A little of this....A little of that

I was considering posting this in multiple posts.....but lets be honest. I'm too tired and lazy to even try. So here's a long post with lots of pictures. :)

We're working on a craft project.....Kayden loves to paint! He's my little helper.

Ornery face

We had ice cream with Andrea and Reagan =) Yum!

Andrea and Reagan

My snuggly boy

Spent some time at daddy's playing trains!

He refuses to take pictures at times....hence the craziness!

Saturday we met up with some daycare friends at the local children's museum. Best idea ever!

The perfect place to let the kids play and you don't have to clean up!

Totally worth the $7! =)

Water table

Painting

It was water based paint to paint on a plexiglass window. Then you sprayed it with water and squigy'd it off. Genius!

Crafting with scissors

A puzzle

I attempted to work on another craft project..... well someone took the yarn when I was done and unraveled it ALL over the living room.

Valentine Felt garland

Pictures I got from daycare.....

Coloring

Water table fun with Brid

Cleaning up from the water. Such big helpers!

And this is the sweet face I woke up to today.

the most precious thing ever =)

Long week.....

This week has been slightly insane and I'm glad that it's over, but now realize there is much more to go......
Kayden is his usual crazy 2yr old self. He's ornery, sweet, a terror, silly, every adjective imaginable. I love this kid! Sometimes when I stop and think, its amazing how I can love this child with so much pure love. I cannot wait to see who he grows into and I definitely am excited for him to be a big brother. I have no doubt he's going to be great!

He decided it was ok to use my belly as a table.....

From his daycare teacher.....they read books before nap time

Saturday we happened to be driving behind my friend Michele and her family. They were headed to Theta pond to feed the ducks, so Kayden and I decided to tag along! Best idea ever! We fed the ducks, ran around campus, saw the snakes in life sciences, went in some glass building with glass elevators (the boys loved it!!), I got some snuggle time with Michele's new baby. It was a great way to spend a couple of random hours on a Saturday afternoon!

Feeding the ducks!

Come and get it!

Sweet baby Allison....she had just woken up!

Glass elevator rides!

Good thing it was the weekend and we were the only ones there!

Kayden helping me feed baby A. Soooooooo sweet!

And my favorite picture of the weekend =) I love holding his little hand!

Baby Girl

Here's where the week got interesting. Thursday was an "off" day for me, so I ended up staying home from work. Well around 2 I started having pains. I thought it was just stomach cramps because of my leftover chinese....well after 3 hours, a hot shower, tears, and sheer uncomfortableness I called my dr who said the only thing I could do was go to the hospital. Well by then the paid had pretty much subsided, so I decided to stay home.
Friday I was still exhausted from Thursday's events, I stayed home again. I checked in with my doctor who wasn't too happy I hadn't come in. So she told me to visit the hospital just to get checked out. Fine. Thankfully after an hour and half observation I was sent home. Baby sounds fine, blood pressure if fairly normal, I am having minor contractions fairly regularly (hence the constant back pain) and I am dehydrated. So I need to chug more water each day to keep the contractions away and stay rested. Easier said than done, but I'm trying......gotta keep baby girl in there for another 6 weeks at least!
But having a slight scare has made me and Brett realize she will be here soon! There are still lots of things to purchase and get set up before she gets here! Yikes! Gotta get moving!
I see my dr next Tuesday, so we'll see what she says then!

31 weeks

How far along: 31 weeks
Total weight gain: -20
Best moments this month: Watching my belly dance. This girl likes to move!
Food cravings: I am loving juice (I prefer half orange juice, half apple juice) Yum!
Gender: It's a Girl! Devyn, Tenley, Tara, Emery, Raleigh, Reese, Lacey, Taylor.......feel free to vote. I can't decide!!!!
Labor signs: I now know what contractions feel like.....please let my body work with me!
What I miss: Not carrying this extra weight! I feel like a whale!
What I am looking forward to: Holding my sweet baby girl!
Milestones: Baby is the size of an pineapple! Baby is going through major brain and nerve development, eye development and has all 5 senses working!

Capturing Kayden

I can't seem to ever take enough pictures of mr. Kayden or capture every moment I want to, but regardless I try to capture everything I can and share with you everything I can about his indivdualness! Here's how the past week has been...

Cleaning the garage

Such a big helper!

Trucks, trucks and more trucks!

Just too stinkin cute

I gave him a hershey kis...and asked him to throw away his trash.

He didn't throw it away, but at least its all in the same spot on the counter??

Eatting a banana like a big boy!

I let him watch a movie on my computer...the next day I get on my computer and he's managed to rotate the screen upside down. How in the world does he figure these things out??? 

Doing our makeup! :)

New pj's

Hanging out with daddy Saturday

Thanks for the popcorn daddy!

Look how big this kid looks!!! Where did my baby go???

Sunday he decided to dump out ALL of his toys on the couch. Turd.

And sunday ended with a haircut and a bubble bath =)

Baby Girl

I saw my dr last week. Everything is right on track and baby looks/sounds perfect. I'm now seeing my dr every 2 weeks. I can't believe we're 10 weeks away from meeting baby girl!!!!

How far along: 30 weeks
Total weight gain: -20
Best moments this month: Watching my belly dance. This girl likes to move!
Food cravings: Right now I could really go for some bbq.....just need someone to take me out!
Gender: It's a Girl! Don't even get me started on picking a name.....oy vey
Labor signs: Braxton hicks and lower back pain. This is gonna be fun.
What I miss: Not feeling like I have an alien inside me. Soon my body will be mine again...
What I am looking forward to: Getting things set up for baby!
Milestones: Baby is the size of an cucumber! The skin is getting smoother, the brain is getting wrinklier and baby is strong enough to grasp a finger :)

Productive weekend!

I think its safe to say that this weekend has been a productive one! Kayden and I have cooked, visited Kim, Kaitlyn and Jacob in Edmond, we went to church, visited the ducks at theta pond, took down the Christmas decorations, cleaned the house, went to the park, ran around like a crazy child (Kayden not me) and wore ourselves out! Well I'm worn out....I think Kayden could go for days and never get worn out. Here's the recap in pictures...

Making homemade potato wedges

Just stretching out in the morning!

Getting ready for bed...

Here is a movie that Kayden made to send to daddy :) He loves to make these and watch them...and daddy likes to receive them so its perfect!

My sleepy boy on the way home from Edmond

Silly boy!

I asked him to say cheese and this is what he does....

A little better...

Yup. As good as I'm gonna get!

I love his new shirt! Thanks OB & Lanny!

Visiting the ducks!

Nakie baby

Yup. Thats my child

Sleepy boy didn't take a nap today...

And the picture of the day....

Kayden normally takes soemthing with him to school. Today it was sunglasses.

He totally wore them all morning.

He looks like a badass.

Love this kid!

New Years Resolutions

I was planning on writing a post about new years resolutions, but as I kept thinking about it, I couldn't really come up with resolutions or goals. Right now life is so chaotic and filled with enough to keep me busy, that long term goals are pretty much out of the picture. This year is going to be focused on making the most of the time I have with my family and friends and simply teaching my children to love and appreciate the little things in life. Life is what you make of it.

So I want to share this perspective with you. Its from a women named Melissa who is a police wife in Edmond. Very thoughtful in what she does and everything she does is with a passion and from the heart. I think she explains this year's resolutions or lack there of perfectly!

Treadmill perspective of the day: You know how regardless of how we say we’re not going to do it, we always do it to some degree. The New Year’s Resolution. Ahhh….yes, the effect all that holiday gluttony has on us once the December 15th Weight Watchers and Slim-Fast, and Gold’s Gym and 24 Hour Fitness ads starts flooding the commercials. That momentary enthusiasm which comes when we clear out ...all the Christmas leftovers and put all the décor away and vacuum up all the glitter and residue. That deep crisp breath on a cold winter morning when the snow is blinding and the sun is warm…it all lends us to that magical moment of resolve which typically disappears instantaneously as your thighs meet spandex and your feet meet the floor on day one of your new found determination. And that is the moment. That one moment when your will and determination come head to head with the easy way out, and it is in that moment that you make a choice to stick with your plan, or say “tomorrow”.

Regardless of what our goals are, whether it be healthy living, weight loss, financial planning, career goals, whatever it may be, each day, each moment, we must dedicate ourselves to the commitment we have made. You hear it all the time – don’t set unreasonable goals. Baby steps. One day, one week, one month at a time. It requires consistency, continued dedication; it requires us to pay attention to ourselves and how we are following through. It requires accountability.

I often wonder, how is it that so many of us find ourselves at the end of each year, tired, unmotivated, once again saying “next year”, as usual ending a year with regret of some nature? Well, it’s called human nature for one. It’s also called complacency. The chaos and strain of daily life wears on us all. Like many things we can resolve to be gung-ho at 0800, spill coffee on our winter white pants, have a child puke in a car seat, get another over-draft notice, or come face to face with a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting and as quickly as we had our own pep rally we find ourselves first row at a pity party with VIP seats. Too often we allow momentary setbacks to dictate our continued motivation. We give up to easily. We give in to frustration and allow anger to control our disposition. We find ourselves reacting to our emotional stress rather that acting in a manner to resolve it and stay on track with our long term goals. So often we become our own worst enemy and truly lose sight that we are not in a struggle to achieve what we set our eyes on, we are really fighting against ourselves.

“If you fall off, get back up again”, “Put your big girl panties on and deal”, “brush that dirt off your shoulder (Jay-Z is now stuck in your head, sorry)”, “Put one foot in front of the other”…..all common phrases we are familiar with but easily replaced with “Oh well, today is shot to hell”, “better luck next time”, “I’ll start Monday”…. Regardless of how it is applicable to your life, each time we let a momentary set back dictate a do-over, we have in a way, given up on ourselves. Rather than working through each moment, at that moment, resolving the issue, letting go and moving on, we allow ourselves to get stuck, which in turns allows us to set back, which in turn leaves us at square one all over again day after day after day.

I’ve heard from those who fight constantly. One says something, the other goes on the defense, it escalates into a fight and the fallout lasts for days. After days of not speaking, the cold shoulder, sarcastic pettiness on both sides, there is concession and you start all over again. So many times never, ever working on a solution for why it happened to begin with, never working on communication, never conceding the “win”….and never acknowledging the loss is for both. The cycle repeats and you find yourself living a constant roller coaster of the same behavior.

I know all too well about allowing one moment to dictate the remainder of my day. It is the one aspect of my personality I have had to dedicate myself to changing. And, I have to do it moment by moment by moment. You’ve all experienced “Mel’s filter failure”…. It is proof I still have work to do, constant work to do, but it is also something I force myself to address and deal with internally and force myself into another project and resolve to moving forward. I am constantly working on not allowing my frustration with the justice system or politicians or just plain stupidity to allow my energy to be sucked into a dark place of anger rather than refocusing that energy into a productive article about the situation or a productive letter or phone call to try and work for some resolve. Last year, I would have been in a pissy mood all day. Today, I still get ticked off, and I constantly tell myself “Act, don’t react”. Act in a manner to address it, resolve it, move forward from it. And it is a daily, continual effort at which I fail miserably at times. Failing miserably has never worked long term….it’s up to me to remember and act on that knowledge. It’s a whole lot easier to unleash and feel better and be bitchy all day….. but it’s not cute. It’s not cute at all.

We all have something, perhaps many areas in our lives which we have dedicated ourselves to change for the better. Many of us have a belief in God to help us and guide us….. many of us must remember He doesn’t do it for us, or make it easy on us, and we are responsible and required to do the work. Many of us have friends and support networks and our partners to help us stay motivated and resolved to make a change, but we all have the ultimate responsibility for accountability of self.

How we live our lives, how we treat those around us, how we speak to those we love, how we honor our own bodies, how we conduct ourselves, how we honor and respect those in our lives…..it is our responsibility, each moment, each day, each week. “Lead by example” starts within ourselves and we must lead OURSELVES by the example we have committed to before we can ever consider leading others by our own example. It doesn’t just start at home, it truly starts within. ©TPWL