A little update on Berkeley

Berkeley is just over 3 months now and is getting to be much more fun. She loves to smile and the Doctor said she was more verbal than most babies at her 2 month appointment. If you stroke her cheeks or neck she gets super excited, her eyes get all wide and she opens her mouth in this big smile. If you coo at her she also gets really excited and she laughs whenever we play pattycake. She LOVES her big sister and always gets sooo excited when Cheyenne gives her any attention. She is very close to rolling from her back to her stomach, because every time I set her down on her back she flips to her side and is almost to her stomach. She is very attached to me and starts to cry if she is in the swing or something and can't see me. I got a moby wrap recently and she loves to be carried around in that. She sleeps very well. I feel like she is never awake. She sleeps from about 8 pm to 7 am in her crib and then after I nurse her, she goes back to sleep for a few more hours. Cheyenne was the same way. I was totally convinced she was going to be a hard child, because Cheyenne was so easy, but she is just great! She is a little more fussy than Cheyenne was at times, but I think she gets gassy. The girls who watch the kids at the gym say that they can't believe how much they look alike. That surprised me because I think they look way different, but I guess you can easily tell they are sisters. Berkeley is so much fun and I am so so so glad she came into our family when she did, I can't believe the happiness it gives me just to see Cheyenne and Berkeley interact, that was something I was totally not expecting.

A little update on Cheyenne

Cheyenne has been so much fun lately. She is obsessed with counting. She always says, "let's count them!" She can count to about 14 in english and 10 in spanish. She still loves the ABCs and totally has every letter down. Sometimes she even says "B, buh buh." and makes the sounds the letters make. I am just waiting until I feel the time is right to start potty training. I am really nervous about it... I think I am scared to try and fail and then having her not have a good experience with it or something, but it would be sooooo awesome to not change poopy diapers anymore! However, I would rather have the poop contained in a diaper than in underwear or all over her room or something like some horror potty training stories I have heard. She loves to play patty cake with Berkeley and talk to her and hug and kiss her, it is the sweetest thing. She is still obsessed with Dora and any time I put her on something high, she yells, "I am on the tallest mountain!" and time we go over a bridge she sings, "I'm the grumpy old troll, who lives under the bridge!" and I still catch her throwing random toys saying, "you'll never find it now, he he he!" This morning Jeff went and got Berkeley and put her in bed with me so I could nurse her and Cheyenne woke up too... that is about the only time she gets jealous of Berkeley is when I am nursing. She snuggled up next to us under the covers and talked to me, it was so sweet, because she is not usually a snuggler. She loves breakfast more than any other meal and her favorite is pancakes, yogurt and berries or oatmeal, yogurt and berries. I go to the gym with my friend every day who has a 2 year old who happens to get along GREAT with Cheyenne, they are totally bffs... anyway, this little girl's name is Layla and she LOVES cars. Now Cheyenne loves cars too. haha. Even if Layla is not with us, when I drop her off at the gym she goes straight to the cars. Cheyenne gets along with most kids pretty well, she just kind of goes along with whatever other kids are doing and she doesn't really get to upset if kids steal her toys or anything. Hopefully, she wont be a pushover in life, but for now it is really nice that she gets along well with most kids. She is super sensitive and will cry if you look at her wrong, so she is pretty easy to discipline. However, we are still having a hard time to get her to nap at nap time. Some days she goes right to sleep and others she won't sleep the whole 2 hours. Sometimes I will think she is asleep and go in to get something and she is just laying in her bed reading books soooo quietly. Overall, she is such a sweetheart and I love her soooo much! We are so blessed to have her in our family.

owweee

My tooth hurts soooo bad, I just know I have some sort of cavity or infection... this sucks so bad! We just got dental insurance in July so it only covers check ups and cleanings for the first year, I DO NOT want to go to the dentist and have to pay for this to get fixed, but I may have no other choice, it is killing me!! On top of that, I have a sore throat and I think I am starting to get sick and we leave for Washington in 5 days... the last thing I want to do is travel while I am sick! Just needed to complain.

Georgia Juniors Volleyball

So I LOVE my job as a club volleyball coach. It is the perfect job for me. I can do it on the side, so I still get to stay at home with our kids. It brings in extra money that can helps us make enough so I can stay at home with our kids. The kids work hard and are very motivated to improve and be their best.

Since I am coaching again this year with a newborn, they helped me out by assigning me a "team nanny." One of the moms volunteered to do it and in turn they get a little discount of their daughter's tuition for the team. I didn't think I was going to need it, but then at the last minute Jeff decided to coach basketball again and it turns out I really needed her, so I am so grateful!

We had our first tournament a few weeks ago, which was a three day tournament. I was so nervous because Jeff had a bball game on 2 of the days so I had to bring the girls with me. It turned out to be wonderful. The "team nanny" is totally awesome and all of the other parents were as well, they all helped out. Even the girls on my team were so sweet and played babysitter during our breaks.

We finished 2nd place in the tournament which is awesome because it is a big tournament and it was our first of the year. We were bummed when we lost the championship game and found out we would have won these awesome backpacks (instead of the usual t-shirt)... but more motivation for the next one I suppose. The team gave the girls the embroidered hat, sweatshirt and blanket as a gift and I LOVE them! It is their first thing with a volleyball on it:)

Jeff and Stacey had a little lamb

I found a link on my sister-in-law, Dana's blog about toddler crafts. I have been trying to do at least one fun, interactive activity with Cheyenne each day, since a lot of my time is focused on household chores and taking care of a newborn. We made these little lamb ears (they were supposed to be rabbit ears but they flopped when I connected them to the hat and resemble a lamb now). I thought Cheyenne would be all about it, but she did not like the cotton sticking to her fingers from the glue. I thought of Jeff's sister Jenny, because I guess she doesn't like the feeling of cotton balls either and I had never heard of that before. Jeff and I ended up having to finish the craft for her, but she did wear them for us and crawl around like a sheep (mostly because her leg was broken so she had to crawl anyway, but it was still cute).

National Championship game

Our friends Steve and Robyn came over to watch the National Championship game with us... Steve is a champion cake decorator and made this rad football cake. He also made Cheyenne a cake for her birthday, not only was it awesome, but it was sooooo soooo delicious! Jeff and I totally supported the pac-10 in our yellow and green. Jeff got an Oregon football shirt for Christmas so he wore that, while I sported my Sehome high school and Kearns high school green and yellow gear. Those who don't understand why we would want Oregon to win when we are Husky fans, listen up. Well, first of all, my Dad ran track at University of Oregon, so I actually have always liked them, but aside from that... the tougher the teams are in your conference the better it makes your team look and, therefore, the higher rankings your team gets and the more respect they get all over the country. A lot of people especially around here think that there is no such thing as football outside of the South, so we like the Pac-10 teams to do well do give the West coast some respect. Some would argue that we shouldn't root for Oregon, because if they do well then they will steal recruits from Washington, but whether or not they actually win the national championship, they made it to the national championship, so they are going to get recruits either way. Obviously we would have preferred the Huskies to be in that game, but if it can't be them someone from their conference is second best! Anyway, that was way longer than I meant for it to be, but it was a fun night with good friends:)

Broken Leg

So I got this amazing pass to a gym and it has been really great for me to get out of the house and get going early in the morning. I have a friend with a two year old who lives less than a mile from me so we carpool and our kids play together in the child care. It is only $40 a month for a pass which includes childcare, plus, every Friday night we get two hours of babysitting there for "date night" when we can drop our kids off and go out on a date, and that is included in the $40. One day they came to get me because Cheyenne had been sad for 2o minutes and they thought she had hit her head. I set her down to play with her and she totally colapsed. They said they didn't see what had happened but she definitely had a hurt leg. I thought she had sprained or rolled her ankle so I didn't take her to the doctor for a couple of days. Then I talked to a friend who said that breaks don't swell, and I had thought it was weird nothing was swollen. I decided I better take her in to prevent future damage. Turns out she has a greenstick fracture in her tibia. She had to wear this little cast and crawled around everywhere for a couple of weeks. She is now limping around, so I guess it is getting better. It was the saddest thing to drop her off at the gym and she would crawl in so pathetic looking. I hope it will heal with no problems!

Granola Mom

I got this shirt for Christmas and I love it! It is so bright and makes me happy looking at it. I posted this on facebook recently, so I am sure it is old news, but I coach a club volleyball team of freshman girls. They told me I was a "granola mom." I was totally confused and shocked. I tried to convince them that I was totally not, but they wouldn't believe me. It just got me thinking about how first impressions are often misconceptions and we should be careful how we judge people. Not that being a granola mom would be terrible, it is just really totally not me! I am still so confused at where they got that from, but I am curious to see if they will still think that at the end of the season, or if they will change their minds:)

Big Sister. Little Sister

a very good friend embroidered these shirts for the girls. I finally put them on at the same time... it was kind of hard to get a good picture, but I just love that Cheyenne has a little sister now. The other day I was holding Berkeley and Cheyenne was holding up the stuffed animals talking to her and Berkeley was totally into it and smiling. I can't believe how happy that made me feel! I also love how there is a big diaper above Cheyenne and a little diaper above Berkeley... that was totally on accident, but it is kind of funny:)

Mormon Blogging

I got this from my friend's blog, it is an article about Mormon Blogs... read it!

This article was very interesting and totally worth the read...

It is written by a young, feminist atheist who talks about why and how she is so addicted to reading Mormon housewife blogs.
The article is actually entitled, "Why I can't stop reading Mormon housewife blogs"

Jeff

I just wanted to say lately I have had a huge appreciation for this man in my life. He makes me a better person and he makes me so happy. I am so grateful for a husband who supports his family, always has a great attitude about his work, and is so easy to be around. He is so helpful around the house and with the kids. He loves and appreciates me. He is such a fun and loving father. He is always positive and optimistic. Even if I could do my life all over again, I would never pick anyone else to be with for eternity.

Brown Wedding in Charlotte

The head basketball coach who Jeff works with, Larry Brown, married his wife Philippa on New Year's Eve in Charlotte, N.C. We had never been to Charlotte before, so we thought it would be fun to go. We have some friends who moved there recently and they were so nice to let us stay at their house while they were in Washington, D.C. Thanks so much Rachel and Chad!! We totally owe you guys!

We got to their adorable house, which was about 7 minutes from the hotel with like 20 minutes to spare before the wedding. Our plan was to quickly go in and change and then hustle to the wedding and hopefully make it on time. Well, when we got in the house Berkeley decided to scream at the top of her lungs for 45 minutes straight! After about 10 minutes of screaming and rejecting the boob (I have never had a baby do that before!) I told Jeff to go ahead and go with Cheyenne to the wedding and then come back and get Berkeley and I for the reception. So, sadly, I missed the wedding, but thankfully Berkeley decided to stop crying and fall asleep after 45 minutes (it could have been worse, right?).

We all went to the reception and it was so much fun! They had a delicious dinner and a big dance floor which Cheyenne LOVED. She and the other little kids were having a blast together. They brought out New Year's hats and the adults started dancing around 10:30/11 ish, but we had to head home to put the kids to bed.

Rachel and Chad have two little girls too, so they had this adorable "big girl bed" (as we call it) and a crib in the room right next to theirs so it was so perfect. The big girl bed was even equipped with a Dora blanket and they had a giant Dora doll, so Cheyenne was pretty much in heaven and both girls went right to sleep. We waited for the clock to hit midnight and gave each other a "New Year's kiss" and fell right asleep! The next day we explored Charlotte which kind of looked like a ghost town since it was about 10 am on New Year's Day. We tried to go to the Imaginon Children's museum (which is free), but it was closed because it was New Year's Day. Jeff was really excited to see the Bank of America Stadium where the Carolina Panthers play. It was a fun trip and we are really glad we went:)

Cheyenne swing dancing with a little boy, haha, or I think he was dragging her around, but it looks like swing dancing:

Cheyenne and the little kids:

Bustin a move!

She and this little boy would follow each other around, it was adorable:

Carolina Panthers Stadium:

Yes we like to put giant flowers on our daughters' heads:

Cheyenne taking a break from dancing:

Cheyenne and Mommy

Larry and Philippa

Coach Brown's son and the little flower girl, they were seriously so cute:

Visit from AAAAA Blum

My brother, Aaron flies for Delta and it is so awesome because he is stationed (don't know if that is the right word) out of Atlanta, so if he is on call sometimes he stays at our house. This particular time, his wife, Andrea and their kids Audrey, Austin and Ansley flew up to stay a couple days too. It was so fun and I am so thankful to at least have family in Florida, since the rest of our family is at least 14 hours away.

We went to the bouncy place in the mall:

Cheyenne and Audrey:

Jeff reading Skippy Jon Jones to Austin in his best spanish accent:

Austin loved to hold Baby Berkeley, Audrey and Ansley in the background:

Sisters

Jeff got Cheyenne this Abby doll for her birthday, it is so cute:

Berkeley LOVES to stand up, I think she wants to be like Cheyenne:

I got this outfit for Cheyenne for Christmas.... it is my favorite:

Berkeley is now 11 weeks old. Before I had Berkeley, I was concerned about how Cheyenne would react. I had heard of others who would have to be very careful of leaving their baby alone with their toddler, because of "sibling rivalry." Right after we had Berkeley, Cheyenne did act up for about a couple of weeks, but nothing was ever directed toward Berkeley. And she does get a little jealous of Berkeley when I am nursing. Every time I nurse she says, "Hey I want milk too! I am hungry too!!" We always go get her her sippy cup when she says that and she is usually satisfied. Still though, she LOVES Berkeley. Every morning she asks where she is and when she goes to bed at night she asks me to put Berkeley in her crib so they can sleep together (YES! Berkeley is now in her crib and Cheyenne in the big girl bed and it is fantastic, no problems yet with them sharing a room). One time Jeff and I walked in the room and Berkeley was laying on the ground and Cheyenne was kneeling over her holding both of her hands playing patty cake. It was the cutest thing in the world, but even cuter was when I looked at Berkeley. I was expecting her to be annoyed and crying looking for us to save her, but instead she had these wide eyes and a HUGE smile looking up at her big sister playing with her, I LOVED it! I hope this love and admiration for each other continues through their teenage years! I just feel so blessed to have these two girls and am so thankful for them in my life. It is truly amazing to be a mother.

Snow on Christmas Day

These are in the wrong order again, but here is the finished product of the snowman:

Cheyenne watching Jeff make the snowman:

Jeff and Cheyenne in front of a house in our neighborhood with lots of lights:

Cheyenne and I (Berkeley is under the blanket):

It is really funny because a couple of weeks before Christmas, I was thinking to myself how sad it was that our kids would probably never get to experience a "white Christmas" since we live here in Georgia. So, imagine our surprise when on Christmas Day it began to snow!! We took Cheyenne and Berkeley out for a walk, Cheyenne in the wagon, and Berkeley in the bjorn under a blanket... I was worried about Cheyenne not liking it, but Berkeley for some reason screamed the whole time. Maybe, because she couldn't see the snow? Anyway, the next day Jeff took Cheyenne out to play in the snow and build a snowman. She did not like the snow! She didn't mind looking at it, but insisted on staying in the wagon the whole time. When Jeff tried to take her out she just jumped on him and laid there, haha...

Future Soccer Star

We got Cheyenne this little outfit and soccer ball for Christmas. Even though Jeff has hated soccer for a while, he said it was acceptable for his daughters to play. After we opened presents we went for a walk in the wagon and played soccer in the front yard. We are trying to teach Cheyenne to only kick it with her feet and not pick it up. She is actually not bad at dribbling it around. Whenever she would try to pick it up we would say, "Cheyenne, no hands!" So she kept trying to grab it between her two forearms without using her hands... she is so funny. Now everytime she sees any ball, she exclaims, "No hands!!" So funny! I am so excited she is almost getting old enough to teach her sports... if you can't tell, sports are pretty much the love of our lives! We both have been so excited to have kids and teach them how to play. I remember when I was pregnant with Cheyenne I had this whole schedule planned out that I was planning to start as soon as she could walk. It went something like this:

Monday 30 minutes volleyball

30 minutes gymnastics

Tuesday 30 minutes basketball

30 minutes gymnastics

Weds 30 minutes soccer

30 minutes baseball

Thurs 30 minutes basketball

30 minutes baseball

Friday 30 minutes volleyball

30 minutes soccer

I knew it wouldn't be completely structured, but the idea was to start young and play with her.... haha, when Cheyenne was 13 months old and learned to walk I laughed at myself and the idea of doing this schedule with my 13 month old. Okay, so the schedule turns out to even be impossible for a 2 year old, but when it is spring I am planning to start working on 2 sports a day, even if it is only for 5 minutes each... I can't wait!! We were so excited when we found out Berkeley was a girl, because Cheyenne will be a senior when Berkeley is a sophomore so they could potentially be on the same team in high school... we are already focusing on a state championship!! Haha... why wouldn't we be so hard core??? I mean, would you expect anything else than that goal from us, both of our professions are coaches! Any sport will do. I am hoping they will love volleyball, basketball and soccer, I love that soccer for girls is in the spring here. Anyway, for now, dribbling around the yard brings plenty of enjoyment and satisfaction!

Christmas Day

Cheyenne playing with some nativity scenes:

Jeff and Cheyenne making cookies for Santa... Cheyenne kept saying, "these cookies are for Santa," as she shoved them in her mouth... so funny.

Love this:

Santa's half eaten cookies and milk:

Love this:

So Festive:

Cheyenne in the wagon before we opened presents:

Playing with the puzzle and sippy cup she got in her stocking:

Berkeley, Daddy and Cheyenne:

Mommy, Cheyenne and Berkeley in front of the tree:

Berkeley and Cheyenne in the wagon:

Berkeley with her "First Christmas" Bib:

Cheyenne with her dress-up outfit:

Cheyenne and Berkeley exhausted:

Cheyenne with her some of her Christmas presents:

Christmas was so much fun this year! Cheyenne was at an age where she expected nothing, but was excited about everything. She loved everything Christmas. When asked where Santa lives she exclaims confidently, "The North Cold!!!" It is so cute. When she woke up, we went and got her and she came out and the first thing she said was, "Look! A wagon!" Then she stared wide- eyed at the empty plate of cookies we left for Santa Clause and the empty mug of milk. It was adorable. She sat in her new wagon and opened many presents. We took our time, playing with each present before she opened the next. I had bought tons of random stuff at garage sales this summer and saved it in the bonus room for Christmas. I thought she would just enjoy opening things and not really care what was in it, but she got tired of opening presents and we actually ended up saving some for that night and a couple more for the next morning. I think I want to start doing the 3 present thing in similitude of the Wisemen buying 3 gifts for the savior. Someone told me (can't remember who) they get a toy, a book and an outfit. I think that is a great idea. I don't know though... I guess I have lots of time to think about it. How do you do your Christmas shopping for your kids? We went to a get together with some friends on Christmas Eve and Cheyenne kept saying, "We're going to a birthday party," so I said, "hmm... well, kind of, I guess we are going to Jesus's birthday party." She liked that.