New Year, New Me

If you know me at all, you know I love being a Mom. However, my love of motherhood does not preclude my frustration with the lack of structure that happens when you have two kids two and under. I have always done well with a system--schedules and deadlines and lists. So since I've become a stay-at-home mom, I've struggled, to say the least. I am often "busy" all day, yet somehow at the end of the day I feel like the house is a wreck, I haven't gotten any real exercise or spent any quality time with my kids. It doesn't seem like I should have these problems without a job to worry about, but yet, here I am.

So this year I decided to at least attempt to do something about it. I came up with a general schedule for each day that allows time for me to go to the gym (which, by the way, the kids love), time to just play with the kids, and time for housework. I also came up with a list of things I want to accomplish in terms of housework every day. This way, once those things are done, I don't have to feel guilty about sitting down and reading the kids a book, or heaven forbid, reading a book myself. I have come to accept the fact that I will probably not ever have my entire house completely spotless at the same time (at least until my kids are in school or I get a housekeeper again, the latter of which is not likely), and I am OK with that.

This chapter of my life, with little ones home, is already going by far too quickly for me. I don't want to look back later and feel like I didn't fully take advantage of the blessing it is to be able to spend every day with my kids. So we'll see how this new system works. Wish me luck!

Insight Bowl

Every year Bryan's company gets a sponsorship package for the Fiesta Bowl. As part of that package we end up with tickets to the lesser-known Insight Bowl. This was the first year I was able to go (since I didn't have a new baby!) so we decided to pack up the kiddos and make it a family outing.

Our seats were in the Loge section so we had lots of room for the kids to get up and walk around when they needed a change of scenery. The weather was really, really nice and it was a descent football game. We ended up packing up at the beginning of the 4th quarter to head home, but it was a fun day and we enjoyed getting to spend the day together.

Christmas!

The flag cake for Jesus' birthday (at Ryan's request)

Uncle Perry reading "Red Ranger Came Calling" on Christmas Eve

Christmas morning in our matching PJ's

A few days before Christmas, I asked Ryan if he remembered why we have Christmas. His response? "For bicycles?" "No honey," I reminded him, "we have Christmas to celebrate Jesus' birthday." "Mommy, Jesus needs a birthday cake," he replied. "What kind of cake?" I asked. "A flag cake." I have no idea where he got that idea, except that he loves flags and always points them out. Anyway, a couple of days later we were talking about baby Jesus and Ryan again brought up the flag cake. At his age, it's hard to know exactly what he understands but he obviously associates birthdays with birthday cakes, so I decided we'd go with the whole flag cake thing.

Christmas Eve was really fun. We invited our friends the Kastanis' and the Albertsen's over for lasagna and we read "Red Ranger Came Calling" and watched A Wish for Wings that Work. These are both Kastanis family traditions that they shared with us a few years ago, and they have become part of our tradition now as well. That night we opened our Christmas PJ's before heading to bed. Christmas morning the kids let us sleep until 8:30. We got up and Ryan was SO excited to find the bicycle he had asked for from Santa. Annie fell in love with her wagon and stayed in it all morning. I'd help her open a gift then she'd sit in the wagon and play with it for a while. It was really cute. Later that afternoon we headed to Bryan's parents for steak and crab legs with the whole Colby clan, and later headed home for a relaxing evening.

Overall it was a wonderful Christmas, definitely our best yet. We hope you had a very Merry Christmas as well!

Polar Express!

Visiting with Santa in our PJ's

Ryan playing with a toy train while waiting to ride the real one

Bryan and his older brother Troy

Headed to the North Pole

A-bear enjoying a chocolate chip cookie on the train

If I had to describe Bryan's parents in one word, it would be generous. This year they decided that it would be fun to take all of the grandkids (and their parents) who were here in Arizona on a trip on the Polar Express. We drove up to Williams where we took the Grand Canyon Railway to the North Pole. There we saw Santa's workshop and his elves, and he boarded the train and proceeded to give all of the kids their own big jingle bell. During the train ride we also had hot chocolate and chocolate chip cookies and sang Christmas carols. At the train station we took pictures with Santa and visited with Mrs. Claus. It was a really fun experience, and Ryan had a ball with his cousins. Our kids were a little young to really get what it was all about, so we figure when Annie is four, we'll probably take them back again.

In any case, it was a wonderful trip and we had a great time with Bryan's family (though we did miss Teri, Alex and Maddie). Thanks Grandma & Grandpa for a fun and memorable experience!

Phoenix Zoo

Earlier this month we decided to start utilizing our zoo passes since it has finally cooled down. My friend Rachel and her kids Noelle and Sidney joined us, and the kids had a great time. Ryan and Noelle loved the goats in the petting zoo, and Ryan loved the giraffes. The day we went it was really empty, so Ryan and Noelle got to run around and completely enjoy themselves. We're looking forward to lots more zoo fun this winter!

Salt Lake Temple

Earlier this summer we decided it would be a fun tradition to start going somewhere to see temple Christmas lights every December. This year we chose Salt Lake. I was super excited--I have a hard time getting into the holiday spirit when it's 70 degrees out. We didn't have to worry about warm weather--we got in Friday night and it was cold and crisp. It snowed for the majority of Saturday, and Sunday before we went home it was frosty cold. We had fun visiting the temple grounds, shopping, riding the light rail and generally taking everything in. The kids weren't big fans of the hats and gloves and general bundling up, but once they started getting cold, they didn't seem to mind. It was a wonderful weekend and a good reminder that as much as I don't always love the warm weather of Arizona, you never have to shovel sunshine!

Happy Birthday, Annie!

It doesn't seem possible, but our Annie turned 1 on Wednesday. We had a low key dinner with both sets of grandparents and our friends the Kastanis', followed by cake and ice cream. Annie had an absolute blast and she and Ryan both loved all the new toys.

As an added bonus, Annie got to have her Grammy and Papa here from Monday night until this morning.

Some things Annie can do at age 1:

~take 2 steps

~climb on and off of the couches

~NOT climb out of her crib! (a victory for me since Ryan was already climbing out of his before this point.)

Happy Birthday, Annie! We love you so much!

Happy Halloween!

The kids had a great Halloween. On the night before we went to our friends, the Hicken's, for a fun Halloween party. Ryan loved running around with all of the other kids--he is such a little social butterfly. On Halloween night we went to a few houses in our neighborhood then over to Grandma & Grandpa's. We couldn't get Little Miss Annie's Minnie ears to stay on, but she was cute nonetheless.

Hope everyone else had a great Halloween, too!

Pumpkin Patch!

Last night for Family Home Evening we took the kiddos to the Pumpkin Patch. Last year we went to Schnepf Farms, but it was a little much for kids as little as ours. This time we went to a patch really close to our house, and Ryan had a great time! He got to decorate his own little pumpkin, go on a hay ride and of course play with all of the pumpkins. This year Ryan is obsessed with pumpkins, so he thoroughly enjoyed himself.

Annie Update

First of all, Annie is doing great.

On the 14th, she went in for an endoscopy and a sigmoidoscopy. From our very first appointment with the GI doctor, I had been very pro-endoscopy, so we were very glad to finally be getting something done.

A week and a half before the procedures, I stopped nursing because I felt like I needed to know how much Annie was actually eating. It was a little scary to discover that she was only eating 14 ounces of formula a day, but at least I had a baseline so I could see if and when we started making any progress.

Anyway, on the day of the procedure, Annie ate 20 ounces of formula. Initially I thought it was a fluke, because the day before she could only eat juice and jello and I figured she was starving. However over the next few days see continued to eat 20 ounces a day, and after a few days, worked her way up to 32 ounces a day, which is where she should be.

The biopsy results showed that she has acid reflux and she is on medication to help heal her esophogus. We haven't been back to see the GI doctor yet, but Annie's pediatrician thinks that she may have had some kind of blockage that got cleared out with the endoscopy.

Regardless of what happened, she is definitely on the mend. Yesterday I took her to get weighed and in 7 days she gained 8 ounces!

She has always been a happy, active baby but I have been amazed at the increase of energy she's had in the last week or so. Thanks to all of our friends and family for their concern and prayers for our little Annie bear.