what a difference a year makes

A year ago from yesterday we closed on our very first house.

A year ago from yesterday we found out I was pregnant.
This is what I looked like. excited, eh?

And....






this......







is........





what..........






I......







look............







like............









a year later............

You thought I was going to be holding a pregnancy test didn't you??? Nope, just a super cute chubby baby.

What a difference a year makes!

Happy 1 year anniversary home sweet home!

(don't mind my just went running then mowed the lawn look. I was pretty sweaty and gross in that picture.)

rundown

Tuesday 5.19.09

We went strawberry picking for the third time this year, with playgroup this time though. It was really cold that morning! Chandler loved it of course and is officially a pro strawberry picker.

Wednesday 5.20.09

I have cute kids. Who love each other.

Thursday 5.21.09

Emery loves looking at herself in the mirror. I have discovered that she also doesn't mind the snuggly now that she faces out. So I've been wearing it at home if I need to get stuff done.
I also discovered that I can put her in the highchair when I'm working in the kitchen and it keeps her happy for a while. Chandler gets mad sometimes because it is his highchair.
Chandler is banned from markers. He bit the top off every marker. Grrrr.....the kid makes me so frustrated sometimes. I love him though.

Friday 5.22.09

Chandler loves the water so much. He is such a daredevil and just sticks his head into the water. I'd rather that though than him being scared of the water.

Friday night we went uptown to see all the race cars that were there for Speed Street. The Coca-Cola 600 was this weekend so they had some events beforehand. My favorite car is the M&M car just because it is chocolate. My favorite driver is Kasey Kahne though just because he is the only good looking driver I've seen and he looks nice but he drives the Budweiser car so I can't really root for him. (I honestly don't know that much about Nascar. I just pretend I do.)
It turned out to be pretty lame and I got grumpy. I'll be the first to admit that I live in a bubble and I love it. I have never seen so many trashy people and all the smoking and drinking just made me so irritated. I realized that I never leave my little area I live in and not that we live in a rich area but it is nice and I just don't encounter things like that. I seriously go to Target and the grocery store and that is about it.
Chandler at least enjoyed seeing some race cars and even got a signature from one of the drivers. We took the train there because we knew that Chandler would love it. We were right. Emery enjoyed it too.

Saturday 5.23.09

Saturday we drove to the temple and I went this time while Steve watched the kids.
He drove over to the state capitol since he's into stuff like that. Apparently they were having a great time and Chandler was running around having a blast when he fell.......on granite steps...........and chipped his tooth!! Steve had his hands full all of a sudden but managed to get both kids back to the car and get Chandler to stop crying and he ended up falling asleep in the car. On our way home we stopped at Joann's and I was able to get some much needed fabric for some projects I've been wanting to finish. Then we just hung out the rest of the day.

Sunday 5.24.09

Chandler wouldn't let us get a picture of his tooth so this is the best we got. Our dentist is in our ward and I had him look at it on Sunday just to make sure we didn't need to do anything. He said just leave it be for now. Good thing it is a baby tooth!
Emery had a blowout in church and Steve brought her back into Sacrament meeting with no clothes on!! Mortifying.....my baby girl not in a beautiful dress at church!! I only had a onesie so she ended up in that for the rest of church. Teach me to bring extra clothes.

Monday 5.25.09

On Monday we went "hiking" (I use that term loosely here). More like a little nature walk. I wanted to go hiking but Steve didn't want to drive an hour so we went to Andrew Jackson State Park which was much closer. We were going to put Chandler in the backpack and Emery in the snuggly but since it was seriously just a mile walk in the woods we decided Chandler could walk it. He thought differently and I ended up carrying him the whole way. Don't you just love his hand rest??
Steve got the better end of the deal for sure! Emery was happy the whole time.

phew.......did you make it through the whole post? Sorry this was such a long one. I seriously need to get my act together and post more regularly. This was my catch up so hopefully now I can stay on top of it.

HAHAHA

..........HAHAHAHA...........

...........HEHEHEHE...........
...........HOHOHOHO...................
...........SNORT...............
..............HAHAHAHAHAHA..................
............OHOHOHO.............
.........HEHEHE...........

We can't stop laughing at how funny Emery looks. Hope it at least makes you smile:)

pink.

I have determined that Emery has too many dresses and not enough Sundays. I just hope that she slows down in her growth so she can wear them more than once. I do put her in dresses during the week but obviously not the bigger frillier ones.
Sunday was a "pink" day for us. We all wore pink and it was so cute. I just love matching. I know, so corny and dumb but I'm doing it as long as I can get away with it. Every new tie I have made Chandler, I have had to make sure I have something matching for Emery. In fact, last Sunday (mother's day) was the cutest yet but I didn't get any pictures. I will have to put them back in those outfits and try to get pictures. Chandler was of course being difficult Sunday morning and not wanting to get dressed and wanted to stay home and just being so tired and naughty. I was trying to convince him to put his shoes and hat on (notice I'm holding his arms down to keep his hat on) and Emery was just sitting in the corner laughing at us. (oh and about those colors on the wall- we hate them all and still haven't found something we like)
Emery really is getting into her hands and fingers. She loves putting everything in her mouth. If something is remotely close to her face, she grabs it and pulls it in. I wish she would just suck her thumb or a pacifier because she wants to suck so bad but she just won't take either. She sometimes gets her thumb in but won't keep her hand still to actually suck it. This is frustrating when you are trying to get her to sleep and she you know if she will just suck on something she will fall asleep. Unfortunately she usually ends up getting her way and gets to suck on me (if you know what I mean), which is the only way I can get her to fall asleep. She also tries to suck her hand while nursing. Doesn't work out so well for her. I have to hold her hand while she nurses. I remember when Chandler was in this stage.
I started this post yesterday so now I'm on a different train of thought. I just need to tell you how strange my day has been. Chandler was put to bed at 8 last night and didn't fall asleep until 10!!! The dang kid would not stay in his room. He just kept coming out and we would put him back in and it happened over and over again. I feel like I need to be on Super Nanny or something. Then Chandler woke up at 7 in the morning. Needless to say he was super tired today. He actually didn't act to horrible but of course wouldn't take a nap. Then when I went running at 4:30 he fell asleep almost immediately. AND..........he hasn't woken up!! I brought him in and tried waking him but had to make dinner so I laid him on the couch and then I had to go to enrichment and he was still sleeping and when I called Steve on my way home (at 9:00) he said Chandler hadn't woken up. So he brought him up to his room. I am so worried for tonight. I hope he doesn't wake up and freak out and not go back to bed.
I actually left Emery for the first time tonight too. I pumped some milk and left it to Steve to try a bottle for the very first time. She wouldn't take it at all but Steve got her to sleep with white noise. BUT now I'm worried about how her night will be because the last time I fed her was at 6:15 and Steve said she threw up while I was gone too. (which isn't abnormal for her) I'm afraid I have a long night ahead of me. Let's hope not though.
As you can see getting a picture of a child who can't sit on their own and a 2 year old is nearly impossible.
Chubby tubby shiny baby. Love the drool going down those rolls.

my week

Chandler is obsessed with caterpillars right now.

I'd like to say this has been a horrible-no-good-very-bad week but when I think about it, it doesn't seem like it's been that bad. I feel like I've gotten some things done. We have just had lots and lots of horrible-no-good-very-bad moments. Chandler is a monster and I am so tired and fed up with him. He has just been having screaming fits and crying and biting and hitting and scratching at me. I'm almost 100 % positive it is because he is super overtired. I can not get him to take a nap though. I put him down everyday and he just will not take a nap. GRRRR.....
I did accomplish some things this week though. We went and picked more strawberries and made a batch of jam. I think I'm going to just buy strawberries from Costco to make another batch because it is much cheaper. The jam was very yummy though and all my jars sealed and the jam set up which is always a good thing.
This is what happens when your kid doesn't take a nap and your other kid only sleeps for 30 minutes at a time (why do I get stuck with kids with serious sleep issues?? at least I got cute kids to make up for it!). They both fell dead asleep when I went running the other day. It was so nice and peaceful and I ended up running further than I would have because I was just enjoying the silence. Now if only they would have done this at home and I could have taken a nap.
How can I be mad at such a cute face?? Even though Emery is driving me batty with her napping for 30 minutes and then being up, I love her to pieces. I just love her little chubby cheeks and her smile is to die for. She seriously is so wonderful and squishy and cute and adorable and smiley. Chandler is also cute and was doing everything I did with Emery to his baby doll. They were having some playtime on the mat. It is great that Emery will just play with toys and be happy now. I loooooove it!
I think I bribed Chandler with ice cream to stop him from having a fit and when I told him it was time to put the ice cream away and go up to bed, he only obeyed the go up to bed part. He just carried his carton right up stairs to his room. We just cracked up laughing at him because he thought he was so funny thinking that he was getting away with something.
If you remember last year we had a little blowup pool that was awesome BUT we won't name any names but a certain someone bit it one to many times and we had to throw it away. So I went on a hunt to find another pool. I got this one at Target for $10 which seemed like a lot since I only had paid $3 for our old one. I thought I got the same size and everything and it turns out that this one is WAY smaller than our last one. I am super disappointed now. As soon as I blew it up though, the top ring seemed to be losing air so I think I actually might return it and complain because it shouldn't come with a hole in it! Besides it being small Chandler had a blast yesterday jumping and splashing. He really wanted Emery to come in with him and I told him by the end of the summer she should be able to. (once she can sit good enough) (you can click on the picture to see his cute faces)
Chandler loves doing things he isn't supposed to do, like swinging in Emery's swing. It says it can hold up to 30 pounds and Chandler isn't even that much so I don't usually get too mad at him. As long as he doesn't try to climb in when Emery is in it! Has anyone else noticed that Target changed their diapers? They totally redid the Target brand and made a new design and everything. Anyway, when I last bought diapers Chandler freaked out when I tried putting a new one on him. He does not like change and he wanted nothing to do with a different looking diaper. He has finally consented and will wear the new diapers but I was thinking that maybe if he is smart enough to notice something like that he shouldn't be wearing diapers anymore.
Last night the youth had their fundraiser for camp. They auctioned off baked goods and also services. We got car detailing, babysitting, peach cobbler, dusting, and I can't remember what else. It was good but basically the only people there were the parents of the youth and the leaders of the youth. One of the mom's I was sitting with leaned over to me and said, "I could have just paid for (her daughter) to go to camp." Oh well, it is a charitable donation and I don't mind helping the youth go to camp and it was a really fun evening (hard for Steve to part with the money though - I got plenty of looks as I raised my hand bidding on things). When Steve came home, I asked him how much money they made and he said it was more than they had needed, so of course I said, "well are they going to give me some of my money back?". haha, I'm just kidding though.

On my way to church last night, (Steve was already there to help set up), I stopped by the store and Chandler had fallen asleep in the car of course. This just proves to how tired he is these days. He seriously needs a nap still and if we go any place after 4 in the afternoon he just conks out immediately in the car. He had found his monkey in the closet and insisted on wearing it. He wore it all night long. Horrible picture but Chandler had a blast at church playing with his monkey and lei and dancing to the Hawaiian music. He was adorable dancing around. I think we need to go to Hawaii now:)

Anyway, I can't remember what else I was going to blog about. That always happens to me. I have great things to say and then when I finally get around to blogging, I forget it all. So instead of rambling about random things (which I could easily do) I will just stop and go to bed.

Hilton Head Island, SC

Our Anniversary was last Friday (May 8). Steve was nice and took the day off work and we were able to go to the beach for the weekend. It was a 4 hour drive and amazingly Emery slept the whole way until about 20 minutes left. Of course she was starving when she woke up so we ended up stopping to get lunch and feed Emery before actually making it to our hotel.
Once we made it to our hotel, we weren't able to check-in yet so we ended up going to the beach. I can not even tell you how much fun Chandler had. He couldn't stop talking about how we were going to the beach and once there he was in heaven. I have NEVER seen a kid have so much fun...I didn't know it was possible!
Emery testing out the ocean for the first time. She had a lot of firsts this trip. It was hard having a baby with us. There isn't much you can do with a kid who can't sit up yet. I couldn't lay her down because then the sun would be in her eyes and she hated the wind. (The beach is extremely windy. It even bothered me.)
Chandler and Steve dug and dug and dug. It was Chandler's dream sandbox. The kid loves sand. It was funny because as soon as we stopped to set up our spot, Chandler reached into the stroller and took out his shovel and started digging. He didn't care about anything else. He was very annoyed that I had to put sun screen on him and put him in his bathing suit.
When we were walking down the board walk, Chandler kept talking about the beach ("going beach, going beach") and when he rounded the corner and saw it, he gasped and got all excited and said, "it's the beach!". It was so cute to see.
Not only did Chandler love the sand he loved the water. The kid has no fear and was just laughing and screaming and having so much fun in the waves. It was actually quite scary for us because he just charged in and the waves would knock his feet out from under him so you had to be holding on to him all the time. We made a very strict rule that you do not go towards the water unless mommy or daddy is with you.
After playing at the beach for a few hours we went and checked into our hotel. Then we went swimming in the hotel pool. Unfortunately, the bathing suit I had bought Emery was a little on the small side. I could barely squeeze her into it. I felt bad it was so tight on her.
Chandler was amazing in the pool. I can't believe how much he has improved from last summer.(and he hasn't even been swimming since then!) He could actually kick and swim around by himself. I think he is just a natural. Now we need to get out the arm floaties and see how he does with those. Of course we had to take him away from the pool kicking and screaming.
On Saturday morning we got up and drove around the island and explored a bit. We found the one light house and walked around some. Of course both kids pooped while we were walking around but I was smart and shoved diapers and wipes into the stroller. I knew if I didn't bring them I would need them and sure enough they came in handy.
After that I had a little stressed out, over tired, hormonal moment but we resolved it and ended up at the beach. We were going to rent bikes and a chariot but because of my stressing, we ended up not doing it. It would have been tons of fun because the sand on the beach there is all hard and you can ride bikes on it very easily. The stroller was great on it as well.
This picture cracks me up because I had wanted Steve to take a picture of just our feet in the sand. I was copying a family in our ward and their picture on their blog and I wanted one of us. Anyway, he set up the tripod and I thought he was putting it just right and this is the picture we ended up with. Our feet aren't even in it! OH well, I laughed about it instead of getting mad. (I'm working on not making a big deal out of things.) I should have been the one setting up the camera I guess. Chandler is so funny, it is like he could tell that the camera was aimed lower than normal and ducked so that his head could be in the picture.
After playing forever at the beach, we decided it was time to head out for many reasons: I was very sunburned, Emery was getting too fussy, we were hungry. We packed up and the drive back to the hotel was seriously not more than 5 minutes and this is what happened to Chandler. He was exhausted! We brought him in and laid him on the bed and he stayed asleep. We showered and cleaned up and thought Chandler would wake up but he kept on sleeping. We finally decided we needed to go find dinner before it got too late so we picked him up and transferred him back to the car. He did wake up but you could tell he did not want to. Poor kid:)
After dinner, we went back to the beach and took an evening walk. It was very nice and beautiful. We were a little worried Chandler would be mad about not playing in the sand and water but he was very content to look for birds and make sure the waves didn't hit us. The tide was coming in so we were quickly losing our packed sand to walk on.
On Sunday morning we got up and hurried out to make the drive back in time for 1:00 church. We got home at noon and we changed into church clothes and made it to church with time to spare. It was impressive. We were exhausted and Chandler was AWFUL during church but what can you expect when he went to bed at 10 and woke up at 7 two nights in a row?

Overall it was a great trip and totally worth it. Some mishaps were I packed two packages of Emery's diapers and none of Chandlers...oops!, we thought we booked a suite hotel room (so that it had doors to close off for Chandler to sleep in) but we didn't so we all ended up in the same room. It ended up working out fine. We just kept Chandler up late so we knew he would fall asleep.

Both kids were just awesome and so well behaved. We couldn't have asked for them to be better. Of course it would have been more relaxing without them but it was still great to have a fun family experience. And I'm kind of attached to Emery right now, or she's attached to me, which ever way you want to look at it.

Happy 5 years to us!