Our Forever Home:)

Halloween came and went so quickly for us, we even missed our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch because we were so busy with the move. But, it's over and we are finally in our forever home and loving it! Family and friends showed us sooo much love and support and we couldn't have done it without them! We are almost all settled. My oh my is being a homeowner expensive! We have depleted our savings and then some. Some of the things we have had to pay for: The remainder of our 7,000 down payment, u-haul rental for 1 week (400.00), New stainless steel refridgerator, front loader washer and dryer, new living room furniture since we now have a family room and a formal living room, faux wood blinds for downstairs (we have temporary blinds upstairs and need to tackle putting up the permanent ones this weekend hopefully), garage door opener installation and supplies for that job (Aaron's dad gave us a top of the line opener as a housewarming present). Sprinklers and hoses (for watering the new sod), step stool for reaching the high 42" cabinets, fire extinguisher (didn't event think about that one), mailbox...never had to buy one before! cleaning supplies, candles, decorations, the list goes on and on. Home improvement projects we would like to finish in the next year:
Privacy Fence the yard for the kids and dog (we want them to have a trampoline and pool next summer but you have to have a privacy fence for this.
Landscaping: I don't mind maintaining it, but I want professionals to design and plant it to begin with
Finish the basement: That one should be fun
Cecelia is also riding the bus now! She is such a big girl! She loves that she has friends in the neighborhood that are also in her class, that also ride the bus! How fun! Cecelia was a bumble bee for Halloween this year, and I brought Liv up to her school for the Halloween party and brought cookies.
Liv is huge! Rolling around on the ground or swinging in her swing or being snuggled is how she prefers to spend her days.
Kiley flew into town for her birthday weekend and all the girls enjoyed their time together, and the new house
Loving life and the blessings that god has given us! Wouldn't trade this life for anything!

Oh how I missed my sleep!

Yeah Liv has been sleeping through the night for Aaron since just after I returned to work, but we couldn't get her to sleep longer than a 4 hour stretch at night any time I was home...it's like she smelled me and wanted the breast milk straight from the source! Yay me, Liv slept 7 hours straight for me twice this week, albeit we were snuggled up together and she sleeps in the bassinet for Aaron but I will so take it! I felt like a new woman not getting woken up in the middle of the night, even if it is only for 5 minutes, it is still interupting my sleep:) I love her. She is the sweetest thing!

We rented the movie Soul Surfer today. I could lie and say that I just rented it for Cecelia but I've been wanting to see it for some time now. My aunt is moving to Hawaii and between finding out that news and watching this movie that takes place in Hawaii, I want to go back sooo bad!!! In one scene, the family attends church on the beach! I want to attend church on the beach:( In the movie the girls loses an arm to a shark bite and in the process of training for a surf competition is shown doing 1 handed push ups, so of course my freakishly strong Cecelia has to attempt them, and she can do 1 handed push ups! I can't even do 2 handed girly push ups! LOL!
She's so cute! I love her so much. Today she was holding Olivia and was watching t.v. and rubbing Olivia's nose at the same time (don't ask me why) anyways, Olivia fell asleep to her nose being rubbed. Liv loves being caressed. I usually rub her soft head of her cheek or arm when she's falling asleep she loves it:)
Long weekend at work for me. I'm tired doing 3 in a row but it's nice to get them done with and out of the way for a few days. I'm off Mon-Thur this week and hope that it's relaxing.

Parent teacher conferances

We are so, so, so very proud of Miss Cecelia! She has had quite a few adjustments this year...new baby, new school and soon to be a new house, and she has handled everything so very well. She absolutely loves her second grade teacher and so do we. She's one of those people that you can sense has a good heart and absolutely loves what she does and I'm so thankful that Cecelia got her as a teacher. Cece's teacher did not have enough good things to say about her. She is doing excellent academically. She is reading at a 5th grade level! Seriously? Seriously! And she is one of the only kids in her class who will be learning multiplication at some point this year. Basically, if she keeps on the same track that she is on now, next year she would most likely be recommended for the "gifted and high achievers" program. Which would be amazing because it offers these kids so many extra classes to choose from based on their interests. I'm so happy when I think about what an amazing big girl and big sister she is becoming that it brings tears to my eyes. I love you baby girl soooooo much! I'm so proud to be your mom!

Oh, and since when did Halloween costumes cost $37? Cecelia wanted to be a bumble bee for Halloween this year...she couldn't just settle for any old costume from Wal-Mart or Target or even Nobbies for that matter (granted Nobbies didn't her size). I have to admit it is a pretty cute costume. She still will need a black short sleeve t-shirt and a pair of black leggings, and she really wants one of those pin on stingers to pin on her bum. She is going to look adorable. Stanley got his costume too. He is going to be a turtle. Oh how he enjoys dressing up every year (insert sarcasim) LOL. He probably really despises us. And of course, Olivia is going to be an Angel. Very fitting for her because she is such a good little girl. I do want to find her some kind of Halo or something to wear on her head.

Vala's pumpkin patch next Tuesday (Aaron's day off). So excited to go again this year. It is our family tradition. Turkey legs are so good!

Olivia had her 8 week checkup yesterday. She is now 11.4 lbs. Which puts her in the 61st percentile for weight! She is also now 23 inches long. Growing like a weed:) She is such a good baby! The other night while I worked, Olivia slept 6 1/2 hours straight for Aaron! She usually on sleeps 3-4 hours for me so maybe this is a new trend. But she has also started doing this reverse feeding schedule I have heard some babies do. She eats minimally when I am gone and then makes up for it when I get home. So for me this means I work at night and her and her dad get great sleep. Then when I get home she nurses and cuddles/sleeps with me all morning long when I'm trying to sleep, luckily I can sleep through her nursing. I miss her terribly when I'm at work so I love hopping in the shower when I get home and then hopping in bed to snuggle.

We found Cecelia's 1st Halloween costume (an Angel) and thought it would be so precious for Olivia to use it for her 1st Halloween. Then hopefully save it and let the next baby use it. Meanwhile Cecelia is unsure of what she wants to dress up as. We are planning on going to find her a costume on Saturday. She was thinking of being a little devil...I think she just wants to play with the little red pitchfork that comes with the costume:)

The house is coming along great! It's almost completely finished on the outside...it still needs grass and our back deck needs to be built still. Cabinets and counters are scheduled for the 16th and carpets are scheduled for the 24th. Carpet is obviously scheduled to be installed last since they don't want contractors walking allover your new carpet. Our closing is scheduled for Friday the 4th. I will have 5 days to move and put our house together so I'm anticipating a very exhausted week. But Aaron took off work and then has his regularly scheduled days off so I will be putting him to work as well.

Did I mention that Cecelia and Aaron went to the Vikings vs. Chiefs game in KC? They had a blast and I wish I would have went but I thought it was better to stay at home with Miss Olivia pumkin. Aaron has totally turned Cece into a Vikings, and football in general fan...not my cup of tea:)

Well, I'm exhausted...I miss sleep. I was sooo spoiled before. Aaron always took Cecelia to school in the mornings since he would go work out afterwards, so before Olivia, I could sleep in all week long until I was rested. Albeit I was pregnant and needed my rest but most nights I was getting 10+ hours of sleep. Now I'm getting sleep but it's choppy:( Oh well, it's a season of life and I'm going to miss these days when they are gone. Kids grow up way too fast!

Olivia is the cutest little bug:) She is talking and cooing a ton these days. Probably about 2 weeks ago we started to be able to get her to smile on command. Of course, Aaron can get a smile out of her easier than I can...little girls love their daddy's SO much!!! She is sitting in her bumbo chair about once a day and actually like it. I think she likes the new views from sitting up straight. She still continues to be a happy spitter...although at times, I would call what she does projectile vomiting. But, it doesn't seem to bother her at all. And if it doesn't bother them, Doctors don't want to give them anything for it. I did read that you can start adding rice cereal to their milk to thicken it up a little in hopes of getting less spit up. I'm going to ask the doctor about this, but I'm hesitant to do it because I don't want her to get filled up with basically nutrition less rice cereal and then take breast milk less. I went back to work:( There were a few tears but I'm doing fine now. Liv did great for Aaron, only waking up once during the night. And then the next day, she just wanted to sleep with me and nurse all day...I'll take cuddle time ANY time. I love my life. My kids are amazing, my husband is wonderful. God has truly blessed us.

This week Liv found her hands! Yay, this is part of her learning to self soothe...which will eventually mean a full nights sleep for me (hopefully). She also is taking her binkie more than before too. She also rolled over!!! The first time it happened I laid her down on a blanket naked...for a little tummy time, while I went to the kitchen to prep her tub for her bath. I walked back in the living room and she was off the blanket and on her back. Cecelia didn't do it because she was at the kitchen counter working on homework. I was shocked, so of course I wanted to see if she could do it again. So, I laid her on her stomach again. Although she wouldn't roll again for me on command, I could see how she did it. She got her legs so far up and then gravity did the rest and she just rolled. So, because it was gravity primarily, I wasn't going to count it as her first roll. But then, today she was laying on her back and sure enough, 2 minutes later when I looked over again she was on her stomach. This is astonishing to me that a 7 week old baby can already roll over.