It's freeezing!

Merry christmas from the great white north! We have been here not even a week and we are having so much fun!! My aunt sandy and uncle john are here as well with their oldest jake, who I still remember as a wee lad! Boots is harassing him daily and hourly but we are having a lot of fun. Christmas Sunday was beautiful and the kids all looked great! 

We have a tradition here that we have done for years and years, since I was a little girl. The city nativity Pagent. It was beautiful and wonderful as always. They did a great job, and the spirit was felt. What an amazing scene it must have been to be there the night of the savior a birth.

The next night was the Nutcracker ballet. We took all 3 kids and they did really well! It was fun and a great show. Those ballerinas wear some tight tights!! They are so talented though, I wish I could do that!

The kids have gone out every day to play. It hasn't snowed until tonight (yeah!!). But they have pretented and gone ice sledding and shoveled ice and had snow ball fights with old icy snow! I love their little rosy cheeks! 

The best way to spread holiday cheer

Obviously is singing loud for all to hear. On Friday Courtney had her Christmas program at school. She goes to a Catholic school and the program was very cute and very religious.   The song they sang was about Jesus's birthday and their gift to him is them. It was very cute and Courtney did a fabulous job. I couldn't believe how many parents and grandparents were there to watch these little preschoolers thing though it was worse than kindergarten at the elementary school.

Friday night we went to a German Christmas market down in Arlington. It was very festive and fun. The kids got some very unique German Christmas tree ornaments that are handcrafted, and I got a crêpe of course! I love to experience different cultures especially how they do Christmas. They had some beautiful handcrafted nativity sets and traditional German things that I thought were really neat. Too bad they were so overly priced!!

then something I actually have a love hate relationship with... on Sunday, we made gingerbread houses. We got a whole bunch of candy out and I made a whole big batch of icing to use on their houses. It was a sticky hot mess but the kids had a lot of fun making them! They are so creative. I like to watch them look at each other's and copy what another person did because they like their idea! My OCD came in a couple of times and I wanted to take her but I didn't, I let them in with a wanted with their houses. 

Babies babies

Poppy turned a month old today! I can't believe how time has flown by so fast already.  

She is slowly gaining weight after I have decided to pump every feeding and bottlefeed her. She was just taking so long to nurse I have to do something about it. So I feel happy with her progress and I know she is getting longer because her sleepers are starting to come off of her shoulders. 

Natalie got to go dumpster diving with me this week. I was doing a baby shower for my friend Heather and we needed some fresh Christmas tree branches and cuts of Christmas tree stumps. We went to three different locations and dug through the trash. At Lowe's I literally put Natalie in the trashcan to help me get the stuff at the bottom. We walked away with some pretty good branches. 

The baby shower that I did turned out really cute. It is so exciting to celebrate a little baby that is so wanted from a sweet couple like Heather and Tyson. The theme was baby it's cold outside and we did a hot chocolate bar. There were lots of different toppings and it was delicious. 

 I love Heather and I am so excited for her to get this sweet baby into this world in the next month.

Blessed over and over and over...and over

Ever since I have had baby Papi, my emotions and hormones have not gotten back to normal. I have been increasingly emotional and cry over a lot of different things. I kind of like it because it feels good to get a good cry out every now and then and really feel the emotion and let loose. Nothing worse than sitting in something like a sad movie and trying to hold in your tears and give yourself a headache. Just let it out and cry and let yourself feel good and feel the emotions that you were having.

Well I will compare my life to a good movie. I feel so blessed and overwhelmed with all the wonderful things that I have. Today I am very overwhelmed with my love for my children. I don't know what I did to deserve for beautiful healthy children, but I am so grateful to have them in my life.

Sure they can be sassy, crazy, give me anxiety, snack all the time in the not eat their dinner, fight with each other, fight with me, not go to sleep for two hours after putting them to bed, Color on the walls, get paint on my wood floor, be very naughty for babysitters, stick things in their nose or ears or mouth that they shouldn't, cry uncontrollably and whine all the time, but they are mine- all mine. 

My father in heaven trusted me and Brian to bring them into this dark world and raise them in light. He trusted us with their sweet spirit and they're loving little bodies and their bright minds. I am so grateful that he is trusted me with four of these choice spirits. They are strong, sweet, caring, loving, funny, spiritual little people. 

I was cleaning upstairs today and when I went into boots is room to open up his blinds, I looked at the wall where there were three pieces of printer paper taped together. On them he had drawn a picture of the ocean with a large whale and a small turtle that spanned across all three papers. I cried when I saw this and immediately wanted to see him and put my arms around him and tell him how beautiful it is and how artistic he is. 

Next I went into the girls room where it was kind of a mess and as I picked up their dirty clothes and put them in the hamper, all I wanted to do was snuggle with them in their little pajamas wrapped up in their dirty little loved on blankets.

The reason for this post today is to remind myself as a mother how very blessed I am to have three children. There are people all over the world who have nothing and many people who have no children. I am so lucky. I promise to my father in heaven to take care of them and raise them to my best abilities and it will challenge me most days but I know that they will walk away stronger and so will I.

It's not ugly

This past weekend Brian and I got to get dressed up in her Christmas best and go to an ugly Christmas sweater party. I love to dress up and this is the perfect excuse to be silly and have fun. I'm not feeling my best yet and I'm still quite overweight but the ugly Christmas sweater was so big I wasn't as self-conscious. My favorite was when I was getting dressed I put on my turtleneck covered in Christmas lights and Natalie asked what we were doing. I told her we were going to an ugly Christmas sweater party and she looked really confused and told me "but you look so pretty"! Got a love her sweet innocence. And her fashion sense! Brian went all out as usual wearing a Dickey underneath his sweater and some women's white pants with rhinestones on the back pockets. 

With all of that being said Brian won third place with a trophy and gift certificate. I guess it pays off to shop in the women's department? Haha

It's all about that Popsicle

I understand my blog has turned into a first time moms blog with so many pictures of their baby. She is now 3 weeks old and these pictures are all from the last week Of her life. 

I think I am loving taking pictures and capturing her because she was a surprise and I don't want to imagine life without her already. She is just so precious. 

She went to her 2 week checkup and was supposed to be back to birth weight(8.3) she had really only gained one ounce in a week and a half and was holding tight at 7.8, which is what she left the hospital at. 

Because of that, and he fact that she takes an hour to nurse ... This week I had decided to pump and bottle feed what I pump. Her poop has tunred from army green to yellow- yeah! And I know she is eating everything I have and am making so I hope she has gained when we go into her next weight check tomorrow. Skinny little chicken legs. 

My mom spent the last weeks in Hawaii and then came here with us for a week and got to play with Poppy. I'm really still holding out for red hair! 

Courtney is a little poser and poses any chance she gets. This girl cracks me up... I will share a story which is a little embarresing but is just so funny I don't want to forget. 

The first week I had poppy home I was nursing her and I pulled her off and Courtney saw what she had been sucking on. She looked a little surprised and asked why it looked like a hotdog... She quickly corrected herself and said "no, it looks like a kaloche!" Haha I was dying. 

Needless to say, if she hasn't gained weight still I may stop nursing and just go to formula. Get rid of the kaloches!

And can I just say this... Why is it that babies sleep so so well in my bed? She will fuss in a lot of other places but she loves to sleep on our bed. It's like she knows how awesome it is! Haha even as a wee lassie! Love that little lolli-pop.