Matchy Matchy...

I can't help it! I am going matching outfits CRAZY! The girls have several matching outfits now and perhaps my favorite is their matching PJ's - is there anything sweeter than a fresh smelling baby and toddler fresh from a bath? I dare to say there isn't. It sure is about the little things...

Here's my little monkeys matching it up!


Emma in an outfit I got on Ebay and sure enough she was already too big for it... she is quite the chubby little thing but I love it!


My favorite - both my girls happy at the same time. What a blessing!

Hip Hip Hooray!

Perhaps when my little Anna is old enough, she will be embarrassed by what I am about to say... but oh well I am so proud! At about noon today, she had that look on her face - you know the one that says I am getting in my "pooping" position. I asked her if she would like to poop on the potty and she readily agreed! Normally you would think this would be very exciting but we have "sat" more times than I can count and they never amounted to much but TODAY WAS THE DAY! I told Anna to take her time and try and sure enough, there it was! Poop in the toilet! Holy Cow! My little girl did it!

We bought Pull-ups last week and haven't been to consistent until this weekend and I am proud to say yesterday she kept her pull-up dry for a morning shopping trip that lasted a good four hours and she pee'd before we left and again before nap time...

And then today, the greatest day of them all!!

Unfortunately Daddy isn't here to witness the miracle of potty training because he and Emma are at Urgent care as Emma battles a cold, a fever, teething and possibly an ear infection... I am waiting patiently to hear if this is her first ear infection... She has not been herself for about a week now and the fever hit on Friday so I am guessing all is related. Other fascinating news... my little chubby bunny is a whopping 16 lbs. 8oz. - holy moly! She has gained two pounds since her 2 month check up and she won't be four months til November 10~ when she has yet another check up.

Other news - we have our family portraits this afternoon with our photographer - oliviawagnerphoto.com - she does such an amazing job! I am hoping the magic of touch up can disquise my little one's red eyes and stuffy nose... Oh yeah one last thing... I am down 37 pounds now... just 4 pounds to go til I have lost all the baby weight... then on to what i call - the marriage weight...I have been consistently losing 1.6 pounds each week since I joined Weight Watchers. I think the meetings are helping me the most - Accountability is what it takes for me to be serious and honest about my struggles with weight. I am hoping by Emma's first birthday I will have lost 100 pounds. I know that sounds lofty but if I keep it up, at this pace I will lose another 59.2 if I keep losing 1.6 for the next 37 weeks... who would have thought I would have turned this into such an analytical project for myself - whatever works I guess...

Well as soon as we have our family pics finished, I will post the link to view them!

Take care everyone!

birthday...

Well I am another year older... the big 27 now... it is good though. I am happy in my life. I have two beautiful daughters, a terrific husband, a beautiful home and a job that I love... Imagine what the next year could hold for our little family.

I got a great gift from Adam for my birthday. It is called a pea pod necklace. It is a pod with two, three or four pearls in it... i requested four pearls. One for each jewel in our family.

But the best gift of all came the night before my birthday - Emma laughed! It was the most beautiful thing. She did it and then i kept getting her to do it again... oh it was such a cool thing to witness. I am trying now every day to get her to do it again but to no avail...yet.

News on the job front... I had a second interview at work. Went well I think but who knows what the future holds. I am waiting on God's guidance on this. I hope that the person most qualified gets the job - no matter who that is...

Well that's all I have to report. Take care all!

Nystuen update...

Ok quick recap... Adam and I went to the Florida Keys and had an amazing time! Getting away, just the two of us, was just what the doctor ordered! We had a beautiful hotel, amazing view and best of all, fabulous WARM weather...

Leaving the girls with Grandma Jan and Aunt Brenda was easy as pie... two grandmas and two girls... they did a great job and I was totally comfortable with being away from my precious gems!

Work update - none really... rumor has it, the position I applied for won't start til January so I guess its a good thing I am not in a hurry... I love my current job and my coworkers and boss so I am in no hurry to shift to a whole new ballgame...

Munchkin update... we are planning to have potty training boot camp in the next month... our daycare is closed for three weeks so between grandma jan, adam and me taking time at home, I am hoping Anna will be at least daytime trained by mid-November...

Weight loss is going ok... before our trip, I was down 7.8 pounds and only 7 pounds from pre-baby weight... then another 35 after that... I hope to be down 15-20 more by Christmas... I am dusting off the gym card now that we are back and things are returning to normal... going during lunch is awesome because I get my work out in and I get to enjoy the time to myself...We all need that from time to time...

So much for the quick recap... turned out to be a reader's digest version of an update...here's pics from our trips and of course, the two little blessings as well.

The View from our room~


Dinner at Islamorada Fish Company~


I am working on getting her to flash a genuine smile and not such a cheese...either way - how cute is she?!?


Look at her dark hair... I can't get over it!

Family

well things have definitely been busy around here... i recently applied for a promotion at work in the Health Promotions department at the American Cancer Society. It would be a great challenge to take on this new role and I have an interview on Wed. a.m. say a prayer for me that I will remember all my examples and answer the questions with confidence.

Also our family has been ill. Anna first, then Adam then Emma and now mommy... yuck. And just days before Adam and I leave for the Florida Keys to celebrate his 30th birthday. I am really looking forward to going away. I will miss my girls terribly but it will be so GREAT for Adam and I to get away and just focus on each other. It sure is hard when you are juggling kids, jobs and a home to find time to just talk about the day. Most of our conversations are around the kids and who did what adorable thing that day... we mention our work days but honestly our kids consume our lives and we love it! None the less, taking time to focus on each other is key and I am really looking forward to not having an alarm clock for four days. It is the little things...

Well here's a pic of Adam, Emma and I at the Naperville church when we were in Chicago. It was surprising to see Rich Little and Kelly Swatzel- It was great catching up with friends from Harding... I sure hope my girls want to go there... I really miss that school. Although the strictness seemed somewhat extreme sometimes, now that I have daughters, I know why my dad wanted me there :-)

Ok folks - I will be sure to post after our trip!