Thanksgiving 2008

As usual, we went to my parents for Thanksgiving. They are rather lucky in the respect that they don't have to share us for most holidays, as Conrad's family lives on the other side of the world. But of course, this is not lucky for us or for our girls, as another set of Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles around on a regular basis would add immensly to thier lives!

Maybe not everyone feels this way...family relationships can be difficult at worst and complicatedm at best, but in my opionion: worth it. No one loves your children like your parents. And as children grow up, it seems like Grandparents have insight and maybe distance that allows them to be hubs of wisdom for our kids. Yes, I guess I feel pretty blessed to have grown up with all four of my grandparents close by. Not to mention all of the wonderful aunts and uncles who were like parents to Jona and I.

Okay, I guess that was my thanksgiving thankfulness paragraph! Back to the post at hand. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and we even trimmed our Christmas tree the weekend before since we are always out of town that weekend. Isabelle is having a hard time keeping straight all of the holidays she has lately been experiencing, so she currently calls the Christmas Tree her "Trick Or Tree."

My Favorite Bevarage

The other day I ordered my favorite Iced Carmel Macchiato, Fat free, sugar free (skinny) but then, because I'm trying to keep the caffine to a minimum for Grace, ordered it Decaf. In a few minutes my order came up. The girl called out, "Iced Carmel Macchiato. No fun."

The Life of a SAHM

I've seen many of my friends writing about disciplining thier children lately, mostly small children. I guess by the time they are teenagers, this stuff is old hat, or the offenses are so bad, you don't want to write about it for fear it may be held against them in a court of law ;)

We are no different here in the Michael house. It seems like we have hourly confrontations with Isabelle. Granted, she's 2. They do call that terrible, don't they? But it seems like discipline should be much easier now when I can simply pick her up and make her mind, than when she's, say, 13.

I'm getting used to the whole new ball game of being home with the kids...and having more than one...all at the same time. Nap time everyday is our battle ground. It has been taking me about an hour to an hour and a half to get Isabelle to sleep. This is no simple she gets up, I put her down. This is crying, throwing fits, spanking, putting her down, defiance, in no particular order. Repeat process.

Who knows if I'm doing the right thing? I am just praying, "Lord, teach me how to raise her up in the way she should go." Or more like CRYING out to God, as I stand outside of the room and wait for her to come out the next time...and nursing Grace all at the same time!

Let me tell ya...going to work....A LOT less work than this!

A Hooter What?

When I was expecting Isabelle I asked my mom friends for a recommendations of thier favorite products before I registered. I got such great tips (thanks Christy!)that I wanted to pass along my favorite new product.

We were at the play area at our local mall, our usual winter haunt, and I was struggling to feed Grace while maintaining my modesty with a recieving blanket. That's when I noticed this mom across the way with this spiffy apron looking thing around her neck nursing her squirmy toodler successfully. It even had a piece of boning in the collar so you can look down under the cover to see the baby as she nurses.

So I went over and asked her where she got it. After I got the skinny, I immediately went to ebay and bought me a Hooter Hider! It's such a clever invention, I wish I would have thought of it!

The Many Faces of Grace

Grace is such a beautiful baby...of course, I may be a little biased in my opinions. Often during the first month of her life she had a worried expression on her face. I'm not sure if it's just her facial features or what, but I was beginning to be worried that she wasn't such a happy camper. But now she seems much more content and versitile in her expressions!

By the way, we took Grace to the doctor this week and she was 9 pounds 2 ounces! She's gained two pounds in the last month! Yeah for breastfeeding! And, pray for ME if you think of it, this week is our first week Daddy is back at work and I am home with the girls. So far so good. We had a little bit of a rough nap time on Wednesday, but other than that, not so bad!

Isabelle's Honey

Lately,I am on the couch a lot nursing Grace while I ask Conrad to get me things, "Honey, Can you hand me Grace's burp cloth?" Isabelle has become extremely fluent and parrott-y these days, mimicks what I say, "Honey, hand me burp cloth?" So much so that she has taken to calling her dad Honey. We didn't notice that she had made the name her own until she handed Conrad something with a casual, "Here ya go, Honey."

Rocky Top Tennessee

Today we got back from a very cool mini vacation with my Grandma and my parents to Gatlinburg, TN. We got a very very nice cabin for a few nights and just relaxed. My parents had to work hard to make the time frame work, but we are so glad that they did, because vacation wouldn't be vacation without them...or THREE extra sets of hands to help with the kids so mommy and daddy could take a nap or enjoy the hot tub! It was really relaxing and just a little extravagant!

It's my Potty

Conrad gets up each morning with Isabelle and puts her on the potty in hopes of potty training her. Me? I'm asleep with Grace..or more appropriately, usually JUST went to sleep with Grace. That's our arrangment: I pull the all nighters and he does the potty training :) Since I'm nursing, there's really no choice there, I guess!

This is Isabelle holding her Jelly Beans, which she gets to choose one if she goes potty. Anyone else have any tips on Potty Training? I haven't had the chance to read any PT books...so we have NO CLUE what we are doing or if we are doing it right?!

Halloween 08

Sorry it's taken me so long to catch up, we've had computer issues...sheesh. We had a great halloween last week. Isabelle was a butterfly and was totally groovin' with the candy collecting and passing out. She said "trick or treat" and "thank you" like an old pro. We made it down two streets when she started saying "feet hurting mama" because of her costume slippers and "Pants falling down" Referring to her too small tights she had on with her costume that were sliding down. And every woman reading this knows the pain of that feeling, so we headed home. And Grace enjoyed her first Halloween in her Sling riding on Mama.

That day she also had a Halloween party at school where all the kids dressed up and paraded room to room...remember those days at school? We kept the candy collection to what could fit into her small pumpkin basket, and of course, I have been eating it more than her!!

Little Friends

My friend Kim and I were due one day apart. We both had our babies 9 days early, hence our kids are still one day apart. A few days ago we got together and here is picture of Grace and Aaron.