Hayden is 10 months old today!

I can't believe 10 months ago today Hayden came into this world. What a complete joy she is! So smart, so beautiful, so kind, so sweet, and yet soooo wicked. ;) What a boring world it would be without either one of my girls in it. Last night during their bath, Hayden was playing with a rubber ducky and leaned over to give it to me, and I said, "oh thank you for sharing with mama!" she did this little excited bow of the head and then reached up to get it back. We shared it a few more times and she squealed with joy, so happy to do so! :) Last night she shared her Mum-Mum cookie with me and this morning shared it with her sister, until her sister accidentally bit her finger. :( yikes...Hayden did NOT like that at all. Having been there before, I agree that having Natalie bite your finger is not cool.

Hayden responds so well to things we've taught her. She sings a little melody over and over while she's playing...it's so cute. She will copy a lot of our gestures. Hands on the head "OH NO" and clapping. This morning when she was sitting in her crib I turned on her mobile and said, "OH look!" with the "OH!" face. Hayden looked at the mobile then looked at me and did her best impression of the "OH!" face. SO cute. I wish that I had a camera implanted in my eye so I could take pics of every thing she and her sister do on a minute to minute basis. ;)

Trying to teach Natalie how to pick out her own clothes. Basically just going to get anything that is pants and anything that is a shirt...we'll work on matching later. She's having a hard time, so I think I need to move her clothes to a more accessible place. Her dresser is tall and kinda old (well it was her dad's when he was a little boy). SO, her bed has three large deep drawers that are filled with toys and blankets. I think I will purge some and move her play clothes to one of them. Aaaaaaaand this was a boring paragraph.

Natalie's daddy got her up today and I heard her say, "daddy, snuggle." SO cute! They are such pals and Hayden thinks her dad is pretty awesome too so that makes my heart soar!

The girls were a little bit crabby yesterday. Hoping that a dance party and some painting will bring them up out of there funk! Mommy took a hip hop class on the Boxee while they were sleeping yesterday and I could use a little more practice! But what a fun way to burn calories!

I love you little girlies soooo much and ready to have some fun today....hope you are too!
XO
Mom

I love making up songs!

So I got bored one night of the same ole same ole songs that Natalie and I would always sing. You know, the twinkle, the spider, the ABC's....so I came up with my own tune that is super musical and the talent just oozes from it. haha....YEA. :/ Can I just tell you that Natalie loves it SO much that she sings it on her own and still requests it nightly....yea...I'm AWESOME. ;)

It goes a little somethin' like this....

"Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood NIGHT, beautiful suuuuun
gooood NIGHT, beautiful suuuuun
gooood NIGHT, beautiful suuuuun....we'll see ya in the morning!"

"He-LLO mooooon, He-LLO mooon, He-LLO moooooooon...
it's GREAT to have you here!"

Catchy, clever and silly. :) haha....I know this will be a song my kids will sing to their kids so it's so special to my heart :)

A new year!!

A new year brings new things! I'm really excited for what this year will bring. Hayden is turning one in a couple months, and Natalie is going to turn 4 this summer! I still can't believe it. Natalie is helping with her sister so much more. It's a relief that she's giving in to sharing. I think she's realizing that all around good things come from her good behavior. Hayden is starting to sing more and more...she's almost got the melodies down. She loves all music and does her little dance and looks towards the music in amazement. TV, stereo, toys....anything makes her wiggle! :) Our friends recently had a baby and yesterday when we went to visit them, he was making his little cooing newborn noises and Hayden just looked at him with concerned eyebrows as if to say, "what in the heck is that??" haha...hilarious. She's so exploratory and crawling everywhere. Now she's into practicing and perfecting her pull ups....I swear she's gonna walk soon! She even climbs on top of and over the top of her pink boppy chair. It's crazytown.

Both of you are growing like crazy but both becoming more and more fun as the days progress. Bath time is so much fun even though Hayden didn't like sharing a tub at first. Now she sits super close to her big sister and tries to wash her hair. :) LOVES it.
Mommy took a break from the wild world of facebook to focus more on you two and on blogging your good and bad days. I want you both to be able to read these entries in a few years and laugh and smile as much as I do. Ok, so sometimes while writing these I cry...but that's just life as a mommy! I have my hang ups and insecurities, but I have to say no matter what you both always pull me out of my funk with a slobbery kiss or a look of pure joy. I love you both to the moon and back...thanks for making mommy's sun come out. :)
XO
Mom

Silly Sisters

Natalie is finally learning to share with her sister....finally. It's so much nicer to see her asking nicely to have something back rather than just snatching it away. Hayden is saying new words and making new gestures. She loves saying "byyyye bye" and waves with both hands. Saying "hi" is cute too, but that's just a one-hander. ;) We are teaching her how to say baby and she does a good job with that word "baaaaaa-by....baaaaaa-by." She crawls directly towards her baby and knows what books are too. I love her little baby chatter and her interactions. It's like getting to know a new person! :) One of my favorite moments so far in your little sisterhood happened this evening as I watched you playing and Natalie leaned in to give Hayden a kiss on the head, ever so gently. That's true love of a big sister....and a gift for my heart. :)

I love you both so much and I will spend every minute I can showing you just how much.

XO
Mom

What a December!

So Christmas has come and gone and we're all kinda sad about it. I guess mostly because Natalie was sick on Christmas morning so she didn't enjoy everything initially. She had thrown up in her bed and was so upset. :( Then anger came when she couldn't wear her monkey jammies cause well, they were SOILED with vomit. Anyway, we tried our best to make it a good morning for her, but all she wanted to do was lay down in between present opening. It just broke our hearts to see her so down. After she threw up the last time she was able to have milk and keep it down and was ready for the rest of her presents so Christmas got much better. I wish I didn't feel the need to get her so much. She barely plays with everything. Her little mind can't possibly have enough imagination for it all. I know she will eventually get to the mass of toys, it just takes time for her to come up with some creativity for them all.
December stressed me out. I always put soooo much pressure on myself to be the best for the best people in my life. I have to make cookies and candy, shop for presents, talk to santa, make sure our elf on the shelf Starry had a nice comfortable place to sit for the day, shop on line, wrap presents, stop for Eric's birthday, shop on line, wrap presents. Yea, I sad some things multiple times, cause I did them multiple times. UGH...it's stressing me out just typing it all and reliving the thoughts. I'm somewhat glad it is over, actually but I wish I had a chance to enjoy it a little more. It's my fault I didn't. I hope that I take a hint and take care of myself better next year.
Stress comes with my body image as well. I want so bad to drop the pregnancy weight ...TEN POUNDS!! THAT'S IT! It's the hardest cause I just want to eat whatever I want....and now I have to do a last minute training schedule for my half marathon. I should've started in November, but here I have 2 months left and I have to devise a plan...or I'm gonna exhaust myself. I just would love to dump weight and be 70 percent ready to do the half...that would be decent shape for me mentally. I can push the other 30! ha! here's hoping that I can get everything under control but as a mom of two little ones, I barely have time to blog and breathe!

Today we went to the Waco zoo. It is beautiful, one of the best zoos I've been to as far as scenery. It was chilly and the trees were full of fall colors, even though it's now winter :) Natalie loved it and all the animals. A few of them looked at her like she was lunch! ha!
We all had a good time...I think Hayden's favorite part was lunch at Chuy's. :)

So my girls, another year is coming to a close. 2011 was amazing because little Hayden came into our lives. We have so much to be thankful for and if I just keep remembering that my stress will disapate and I will be able to breathe a little more. My new year's resolution is to try to not put too much stress on myself. Make smart decisions and realize that nothing and no one is perfect, including myself.

I love you my little girls and trust in the fact that your mommy will be a better mommy with each new breath that I take.
XO
Mom

December Craziness

December always brings joy, but there is always stress in the back pocket. Did I prepare enough? Shut down holiday thinking and focus on husband's birthday that is 3 days before Christmas. I constantly have to remind myself not to forget. Then put that aside and make sure that everyone is covered that I wanted to shop for. So then I remember that I have a project to complete that is going to be a gift. Somehow I have to get myself out of this house to get the last remaining pieces of said project. Switch gears to my 3 year old's questions....and my whining teething baby who hates everything. ON TOP OF EVERYTHING...I have to worry about when and how I'm going to get the remaining baby weight off....oh and somehow fitting in a little training for the half marathon that I committed to (and shouldn't have!!)for February. Needless to say my head is spinning. I have so much going on that I can barely focus. My house is a mess, my christmas tree keeps "messing with me"...and I just need to start checking things off my list so I don't go CRAZY!!!!

Luckily my Christmas cards got sent off yesterday and I have cookies and candies made for gift boxes. That stuff lets me breathe a little....but there is still so much to do!

Sorry my lovely ladies, this was not at all about you guys and what cute things you are doing these days....mommy just had to vent!

I still love you to pieces....
XO..Mom

Elf on the Shelf!

So this morning the Elf on the Shelf arrived from the North Pole! He flew in to watch over the girls all day and at night, he flies back to the Pole to report to Santa. Natalie is over the moon excited about his arrival. Supposedly, every morning he picks a different spot to sit in. This is a whole lot more fun than I thought it would be. Daddy and I read the story to Natalie last night and you could see her little gears grinding as she listened and started understanding the story. We got to give our elf a name and Natalie picked "Starry Christmas." So hoping Starry works his magic on my little one! She keeps talking about him and wanting to know all sorts of things about him. I hope the game of finding him each morning will keep the excitement alive!

Here is our elf, Starry!