Little Princess-In-Training

Bella picked a weed flower out of the yard today, and when I laid her down for naps, she placed it on her chest, fluttered her eyelashes, and said, 

"Mama, I gonna put this in my hands like Sleepin' Booty, and Prince Phlip is gonna kiss me so I wake up!"

On my way to the door, she reminded me two more times that Prince Phillip was going to come and kiss her. Love her imagination!

In the meantime, Evelyn has figured out how to work up speed in her walker and then just coast with her feet dragging. It's pretty funny.

The Little Humans

What's going on with our little humans lately?

Bella Cole, the "Kumquat"...

• Bells is fascinated by being grown-up; she's always asking about what she'll be able to do when she's "older". Right now, she's looking forward to makeup, earrings, and holding the knife on her own.

• Yesterday, she spilled her cereal in her lap, so I stripped her down and went upstairs to get new underwear and a new shirt. As I came back downstairs, I saw she was holding the front of her bottom, so I asked if she had to go tee-tee. She said, "No, Mama, it's just bubbles, see?" Then she spun around, stuck her naked bottom out towards me, and tooted. Eww.

• Bella is getting to be a better eater in small doses.I'm trying to cut down on afternoon snacks, so that she'll actually eat dinner, and it seems to be working. She still won't touch green vegetables, but one day at a time...

• So many other stories involving nakedness and bottoms, so little time.

Evelyn Scout, the "Squirt"...

•  Evelyn has started babbling! It's so cute to hear little sounds! Right now, she's saying, "da-da-da" over and over. Steve's in seventh heaven! 

• Her teeth have finally come through! Two little bottom teeth, right in the middle. Luckily, I haven't noticed too much while nursing.

• People always tell you your children will be different, but you never know what to expect until you have the second one. Bella was the awesomest sleeper, and Little Miss E is the exact opposite! She's a pretty content baby overall, but she is not an easy sleeper, and I have a feeling she never will be. She's sleeping now for about 11 or 12 hours at night, which is wonderful, but she never goes down well. Never. It doesn't matter if it's naptime or at night, whether she's exhausted or still happy...she always cries when we lay her down. This might be totally normal, but Bella never cried; you handed her a lovey, she sucked her thumb, and done. Evelyn really likes her duck, and will always start chewing on the tag when we lay her down with it, but by the time we get to the door, she's crying. I'm used to it by now, but it's definitely different than what we were used to.

• Evs is eating like a champ! She eats the homemade baby food as "dinner" and can nibble on apples or Cheerios. I can't believe how fast she's growing up!

• When we picked her up from the nursery on Sunday, the worker told Steve that she is way too cute to be so serious!  It sounds weird to say, but it's true! She's such a happy and content baby, but she doesn't really laugh that often! And she spends a lot of time staring....lots of staring!

• We're going to have to tell her one day about how often she choked on her own spit as a baby. Now that she's starting to eat solid food, it's kind of hard not to be on high alert!

How To Makeover A Room In 24 Hours

STEP ONE: TAKE "BEFORE" PICTURES

I've wanted to change the laundry room for awhile now. We have about a dozen paint cans in our garage from other projects, so all I needed was an idea!

The shelving was so ugly and completely useless. The back wall held my "Wednesday" cards that Steve sent me every week during his MBA. They are a romantic reminder, but not great as a style choice.

    

I knew my Edward poster would probably not survive the makeover (tragic!), but I really wanted to install some nicer shelves to hold linens and cleaning supplies.

STEP TWO: GET A MANICURE

Yep, manicures are a total splurge for me, and I ended up getting one the morning before I started my project. In hindsight, kind of stupid.

My nails are so short! I have always bit my nails and it has been my goal throughout my entire adulthood to stop. Nothing has ever worked, but finally, in the last 6 months or so, I've been doing a ton better! They grew nice and pretty! But then December came, and I pretty much destroyed them. I am hoping a manicure and some pretty polish will motivate me to start over.

STEP THREE: TAKE EVERYTHING OFF THE WALLS AND SPACKLE THE HOLES

 

Luckily, Steve helped with this step, because I suck at spackling. Although, if any men ever read this, you should just be proud that I know the word "spackling".

STEP FOUR: PAUSE AND GIVE THE GIRLS A BATH

I mean, really, is there anything cuter that naked babies getting a bath? The answer is "no".

 

Evelyn gets an extra picture, because she still smiles naturally for pictures instead of the creepy smile that toddlers always seem to do. No offense, Bells.

STEP FIVE: PAINT EVERYTHING WHITE (AND THEN GO TO BED)

 

The best part about painting your laundry room is that you don't have to be careful about the surfaces that you know will be hid behind the washing machine. Well, you do if you're a professional, but not if you're me.

 

I'm pretty sure this picture will make my dad and father-in-law twitch just a little. Those men are masters at DIY, and there's no way they would leave a wall like this. Oh well.

STEP SIX: WAKE UP, GO TO CHURCH, EAT LUNCH, PUT THE GIRLS DOWN FOR A NAP, AND THEN MEASURE AND TAPE YOUR LINES

I have never painted any sort of lines or special detailing on a wall and now I know why...I am way too impatient! I measured this out all by myself with a level, a ruler, and a pencil. And then I had to use painter's tape to make my lines. All I wanted to do was paint! But when you're painting dark blue over white, you can't exactly eye-ball it.

STEP SEVEN: PICK A BOLD COLOR AND START PAINTING!

 

I decided to only "stripe" two of the main walls, so it wouldn't be too overwhelming.

 STEP EIGHT: STEP BACK AND TELL YOURSELF, "I. AM. AWESOME."

I absolutely love it! We still have to put some shelves up, but that's not in the budget yet. I think we're going to leave the wall on the left just like it is, though. I LOVE IT...have I said that yet?

STEP NINE: FALL INTO BED WITH PAINT IN YOUR HAIR AND THANK YOUR HUSBAND FOR BEING SO PATIENT. 

 

Mimi And Papa Moments

With everything that was going on during Christmas, it was wonderful for Mom and Dad to get some quality time with the girls, especially Bella since she's at such a great, interactive age! Papa took Bella on some shopping trips, and Bella and Mimi spent most of their time being in "big trouble". It was a lot of fun!

 

When we go down to Florida, Bella and Mimi have two favorite activities: finding and catching lizards, and picking tangerines off the tree.

Picking the perfect one from way up high!

As Bella would say, "Woo hoo!"

My parents have a little patio on the side of their house that is surrounded by trees, and Bella wanted to know which tree was hers (of course). Mimi let her pick out her favorite tree and Papa carved her name in the trunk!

Lucky for us, Papa is never without his pocket knife!

All done! Evelyn will get to pick hers one day, too!

I must have blocked this out of my memory, but my mom swears that Bella wasn't great with new people as a baby, so they're loving how well Evelyn does with them! She was the same way when Steve's parents were visiting...it didn't take her long to warm up to them!

Some special, Great-Grandparent moments! Mel and I chatting with Grandma before Christmas dinner. Grandma wasn't steady enough to hold Evelyn, but Evelyn loved to coo at her.

Grandpa shmoozing with Evelyn...

Baby kisses! I know having my grandparents in the house added an extra element of stress, but it was really nice to have them around for the "everyday" things!

A few more snuggles before we had to leave for home!

Laughing with Papa on Christmas Eve while everyone else was on wrapping duty!

Goodbye kisses for Great-Grandma!

New Year's And Resolutions!

This is what our living room looked like on New Year's...pretty snazzy, huh? It was cold and rainy here, so we laid around the house, watched movies, and ate a lot. 

I know resolutions are overrated and cliche, but I still like to set goals for myself, and post-Christmas always seems like a good time to evaluate what I'd like to accomplish in this coming year. Last year, one of my goals was to become a better prayer warrior. This has been an epic fail. I found my prayer journal dated January 13, 2012...and the entire journal was empty. I am just not good at writing my prayers down.

Another goal was to do Jillian Michael's workout video, 30 Day Shred. I'm chuckling as I admit that Steve and I have never gotten past Day Four.

So, my goals for 2013:

• Read through the entire Bible - Steve did this last year, and I was really proud of him! He's doing it again this year and so is Whitney, so I thought I would jump on their bandwagon and try it, too! I've set my homepage on the computer to the Bible reading plan to help me see it first thing.  

• Homeschool Bella for preschool - I want to use the Summer to be prepared and ready; I don't want this to be something that she and I battle over or something that adds more stress to our family.

• Start a Bible study in my home - Whether it's with neighbors, other moms, or a breakout group from the I Am Second group, I'd love to have women in my home to study the Bible.

• Get pregnant - We are hopefully not done having babies, but it has always been difficult for us to get pregnant. ("Difficult" is a relative term; both times it's taken us about a year.) I'd love it if this 3rd time could happen without medical intervention; not for any health purposes, just so it could truly be a surprise instead of a joyous relief!

• Be healthier with my food choices and activities - I would like to cut down on fast food runs that I make for me (and Bella...again, epic fail.) I don't really have a goal weight, but I'd really like to have better cardio endurance. And I'd really like to have a habit of consistent exercise before we get pregnant.

Learning To Say No...And Yes

I am finally coming back to my Stuck Bible study, and the chapter I'm on is "Overwhelmed". I can honestly say that (at this exact moment) I'm not feeling too overwhelmed, but I know the pendulum can easily swing the other way. I often say no to things just because I'm afraid of being overwhelmed. I am naturally a homebody, and I am fiercely protective of what little time I get with Steve and what little time he gets with the girls. I hate having things scheduled outside the home in the evenings, even church. 

My weakness tends to be in finding the balance. I say yes to things, but I rarely pause to think (or pray) if that event or obligation is part of God's perfect plan for my life. Our calendar will get stuffed with plans, obligations, and we rarely get to breathe as a family. So then I start to swing the other way; I say no to almost everything, and we spend some precious moments at home. After a few months, though, I begin to wonder if I'm truly protecting my time in a God-honoring, or just using the excuse of family as a shield to ignore serving others.

I have struggled with this balance for years, and it has only gotten harder as we had children. Throughout this last year, Whitney and my sister-in-law, Julie, have been a huge encouragement to me as we figured out what was best for our family. I've gotten better at saying no without feeling guilty, and I've learned that it's okay to say "no" for no other reason than what's best for your family.

The harder lesson has been to say "yes" when I didn't feel like it, but knew it was what God wanted. Trey once said that God will never be able to use you if you don't make room for new people in your life. This has been a hard lesson for me, because I feel like I barely get enough time with the people I really love, let alone being sensitive to someone who the Lord wants me to reach out to.

So that's going to be one of my goals for this year - continue to be okay saying "no" to obligations that aren't best for our family, or that I'm only saying yes to because of who's asking, and at the same time, give my time over to God and allow Him to use me for more "yes"'s that are for His purpose!

Squirt Is Eight Months Old

Okay, so technically, she was eight months the day after Christmas, but who's counting?

I haven't taken any pictures of Evelyn with her "8 Months" sign yet, but here are some adorable ones of her playing with Steve...

New accomplishments: starting to babble and she crawled! Just a few "steps", so we'll have to see how she does from here. Her bottom teeth have been "anyday now" for about two months; maybe they'll make an appearance this month!