tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74416955394007068032024-03-14T10:38:10.787+00:00Life AbroadNic and Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911329090133838707noreply@blogger.comBlogger134125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441695539400706803.post-29123855284001021152012-07-20T21:48:00.001+01:002012-07-20T21:48:59.211+01:00AspirationsWell, I've made some progress in reaching my own personal goals. I've filled out my FAFSA and signed up to register for some classes at the local community college so that I'm all set to apply to nursing school come December. I have been looking at becoming a midwife for a while now (I think I posted about it a while back) and have decided to go ahead and become an RN first, then work on getting my Nurse Midwife qualifications. There are several ways to go about doing that and I've looked into all of them. I am really hoping to get accepted into the Bacc2 program through UTHSC (UT Health and Science Center) here in Houston, although I will probably apply to the one at UTMB (UT Medical Branch) as well. Both are HIGHLY regarded and I'm just hoping I have what it takes to get in. The accelerated program is 15 months or so long and is for students who are looking to get a bachelor's degree in Nursing and already have a bachelor's degree in a different field. This works for me and I save myself some time and money since I don't have to stay in the program the usual 4 years thanks to my degree. They require you to have 60 credit hours in particular classes, all of which I have except for 6 classes worth (24 hours). I still have to take Growth & Development (through the lifespan... I've taken a Child Development class, but it doesn't cover adults, obviously), Intro to Philosophy (I chose to take a religion class at UH instead), Human Anatomy & Physiology (I'm hoping I still remember some of this from the Pre-AP course in high school but I'm not holding my breath), Microbiology (I stopped at regular ol' Biology) and Nutrition. I can apply to the Bacc2 program once I have at least 40 of the required hours complete, so hopefully I can apply in December for entry in Summer 2013, but we'll see. I'm going to play it by ear and see how it goes. My GPA is high enough , but it could use a boost in the Math and Sciences area so hopefully this will help me out. <br />
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I'm really excited and nervous about it. I LOVE school. I always have. I can't wait to be a student again and am really looking forward to it, but I'm nervous about how I'm going to fit it all in. The pre-req classes that I'm taking before I start the program are mostly online (the labs aren't, but everything else is), which is good since I can do it while the girls are sleeping/when Nic is home to help me out, but I am going to have to keep my grades up so my GPA doesn't fall below the acceptance point. Then, once (IF) I'm accepted to the program, it's a crazy busy 15 months until I graduate again and am able to get to work. They don't allow you to work during that time (for good reason), so we're going to have to pay for childcare as an added expense since I'll have to attend my clinic rotations and go to class at that point. I think it'll all be worth it, but it's just a scary thing to think about. I'm more nervous for how the girls are going to be than myself though. They are used to staying home with me all the time and it's going to be a massive change. I think I may enroll them in a Mother's Day Out program just to get them used to it. I asked Liara if she wanted to go to school and she says yes, so that's a good thing. She even grabbed her backpack and filled it with toys last time. Maybe she's ready. What's good is that Amaya will be done breastfeeding by the time the program starts, so that's one less thing I'll have to worry about. It'll be ok. I just need to remember I'm doing this for me AND for them. I want my girls to see that you can do whatever you set your mind to and that you don't just have to be ONE thing. I CAN do this. I need to remind myself how good it'll be to be able to tell my girls, "I have two beautiful, well-rounded children, a nice home, a great marriage, two degrees and a reliable and meaningful career... all because of dedication, hard work, and love". I want to show them that if you have a dream and a desire to do something different, you CAN do it and should. Anything is possible.<br />
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I may just have to make myself a list of inspiration quotes and plaster them on my wall so I can remind myself every day of just what I am capable of.<br />
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I have the desire to care for others, I have the need to help other people, I have extra amounts of love and compassion to share. I'm ready.<br />
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Ok... on to other things. Amaya is getting so big! She is bound and determined to do everything before Liara did. She's pulling up on everything like a boss and the other day she managed to let go and stand on her own two feet for about 5 seconds before falling. I have to keep reminding her that she's barely 7 months and to slow her cute little booty down! Liara is becoming quite independent lately and I'm loving it. She wants to help do everything (or do it on her own), from making her own chocolate milk to getting the mail, to picking up her toys before bedtime. She is too cute. I adore my children. <br />
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Nic has been working up a storm and I'm so proud of him. He's such a wonderful man and I'm so blessed to have him by my side. He came home at 10 am yesterday from work because we had a water line break and he fixed it all by himself by 3 pm, then went back to work. He had a dinner meeting with Bob and James at 7 and so he went to that and didn't get home until about 10 pm. Bless his heart, he's tired, but he still stays up for me so that we can at least visit a little or watch an episode of something together. It means a lot to me, I know he's exhausted. <br />
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Anyway, I need to clean my house a little before the girls wake up from their naps... I hope everyone is having a wonderful day!Nic and Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911329090133838707noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441695539400706803.post-24623863195241443072012-07-01T15:39:00.002+01:002012-07-01T15:39:40.369+01:00Life with ThreeHey y'all..<br />
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SO, my little brother is here visiting for a couple of weeks and let me just start by saying that life with three kiddos isn't overly different than life with two, only having a boy around is super different. I'm so used to my girls and I find myself struggling a little to figure out activities that we all want to do. My little brother is 8, and I don't know if it is just because he is raised completely different than I was or if it's just because we are the opposite sex, but man, are we different. He's sweet and calm most of the time, but his interests differ greatly from mine. He's a huge sports fan/athlete, and I'm, well... not. I'm more of the artsy craftsy kind of person who likes to be still most of the time. I've seen his karate routine I can't even tell you how many times and am trying to come up with new adjectives to describe it. "wow", "awesome", "cool" etc... only go so far. <br />
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He's done well with the girls, but sometimes he just really wants my attention (usually when I am putting the girls to sleep or cooking) and it's hard to get him to just wait a minute. He's not used to that I don't think (he's pretty much an only child since I've never lived with him) whereas my children are definitely used to it now. Nick is a huge help when he's home, but that's been pretty limited lately. He is taking a driving course (more on that later...) so after working all day (7-4), he was at his course from 5-9, then this weekend he has been there from 7-3:30. Today is the last day and boy, am I glad. He's taking next week off (the whole week! I'm excited!!!) to play with us and spend some quality family time with us. That will really help because I'm running out of activities for us all to do without Nick around. When he's around we can do all the things I had planned out. We're going ot be going camping, to the children's museum, NASA, the museum of natural science, the zoo, the aquarium and we're taking Ryan go-carting. He's never done any of that before... so it will be quite the experience for him I think. He's quite homesick, especially for his cats, so hopefully being busy will help him. I remember how that used to be, so I'm trying to be as sympathetic as I can be about it. He's awfully brave for coming to stay with us for two weeks since he doesn't really know me that well (he was just 3 when we moved to Scotland and didn't get to visit too often). Hopefully the weather will get better for us. The first two days he was here it was 111. Yes... without the heat index. OUCH! Then the past few days it has been POURING down rain. Like, to the point that our power went out and my backyard is now a marsh. Fun.<br />
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We're still working on getting moved into our house... man, it's a slow slow process when you've got two small kids. I have yet to hang anything up (other than Clyde, my Dad's stuffed pheasant). I can't wait to get the boxes all out of here and feel like I'm really at home. The new neighbors are awesome... they have 4 girls (one of which has already come to babysit for us once, although I didn't leave... just unpacked a little) and are really nice. <br />
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We went to visit my grandparents some and they have some big news, although I can't tell you what it is until everyone knows and they have it out and about. We also went to Papa's wedding to Linda... Liara was the flower girl and did an amazing job. Man, she was cute and we are so proud of the great job she did!<br />
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Ok, well, I have to get going because my girls are up and causing all kinds of trouble while I'm over here typing. I should have loads of pictures next post of the fun stuff we'll do this week! <br />
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Here's the rain again... geez, I wish Plainview would get some of this!Nic and Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911329090133838707noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441695539400706803.post-77127095408818575462012-06-06T05:50:00.002+01:002012-06-06T05:50:43.717+01:00Tired Yet MotivatedI always tend to laugh at myself for trying to make plans. I don't know why I do that... they always change in some form or another. I had planned on getting several trips to the house in tomorrow and then picking up Nic at the airport (he's been back in Aberdeen since Mother's Day) at 6:45. Well, that isn't going to happen now. I got an e-mail from Centerpoint Energy (natural gas) saying that the service guy would be coming to the house "sometime between 8am to 5pm". Haha! Nice "minimal window of time" there. So, instead of making several trips, it looks like I'll only make maybe two (it takes me an hour to get there, and an hour to get back and the girls nap for two hours in the afternoon). Ah well... Nic is going to be working on Thursday anyway (although I have to be at the house again for the internet/cable installation between 10 and 2 (much better time frame) and so we won't be moving the heavy stuff until Friday. I think he's going to take the day off so we can get everything over and spend the weekend getting everything the way we like it. Again, plans are for changing though, so I'm not counting on anything. <div>
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I made some pretty good progress today, although I stop what I was doing plenty of times to play/correct/cuddle the girls. It seems whenever I really get on a roll is when Liara decides she's had enough. Typical two year old behavior though, and I'm understanding of that. My plans and actions aren't as important as her needs, so I tend to stop and take a break to spend some time playing and getting her back on the right track. Several times I had to stop today because she's developed a new interest: picking up her sister. As cute as that sounds, it isn't a good idea. Liara weighs all of 29 lbs and Amaya (the last time we weighed her was 3 weeks ago) is pushing 16 lbs 12 oz. Liara would LOVE to carry Amaya around, it just isn't quite feasible. She can get her about two inches off the ground though, just long enough for me to rush over before she drops her. There was one time today where I wasn't quite quick enough but Amaya is a trooper and just gave me a look like "how could you let her do that to me?!" and that was enough to make me feel bad about it. We've had several talks about it and I usually try to let Liara hold Amaya with my assistance while we talk about having someone help her until she's bigger. Liara, like me, doesn't do well with being told she isn't able to do something though. We are working on it.</div>
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Amaya is doing great... she doesn't really want to be held very much any more... she would much rather be on the floor exploring. She is GREAT at scooting around now and I'm really hoping she'll hold off until tomorrow night to crawl. She is so stinking close it's scary. I think I saw the tip of a tooth on the bottom of her mouth as well, but I couldn't feel it when I put my finger on it. We'll see if it was just a bit of milk or if it was actually a bud about to poke through. Exciting stuff! I can't believe she'll be 6 months next Thursday. At the same time, I can't remember what life was like without her really. My baby is really growing up (well, both my girls are really) faster than I would like... it makes me want to have more! Haha.</div>
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Speaking of having babies... my friend Amber (who actually lived in Aberdeen for one of the years we were there with her sweet husband Mike) just had quadruplets on the 31st. All the babies are doing well, although the little boy (she had three girls Trystan, Kailey, Logan and a boy-Harrison, but not in that order) is having more difficulty breathing than the girls. The girls are all on room air now but Harrison isn't quite there yet (but he will be soon!) and has a slight brain bleed. If you could pray for them all, I'd greatly appreciate it. They are an amazing family and I am so inspired by them for how they tackle anything that is thrown their way. They have been on my mind constantly and we've been praying like crazy but the more the merrier when it comes to prayer. </div>
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Ok, it's nearly midnight and I have a busy day planned for tomorrow so I'm going to hit the sack. Hooray for getting some stuff in and settled in the house again and hooray for Nicolas coming home! I was putting Liara to bed and she asked "are we picking up Daddy tonight?" and I had to remind her it was tomorrow, so then she shut her eyes really tight and said "goodnight then! See him tomorrow!". :) I can't even begin to tell you how much I am looking forward to seeing him tomorrow too! We really do miss him when he is away. It sure does make you respect military spouses a million times more when you have a husband who travels a lot for work. </div>
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Goodnight!</div>Nic and Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911329090133838707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441695539400706803.post-62433094303876530352012-06-03T06:07:00.003+01:002012-06-03T06:11:02.115+01:00The big move!I am so horrible about updating. <br />
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I figure I'd at least do a quick little post before the craziness of the week ahead sinks in. We're about to move back into our house (the one we bought 5 years ago and lived in for 3 months before moving to Scotland). I am SO stinkin' excited. This means that I'll get to get everything out of storage finally (we've been living with what was available at the time for the last 10 months)- most of which is pretty much brand spanking new. See, I was one of those weird ladies who saves all of her wedding gifts to use in our first "real" home together as husband and wife. So, I didn't open our new stuff to use until two years after we were married. Seriously. So, when we bought our house EVERYTHING was new (pots and pans, dishes, picture frames, bedding, etc). Then we moved three months later and stuffed everything into storage, where it still sits. It's going to feel like we just got married all over again! Hooray! <br />
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On top of (pretty much) new stuff, there is SO much more space in our house! We've been living in my in-law's garage apartment until our house was vacated by our tenants. All 500 square feet of it. Yep, for a family of four. It's been real. We all live together in one room (the living room is joined to the kitchen and bedroom area, the bathroom is the only room with a door). Next week, things will be completely different! Our house is a 4 bedroom, 2150 square foot house. Oh, how excited am I?! The girls will each get their own room, and we'll have a room to put guests too. They'll have a playroom as well, and Nic will have his own room to put all his, um, hobby stuff. Abe will have his own backyard to play in. I am SO STOKED.<br />
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We decided against buying another house (obviously) because it dawned on us that if we were hit with another hurricane like Ike, we'd be pretty much screwed. See, when hurricane Ike hit, we ended up with $32,000 worth of damage and insurance only covered $24,000. Yep, that left us with $8,000 out of pocket and it hurt. That was all of our savings plus some. This time, our savings is even less, and we still have a ton of other stuff to buy (like vehicles, a new tv, couch, etc). We figured we'd rather move back into a house that we already love and own than buy a new one. We bought that house with our future children in mind (and now I can't wait to see them running around in it!) and can't picture our family anywhere else really.<br />
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Speaking of children running around... Amaya has decided that she's ready to MOVE. She's scooting herself around on her tummy (picture an army crawl of sorts) and is ALMOST crawling. I think she's holding out for Daddy to get home so he can see her really start to book it. I'm hoping anyway. He's been in Scotland again for the last three weeks and should be home on Wednesday or so to help move and spend some time with us for a while. I'm so ready. I miss him so much while he is away and it really makes me appreciate him more. He's such a good husband, daddy and man in general. LOVE him.<br />
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Ok, that's about it for right now... I'm going to go to bed since it is midnight and we have to get up and ready for church in the morning. I need to get quite a bit of packing done tomorrow too. YAY!Nic and Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911329090133838707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441695539400706803.post-44357706968243346162012-02-16T22:02:00.002+00:002012-02-16T22:17:50.117+00:00On the road again...<span ><span style="font-size: 100%;">We are getting ready to head back to Scotland, although not to live there anymore. Our little family will be flying out on Sunday afternoon to get everything sorted and packed up over there. We'll be getting rid of almost everything we own there (car (possibly cars... we'll see what we decide later), furniture, books, everything) and only packing up what we absolutely NEED to bring home. It's going to be interesting with two little ones (especially since Liara is going to have to live without Mickey Mouse/Dora/Curious George since we've already sold the TV)... I'm hoping I can get her to play with her old toys there since they'll be like new to her again. We'll have to schedule some play dates as well with some friends while we are there so that we can say our proper goodbyes and such too. I'm really going to miss a few really good friends that we've made, I'm actually quite sad about leaving them. It hasn't felt permanent until a couple of days ago and I'm not sure how I'll feel once it's actually time to leave Aberdeen for good. </span></span><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">Don't get me wrong, I love being back home in the US. I've dreamed of coming home and am so pleased that we finally are closer to family and that I'm getting the chance to focus on my career a little bit again! I'm just going to miss some things about Aberdeen that I just can't get here. I think that's true for pretty much anywhere I've lived though. I am looking forward to showing off my new sweet baby to everyone though :) That's for sure!</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">Speaking of my newest baby... she's growing so fast! She is now up to 13 lbs 3 oz, and 23.5 inches! That puts her in the 90th percentile for height and 95th for weight... lol. Yet her head circumference is still only in the 25th, that's the same thing that happened to Liara. My kids just have small heads apparently. Oh well, easier for me! ;)</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; ">I am quite anxious about our trip back home though, as Nic has to stay in Aberdeen for a conference and I'm going to be bringing the girls back home by myself! Yep... I'm crazy. I don't know how I'm going to handle a 13+ hour flight with a 2 1/2 month old and a 2 year old by myself. I know it's possible, but I am certainly not looking forward to it. I don't know how I'm going to be able to go to the bathroom on the plane (or change diapers for that matter...) with two kiddos. It's hard enough with one, and I've never done it alone before. Say some prayers for me, I'm going to need them! We come back on the 1st, and Nic should be home around the 15th or so (I think)... who knows.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><br /></div><div><span ><span style="font-size: 100%;">I have ordered my books for the first two modules of my coursework and they should be delivered while we are gone. I cannot tell you how stinkin' excited I am to get started! I take my CPR for professional </span>rescuers<span style="font-size: 100%;"> on the 9th of March and then I can officially get started. Have I mentioned how awesome my husband is for providing for me so that I can do this?! I mean, wow... I've been able to be a stay at home mom for the past 2 1/2 years (I quit my job while I was still pregnant) and now I'm getting to go back to school to follow a dream I've had for a little while now... amazing. I'm blessed with an awesome man in my life, I can tell you that!</span></span></div><div><span ><span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span >I know a lot of you have asked about how my Mom is doing... so far, it's all the same. She has been on vacation with her new husband to meet all his family in Rhode Island, so she hasn't had a chance to get a PET scan yet. When those results come back (hopefully before I leave..) I'll let you know. </span></div><div><span ><br /></span></div><div><span >Anyway, my girls are asleep for their naps, and I think I'll have a little quiet time to myself and do my daily devotional before heading to take a little nap myself! I hope you all are doing well!</span></div>Nic and Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911329090133838707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441695539400706803.post-89278237525748028922012-02-09T08:41:00.003+00:002012-02-09T09:27:59.664+00:00Update<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMa2a9xDEsLiHSZz4DqDpTqsn7lz0c9NyQHAeQLMYP-2194fuXkRAW-4PXI7zXw4FVxfxGPnf_7C_n1M_NzkOtMEmipLqM-g40hyphenhyphenIxbgu2c6ymGUeBfSeYnZ0ieLtK8mqLx-LtDa001kY/s1600/IMG_1316.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMa2a9xDEsLiHSZz4DqDpTqsn7lz0c9NyQHAeQLMYP-2194fuXkRAW-4PXI7zXw4FVxfxGPnf_7C_n1M_NzkOtMEmipLqM-g40hyphenhyphenIxbgu2c6ymGUeBfSeYnZ0ieLtK8mqLx-LtDa001kY/s400/IMG_1316.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5707064201501561490" /></a><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span ><u>Amaya and her big sister Liara :)</u></span></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1pUqASySrJQQn2IBYfx78DUifahHeyqvIEclwttwIeB3jV5J_LRpzyYFeqLjnhFgR6s3IjiY-r7FtCzwa3UabE_JhRkiORxTDz21e4PoNW_IBfCp_G3mgEjHrSn42ma3MCxQTAOZPryI/s1600/IMG_1251.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1pUqASySrJQQn2IBYfx78DUifahHeyqvIEclwttwIeB3jV5J_LRpzyYFeqLjnhFgR6s3IjiY-r7FtCzwa3UabE_JhRkiORxTDz21e4PoNW_IBfCp_G3mgEjHrSn42ma3MCxQTAOZPryI/s400/IMG_1251.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5707064196230892290" /></a></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span ><u>Amaya, Daddy and I about two minutes after she was born :)</u></span></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-TDjs-HRKUSKxG2RDp6Iwv58Tc4b1xSq8jxyp7pwH_b4tkCPmRuLX-1bWzmfOdNhmH3n2VyAI_lMG78pCOYZi84gFId4TzCsvAqFvpCUXrZtRfJQ9gg9_MClXUNQ0B_F_TQC0Kd6WTlQ/s1600/IMG_0081.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-TDjs-HRKUSKxG2RDp6Iwv58Tc4b1xSq8jxyp7pwH_b4tkCPmRuLX-1bWzmfOdNhmH3n2VyAI_lMG78pCOYZi84gFId4TzCsvAqFvpCUXrZtRfJQ9gg9_MClXUNQ0B_F_TQC0Kd6WTlQ/s400/IMG_0081.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5707064189238619426" /></a></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span ><u>My favorite big sister! She's so beautiful!</u></span></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsb8JanrNNETDNQvZQLaHmvjMp7vbMRaQtP2ekCV8cXndNSoS_Q01V1h1c4ed99wXIsz4zJgspyvFJXLicfnmtNG84VhgCEK4NSwEsIzdIL9lEWD3EZFjZY1K6CxDq-XaTkPFKjZpe58M/s1600/IMG_0072.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsb8JanrNNETDNQvZQLaHmvjMp7vbMRaQtP2ekCV8cXndNSoS_Q01V1h1c4ed99wXIsz4zJgspyvFJXLicfnmtNG84VhgCEK4NSwEsIzdIL9lEWD3EZFjZY1K6CxDq-XaTkPFKjZpe58M/s400/IMG_0072.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5707064183814356242" /></a></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span ><u>My favorite little sister! She's so beautiful! </u></span></div><br />Well, I'm still alive. God is good. I know you've probably forgotten all about this blog (I know I have from time to time) and thought I had finished writing here, but I've just neglected it for a while. Hopefully I'll be back for a while, I always forget how nice it is to get all your thoughts out.<div><br /></div><div>We've all had so much happen to us over the last 6+ months that I haven't written here, so I guess I'll just give you a quick re-cap to catch you up on what you've missed.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Baby (Amaya)- We had our second child, a beautiful and perfect little girl named Amaya Elise Alvarado, on December 14th, 2011. I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful she is and how in love with her we are. She honestly fits so well into our family and all my doubts about parenting two children (like if I'd love them the same amount, if I'd be able to devote an equal amount of time to each of them, if Liara would do well with sharing the attention... etc) were squished in seconds. We ALL adore her and are so happy she's here. I can't even imagine how our lives were before her anymore. Liara absolutely LOVES her little sister and is so good with her, and Amaya loves her right back... she gives her more smiles and giggles than anyone else and always is looking around following Liara's voice. It makes my heart so happy to see them together. I can't wait to see the mischief they get into together and the bond that is growing every day. She was 7 lbs 11 oz and 21 1/4 inches when she was born... a big girl compared to Liara, and is already up to 12 lbs 6 ounces as of last week (she was 7 weeks then...) so she's my chunky monkey. She has held her head up like a champ since day 2 and is super curious about the world. She loves to eat... she wants to be attached to me every 2 hours on the hour even now at 8 weeks, but that's ok by me. Oh, I love her. Our birthing experience was so wonderful with her, I had her all naturally (hooray for two natural births under my belt!) at a midwife center here in Pearland. I love my midwives and honestly am a little bummed that this is almost surely our last baby, just because that means that I won't get to have another one with the Rite of Passage ladies. I can't believe that Amaya is already almost two months old. Where has the time gone?!</div><div><br /></div><div>Liara- We celebrated Liara's second birthday with a bouncy castle and some close friends at home, which was a lot of fun. She is growing so fast and amazes me every day. Her vocabulary is astonishing and makes me laugh all the time. The other day we were doing puzzles and she asked "Mommy, will you do it? I'm exasperated". Honestly?! What two year old says stuff like that? My daughter does. She speaks in complete complex sentences all the time and is always wanting to learn more. She has started to throw a few fits and temper tantrums (as does every two year old), but is quick to stop and correct herself and "ask nicely" when requested. She's learning. Her hair is finally starting to really come in and is now down to her shoulders in the back (not in front though... she kind of looks like a pixie). She still loves to read and we go to the library every two weeks to pick out roughly 30 books that we focus on... as well as our 50 or so of our own. She also loves to do puzzles, play at the playground, and go to church. She does not like to go to the daycare part though, she wants to be with us in the big church... lol. She still isn't fantastic at being away from Mommy (unless it is someone she knows well, like Daddy or Grandma... then she's fine), but we're working on it. She is still an absolute joy and I love her to pieces. She is so good with her little sister and is my good little helper. We're working on starting to potty train a little bit and she does well some days, and horrible others. She'll wear big girl panties without a problem, but she's hesitant to use the potty and will insist on having a diaper on to go. Oh well, it's still early in the game. </div><div><br /></div><div>Nic- He's so wonderful. He has been transferred to the US office of Fugro here in Houston! We are so pleased and are looking forward to what is going to happen now. He just started with them on the 1st of February, so it's still new, but so far so good. He'll have to travel back and forth to the UK office still pretty often, but at least we're back in the US now! He has been in the UK for the most part since we left Scotland in August. He flew back the 1st of Sept, then was here for a week in October and then came back for Amaya's birth in December. Then he had to go back on the 3rd of January and finally came back on the 25th. It's been hard to be away from him for a month and a half at a time, but we made it through and are glad that it's finally starting to ease up. He's such a great Daddy and is so good with the girls. I really can't tell you how much I appreciate him when he's here (and away...). He's been working on a quad-copter lately which is fun... he is a little obsessed with it. Liara loves to watch him fly it and it is so cute to see them so excited about it together. Perhaps he doesn't need a little boy after all. We're supposed to fly back to Aberdeen together on the 19th to pack up our things there and move out of the house before the end of the month. I'm looking forward to closing that little chapter of our lives and seeing where God takes us now. </div><div><br /></div><div>That leaves me. I'm doing wonderfully. I had another super easy pregnancy and birth and am loving being Mommy to my girls. I can fit into my jeans from before I had Liara (I'm still a little snug in a few of them, but I can get them on!), although I'm nowhere near where I was pre-Amaya. I have to keep reminding myself it's only been 8 weeks though. It'll happen. I've had a massive change of heart as far as my career is concerned... I have decided to go back to school to become a midwife myself. I am so very excited and can't wait to start the coursework. I am really looking forward to helping others have the birth experiences that I have had myself with both my girls and can't wait to be a part of bringing someone's child into the world! I haven't been this excited since I don't even know when. I am beyond thrilled and have been talking to my own midwives about it. They have been super supportive and helpful throughout everything. I know I've got a great support system. The process takes about 3 years to get it all done, so I'll be a CPM (certified professional midwife) right about the time that Liara enters Kindergarten. I think that's a great time to start a new career and begin to shift the focus a little. I love that I'll be able to still spend a ton of time with my girls though, while being a working Mom in a rewarding profession. It really seems to be absolutely perfect for me! I can't wait!</div><div><br /></div><div>That about wraps it up for my little family... </div><div><br /></div><div>My mom was re-diagnosed with breast cancer again today. I'm still in shock a bit and am not quite sure what to think about it. I know that God will work it out and am praying... that's pretty much all I can do at this point. We are waiting on news that will tell us where it is in her body and at what stage she's in. Hopefully we find that out soon so that we can figure out a game plan from there. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers on that one please.</div><div><br /></div><div>Oh! I almost forgot, we might be looking at buying a new house. Nic's office right now is about 10 miles from our house here in Houston, but they are moving to one of the other offices here in Houston before the end of the year (meaning he'd have about an hours commute each way). That's not really ideal, and since we have tenants in the house right now anyway, we are debating leaving them there and just getting another house closer to the 2nd office. That way we don't have to worry about it later. We're talking to the mortgage lady at the moment to see if that's even feasible right now (especially since we had foreign income for the last 4 years). We might have to wait a little bit to get re-established here in the US, but we'll see. It's exciting to think about though! </div><div><br /></div><div>Ok, I'm off to bed... it's 3:30 in the morning and everyone else is sleeping (including Amaya) but she's due to wake up for another feed in about 45 minutes, so I'd better take advantage of the time for some shut eye. </div><div><br /></div><div>I'll try to be better about posting, but no promises! I'll leave you with a few pictures ( they ended up being at the top but I'm too sleepy to mess with it just now... Oh well).</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>Nic and Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911329090133838707noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441695539400706803.post-12319313096132151252011-08-08T11:12:00.002+01:002011-08-08T11:20:12.724+01:00Oh no!Well, we've made our decision, and it looks like I'll be staying in the US with Liara for September and October (and maybe a few days of November too). I'm looking forward to getting some serious work done, helping our family fix some financial instabilities, and seeing some people that I haven't seen in a while. There are a few major events that I'll get to take part in as well, so I'm pretty excited (such as a cousin's bridal shower and the possible birth of my sister-in-law's first baby). Awesome.<div>
<br /></div><div>However... I've fallen behind in my house cleaning, partly due to Liara catching a cold. Yep, just a few days before a 15 hour plane ride. Boo. My poor baby has itchy/watery eyes, a super runny nose, and sneezes every two minutes. She looks miserable, but she's a trooper. She only gets fussy if I'm more than 3 feet away from her (or doing something other than paying attention to her... hmm). I understand that, there's nothing better than a Momma's love when you don't feel well. My only problem with that is that those dishes in my kitchen aren't going to do themselves, the floor isn't self cleaning, the laundry pile is trying to make a comeback and those suitcases I packed for us, well, aren't going to cut it for three months. Oh dear, it looks like it'll be a late night for me tonight... </div><div>
<br /></div><div>If anyone wants to be my maid for a couple days, I'd really appreciate it! This house needs to be spic and span by the time we leave so that Nic doesn't completely destroy it when he's by himself for two months. Oh geez, am I sure about this?! </div>Nic and Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911329090133838707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441695539400706803.post-62283968584008452892011-08-05T16:20:00.003+01:002011-08-05T16:43:08.879+01:00Opportunities come knocking...Look at me, I've become a fairly regular (or at least more frequent) blogger lately. Go me. <div><br /></div><div>I just needed to get some thoughts out of my head and try to make up my mind about some things that will drastically change our living situation for a while. </div><div><br /></div><div>We've been struggling with money lately... we've been able to pay our bills, but there isn't anything left over at the end of the month which is a little nerve wracking when you've got a baby on the way and taxes due at the end of the year (5k worth of taxes... eek!). It's been something that has weighed heavily on my (and Nic's) mind and we've had many a discussion about it. We've thought about me going back to work, but with childcare costs and whatnot, it really isn't that great of an option (especially since I can't teach here unless it's at an international school). We've thought about him going offshore for a while, but that isn't a fantastic option either. We were running out of ideas. </div><div><br /></div><div>That's when I got a heads up about a possibility from a past employer regarding testing (again... something I am very interested in and enjoy doing). It has super flexible hours (so I could stay home with Liara still) and is fantastic money. Plus, it's in my field of study and gives me more experience in a career I'm interested in following. Win-win right? Well...</div><div><br /></div><div>There is a slight downside. By slight, I would mean that I'd have to stay in the US without Nicolas for a while. Yes, while pregnant and with an 18-21 month old. Basically, I'd stay in Houston instead of returning back at the end of the month, and stay until the beginning of November. Then Liara and I would come back to the UK for November and December, then head back for more work in January. I'd stay there until the work was done (it's calibrating and standardizing a test) and then return with Nic... unless he's able to convince his work that he can work from home in the US and travel back and forth to the UK as needed. He's already talked to his boss about it, but no decision has been made. It wouldn't have any effect on his schooling since it's distance education and he would be able to take his exams at any university.</div><div><br /></div><div>That's a lot to have happen just 5 days before you leave for a trip. I'm not sure whether to pack for three weeks or three months... I'm sure I'll figure it out though. I'll have more info from my former boss tonight, so hopefully that'll help us make up our minds. Either way, we're looking forward to being back in the US, however long it may be for. Keep us in your thoughts/prayers please... we could use some good vibes to figure out what the heck we're doing!</div>Nic and Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911329090133838707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441695539400706803.post-90203956983156422582011-08-03T13:47:00.005+01:002011-08-03T13:54:37.132+01:00Wordless Wednesday!<div><br /></div>I don't normally do Wordless Wednesdays, but I had some cute pictures of Li that I just have to share. Perhaps I should do it more often :)<div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Liara as she says "cheese" for the camera (yes, there is a bruise on her forehead... one of the many bruises she's been sporting lately)<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieqqSTP_3mO24NfFqldaPyVzz5leDNJmN6s_gt-_s9wObSpZuMVNDofKo4Md3-Ajt9Lp9Ceg1ccaWg97JNMvn0bUcVNp-lPx9UfiSFKVKNAICnEjH2znQbuQsV4kyai-DouX1z_RY2ELk/s1600/IMG_0514.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieqqSTP_3mO24NfFqldaPyVzz5leDNJmN6s_gt-_s9wObSpZuMVNDofKo4Md3-Ajt9Lp9Ceg1ccaWg97JNMvn0bUcVNp-lPx9UfiSFKVKNAICnEjH2znQbuQsV4kyai-DouX1z_RY2ELk/s400/IMG_0514.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636610980995730722" /></a><br /></div><div>Another picture of my beautiful little girl. Man, we're going to be in trouble when she starts liking boys.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS6AJLRDBbPw8NtSM2fkD4VXvjdjYgRapyiFi2RL-70YFWevpHIFknQiklRL1Ay5evHG0NMuYqdKJVHhwT5B6Npzt4p_pTGW0xhy4JfMsmcrZsfIPXrpdNzibNkQy6URrCMjRi9JqHRN8/s1600/IMG_0511.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS6AJLRDBbPw8NtSM2fkD4VXvjdjYgRapyiFi2RL-70YFWevpHIFknQiklRL1Ay5evHG0NMuYqdKJVHhwT5B6Npzt4p_pTGW0xhy4JfMsmcrZsfIPXrpdNzibNkQy6URrCMjRi9JqHRN8/s400/IMG_0511.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636610979163456994" /></a><br /></div><div>A smiling picture with her Dink :) I love that you can see the smile even with it in her mouth.</div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUjtYRn9Dgdx4eNLcvBKAOGHXteLVWzcdblL5wK3GL-LjuGDSL6-cleaN4k-9NFqIkX22-Cjm1ClyVKA-jzXOoBWqG48XpQrz6t5tCDJBp8uUaclXB-laJFadFj3KJq-SRSKzXWexw3WI/s1600/IMG_0510.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUjtYRn9Dgdx4eNLcvBKAOGHXteLVWzcdblL5wK3GL-LjuGDSL6-cleaN4k-9NFqIkX22-Cjm1ClyVKA-jzXOoBWqG48XpQrz6t5tCDJBp8uUaclXB-laJFadFj3KJq-SRSKzXWexw3WI/s400/IMG_0510.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636610976096842386" /></a><br /></div><div>Playing in the suitcase is so much fun...</div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO01ouieIc5vbN0vda-H5Z2Xkvwzv8Bl0gqRPjUCMU8q0VgGhNxDMBj7cT_knRDC_rszpfW91YudH02r8j-o73r25u2q_hBedIwnSaoYcT8iuaeOeL9rrc9eEQJbANXcDpJ_M3Ct357tI/s1600/IMG_0507.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO01ouieIc5vbN0vda-H5Z2Xkvwzv8Bl0gqRPjUCMU8q0VgGhNxDMBj7cT_knRDC_rszpfW91YudH02r8j-o73r25u2q_hBedIwnSaoYcT8iuaeOeL9rrc9eEQJbANXcDpJ_M3Ct357tI/s400/IMG_0507.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636610966088630002" /></a>Liara playing Peek-a-boo in one of our suitcases.</div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigX4WaNtJHiv5hC9WmZ7IpyFJAugQYlbYWG5sBVziWuV8K5jDuFlZXEKOM8MU7qkCygchiWOkGV-6op2PQJK7zW3_patoR1R7Rll71galxTSdwJdmQjJJra41zKwtffk9EbO4Swfa6LXM/s1600/IMG_0506.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigX4WaNtJHiv5hC9WmZ7IpyFJAugQYlbYWG5sBVziWuV8K5jDuFlZXEKOM8MU7qkCygchiWOkGV-6op2PQJK7zW3_patoR1R7Rll71galxTSdwJdmQjJJra41zKwtffk9EbO4Swfa6LXM/s400/IMG_0506.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5636610963683161938" /></a><br /><div>Happy Wednesday everyone!</div><div><br /></div></div>Nic and Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911329090133838707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441695539400706803.post-50588058114603155152011-07-28T15:38:00.003+01:002011-07-28T15:58:42.383+01:00Look!Two posts in the same week! Aren't you lucky!<div><br /></div><div>I just had to share a few more cute things that Liara is doing lately, things I forgot to mention last post.</div><div><br /></div><div>- Any time a helicopter flies overhead (which is often... we're right on the direct path of the choppers picking up/dropping off guys to and from the rigs in the North Sea for their shift changes) Liara points to the sky (or the windows if we're inside) and says "OOH Copter!" She then waves like a mad woman until she can't hear or see it anymore. It's adorable, even when she wakes up from a nap to do it (yes, she's done that several times...).</div><div><br /></div><div>-One of her favorite games/hobbies is running. She will shout that she's "running!" and then run from one end of the house to the other. Then shout "running!" again and run back. Over and over again. </div><div><br /></div><div>-She's very self-sustaining. When she wants a snack, she'll go get one (most likely cereal or a pretzel from the tub on the table, which means she gets to climb onto one of the chairs) or if she's thirsty, she'll get a bottle of water from the cupboard and bring it to you to open. Oh, she's making my life so much easier!</div><div><br /></div><div>-She still LOVES to dance. Anytime there's music on (and there aren't strangers around), she's dancing to it. She then looks around the room and points at you until you're dancing with her. Everyone has to dance.</div><div><br /></div><div>- Did I say she loves to read... because I really meant it. Today we have read 84 books so far (it's 3:45)... I decided to keep track, just to see. It's no wonder she gets bored with our books and loves when we go to the library! I love that she's a bookworm and can just see her absorbing all those glorious words!</div><div><br /></div><div>-She is very aware when the phone rings and will shout "phone" and get it and bring it to you if it is nearby. If not, she continues to shout "oh no! Phone!" until you get it. </div><div><br /></div><div>-She's a great helper. If you are doing laundry she will empty the washing machine for you, put the dirty clothes in, and then wait for you to add the soap. When you're done, she'll push the start button and then clap. What really gets me is that she loves to smell the clothes to see if they're clean and will let you know the results (either "YUCK" or "mmmm"). Lol. She also helps to pick up her toys and will fetch anything you ask for (as long as she can carry/reach it).</div><div><br /></div><div>-She always wakes up happy. She gives the best morning hugs and kisses, and will always wave at you. My favorite part though, is if Daddy's still sleeping, she'll imitate him (making a snoring sound) and then giggle. :) Too funny.</div><div><br /></div><div>-She loves to tickle people. Although it's more of her saying "tickle tickle" and almost scratching you... it's still cute.</div><div><br /></div><div>-She loves baths. She doesn't ever want to get out (but will if you say it's time) and just plays and plays and plays in there. Her favorite bath time toy is her tea set, and she'll pour you a mean cup of bath water tea. </div><div><br /></div><div>-She gives love pats when she hugs. I love this!</div><div><br /></div><div>-She used to make this face (we never caught it on camera and she hasn't made it in over a week now... bummer) that cracked us up. She would tilt her head down and look out of the top of her eyes (like she was rolling her eyes at you...) and keep a super serious face, then she'd look up and laugh. Oh, it was cute. I'm hoping it'll come back and I can catch it. She just never wanted to do it on film.</div><div><br /></div><div>-She gets on the scale every morning before breakfast... I'm pretty sure she's seen me do it to check my weight gain for this pregnancy. Perhaps not the best habit for a child, but it's still pretty cute.</div><div><br /></div><div>Ok... my little girl is tired of "running" now, so I'll go. </div>Nic and Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911329090133838707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441695539400706803.post-7478314799196035112011-07-26T22:32:00.003+01:002011-07-26T23:26:16.170+01:00All My ChildrenOk, so I figured I'd start with the baby. We had our 20 week ultrasound on Monday (our third and final ultrasound, that we know of). The baby looked beautiful and was perfectly formed as it should be. We got to fully inspect the heart ventricles and cavities, brain, spine, legs, kidneys, arms... etc. Pretty much everything except the genitalia. If you missed it when we were pregnant with Liara, they don't tell you the sex of the baby here. If you ask, they tend to get really grumpy about it and point out the numerous signs on the wall saying that they don't determine the sex of the baby and they'd prefer if you didn't ask about it (we found this out when we asked WHERE we could go to find out the sex if we so desired with Liara. We didn't even ask her specifically if she would tell us, just where we could go to find out). There are private clinics here that you can go to, they normally charge around 60 pounds (100 dollars) for a 2D sexing scan, or around 120 pounds for a 3D one. We decided not to with Liara since it didn't really matter and we aren't sure whether we'll find out with this one either. Again, it doesn't really matter what sex the baby is (and we have a feeling it's a girl anyway) and we'll find out in 20 weeks anyway! The tech this time was pretty nice and gave us 6 pictures to take home (usually it's 3-4) including these two which were my favorites. I have all of them on facebook if you're interested in seeing the others.<div><br /></div><div>This one is our sweet baby waving it's hand at us. We told Liara that the baby was waving at her and she seemed to like that. She didn't really understand what was going on while we were there (and was a little more impatient this time than the other two, but they were shorter than this one was so I guess that was expected). I love how you can see each little finger so well... such a nice little hand print to keep :)<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghQAEoUqEBWLR1skgxOOh_8QOHpDLp05988mO_mhzWwBOmVXz7FHsGUC-VvQdGeBfpjNd3VY3ujbexSF9hb0AZ88Wtz6gYcU8-UiSjRm-1IpYCInXd-XTqS6NobKXwc8dq8r8mI4_uioQ/s1600/20+wk+scan+5.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 283px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghQAEoUqEBWLR1skgxOOh_8QOHpDLp05988mO_mhzWwBOmVXz7FHsGUC-VvQdGeBfpjNd3VY3ujbexSF9hb0AZ88Wtz6gYcU8-UiSjRm-1IpYCInXd-XTqS6NobKXwc8dq8r8mI4_uioQ/s400/20+wk+scan+5.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5633777936099759378" /></a>This one (pardon the huge spaces... Nic scanned the pictures in at work and I haven't taken the time to crop off the extra space around the edges) is our baby's face. The baby kept sucking it's thumb and then for this picture pulled it out and yelled a little. I think it was tired of the tech trying to get it to move around so that she could see all the valves in the heart. I like how it looks like it's smiling though... even if it isn't.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQaLcSKTD3wa76j4rSIK7W1U0mjF2M0YcGNOl71dWqx9bzGNbmlyEKoMbckoYfENQmDJUaEXJNMNTJxZHWBalhMFBFIpprfw4fC4GyUqB3TmOSACk3_vK3_hjV94WWnap5FLeWGnXlamc/s1600/20+wk+scan+2.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 283px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQaLcSKTD3wa76j4rSIK7W1U0mjF2M0YcGNOl71dWqx9bzGNbmlyEKoMbckoYfENQmDJUaEXJNMNTJxZHWBalhMFBFIpprfw4fC4GyUqB3TmOSACk3_vK3_hjV94WWnap5FLeWGnXlamc/s400/20+wk+scan+2.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5633777931684662898" /></a><br /></div><div>Ok. Onto our first sweet baby, or toddler that is. I can't believe she's already 18 months! She's growing like a weed and it seems like every day she's saying more and more (because she is... she's learning about 10 new words a day I swear) and doing more and more (again... she is). She's such a joy and I can't even express in words how much I love that girl! We loved her name because it meant "my light" in Hebrew and to be honest, I think it's perfect for her. She definitely lights up my life and I'm not sure how I faced the world without her. She has made me so unbelievably happy. Anyway, enough about how she makes me feel... on to the good stuff: what's been going on for her.</div><div><br /></div><div>Height: 31.5"</div><div><br /></div><div>Weight: According to our scale (which is probably wrong) 23 lbs</div><div><br /></div><div>Likes: Playing with Mommy, building towers with blocks, climbing on any chairs or object that will get her higher than she's supposed to be, playing with playdoh, doing puzzles, re-organizing our movie drawers, reading (Li LOVES to read), bath time, playing with her sand table, playing with the kitties across the street, visiting the ponies/horses, helping Mommy with laundry, swinging, playing with her friends, jumping on the couch/trampoline/floor... dancing, singing and painting.</div><div><br />Dislikes: Being away from Mommy...</div><div><br /></div><div>Favorite Foods: Shepard's pie, carrots, peas, potatoes, candy, cookies, pizza, cheese, milk, water (this girl LOVES water... especially if it's flavored), blueberries, strawberries, plums, nectarines. She likes pretty much anything though.</div><div><br /></div><div>Foods she doesn't care for: Raspberries</div><div><br /></div><div>Animal Sounds: Cow (moo), Cat (meow), Dog (woof and aoooo for howling), Donkey (hee-haw), Owl (who who), Sheep (baa), Goat (maa), Horse (she whinnies, SO cute), Goose (honk), Bee (bzz), Snake (ssss), Duck (quack)</div><div><br /></div><div>Words she says (this isn't a complete list, as I can't remember them all... but I figure ~150 will give you a general idea): Mommy/Mama, Daddy, Book, More, Oh no, Uh oh, Bike, Shoes, Cheese, Banana, Belly Button, Nose, Black, Red, Green, Purple, Go, Sock, Out, Shirt, Dink (pacifier), Teeth, Booby, Milk, Bob (Godfather), Grandpa, Mick (Mickey Mouse), Yeah, Cat, Tea, Bye, No, Good, Girl, Hello, Hi, Ball, Wow, Drink, Juice, Broke, Cow, Pringle, Please, Rock, Up, Weee!, Awww!, Man, Back (both for the back of the body and coming back from somewhere), Toes, Come, Night, Pee, Phone, Cookie, Help, At, Paint, Work, Bath, One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Snack, Duck, House, Kite, Dog, Nap, Big, Sorry, Hot, Pretty, Ring, In, Minnie, Water, Mat, Bug, Birdie, Bum, Car, Money, Home, Horse, Manny, Plum, Candy, Poky, Puppy, Giggle, Tickle, Best, Sister, Friend, Bottle, Walk, Carry, Ella (her friend), Brush, Bite, Bus, Bee, Shower, Potty, What's That, Clothes, Bed, Morning, Trash, TV, Chair, Cold, Lotion, Airplane, Pizza, Dinner, Eye, Ear, Mouth, Read, Honey, Movie, Wet, Baby, Sleeping, Windy, Heavy, Booger, Mess, Dressed, Running, Bag, Play, Swing, Slide, Park, Ride, Moon, Tay Tay (her cousin), Dax (her cousin), Cup, Tower, Swim, Hair, Boots, Puzzle, Glasses, Build, Ta (Scottish way of saying thank you), Toys... you get the idea. </div><div><br /></div><div>She can combine those words in strings... usually up to three words (like "mommy build tower", or "daddy at work?" "more pringles please" etc...). I'm certainly proud of her and am so pleased that we're communicating enough now to actually really understand each other. It's so nice!</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>She's growing so fast and becoming such a big girl. She's polite and helpful and wonderful in every way. Yes, she throws a mean fit every now and then, but it's very few and far between them, so that's understandable. Most of the time it's when she's overly hungry or tired anyway... </div><div><br /></div><div>She's more beautiful than I ever imagined. I think she looks so much like her Daddy, but every now and then I see myself in her (or more often, my father... which makes me happy). She's very funny too, I'm glad she has a sense of humor! Oh, I am so in love with this girl it hurts sometimes.</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, here are a few pictures for you. This first one is one of my favorites, despite the bit of cereal still on her face from breakfast :)</div><div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2yTIdL3nEbacMZKvEAgvVP9WSDUHywh6BfO3MzbS8JCQjzIH0yqyb8ljbKauhTzPtAK-Og3waoROiEDgrnURtXFnMYf89_FXOtZxrDixxVzrGRPE4Qh9O2BsyuBuyUXJ3SLrfEo49F7U/s1600/IMG_0500.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2yTIdL3nEbacMZKvEAgvVP9WSDUHywh6BfO3MzbS8JCQjzIH0yqyb8ljbKauhTzPtAK-Og3waoROiEDgrnURtXFnMYf89_FXOtZxrDixxVzrGRPE4Qh9O2BsyuBuyUXJ3SLrfEo49F7U/s400/IMG_0500.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5633777931038593042" /></a>She's very inquisitive... here, she's looking for the cats at the neighbor's house. She knows they live in that barn and was checking to see if they were home (yep!).<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi54fcKKegeER90tBvX4llQE8RCUvEKasPAVzYXZTX-okxyUxObxm5gzGiMRXoS1zJ48yk2ZQGtOaFqmAyf0FL75cQvu8G4mPDagXsliQZEx34L73kHhMtAs4dTznxbYHrqd1lZ0y-VB3I/s1600/IMG_0486.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi54fcKKegeER90tBvX4llQE8RCUvEKasPAVzYXZTX-okxyUxObxm5gzGiMRXoS1zJ48yk2ZQGtOaFqmAyf0FL75cQvu8G4mPDagXsliQZEx34L73kHhMtAs4dTznxbYHrqd1lZ0y-VB3I/s400/IMG_0486.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5633777927682948978" /></a>Here's Li playing in one of the ball pits/bouncy castles at Fugro's family bbq from the 3rd of July. She had a lot of fun.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimv895VkjlZmmayOS_ovYMgnCU7pv7HVxUfDMo1uefmG5nOH5ihQlTm-a_evswZwnPtG1-GgVJiRr5Ej23f0qAaANJKZTW7TX97OlvfKuBMsfzfjsdjXsUgqZfjD2v84KZ12d8bqBYtA4/s1600/IMG_0427.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimv895VkjlZmmayOS_ovYMgnCU7pv7HVxUfDMo1uefmG5nOH5ihQlTm-a_evswZwnPtG1-GgVJiRr5Ej23f0qAaANJKZTW7TX97OlvfKuBMsfzfjsdjXsUgqZfjD2v84KZ12d8bqBYtA4/s400/IMG_0427.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5633777926020837266" /></a>I think that about wraps it up... I can't think of anything else (but that's not to say there isn't more!). I'm off to bed now! Goodnight :)</div>Nic and Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911329090133838707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441695539400706803.post-38124874555434071392011-07-26T10:14:00.002+01:002011-07-26T10:17:45.163+01:00Raincheck...I DO have a post for you guys about my sweet 18 month old and all of her accomplishments. I even have a word list going of all the things she can say (it's quite long and I know I'm still missing tons!). I also have an update on baby dos, since we had an ultrasound yesterday.<div><br /></div><div>However... my house is a mess and Liara is a busy girl making it even more of a disaster zone. For some reason she's quite clumsy today as well (perhaps because she's tripping over some of her toys every two seconds because I haven't had a second to pick them all up...) so I'm trying to watch her like a hawk. </div><div><br /></div><div>I WILL get to it, I promise... just maybe not until bedtime. :) I haven't forgotten though, and I can't wait to share just how proud I am of my children (yep... both of them!).</div>Nic and Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911329090133838707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441695539400706803.post-23759775627300486082011-07-10T00:37:00.002+01:002011-07-10T00:47:13.174+01:00Things that make me smile :)Yep, you get two posts today... one not so happy, and then this one! To be honest, I prefer the smiling faces of my sweet girl and amazing husband. This is the way life should be, always.<div><br /></div><div>Here's Nic and my adorable kitty cat, Liara. Yes, the lady did a pretty awful job and Liara cried while she painted it on (and while she tried to rub it off completely)... but we got a few smiles in the middle.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiZCkgRlOQdGwgHhuGz1ayVdMJzByWEuTAV1mf3EWIhQPkJR7FQFF2qbf-OFoVUtHXEkQYuujTkrDU7SfdKu3KKHIVSabHNZY9cdR3km2PJ9bnO0ySaHAxP4UJ-DTCo47UqiZ53nR5QHU/s1600/IMG_0401.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiZCkgRlOQdGwgHhuGz1ayVdMJzByWEuTAV1mf3EWIhQPkJR7FQFF2qbf-OFoVUtHXEkQYuujTkrDU7SfdKu3KKHIVSabHNZY9cdR3km2PJ9bnO0ySaHAxP4UJ-DTCo47UqiZ53nR5QHU/s400/IMG_0401.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5627501674414622082" /></a>Here's Liara and I going down a massive slide at one of the nearby parks. <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd02Oz_GrvGgeLN-APR3RBZyUaNXqDTgrDuNfrfjQwxshv33xr51QL_Y33glz2UFPohKwZWRsqglbNZzj4I4Xh9DKMIWqfD2mWSWPE0Hg9yzlQMsLXgvD32Xq6q8_NSyVVvVuq7SFtL6g/s1600/IMG_0384.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd02Oz_GrvGgeLN-APR3RBZyUaNXqDTgrDuNfrfjQwxshv33xr51QL_Y33glz2UFPohKwZWRsqglbNZzj4I4Xh9DKMIWqfD2mWSWPE0Hg9yzlQMsLXgvD32Xq6q8_NSyVVvVuq7SFtL6g/s400/IMG_0384.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5627501668158664818" /></a>My girl L.O.V.E.S. to swing. She's just like I was as a kid (who am I kidding... I'm still a massive swing lover). I love how happy she is as soon as she's in one :)<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk7-USx-LihbIG_g2MJmg-OBaRmDlEsSu_QVBrQBHHI4KLJcchVBl-FApZk0B59Q5R9ipxOD609VQy4iRCRgYROhlu9fUwPa3d0jKwJ7mClltzd7Fg1VdZjIQEGtndGN6IymUzdnRK2Xo/s1600/IMG_0373.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk7-USx-LihbIG_g2MJmg-OBaRmDlEsSu_QVBrQBHHI4KLJcchVBl-FApZk0B59Q5R9ipxOD609VQy4iRCRgYROhlu9fUwPa3d0jKwJ7mClltzd7Fg1VdZjIQEGtndGN6IymUzdnRK2Xo/s400/IMG_0373.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5627501666545060162" /></a>This next picture was taken at a friend's wedding... and it makes my heart burst every time I see it. How in the world can anyone love someone more than I love these two people? Oh, they make me happy.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8bLqYn2WYOzKewnCDx3ur99Kc__J1yj9aEogEnIKYI9N1Y0ZuE4D63U79md9QDKyq6JIXEVL0E4h_Q6ihKOyuzqb2vSFQoFWLe-i-ay3chsJ8cnAqdXCBwgMGgMYyoP_9TXPRKw9BGlI/s1600/IMG_0344.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8bLqYn2WYOzKewnCDx3ur99Kc__J1yj9aEogEnIKYI9N1Y0ZuE4D63U79md9QDKyq6JIXEVL0E4h_Q6ihKOyuzqb2vSFQoFWLe-i-ay3chsJ8cnAqdXCBwgMGgMYyoP_9TXPRKw9BGlI/s400/IMG_0344.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5627501652478224706" /></a>And, lastly... my sweet smiling girl. Overwhelming, I tell you. Love, love, love.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg526tIF0iPNcKuH6HGvXbzCal_VqqQ_JihLf8qKjWfr8tXcUDI-OWlq97O_3tl8pP7ar20AjuTaHvuxIw6BVI4MF4BGmrNsWhKlcV8A8R8475klA7gNLSOs7K9cochvqmSX3xJsqn5l1Y/s1600/IMG_0336.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg526tIF0iPNcKuH6HGvXbzCal_VqqQ_JihLf8qKjWfr8tXcUDI-OWlq97O_3tl8pP7ar20AjuTaHvuxIw6BVI4MF4BGmrNsWhKlcV8A8R8475klA7gNLSOs7K9cochvqmSX3xJsqn5l1Y/s400/IMG_0336.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5627501645052802082" /></a><br /></div>Nic and Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911329090133838707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441695539400706803.post-90814931870242339622011-07-10T00:00:00.002+01:002011-07-10T00:34:38.038+01:00ConflictedI know it's been a while since I've last posted... it isn't because there isn't anything going on or that there is an especially large amount to write about either. We've just been living life as it comes and trying to prepare ourselves for the massive change ahead. I'll be 18 weeks along in this pregnancy on Monday (it's late Saturday night) and our precious little girl is going to be 18 months on the 23rd. I can't even begin to tell you how overjoyed/sad that makes me. I don't know how I should be feeling really. My baby girl is growing up so very fast. On one hand I am unbelievably proud and happy with her, on the other, I wonder about the baby in my belly, and if I'll feel this way about them as well. I know I'll love them unconditionally and that I'll be proud of him/her in the same way... but will I have the time to really appreciate all that I do now? Or will I be so frantic trying to keep up with the both of them that their childhoods simply pass me by? I feel like if I blink for too long that I'll miss something with Liara... something I would have liked to have seen and treasured. So far, I've caught every momentous occasion (first step, first word, first hug, first kiss, first time to stack blocks into a tower, first pretty much everything). Will I be so blessed with our second child? Who knew that you could be so completely happy and yet so fearful at the same time?<div><br /></div><div>I've been watching Mildred Pierce on TV (although I'm not sure exactly why... I end up feeling a little depressed after every part, I only have two left and I'm pretty glad about it). In the second episode/part (spoiler if you haven't seen it...) her youngest daughter dies and she deals with it by crawling into bed with her oldest. A friend of mine was recently discussing what she would do if she lost one of her children and how she'd be grateful that she at least still had one and could still be considered a Mom. Both of these instances (Mildred climbing into bed and my friends' discussion) have left me a little heartbroken. I am pretty certain that if I lost either child, I'd fall apart. Yes, I'd try to hold myself together so that I could still be there to support the other child... but I'm not sure how successful I'd be. I certainly wouldn't feel like one was enough of a replacement for another. I can't even begin to explain the love I have for Liara and I don't think anyone could ever take her place or fill a void should she somehow be gone (God forbid, I'd lose it). Yet, at the same time... I would never ever consider this second child to be a "back up" either and I can't even imagine losing him/her, despite not ever really meeting them yet. </div><div><br /></div><div>I'm not sure where all the morbid thoughts are coming from, but they scare me. Maybe because I'm a little scared about having two children. Not the actual act of raising them or labor even, but the part about where you are supposed to treat them equally. I've always felt that my sister was my mother's favorite. It bothered me a little as a kid, but I felt like my sister needed that love a little more than I did, so it was ok. I played more of a supporting role in the family (in more ways than one) and to be honest, it's helped me turn out into who I am today. I'm perfectly fine with that. However... I don't want my children to feel that way. I want them to both feel like they are the center of my universe and that I just absolutely adore them (as I hope Liara feels now). I'm just not sure how to go about doing that. I guess it will probably just happen naturally when the time comes. Or, at least, that's what I'm hoping. </div><div><br /></div><div>I tend to get very introspective when Nic is away... he's on a business trip at the moment so I guess you get to hear my ramblings instead of him (perhaps that's why I don't blog often, because he's my sounding board). Poor you. Haha. I'm a little jealous of him this time. He's flying to Houston for a meeting on Monday, then flying back on Tuesday afternoon. We have already booked our flights for our family vacation in August (we'll be in Houston for about 3 weeks!) and I'm super excited about it. I can't wait to be back on American soil. I'm jealous that he gets to go now, even if it is a stressful time for him professionally (he's trying to win an important contract) and it is a super short turn around time. I am just so unbelievably homesick. I feel like we are stuck over here. When we moved over here I thought it was going to be this grand adventure, and that we would travel all of Europe and do exciting things... and then after that, we'd go back home. I figured we'd be here for about two years, just long enough. </div><div>We'll have lived here four years in October, and yet we've only seen the UK. Well, Nic has been to Paris and Norway and a few other places on business... but I didn't get to tag along for various reasons. And four is definitely more than two. I didn't picture us having two kids while living across the ocean from all our family and close friends. I didn't know just how much I loved my own country (I did, but didn't fully appreciate it). I didn't know just how much of an outsider I would feel like over here. Yes, we have friends over here, and they are wonderful. However, I can't help but feel like I'm missing out at home. I can't help but feel like we've put our lives on hold a little while we are over here. I can't help but want, no scratch that, NEED to go home. I will have to deal with just looking forward to our visit in August and then the baby coming in December. After that, it will be Liara's 2nd birthday, and then I'll have to come up with something else to look forward to, I'm sure I'll think of something. </div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, I'm off to bed to start a new book (I might actually have time to read since there aren't as many people to cook/clean for or clothes to iron, etc.). Hopefully Nic will call to say he's arrived safely and then I'll get a good nights sleep alone in my big ol' bed. I think one of Liara's books has a recording of someone snoring... maybe I'll have to pull that out just so I can trick myself into thinking Nic is there. Pathetic I know. Goodnight!</div>Nic and Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911329090133838707noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441695539400706803.post-89474169062855792312011-05-23T15:05:00.002+01:002011-05-23T15:11:57.993+01:00Week 11... AGAIN!Well, we went for our first ultrasound with baby number 2 today (aka Baby Dos) and everything went wonderfully. The baby was super active and waving/kicking everywhere, making good use of the space while they have it! :) Liara slept through her first scan, so it was nice to see a very active teeny tiny baby in there. We got to see the heartbeat as well, although she had the sound off so we didn't get to actually hear it, which is a bummer. Maybe that's why I didn't cry this time and was all smiles... who knows. Perhaps it was that there was only one baby in there (I've been having dreams non stop that there were twins... whew!). Regardless, we were supposed to get our down's screening today as well, but it turns out that we're only 11 weeks along (as opposed to 12), so it's still to early. That means that we'll be getting three ultrasounds this time instead of two, so that's exciting. We'll get our next one in two weeks :)<div><br /></div><div>Liara has been a stinker today, throwing fits left and right. It's to the point where I've asked her where my good girl is and she responds with "good girl gone". :( NOOOO!!!! I love my good girl and am looking forward to her return. Perhaps it's the lack of nap, we'll try that.</div><div><br /></div><div>Nic took the scan pictures with him to work to scan in for me since our printer/scanner is being a loser. I'll post the pictures from this afternoon when I get them :)</div>Nic and Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911329090133838707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441695539400706803.post-41908521448288686892011-05-19T14:42:00.002+01:002011-05-19T14:54:16.685+01:00Always Trust Your Gut!So I had my second midwife appointment on Tuesday and all was well, or at least until the end when she asked me if I'd phoned in to get my results for my urinalysis from the previous week (um, no... you always give me the results so why would I call?). She said the tech had seen some bacteria in my urine suggesting that I had an urinary tract infection and that I was prescribed amoxicillin. I said ok, kind of shocked, and went on my way. Once I actually was at the pharmacy filling the prescription, it dawned on me that I can't take it... Liara is allergic to penicillin and amoxicillin IS passed on through breast milk. I phoned the doctor's office back that afternoon while Li was taking her nap and spoke to one of the doctors on duty. To be honest... I was really disappointed in the care for the first time since living here. The doctor (we'll call her Dr.W) said that I'd have to take it anyway and suggested that I just stop breastfeeding for the week I had to take it. Um, wrong answer. I hung up and mulled it over for a while. I kept thinking that there has to be some other option. I decided I'd use the tube intended for collecting an urine sample for my next midwife appointment to give them another urine sample to test. I peed in my little cup and dropped it off that afternoon. In the meantime, I began pumping so that I would have some breast milk to give her while I took it if that's what I had to do. I was getting frustrated because my supply is JUST what Liara needs and I was only getting about two ounces after each feed since she was getting her full first. :/ So today, after two days of fretting and thinking... it dawned on me. What do pregnant women who are allergic to amoxicillin take? Why can't I have that? I called the doctors' office again and didn't get an answer, so I phoned the midwife center and spoke to a REALLY helpful midwife. She looked at my file, said it was strange, and asked me if I had any other symptoms. Foul smelling pee? Nope. Pain during urination? Nope. Cloudy urine? Nope. Blood? Nope. Hmm... she said it'd be best to give another sample to double check, but if there was an infection that there were TWO other drugs they could give me instead that would be ok. Booya. I told her about dropping off the urine sample on Tuesday afternoon on a whim and she said she'd see that they rushed it and to call back this afternoon. So, I called. Completely clean. <div><br /></div><div>What a pain in the ass for nothing! I'm so glad I trusted my gut, but at least now I know that if I DID have an urine infection there WOULD be something I could take that wouldn't cause Liara to have a reaction. Shame on Dr.W for just giving the "easy" answer to quit breastfeeding. I hate it when doctors do that. You obviously aren't doing your job and you don't have our best interests in mind. Maybe you should find another profession. :P</div>Nic and Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911329090133838707noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441695539400706803.post-12499702222046018672011-05-13T21:53:00.002+01:002011-05-13T22:19:24.312+01:00Woah Baby...Ok, I know I was showing fairly soon last time (as in 12 weeks...), but I'm already busting out the rubber band tricks to get the last little bit of wear out of my jeans before I have to pack them away for a while. What's that you say? 'But you're only 10 weeks?' Yeah... tell me about it. Come on body! I was really enjoying those size 6's thank you very much. I guess my challenge now is to see if I can fit in my size 8 dress that I have been planning on wearing to a friends wedding on the 1st of June. Please, oh please don't make me buy a new dress... I'd rather spend the money on other things. <div><br /></div><div>My mother-in-law has just bought me a bunch (as in 3 pairs of pants, 2 sweaters, two dresses, and a shawl thing... sweet!) of new maternity clothes since I sent all of mine to my sister in law (who is also expecting... she's a month ahead of me with her first! YAY) before we found out we were having baby number 2. I'm excited for that... to be honest, I wasn't really looking forward to wearing the same stuff over again. </div><div><br /></div><div>I've been super emotional today... I'll chalk that up to baby hormones. I cried watching American Idol (why in the world did James have to go?!), even though I already knew what was going to happen. I cried during a commercial for some beer (I didn't catch the name) just because the guy was being nice to his girlfriend. I've cried today because a friend's child made a sweet comment about her and her husband being in love. What haven't I cried about today?! Ugh. </div><div><br /></div><div>I know i'm a bit random today, but my head is all over the place right now and to be honest... if I don't write in stream of consciousness this time, I won't write an entry at all so I figured it was better than nothing, right? Welcome to my life at the moment- a bit obscure and hard to understand. </div><div><br /></div><div>I've been so freaking thirsty lately (maybe it's to make up for the water loss in tears!). I'm seriously on my 6th bottle of water today. I've also been craving KFC, but when we went today it just wasn't what I was hoping for. Probably because I was craving AMERICAN KFC, not Scottish KFC, but I guess it was close enough. At least it's not Taco Bell like with Liara... they don't have a Scottish version of that over here. To be honest, I'm looking forward to Nic taking his GRE on the 25th so we will be in Edinburgh and I know there's a Quizno's there. How sad is that?! I'm also looking forward to our trip to Houston in August so that Nic and I can have a date night and go to this little Mom & Pop Italian place that we used to frequent before movies. They have a buffet and OH, is it good. I have food on the brain... what can I say.</div><div><br /></div><div>I've been worried a little about this baby's birthday. Not because I'm scared of labor... I'm actually looking forward to doing it again and hoping I can have another natural child birth experience. What I'm worried about is Liara. I want to make the transition from being an only child to being a big sister as easy as possible. I worry about who's going to watch her and how long they'll make me stay in the hospital away from her (last time it was 24 hours since there was meconium in my water), so I'm hoping this baby won't be in distress at all and will wait to poop until he's out so that we can go home in three hours. I'd much rather be at home with my girl and baby than stuck in the hospital like last time. She's never been away from Nic and I for more than 3 hours (and that was only 1 time... and she had two baby sitters- one was her godfather and one was a family friend). I guess we'll have to see if we can work on that some before this one comes so she is prepared for some time away from Mommy and Daddy while I'm in labor. My midwife was trying to push a home labor on me this time, and I'd totally go for it if I thought Nic would be comfortable with it (He's totally 100% not). I want everyone be comfortable and relaxed... it makes a huge difference.</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, I'm going to go spend some time with my sweet husband. 'Night!</div>Nic and Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911329090133838707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441695539400706803.post-20722785143464901022011-04-27T21:36:00.002+01:002011-04-27T21:44:19.584+01:00Round Two!So I'm a bad blogger... I think we're all used to this by now and have just come to accept the fact that I don't update enough. Meh.<div><br /></div><div>I have news this time though! We're having another baby (as long as God still thinks it's a good idea). I'm a little over 8 weeks and due on December 5th. I have my next midwife appointment on the 10th of May and we'll start this whole process over again! Crazy!</div><div><br /></div><div>We're excited about it, and I swear, if one more person asks me if it was an "accident" I'm going to scream. No, we weren't necessarily "trying" like we were last time, but we obviously weren't trying very hard to prevent a pregnancy either. God thought it was time, and that's no accident. </div><div><br /></div><div>Nic is of course hoping it's a boy, but I'm indifferent this time as well... I'll be happy as long as he/she is happy and healthy. At this point I'm still focusing on Liara and trying to figure out how to get her used to the idea of having a little brother or sister around. I know she'll love being a big sister, I've never met a kid more compassionate or who loves kids as much as she does. It will be so nice to have a built in playmate and friend for her, I'm really looking forward to that! I know it's going to be a little crazy with a two year old and a newborn, but I know we'll make it work! </div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, I thought I'd fill you all in... if you're still reading anyway! :)</div>Nic and Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911329090133838707noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441695539400706803.post-73484479904853778812011-02-24T09:50:00.003+00:002011-02-24T10:33:12.923+00:00Oh my Goodness!Has it really been like 2 1/2 months since I last posted?! Where has the time gone? Perhaps it flew by like the rest of the 13 months since Liara was born. 13 months... yeah, I know. Shocking. Anyway, it has been C R A Z Y around here and with Liara up and running (literally) for the last two months, I don't have a lot of time to sit still and blog. Again, as usual, I apologize. We'll leave it at that and move on.<div><br /></div><div>Let's see... I'll give you a little update about what's happening with each of us.</div><div><br /></div><div>Liara:</div><div><br /></div><div>She's growing like a weed and exceeds our expectations every day. She can say Mama, Dada, Grandma, Hi (sometimes Hiya), Wow, Woah, Up, Bite, Baby, Tickle, and Book. I think that's all, but who knows, I might be missing something. She can walk like a big girl and run like a little kid (arms out like an airplane)! She loves to play with her toys, cuddle with Mommy (and Daddy too), blow raspberries, be read to (and join in too... she points at pictures and tries to say the word and flips flaps/turns pages), do puzzles, and empty and refill the movie drawers. She likes to go outside when it's not too cold and enjoys taking her coat off and on. She tries to climb on the table beside the couches and take everything off that, but that's not usually allowed. She loves to empty the cabinets in the kitchen and help with laundry (she takes the wet clothes out of the washing machine, puts them in the bag, puts a new load in, closes the soap drawer and then pushes the start button for me). Her favorite foods right now are blueberries, bananas, pasta and malt-o-meal. If asked, she can show you where her foot, ear, or bellybutton (beebo) is. She loves her stuffed animals (and dolly's) and gives them hugs and kisses. She is obsessed with shoes and MUST have some on at all times (whether it be shoes during the day or her bunny slippers on at night). We had to remove the front railings for her crib like 2 months ago because she was trying to climb out (even taking her socks off for extra traction... clever girl!) and we didn't want her to fall, so now she's sleeping in her toddler bed and LOVES it. It takes no time at all to get her to bed now, so that's a major bonus. She has 10, almost 12 teeth (front bottom four, front top four, two top molars (one on each side), and two bottom molars that are workin' their way out). She's had a hard time sleeping lately because of those two bottom molars, but the last two nights she's slept through the WHOLE night without waking up- from 8:30 until 7:30. I think that's about her in a nutshell right now.</div><div><br /></div><div>Nick: </div><div><br /></div><div>He's been working like a crazy man. He is absolutely swamped at work and has been a little stressed to say the least. He tries to come home for lunch, but doesn't always make it and usually only spends about 15 minutes instead of the hour he's supposed to get. Then he comes home at around 7, and eats dinner and tries to relax a little before the next day. They're supposed to get him some help soon, I hope they do! He could sure use it. When we came back from the US (I'll recap that trip sometime...) he tried to play a game he got as an early birthday present and his Xbox got the red ring of death. Anyway, after about a month of fiddling with it, he got it to work again! WOO HOO! He's super happy with that and has been playing every night while I'm working (after Liara's in bed)... more on that in my section.</div><div><br /></div><div>Jen: </div><div><br /></div><div>I've been busy watching/playing/teaching Liara and trying to keep this house in some sort of order. Between Liara and her master mess making skills and everyone else in this house (myself included) it gets messy fast! I was debating going back to work (in an outside location... believe me, I work!) to help Nick with the financial side of things since we're broke as sin, but after figuring out how much childcare costs and stuff it would have been pointless... I wouldn't make anything. So, I've started working with Cris (mother-in-law) again and I'm really excited about it! It feels really good to be productive and actually do something related to education again. It involves testing and has really got me thinking about what I want to do. Last night, Nic and I had a long chat about me getting my masters (something I've ALWAYS wanted to do...). I'm going to have to go back to school anyway to finish off my certification (I graduated with my bachelors in Curriculum & Instruction- emphasis on Early Childhood-4th grade education, and passed all my state tests to become certified, but still need one more semester of student teaching since we moved and I never did that)... I might as well get my masters while I'm at it right?! I've really enjoyed my experiences in testing and thought that it would be great to be able to do what Cris does (she writes tests, trains educators and creates educational materials, among other things... she's a very talented woman!) and follow along in her business. To do that, I'd need some more education and credibility, so maybe that's the road I should take! I'll talk it over with her and see what she thinks about it. :) That's about it for me... other than I'm down to 124 lbs! Woot woot! I haven't weighed that since I quit swimming, my sophomore year in high school! </div><div><br /></div><div>Ok... I need to get off here before Liara pulls the cord out of the wall socket and uses it as a lasso for her rocking chair. I think it's going to take me longer to clean up the mess she's made while I've been typing than it actually has to post this! She's like a little tornado I swear! :) Oh, I love her!</div><div><br /></div><div>I'll try and be a better blogger... </div>Nic and Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911329090133838707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441695539400706803.post-2533579219006541962010-12-07T11:39:00.003+00:002010-12-07T11:57:58.795+00:00Call me crazy...<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>I have a knack for making extra work for myself. There's often a super easy way of doing things but instead I spend hours figuring out a way to make it more complex before I attempt to do it. Liara's birthday party is no exception. <div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>I've decided that I want to have a birthday party for her in the US so that at least SOME family can come and some of her US friends too... they miss out on all the fun over here. I'm really looking forward to it now that I've committed myself into doing it, but my goodness who knew there could be so much planning involved. When are we going to have it? Where? Who is going to come? What should the theme be (picture Nic rolling his eyes here, he hates themed parties)? What should we do for her first party? Oh, there's so much to decide!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>Well, I think I've figured most of it out (key word most, not all). I think we'll have it on the 2nd of January (that's a Sunday) mid morning sometime. I haven't picked a time yet, as I haven't made invitations. I think we'll have it at my Mother-in-law's house, just for simplicity (I've yet to actually ask her, but knowing her I'm sure it'll be fine lol). I'm planning on inviting about 5-8 of her little friends and quite a few family members (adults mostly). I'm thinking about having a star theme (I know... boring). However, I'd like to have a box of "wishes" for Liara that the family can make for her at the party and that works (wishing on a star... blah blah blah). That way, she has something to look back on later that means something. I'm sure we'll play some games (I'm a sucker for cheesy party games, so sue me). I was thinking baby bingo (I'll make cards with pictures of Liara over the year instead of numbers... we did the same thing at our engagement party except with pictures of Nic and I). We may even do baby bowling (baby bottle bowling pins...). Who knows what we'll actually do, but I want it to be fun for the kiddos too, some of her friends are already 2! Time flies.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>What I've been focusing on however, is the cake. Go figure, me... thinking of food! And here's where I'm crazy- I am going to make it myself. I'm going to make it vegan, in case there are any allergies present (I know a couple of the kids are allergic to dairy for the time being), from the buttercream to the fondant to the cake itself. Yeah. Scary- I've never done that before! Want to know what else is scary? The idea for the cake I want to make:</div><div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFV1SFM8Ao5EZJyyDWkVUBQD7Fx_-WHidmLP4RIrNkAURfFHTpJG0BvoJ6Q0D9nUIkMdn4OGO_liPfIjQZJ7pIsfxS2YFSsiK8ywFqGRDHqZdVFMDx7zspFCJznxUKyfVHg0Zc9JIfTN0/s400/Liara+birthday+cake.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 269px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5547906925497739730" /></div>Ok... it will be a little different color wise, but very similar. Hopefully... that is if I don't fail miserably. We'll see. <div><br /></div><div>She'll have her own smash cake too, I'll sort something out for that. Fun! I can't wait for the party, I've just got to figure out a few more things first! I need to start planning faster though, I need to get those invitations out! <br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div>Nic and Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911329090133838707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441695539400706803.post-78488186509644111202010-12-01T13:54:00.002+00:002010-12-01T14:25:18.796+00:00SnowsickI'm so sick of snow I could scream. I love snow, don't get me wrong, but when it snows NON STOP for two weeks, it gets a little cold, er, I mean old. It makes it hard to go outside to the dryer to get the laundry done (yes, I have to physically leave my house, walk down the walkway and into the little storage room to get to the dryer... talk about inconvenience. But hey, at least we have one I guess). It makes it even harder to take the trash out. Not to mention the fact that Nic gets stuck in the snow every morning on his way to work and doesn't even bother trying to come home for lunch. Well, that is, until today. <div><br /></div><div>The one day in the past two weeks that Nic has tried to come home for lunch time (yay!), it had snowed so much since this morning that his tracks were completely covered and he couldn't get into the driveway (we have a LONG driveway, as we live on a farm). He tried to turn into the freakin thing and kept going straight... I don't think you're supposed to do that. So he just turned around at a bigger road and headed back to work hungry. Poor thing. It makes for such a long day in this house. While we're normally fine staying home all day because of the visit from the mail man, and Daddy coming home for lunch... the snow has made both Liara and I a little cabin crazy. We're on our own all day (even the mailman won't attempt to come to our house in this weather, we haven't had mail in a week and a half) and that's an awful long time for no other human interaction besides the "what shall we do today" people on the Disney Channel.</div><div><br /></div><div>We're supposed to leave in 10 days for our holiday vacation to the US and I cannot wait! I think Liara is just as excited... every day when we look at the pictures on the wall (Grandma, Grandpa, Mamo, Papa, Aunt Raime, Uncle Joey, Cousins Raisa, Taylor and Dax, Tia Karin and Tio Jonathan) she squeals a little and then kicks me like I'm a horse so I'll move on to the next one.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm a wee bit grumpy and I apologize for that. Perhaps it's because I can't manage to keep this little house clean since I have a champion mess maker following me around everywhere. I swear, as soon as I put my clothes in my drawers and turn around to put Nic's away, she's pulled all mine back out again. Or perhaps it's because after I finish sweeping and mopping the kitchen floor she decides that she'd prefer to pour her drink on the floor and smear the pieces of cheese and grapes around as well. What am I doing you ask? Oh, just trying to do the mountain of dishes with no hot water from the tap (I have to boil it in the kettle first instead since it takes an hour to warm up the water and even then it isn't hot enough).</div><div><br /></div><div>I love love love having my daughter around all the time, and I am super thankful for every single second that I get with her. Hell, I end up laughing most of the time (on the inside...) when I see that she's destroyed my newly folded pile of clothes or decided that she needs to pull out every single wipe from her wipes container. She's just curious about her world and is trying to figure things out, and I'm all about letting her experiment and discover things. I just wish she'd learn to clean things back up as fast as she makes messes. I pick up the living room about 40 times on average per day... no joke (that's roughly every 15 minutes except for during nap times) just so it's not a complete disaster zone. My guess is that is probably the reason for the weight loss... constant activity.</div><div><br /></div><div>My favorite part of her mess making is when she pauses whatever she's doing because she's heard a noise (either from one of her toys, or the tv, or the radio or even me singing) and then she just busts out dancing. She loves to dance, and I love to watch her (and dance along most of the time). She reminds me of myself at her age, and I adore that. She can't help but move around and dance if there's music playing. </div><div><br /></div><div>Ok, I'm off to ignore the mess that has taken my living room captive to enjoy a nice little nap with my baby. Who knows, maybe there'll be a heat wave and all the snow will be gone by the time we wake up (who am I kidding... not even Texas heat could get rid of three feet in like an hour and a half). We'll have to try and shovel a bit when we wake up... wish me luck.</div>Nic and Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911329090133838707noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441695539400706803.post-62440138923131452902010-11-25T15:28:00.003+00:002010-11-25T15:39:47.713+00:00Thankful... so thankful.I'm very thankful for this sweet baby right here. My life has been enhanced so much this year and I can't tell you how in love I am still. You'd think we had just brought her home yesterday or something. Every day is a new experience for her and I'm so thankful that I get to share that with her and Nic. My family is my world and I am so humbled that they are here with me. I don't deserve them, they are way too special. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJBh-FsoI6WfQhKGqdqKzGzvKweLj6qO9xRcKt31ISR4bbWpiHJOiwsRPVXwL4xWFwfSgIGexz30w3lGYusicSDg6VemUfvS51FW7E5nAVNRXw2E1ape6wKFsjwSZHpF5gY9qXnSoxuzU/s1600/IMG_3419.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJBh-FsoI6WfQhKGqdqKzGzvKweLj6qO9xRcKt31ISR4bbWpiHJOiwsRPVXwL4xWFwfSgIGexz30w3lGYusicSDg6VemUfvS51FW7E5nAVNRXw2E1ape6wKFsjwSZHpF5gY9qXnSoxuzU/s400/IMG_3419.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5543510893420925474" /></a>I'm thankful for those beaming eyes and sweet little cheeks... don't even get me started on that smile.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0afkS3GKINqvSsnapyOyc8sJAJnw4eo-TGUyvYRzy98jccNczDsLro7HvVUV6jU21ySiNivyKvuOPlyNQ60Cuoe2x0uC6BdiY9Dhns_3aAk1d2T-FiWYtN7G7usFXy5D9fsJLssJgCdA/s1600/IMG_3420.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0afkS3GKINqvSsnapyOyc8sJAJnw4eo-TGUyvYRzy98jccNczDsLro7HvVUV6jU21ySiNivyKvuOPlyNQ60Cuoe2x0uC6BdiY9Dhns_3aAk1d2T-FiWYtN7G7usFXy5D9fsJLssJgCdA/s400/IMG_3420.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5543510874001746226" /></a>I'm thankful for my mobile little girl, who I get to hug and kiss every day.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMHpU1ml_qBycZY4z8xh8xje2pNsHVX2V0lNezWApmc0IUlYFO2im0iALDVI9a0Lt2eekyo8M0KO7znF-560qfZ8rHXQ6j67NybobpV9ZIKmJd8YkjIOYvf275283O8f8-6Z4MrjGiOmk/s1600/IMG_3423.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMHpU1ml_qBycZY4z8xh8xje2pNsHVX2V0lNezWApmc0IUlYFO2im0iALDVI9a0Lt2eekyo8M0KO7znF-560qfZ8rHXQ6j67NybobpV9ZIKmJd8YkjIOYvf275283O8f8-6Z4MrjGiOmk/s400/IMG_3423.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5543510869282676882" /></a>Liara is thankful that Ella let her borrow her butterfly rocker and those cute Minnie Mouse pj's...<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0IHA118GozUsbsqi7Nh8M1iQ32x1kIYqMa5I9tbysZhXnBqiwur-vXgTMrl2-bHBcgfD_EVypKa3zMnq9IL6RVLUJOOsCjOeTYzOLNoV0Nz6OvZPNAauDBT50sZC70t-YDaNtaUORReM/s1600/IMG_3426.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0IHA118GozUsbsqi7Nh8M1iQ32x1kIYqMa5I9tbysZhXnBqiwur-vXgTMrl2-bHBcgfD_EVypKa3zMnq9IL6RVLUJOOsCjOeTYzOLNoV0Nz6OvZPNAauDBT50sZC70t-YDaNtaUORReM/s400/IMG_3426.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5543510862179582418" /></a>Here's Liara and I on Guy Fawkes day... note the fireworks behind us.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYNT48Q4UM7Xn1YfoRlUwEM2_nT5WsC3XvEf4HBF-K_QaK3QriGCLrug59y6CKzageWcsLJNsbF7CLJul4n95TiR74lBhJgeNAoHXtnBybFh5eLRjtS3CCJ92jkW5YDy-gICnAAEhwhHA/s1600/IMG_3442.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYNT48Q4UM7Xn1YfoRlUwEM2_nT5WsC3XvEf4HBF-K_QaK3QriGCLrug59y6CKzageWcsLJNsbF7CLJul4n95TiR74lBhJgeNAoHXtnBybFh5eLRjtS3CCJ92jkW5YDy-gICnAAEhwhHA/s400/IMG_3442.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5543510859693459090" /></a><br />I'm so thankful for my little family this year. For my husband, who supports me and is my best friend. For my daughter, who fills my days with laughter and melts my heart with every smile. I may complain a lot about our current living situation, but I'm thankful that we are together and healthy and for the most part, happy. I am so very thankful that we've been blessed with an intelligent, healthy, beautiful, and spirited little girl. I may not be spending Thanksgiving with the majority of my family this year, but I'm spending it with the people who matter most to me, and that's good enough! <div><br /></div><div>Happy Thanksgiving everyone. We love you and hope you are celebrating this day with a thankful heart too!</div>Nic and Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911329090133838707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441695539400706803.post-18979628890739975302010-11-08T09:14:00.004+00:002010-11-08T09:36:31.560+00:00I'm so behindLook who is now trying to open the doors... eek!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY2o9WI8tTm-MwN91-XK8nhneeRTvVXKpN18VCvyV7okfh0_TnolSKTttyqKh535_TTF5EKkPIee_KWsdu5GEyQxroab9ZwehX5c_VkBZFiDzxFjFcgfqinkoX5Og5zGI9Svt46IkRXx0/s1600/IMG_3325.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY2o9WI8tTm-MwN91-XK8nhneeRTvVXKpN18VCvyV7okfh0_TnolSKTttyqKh535_TTF5EKkPIee_KWsdu5GEyQxroab9ZwehX5c_VkBZFiDzxFjFcgfqinkoX5Og5zGI9Svt46IkRXx0/s400/IMG_3325.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537109267933043698" /></a>Here's Liara watching the older kids bob for apples on Halloween :) She refused to wear her hat the whole night... I can't say I blame her though, it had a chin strap to help keep it on and didn't look very comfortable.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW2rZhi5reuxaaVD58r9ntJORoKvBeM-h89TKgM71Fq2p2WQUJIj6nlWFryYMmUmyVGCAvdeFGJmFOakOJqS2tKv7bIb7LF5rWR1B3igu8XYST_BrZYQ1BHAhijnAQfh64n2rC6PRtxjI/s1600/IMG_3362.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW2rZhi5reuxaaVD58r9ntJORoKvBeM-h89TKgM71Fq2p2WQUJIj6nlWFryYMmUmyVGCAvdeFGJmFOakOJqS2tKv7bIb7LF5rWR1B3igu8XYST_BrZYQ1BHAhijnAQfh64n2rC6PRtxjI/s400/IMG_3362.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537109260854807394" /></a>Daddy and Liara... I love these two!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpLy3Q_2tP9WQMCT3OtzX5_anF1cRp12FuoeagZFCQEXcTqYHQARjJ3dH_ZD7fq_Fg0u49R2ATvwGdmaLrAel8s9CX9EPaOZKH4uVEG_O36YE-z_W3cZd9t1wdbano2Ws3dVomZc2cc_w/s1600/IMG_3370.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpLy3Q_2tP9WQMCT3OtzX5_anF1cRp12FuoeagZFCQEXcTqYHQARjJ3dH_ZD7fq_Fg0u49R2ATvwGdmaLrAel8s9CX9EPaOZKH4uVEG_O36YE-z_W3cZd9t1wdbano2Ws3dVomZc2cc_w/s400/IMG_3370.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537109253070498242" /></a>Liara and I... it's not the best picture of me, but I'll take it!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlNe-B_teSVT2_cLXPnc5fwMjzzAysXZqw2r4eKWwslS-bJZRT_hyOubUqR7INOvk6FchTIUrwYZbQqYI8a4h0sysvfPOIzmr-6_CFmZBrzhtDbSViF-9ldn5ug7appriFcrPG97F6ItU/s1600/IMG_3375.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlNe-B_teSVT2_cLXPnc5fwMjzzAysXZqw2r4eKWwslS-bJZRT_hyOubUqR7INOvk6FchTIUrwYZbQqYI8a4h0sysvfPOIzmr-6_CFmZBrzhtDbSViF-9ldn5ug7appriFcrPG97F6ItU/s400/IMG_3375.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537109251113867330" /></a>Li decided she wanted some Rice Krispies... then proceeded to dump half the box on the floor.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG07d2FF3gt3TMzRfKJKqI0JhnWt-ijA9q15Ftmqy7DLDg7dInepTYWiX7VBvSIdVuUk-HyYZeE2KHSY1R9Ijaam9A4BGiVR8IC_eJj4c7YVcw16ux7ScY7cJzokqo3zx5euR9-p1sSDg/s1600/IMG_3393.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG07d2FF3gt3TMzRfKJKqI0JhnWt-ijA9q15Ftmqy7DLDg7dInepTYWiX7VBvSIdVuUk-HyYZeE2KHSY1R9Ijaam9A4BGiVR8IC_eJj4c7YVcw16ux7ScY7cJzokqo3zx5euR9-p1sSDg/s400/IMG_3393.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537109245778669202" /></a><br />You'd think that as a stay at home mom, I'd have some time to get some stuff done. However, between Liara teething, deciding she only needs one nap a day, and working on Charity stuff this last few weeks... I've had no time to do anything (including the massive pile of dishes on my counter, woe is me). I figured I'd try to be productive today since it's nasty outside (super cold and raining) and we won't be heading out to play. Liara isn't a huge fan of spending a lot of time in the kitchen, but maybe I can convince her to at least stay in there for an hour or so, just so I can get the dishes done- they're doing my head in. I might even throw in a load of laundry or two, that might keep her a little longer since she likes to watch it spin in the washing machine. That's yet another perk of having a front loader- forget that it is more environmentally friendly, it keeps kids occupied for a little bit!<div><br /></div><div>We've had a bit of fun though these past couple of weeks. Liara dressed up as a witch for Halloween and we went to a Halloween party at a friends house to celebrate. It was a lot of fun and Liara had a blast playing with the other kids there. I also got to check out my progress on the wii fit (I had played over there right before our trip to the US in August) and I've lost another stone and 4 pounds (18 pounds). Not bad. Have I mentioned how much I love breastfeeding?! Last night, we went to another friend's house to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day (actually the 5th of November, but they saved the celebration for Sunday night as the weather wasn't cooperating earlier). Liara loved all the fireworks, she ooh'd and bababa'd at them and watched them all, despite the freezing cold wind hitting her smack in the face. We then went inside for some nice hot tea and Fran's Fruitcake (the only fruitcake I've actually enjoyed...). Fiona's dad was laid off last year (or as they say here, made redundant) and had started his own photography studio in a spare room in the house to supplement his income while he went back to school. We didn't plan on having any photos taken (obviously, since Nick had crazy hair and a hoodie on, and I had my jeans rolled up (they got muddy watching the fireworks) and my snowboarding socks on.... stylish), but they insisted that we take some photos. Well, some turned into a thirty minute photoshoot that produced some really adorable pictures. We got to look at them on the camera and they said they'd make some for us (at no cost, thank you!), although I plan to order some anyway. I think we may just go back to him on Liara's birthday for her first year photos, she seemed to like him a lot and it was easy to get some great pictures. If I can, I'll see if I can get them from him to post here... I can't wait to see them again myself!</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway- I need to get started on those horrible dishes (I HATE not having a dishwasher in this house, especially since it takes a freaking hour to get the water hot). I just thought I'd give a wee update since it'd been ages. </div>Nic and Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911329090133838707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441695539400706803.post-70462688580095064672010-10-24T20:44:00.003+01:002010-10-24T20:59:19.746+01:00Whew...Lately, Liara has decided that she only requires one nap during the day. She hasn't quite picked which one she wants (sometimes it is in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon) but she's pretty sure she only wants to take one. Unless it's a day like yesterday and there are other babies around... then she doesn't want to take one period. While this is all fine and dandy (as long as she's not cranky, it's ok with me), I have yet to get used to this idea as far as chores and things are concerned. It makes it a little difficult to keep things picked up when I don't have any time to re-group and put anything away. We cleaned for a few hours today (yes... Nic helped too!) and were able to get the house the way I like it (spic and span!), we'll see how long it stays that way. <div><br /></div><div>She's been sleeping wonderfully at night still and that makes such a huge difference. It is also the reason that I'm not as concerned with her skipping a nap. She's been sleeping around 10-11 hours at night, then taking a two hour nap, so she's still getting her 12-13 hours that she's used to. It's quite nice for me too, since I usually stay up a few hours after she goes to bed to chill with Nic for a while alone, and I'm still getting like 7 hours sleep straight. It makes a huge difference. </div><div><br /></div><div>I figured out why Liara's mouth has been hurting her so much (she's requiring her teething tablets and Ibuprofen this week). It's not just the top left eye tooth like I thought, it is the top two front teeth as well. The top right front poked through today and the top left front is just about to do the same. Poor baby has three teeth coming in all at once. I now understand why she's biting EVERYTHING she can get her little mouth on. </div><div><br /></div><div>Laura and Duncan let us take home a bunch of Ella's old toys that she's outgrown (like a little play table, a giraffe that has a spiral ball thing around it, some electronic books, a box of blocks... etc.) and we've had a blast playing with them today. It's always nice to have new toys around, as you get bored trying to pretend the same ones are fascinating again and again. I'm pretty good at acting enthusiastic about pretty much everything, but it's nice when it is genuine every now and then! </div><div><br /></div><div>We had dinner guests over tonight. Bob and Matt (one of his programmers from Canada) came over and we had yummy Mexican Lasagna. I had run out of Rotel and cans of chopped green chilies, so I improvised a little and put in some serano peppers instead. It made it a little more spicy than usual (I try to make it pretty mild when there's new people I'm cooking for in case they don't do spicy food), but it went over well. I love having company over, it's so nice to relax in your own house and not have to worry about getting home. </div><div><br /></div><div>Speaking of home... We're going to go look at a different house to rent this week hopefully. It's in Ellon (a little north of where we are now), but it'd be about the same price as the one we are in and it's bigger. Hopefully the landlords there aren't completely crazy too. We'll see if we like it... if we do we might just be moving again before our trip home in December. Oh joy. That'd be the third house that Liara has lived in... she might just be competing for my record (I've lived in 25 houses and I'm about to be 27). </div><div><br /></div><div>Ok... I'm off to bed, I've had a headache for the last two hours or so. I think I'm just going to sleep it off and hope it's gone by the morning. </div>Nic and Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911329090133838707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7441695539400706803.post-76501209558338889142010-10-19T09:06:00.004+01:002010-10-19T09:33:55.835+01:00It's been a while<div>I could just scream, I love this girl so much... she's such a happy baby!</div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3w_z_REJ0EEGaCZTosRqCpr8xDIc4mw2d-Zwurwqg9pCfN3gIcl5saqdZfD-QXbEKR2pP6aUNTiOSqSUyHvF3KVrrOdkXoe0GknDuHYYj1J8PN_2EowSSO5y9RrIPkGPHTLw0lDew4dM/s1600/IMG_3220.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3w_z_REJ0EEGaCZTosRqCpr8xDIc4mw2d-Zwurwqg9pCfN3gIcl5saqdZfD-QXbEKR2pP6aUNTiOSqSUyHvF3KVrrOdkXoe0GknDuHYYj1J8PN_2EowSSO5y9RrIPkGPHTLw0lDew4dM/s400/IMG_3220.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5529670643999430018" /></a>I love this one... she really looks like my side of the family here. :)<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_wZKf4IWi6CywL0NkYJ2dB0BvKDRXRlK92U8dyRmyW5Eq-YrtNezSDYe6qVrY3NDEu3xQd59OMRJH8VjBL5azWANu-Di9rxAO8m1-kd72OrdidCMM7mK6JCWACxX00DosTZFTQ_m-foQ/s1600/IMG_3228.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_wZKf4IWi6CywL0NkYJ2dB0BvKDRXRlK92U8dyRmyW5Eq-YrtNezSDYe6qVrY3NDEu3xQd59OMRJH8VjBL5azWANu-Di9rxAO8m1-kd72OrdidCMM7mK6JCWACxX00DosTZFTQ_m-foQ/s400/IMG_3228.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5529670639787391218" /></a>While the flash is too bright, I love that she's laughing. I can't get enough!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK7saDwciMFXlV1UXPgb2yilgLCFrMArpQIE8grKCXr7bCggfIr7OUu6cxkxDEGFEd-OHwLjwZ_Al9uSoAXDk_70MLmGFjzSRE3Ir3TtWEq7Wbqcg_JYv69uhUC2fYb_6G67nxxHtazrM/s1600/IMG_3261.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK7saDwciMFXlV1UXPgb2yilgLCFrMArpQIE8grKCXr7bCggfIr7OUu6cxkxDEGFEd-OHwLjwZ_Al9uSoAXDk_70MLmGFjzSRE3Ir3TtWEq7Wbqcg_JYv69uhUC2fYb_6G67nxxHtazrM/s400/IMG_3261.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5529670636129853138" /></a>Here's Liara in the high chair at the restaurant when we went out for my friend Paul's birthday.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvG9gTwE4geDSgYtod3KIJa8oRTohBuL_pQ1dl-Pgo-EbIRc5V7yYCScDRqBahxIoym5hzUVCfB4Na8PdDC_4p-_P-gjJgLL7s1YbhuoU_B9Wg5XxuZyIBVqrvj_wy-UM8ceIBWo1gixs/s1600/IMG_3254.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvG9gTwE4geDSgYtod3KIJa8oRTohBuL_pQ1dl-Pgo-EbIRc5V7yYCScDRqBahxIoym5hzUVCfB4Na8PdDC_4p-_P-gjJgLL7s1YbhuoU_B9Wg5XxuZyIBVqrvj_wy-UM8ceIBWo1gixs/s400/IMG_3254.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5529670626555702146" /></a>And here's my devious little girl climbing in her little toy box for the living room. She's so stinking cute!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHrPSP1R2gJM_Ov96UXxDVjZlRWDXd5HcXQMGdMgGD7-TqWgIWEHyKqmYSIYhVQIzNJXstCdYm5QRxqfrua02k8hnhmQ9h55oKGjR6pIy17leY0er60CMs4pkUU8gZaHnC5kv5HDvhMNg/s1600/IMG_3236.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHrPSP1R2gJM_Ov96UXxDVjZlRWDXd5HcXQMGdMgGD7-TqWgIWEHyKqmYSIYhVQIzNJXstCdYm5QRxqfrua02k8hnhmQ9h55oKGjR6pIy17leY0er60CMs4pkUU8gZaHnC5kv5HDvhMNg/s400/IMG_3236.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5529670619781667746" /></a><br />Sorry to you all for the lack of posts recently. I've been pretty busy lately and have severely neglected the blog... my apologies. <div><br /></div><div>We've been gearing up for our trip home at Christmas time (yes, I know it isn't even Halloween yet) and trying to get everything planned. Because our trips home are usually pretty quick, I try to plan them all out so I know who I'm supposed to see when, and what we are going to be doing. I've tried super hard to figure out a way to stop by Amarillo, Plainview, and Lubbock, but I'm stumped. While there are a few days available, it would mean more traveling (there's only so many plane rides that a 11 month old can take without losing it) and it would mean trying to cram in three different families in two days. Plus, that's an extra 450 dollars or so that we just don't have at the moment. Hopefully we'll move home sometime soon and it will be easier to make a few trips to visit everyone we'd like to.</div><div><br /></div><div>On top of trip planning, I've had one teething baby on my hands. While she's still a good girl and is so sweet, her poor gums are giving her a run for her money. She tries to eat everything she can get her little hands on and then screams because she's bit too hard and it gets sore. Bless her heart, she's a little trooper though and will smile for you as soon as it stops hurting. I've tried giving her ibuprofen, teething tablets, teething gel, teething rings, soft things to chew on, etc, and while most of those work temporarily, she's just in pain and it doesn't go away. Hopefully after this tooth comes through (the top left eye tooth) she'll catch a break for a little while. As for sleeping, she's been doing MUCH better. She'll go to sleep at about 9, then wake up again at 11, then sleep through until about 6:30 or so. I can easily deal with that. </div><div><br /></div><div>Nic's been busy at work as usual. He has his annual review today that I'm excited about. This is his first "annual" review in three years, so it better be a good one. Considering that his programmers haven't done what they had promised so long ago and he has an incomplete product yet has still managed to sell it and make a profit for the company... I'd say he's doing great. The simulator is coming along and will be superb once the guys get their butt in gear and do their thing. It's a shame everyone doesn't have the same work ethic that he does...it's hard to get good help.</div><div><br /></div><div>I've been doing the usual... cleaning, picking up toys, following Liara around as she explores, cooking, working on charity stuff, working on the stockings and have managed to have a few lunches with some friends. I'm not exactly sure what I did before I had Liara... man, I must of had some serious time on my hands!</div><div><br /></div><div>Ok, I need to go, as Liara has found a pen and has written on the couch. Joy. I'll try to update more often again!</div>Nic and Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16911329090133838707noreply@blogger.com0