at Thanksgiving Point continues to be Dixie's favorite place to go, especially when she wakes up from her nap in a grumpy mood. Now all she has to learn is how to keep from spilling the oats all over the sidewalk!

Little Lulu has reached the remarkable step of being able to sit up in a grocery cart! She is a bundle of happiness who is quick with her smile and loves to giggle.

Dixie and Mommy standing next to a couple of horsies at the Farm. The mild winter here in Utah thus far has made these visits possible, even in the dead of winter.

Dixie's favorite thing to do is to relax in the bean bag draped with the plush Canada blanket as she watches the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

When it does get too cold outside, we love to go to Cabela's and explore, eat snacks, and purchase an item or two.

Dixie just being Dixie. Happy New Year to everyone!