My Birthday Bug!

Happy fake 2nd birthday to my sweet Bug! Feb 29th is her real birthday, so we celebrate today. She was such a little surprise for us when she arrived a short 13 months after her big sister, came on leap day a week before her due date, and barely gave Mommy enough time to get to the hospital before making her appearance. She has been surprising us ever since with her charming personality.

Bug is such a happy little girl and has brought our family so much joy in 2 short years. She and Belle are always inseparable, and I love watching them play together. Bug is an absolute introvert, and I even caught her hiding alone in Belle's room during her very loud birthday party. I guess this extraverted family needs to learn how to respect her alone time. She is so snuggly and loving, and she is currently a big time Mama's girl. She also loves her blanket and sucking her thumb. Bug is so good at taking care of her baby dolls and loves babies, so I know she's going to be an amazing big sister soon!

She is probably the best sleeper I have ever seen (she definitely gets this from her Mommy). She has always loved her sleep and now sleeps 12 hours a night and takes a solid 2 or 3 hour nap every day. She asks to get in her crib when she's sleepy and never cries when she wakes up. Yesterday we had workers come clean out all of our air ducts, and they had to go in the girls' room to vacuum the vents in there.  I figured the girls would wake up, but Bug never even rolled over! Of course, you should not mess with Bug if she has not gotten the 15 hours of sleep she needs.... my sweet little girl can throw one heck of a tantrum when she's tired.

Happy birthday my beautiful little Bug!!! We love you so much.

Daddy's Girl

Belle has suddenly become a Daddy's girl. For the first 2.5 years of her life it was (mostly) all about Mommy. Of course she has always loved Daddy, but nobody was the same as her Mommy. She and Bug would fight over my lap every Sunday at Mass, and Belle always wanted Mommy to do all the baths, bedtimes, and snuggles. It was wonderful, and I soaked it all in.... but sometimes it's tiring to be the Mommy, who has someone hanging on me every second of the day. I knew it wouldn't last though, so I enjoyed it. I enjoyed having 2 little girls who fought over me and thought I was irreplaceable. It has ended. Now Daddy is becoming her world. Oh, she still loves me and gives me more snuggles than I could ever need, but many times a day I hear, "I want my Daddy!", and I couldn't be happier about it.

Now she always wants Daddy to do bath and bedtime. She wants Daddy to read her 35 books a day (fine by me!).  She constantly asks when Daddy will be home from work and always wants "great big Daddy bear hugs". She tells him that he is handsome after he shaves (haha might have learned that one from me), and anytime anything is broken or needs to be taken care of around the house, she tells me, "Don't worry, Daddy will take care of that" (probably learned that from me too ha). One day he stayed home from work, and she asked him who was going "to put the bad guys in timeout" if he wasn't there. Yes, this man is her hero.

I thought I might miss being her world, but instead my heart just melts when I see these two together. Of course, it helps that I still have Bug as my little sidekick. She is still in the Mommy-obsession phase, and I have little baby Mik coming soon, and we all know that nobody can replace Mommy when it comes to newborns. So, Belle and Daddy can be buddies.  He will show her the way she should expect men to treat her as she grows, and he will teach her how to throw a baseball (Mommy has soccer covered, but not baseball).  I always want to remember these days when she just completely adores her Daddy. I can't blame her. I adore him too.

Stop snoozing..... it's almost Lent

Lent starts one week from today. Martizi, stop reading right now, because this is a "I am trying to get ready for Lent post". I normally leave such grand ideas for Fat Tuesday, but I thought maybe I'd work on my serious procrastination issues. Every year I have way too many ideas for Lenten sacrifices, because there are just so many things I need to work to improve, and Lent is the perfect time for me to be improving. Of course then I realize that I can't commit to all of my ideas, because I will certainly fail, and I end up choosing something that is usually not difficult enough, and then the last week of Lent I end up feeling guilty for not having challenged myself..... yes I am crazy. Does anyone else have these Liturgical problems?!?!

This year will be different darn it. That is why I'm starting my planning a week in advance, so that hopefully I can actually make some good prayerful decisions about Lent. So here are some of my brainstorming ideas.... let me know if you have any great advice about how you've ever had a prayerful and successful Lent.

My lousy prayer life is my biggest weakness, and it is always what I want to improve during Lent.

Every year I sign up for 40 Days for Life during Lent, which provides a great hour of prayer time whenever I go. I'll do this again this year. If you are looking for something new to do this Lent you should definitely sign up for the 40 days for life in your area!

The Officer and I like to do something together.  Last year we started giving up media some days, and we loved it. So we are going to do that probably 2 days a week when he is off work. We love it because we spend more time playing games, having great conversations, and we try to listen to some good talks. This year we have a few Lighthouse Catholic CDs we are excited to listen to during Lent. We've always loved all of these talks.

A new one I'm going to try this year to hopefully help my prayer life is praying in the morning. No snoozing. My alarm goes off at 6:30 Mon-Thurs. I always hit snooze at least twice. Then I take a super fast shower, get dressed, grab a bagel, and run out the door with wet hair, and hopefully matching shoes. I give myself no time to pray, and I am almost always arriving at school right on time and never a minute early. I definitely love my sleep, but I think I would be more prepared for my day if I just stopped snoozing. So, I'm going to get up the first time my alarm goes off so that I can start my day with a few minutes of prayer. Any good recommendations for morning prayer or scripture reading??

Pregnancy Procrastination

I've always been a procrastinator, so I guess it is no surprise that I'd procrastinate baby preparation. Almost everyone I know is always ready by 35 weeks or so to just be done and have the baby, but I have never felt that way. I was totally content when Belle decided to wait and arrive 10 days after her due date, because it gave this procrastinator 10 days to actually get ready to have a baby. Bug surprised us all when she arrived a week early, and I was not ready at all. I hadn't packed a bag or written lesson plans for the sub, so I decided to do that at 2am while in active labor (I'm sure those lesson plans were very coherent). I also refuse to commit to baby names before I see the baby. The poor Officer (a VERY decisive man).... it must be a nightmare to get ready for babies with me. I know he's always waiting for me to reach the nesting phase, which never seems to happen for me. I am a big procrastinator with everything, but I think with pregnancy it all just scares me. I love being pregnant (but I could do without all the nausea), and I love babies, but the idea of my whole world being completely changed always scares me a little bit. I'm sure I will write a post another day about how nervous I always get before a new baby arrives.

There is no denying I'm very pregnant though. Here is a bump picture for your enjoyment. I hate taking these, but I guess when I'm 39 weeks I will look back longingly at this belly. Also, in case any of you are unaware let me offer you some friendly advice: it is NEVER acceptable to ask a woman "Are you sure you are not having twins??" I have been asked that at least 3 times in the last few weeks. There is no good answer to this question. Just don't do it.

I might be procrastinating in my preparation, but Baby Mik is certainly not procrastinating in growth

I have been procrastinating everything, but I guess I really should get around to telling my students and their parents that I am pregnant. Do you think they've figured it out yet?? Ha obviously everyone knows, but I have not actually told the parents in my class yet, mainly because I'm awkward. I should let them know that I am not due until the summer, and it will not affect this school year.  I'm sure they have all been wondering if I'm due in a month or two and will miss the end of the year, but they are all too kind to ask. I love them for that.

Tomorrow I am 22 weeks pregnant. I still have a nice long way to go, but I know that the end of the school year will sneak up on me quickly, and then this baby will be here fast!

For now I'll just enjoy little Baby Mik safe and snug in my belly, and I'll procrastinate thinking of names, packing a bag, or getting baby clothes out of the attic for a while. I'm sure the nervousness is completely normal.... not sure the procrastination is though :)

7 posts and a fun weekend

I'm linking up with Jen at Conversion Diary for 7 posts in 7 days.... I'm definitely getting in way over my head, since I haven't even written 7 posts ever, but maybe it will motivate me to be a better blogger.

This weekend the girls and I made the 2 hour trip to visit my parents. The Officer was working, all weekend, so I thought we'd spend some time visiting family while he was busy. It was so nice. My parents are renovating most of their house right now, so they were very busy, but they welcomed us to stay in the chaos anyway. My parents are the greatest. Their doors are always open, and the fridge is always full :) 

My girls love visiting their Grandparents and cousins. Belle gets to sleep in the "dorm room" complete with 2 sets of bunk beds and 2 older cousins. She was in Heaven, and this time didn't get out of bed every 12 seconds, so I could enjoy it too. Bug loves sleeping in her pak-n-play in my parents walk-in closet (and she napped through a vanity renovation outside her door).... that girl seriously loves her sleep. While we were there we saw all of my in-state siblings and their kids. Everyone visited and helped out with different projects around the house. Big families are truly the best. Belle and Bug got to go for an evening walk with 2 of their cousins.  The walk was full of giggles. 

My parents' neighbors had a huge moon bounce in their driveway for a birthday, and they were kind enough to invite all our kiddos to join in the fun. The kids loved the massive "jumpy house" complete with a slide, and the big kids were so awesome to take care of the toddlers and help them on the slide. Sunday it was 70 degrees here, so we got to play outside after we came home. We had a great weekend and loved the warm weather (which isn't supposed to last), but we are happy to be home and to see the Officer again! I hope you enjoyed the beautiful weekend. How much longer until Spring break???? 

Happy birthday to two amazing older siblings. Yesterday was my brother's birthday, and today is one of my sister's birthdays. Yesterday for one day only, they were the exact same age (and I thought I had babies close together).  I say it way too often, but I seriously have the greatest older siblings, and today I'm thankful for these two. My brother is the only boy in a family with 6 sisters, so obviously he is amazing to put up with all of that talking! He is probably the most disciplined man I have ever met and is such a calm, logical, hard working person. My sister is the mother of 12 children, so obviously she is amazing too. She is one of the most caring people I have ever met, which makes her the perfect Mom of a big family. Happy birthday to M and J.... I hope your families spoiled you, because you both certainly deserve it!

That's my Dad with my 3 oldest siblings... You can guess how old they must be now, since this looks like it was taken in the 1800's ;)

The little shadow

Sometimes we call Bug "the little shadow", because she spends every minute of her day following her big sister around copying her every move. She always has to play whatever Belle is playing and eat whatever Belle is eating. Usually it is so cute to watch them hand the other a book or doll so that they can both be doing the same thing. Sometimes it can be a little annoying, like yesterday when Belle got peanut butter all over her shirt and changed into a clean one, so Bug announced "I need different play clothes!" umm no I will not be doing extra laundry so that you can copy your sister's every single move.  I'm sure it will get on Belle's nerves too sometimes..... but right now she adores Bug and loves doing everything with her all day (and is often the one copying her little sister). I'm so glad my girls have each other. When I was pregnant with Bug, I was so nervous about having 2 babies so close together, but I couldn't imagine anything better.

Most of the time their need to copy each other is adorable

In my biased opinion Belle is a pretty awesome kid, so I think Bug should keep trying to be just like her big sis (no pressure for that oldest sister to be a good example her whole life!) I always enjoy using the copying to my advantage. When Belle turned 3 we started giving her little "chores", and her favorite is that she gets to wipe the table every night after dinner. Of course that means Bug has to help, so I give her the towel and she dries and loves helping just like Belle.

Looking cool together in the snow

I just hope they are always this close. Growing up I was a shadow to my big sister.  I spent most of my life following her around and copying her.  We were "the buddies" growing up and did everything together- of course then we hit our teen years, and she did not appreciate me copying her and we fought all the time. Now we are best friends, and I think big sisters are just the greatest thing ever. 

Of course Bug is her own unique person, and there are times when she does NOT want to copy Belle. I asked her if she wanted to start wearing big girl underwear soon like Belle does, and she very definitively told me, "No I want diaper". Haha I can see how potty training is going to go with her :)

Snow and Love!

We had a snow day here yesterday, and when you are a teacher snow days are as exciting as they were when you were 10! I was nervous about this snow day though, because the weathermen were calling for some crazy 10" of snow followed by sleet, and everyone was worried about losing power. Unfortunately, the Officer has to work no matter how bad the weather, so I was stuck at home with the girls Wednesday and Thursday night. I'm always nervous about the Officer being out in the bad weather. I was also very nervous about being snowed in alone with the girls and losing power, so I went into my crazy preparation mode.....

I got everything around the house filled with water, all the flashlights/lanterns out, and every electrical item in the house charging. Then on the phone my Mom suggested getting some firewood, so I made the trek outside to get 399999 pieces of firewood (well it wasn't quite that much, but to my tired pregnant self carrying that through the snow it felt like much more).

Prepared.

Of course I have this weird fear of lighting matches and setting my house on fire, so if I had needed to build a fire the anxiety level would have been high, and I would have needed to call at least 4 people for moral support. First, I would have called the Officer and this is how that conversation would have gone (I know this because we've had this exact conversation on the phone before):

Me: The power is out!
The Officer: Okay
......
The Officer: Is there a problem?
Me: The power is out!?!?!
The Officer: Ok get the flashlights and candles, and you will be fine.
Me: But it's dark, we're hungry, and the girls (me) are scared. (This time I would have added freezing)
The Officer: People lived without electricity for centuries. I think you will be just fine. Do you want me to ask my Mom or Dad to drive out there (an hour away).
Me: (guilt mixed with pity party) No.
......I hang up phone and immediately call my Mom/sisters to get the sympathy I need.
......the Officer hangs up and calls his Saint of a Mother to come rescue me (because even though he pretends to be all tough he really would do anything for me)

Snow is so pretty, as long as I don't lose power!

Fortunately, the storm didn't end up being too bad, and we never lost power, and the Officer made it home safely both nights! So all that worry was for nothing. Instead I got to enjoy snuggling on my bed between the girls reading books as the snow fell outside my window, and we all got to play in the snow when the Officer was home in the morning. We also finally got to build a snowman, which was very exciting.... Belle has waited all winter to build a snowman, but we don't get much snow and so far none of it has been good enough to make snowmen.

Belle named the snowman "Hippo", which is also what she has named our unborn baby.....

they have SO much fun playing in the snow with their Daddy! 

The first time it snowed this winter Belle asked where the carrots were in the snow. I was very confused, but she explained that snowmen need carrots for noses. I guess she thought they would just fall right out of the sky with the snow :) 

 Now today we were all home celebrating Valentine's Day! The Officer was supposed to go away this weekend for his nephew's baptism, but I got some kind of stomach bug on top of nausea, which is as pleasant as it sounds, so he stayed home to take care of all his girls. We already went on an amazing dinner date last week, since he was supposed to be gone. So tonight we will all stay in, watch the Olympics, and think about how blessed we are to have so much love filling our house!!

Sold!

With baby #3 on the way the Officer and I realized we would need a bigger car.  I got my 97 Honda CRV in High School, and it has been so reliable for the last 10 years, but the idea of trying to squeeze three little ones in the backseat is unnecessary torture. (I was having visions of  wrangling three babies/toddlers into their crammed carseats while they were screaming and thrashing- I'm not sure why, since usually they have no problems getting in the car, but certainly squeezing three back there would mean instant suffering). Well, one of my awesome sisters hooked us up with a friend who was selling a minivan and we got a good deal on a Sienna that we love already!! So we had our new van and now we had to figure out how to get rid of the CRV.....

The Officer and I had no experience selling cars, so we started asking around trying to find someone who needed a car. We found no takers. We couldn't even convince my brother-in-law to take it for free, but he does live 10 hours away and only needs cars that can fit a soccer team. Sidenote: when you have 12 children and are looking for a car for your soon-to-be 16 year-old you apparently need a van, because the 16 year-old drives 7 children to school every day! So we decided to turn to Craigslist. If you know the Officer you know that he is pretty paranoid about safety, so we have never used Craigslist, but we cautiously gave it a try. At 8:30 pm the Officer listed my car for just below KBB value and mentioned all of the issues with it, and he added a horrible picture of it that he took in the dark on his phone.

This doesn't look like a sketchy car at all.

Somehow this appealing ad worked and we had 4 phone calls and an email within an hour of posting it. The next morning the Officer had 3 people scheduled to come look at it and trying to beat the others to get there first. He got this text: "I'm on my way with cash." But then someone else showed up even faster and gave us our asking price, and 12 hours after our posting my car was sold! Wow, I guess we should have asked for more. So I would say our first experience with Craigslist was a huge success and now the Officer will be willing to use it again I hope!

Here it is looking much more desirable in the sunlight.

I must say that I was really sad to see it go (maybe just hormones), but fortunately the interesting man who bought it came back later in the day to get it and drove it away (through our yard?!) without telling us, so I didn't actually have to watch it go. If I was feeling any sadness though I can just think about my sliding doors, extra row, stow and go seating, and the list goes on.....

We love our new van!

Magic School Bus Birthday

Yesterday we had a birthday party for both girls. Belle just turned 3 and Bug is about to turn 2, so we had a joint party with friends and family. Leading up to the party the forecast was calling for snow/rain, and I was really nervous about having 35 people stuck inside our small house for the party, but we lucked out and there was not a drop of precipitation! The guys sat outside by the firepit, the kids could go in or out to play, and we had a great time. 

The girls both love the Magic School Bus books, so we decided that'd be the theme for their party. It really just ended up being a school bus theme with lots of yellow. I considered dressing up as Ms. Frizzle (I did this for character day at school a few weeks ago, and Belle hasn't stopped talking about it since!), but the Officer thought that people might think I was weird ha.  

I used my newish cricut to make a banner! 

The Officer made the cake and I decorated it. Thanks to my dear SIL who saved the day (over the phone) when she told me about dirty icing a cake- who knew?!

Belle eating cupcakes with one of her sweet buddies

The girls (and Mommy) were so glad that Grandma made the trip down for the party.

We had such a fun day and were so grateful to all the friends and family who came to celebrate with us!

Welcome!

I’m entering the blog world. I have nothing new or exciting to offer the Mommy blog world, but I love reading the stories of Moms who are in the toddler trenches too, and I know that at least a few of my sisters will love frequent updates on their nieces. Mostly, this blog will help me to remember these amazing years with my little children! So here are the memories of the Mikfamily……