Crazy Life

Woof...I have been trying to get this post up and running for weeks...life has been crazy. It's amazing with 2 kids how life goes from getting things done on a daily basis to just surviving each and every day, trying to make sure the kids are dressed, fed, and clean and making sure that I am the same as well. I have to admit I never thought it would be this hard and with my personality (gotta get things checked off that to do list:) it's sooooo hard BUT i'm trying to enjoy this time as much as possible as I know that it is fleeting, no matter how frustrating it can be at times:) The mornings are generally good, then comes the afternoons...I'm usually exhausted by then and Avery has been having a hard time napping, throw in Myla crying a lot and you have a hot mess in this house! I generally get 30 minutes overlap a day of the 2 of them sleeping which is spent pumping, trying to scarf down lunch, and washing bottles (which by the way if you're judging right now go ahead and stop...I know that pumping and feeding Myla with bottles is a lot more work, she hates breast feeding and unfortunately I'm a working Mom so my kids have to be able to eat from a bottle, so there, more power to those that solely breast feed!:) I love my girls though and feel truly blessed that they are in my life despite the fact that they drive me crazy sometimes:)

On a lighter note, I have an official back to work date, January 27th...we're really hoping to have this having two kids thing figured out by that date but you never know. Myla is doing really well, can you believe she turned 7 weeks old yesterday??? She's tracking and starting to smile; right now it's just a half smile most of the time which is super cute. Her reflux is still in full force which we're not loving because it means that many nights consist of her choking while lying in bed but the doctor said she just needs to outgrow it. Last night was the first time we didn't feed her in the middle of the night, she cried a little around 0600 but we popped the nuk in her mouth and brought her into our bed and she was out till we woke her up at 0800. We're hoping this is the beginning of training her to sleep through the night!!!

Avery continues to try to be very helpful which unfortunately is a hindrance most of the time. She shoves Myla's nuk into her mouth so hard sometimes I'm thankful Myla doesn't have teeth yet:) Oh, speaking of teeth, Avery had her final check up for her teeth on Monday and she passed with flying colors! Her teeth are almost all of the way back out and now she just needs to go to the dentist for routine cleaning, very great news. Andy took her to her appointment on Monday then out on a date, they went to lunch and saw the movie Tin Tin in 3D, Aves hasn't stopped talking about it.

I'm posting a link to pictures on Facebook because it's just too much work to post pictures to 2 places...they start out the weekend that Cori was here, Andy's race weekend (which I've already bragged about how well he did:), then continues on to Christmas with the various families. We decided Christmas was way too crazy this year, we're not going to let that happen again! First off was the Koning family Christmas the week before the real day, then Christmas Eve morning was the Pratt family Christmas followed by Andy going to all of his church services and me and the kids going to church, then the Pratt's extended family followed by the Larsen extended family. Christmas morning was more church, stop by the Koning's for a quick 15 minute hello, then finally our family time. Andy and I opened each other's presents while drinking wine and eating See's candy (that was my Dad's but he left it in my car:). Santa finally came during Avery's nap and it was so very enjoyable watching her open all of her presents. Having a child truly brings so much more joy to Christmas! 2 days later we headed up to Oregon because we could not miss the 65th wedding anniversary of Andy's Nana and Papa. We loaded up the van with the kids and our great friends Kaitlyn and Justin for a 12 hour ride north. The ride went really well, our visit was fantastic (including being able to see 3 of my bluefield roomies Michelle, Anne, and Katie which was one of my highlights!), and we made it back home all in one piece on new years eve. My AMAZING mom had bought lobster tails and put them in our fridge (it was what I wanted to have as we brought in the new year) so we had fancy cheeses, lobster tail, and champagne for dinner just the two of us. It was really great, we went to bed at 11:55pm (ha ha pathetic we know) but woke up the next morning and watched the ball drop with Avery yelling "happy new year". It was the perfect way to bring in the new year. Check out the pictures below!

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.671930045327.2132613.68602760&type=1&l=776f86da34

Andy's work has calmed down a bit, just in time for our 4 year anniversary, which is TODAY! Wow does time fly. Andy brought me home a dozen red roses and a bag of sweet factory candy (boy does he know me well;) and I treated myself to getting my nails done after a rough day with the girls (Avery bit me for the first time...like full on teethe marks left bit me:( Tomorrow starts our real "vacation" though, Kaitlin and Chas are watching the girls tomorrow night followed by my parents Friday night while we vacation to...wait for it...wait for it...drum roll please...CONCORD! ha ha, we did this thing called price line where you put in how many stars you want the hotel to be and the generally area and once they find you a deal you have to take it, so we'll be staying at the Concord Hilton:) We've been collecting things to do for a while now so we have a gift certificate to both maria maria and claim jumper (yes kathy you gave that one to a few years ago, we're finally using it!:) as well as 4 movie tickets and a spa certificate (couples massage here we come!) We're going to sleep a lot, get room service, watch movies, eat, and relax. We cannot wait! I laugh and say it's a good thing we're so close cause we'll most likely have to do at least one milk drop off (I'm still pumping:) but we're really looking forward to a good 36 hours away without kids!!!