I CAN'T WAIT.....

So I know I am going to sound like a thirteen year old saying this, but I am so excited for this movie to come out! I can see it now, sitting in the line up for the movie, my stomach full of PF Changs, surrounded by a bunch of prepubescent teens trying to rock my baby to sleep.... oh that's right I do have an infant. I wonder how hard it would be to get Marcus to come down to Lynnwood only to be on babysitting duty so I can go watch the movie?

Obsess a bit much?
Reveal embarrassing information about myself a bit much??
I can't be that much of a dork if there are other NORMAL mom's who will be in the line with me... RIGHT?!??
Feel free to comment and offer me reassurance that I am not a total crazy for posting this :)

It's all in a name

Olivia thinks her sisters name is "konka". She says it over and over when we first get up and we spot her. She whispers it to her when she gets up close to her face and I tell her to be quiet "konka, konka". Then she puts it to a tune and will sing it for (no joke) half an hour straight... over and over.

Her speech is slowly but surely picking up speed (after I put the kibosh to binkies during anytime but naptime and car time). A couple of weeks ago she was really interested in saying "b" or "bebebebebebe" so it was a perfect opportunity for me to try and have her say Bianca's name the right way.

Me: "Okay Olivia sissy's name is BEONKA, BE BE BE BEEEOOONNKKAAAA. Can you say it? BEEEEEEEOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNKKKKAAAAA. You try it."

Olivia: "BEEEEE.....KONKA."

I'm pretty sure this is Bianca's first nickname and it is here to stay!

Escape

See ya Mom!

Busted!

The front door now has to have the dead bolt locked all day. If I don't then this is what happens! If Olivia gets bored with what is going on in the house then she will grab a purse (shoes are optional) and try and make an escape to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Even though the door has been locked for a couple of weeks she will still try to open in about 3 times a day. She will even grab my keys and fiddle the keys around the door handle in an attempt to get out.

There is that one time a week I forget to lock the door, which is probably why she still tries it, and then I will feel a draft and see her truckin on down the driveway. I guess I'm just not as fun as Grandma and Grandpa are ;)

So proud of this girl!

Olivia is doing better than I ever would have imagined with the arrival of Bianca into our family. I'm probably jinxing myself by saying this, but I just really feel like things are going so smoothly. The first two weeks were a learning curve for both of us, but since we are both in our groove and we are sailing right along. She loves Bianca and thinks it is so funny when I coo and baby talk to the baby.

I am just really proud of her, her willingness to help and her happy attitude about life. I know we are only at 1.5 months along (really!?!? already?!?!) and there is totally room for that to change. But everyday things just keep getting better and better. I mentally prepared myself for the worst and have been so pleasantly surprised by how our whole family is adjusting. We still have our rough days and work through those as best as we can, but there are A LOT of good days!

Lunch Time

Hello Cream of Broccoli Soup!

I LOVE to eat soup, I really crave it around this time of year. I had a lot of broccoli in my fridge and decided to make my own Cream of Broccoli soup for the first time. It was perfect because Olivia was distracted with Sesame Street and Bianca was asleep in her swing, PLUS it was surprisingly easy!

I got the recipe from here and I only had milk so I used that instead. Plus I added like double the broccoli. It was a little bit runny for my taste (blended it with my trusty immersion blender) so I added two tablespoons of my potato pearls and it thickened it just right! Gotta love my food storage for the potato pearls ;) So Yummy!

Olivia loved it too. I had never given her soup before (soup + toddler = mess) but I just cracked some saltines into her bowl and the thickened the soup to like a porridge consistency and she gobbled it up! The crackers were my mom's brainy idea. After bragging to her about my mad soup skills, and my dismay for Olivia not being able to eat it, she told me that she feeds Olivia soup all the time with the cracker trick--why didn't I think of that?

I have to say it felt really good to make a soup from scratch. I always remember my Mom making such delicious home-made goodness for us to eat as kids, and all her yummy soups when the weather turned cold. It was a full circle moment for me to make it to my little girl! If only I had the same enthusiasm to tackle the laundry pile...

We like to match!

Olivia loves it when we wrap up her baby. She loves it even more since Bianca came home with us. She will sit beside me holding her baby, sometimes patting it on the face while we watch TV. She especially thinks she is cool when she can use the boppy to hold her baby. There are some days, that between Bianca and Olivia's baby, I feel like I've been swaddling kids ALL DAY LONG. Whatever keeps her happy, keeps ME happy!

Today was...

... A GREAT DAY!

WHY??

I was able to:

A) Sleep REAL good last night. Bianca is making it a good 6 hour straight her first stretch of the night! Plus Marcus got up with Olivia and I slept in with the baby til 9:30!

B) LOTSA cleaning was accomplished. Fridge totally wiped out and detailed. 6 Loads of laundry folded and put away. Truck loaded up with trash for a dump run. Husbands hair cut (he was starting to look like a homeless man).

C) Had me some estrogen time at Jayme's house. Although it was kind of a zoo with all the kids running around (and Bianca deciding to NOT take any naps) it was so fun to hang out with the ladies (Jayme and Kaitlyn!) while the hubs all went to the Priesthood Session of Conference. Jayme was so kind to let me invite myself over! Come to think of it I tend to invite myself to a lot of things, oops!

D) During estrogen time I had Butterfinger ice cream for dessert~SO GOOD! (The Safeway brand kind) It is my favorite!!!

So all in all it was the perfect way to spend my Saturday!

Can I get some quiet PLEASE!?

My toddler really likes her TV. By TV I mean more specifically Sesame Street, or in Owaya speech "seesee". She loves it so much that when I do allow her to watch it she does NOT like to be distracted/interrupted.

Case in point:
Mom needs a shower so on goes "seesee". I come around the corner to a baby screaming because she is hungry with the toddler standing in front of her plugging her ears because all the crying is too distracting for her TV show. Sesame Street is SO mesmerizing to her that not even wailing will make her stop watching it. When she finally notices that I am taking pictures of this, Olivia mimes "please" and points to the baby. As in "PLEASE make this baby stop crying so I can finish my show!". I just about died I was laughing so hard!

Hello My Love

Dear Cradle Swing oh how I love thee! Let me count the ways...

~I can eat a meal with it still being at least warm

~Showers can now be taken wherewith ALL shampoo and/or conditioner gets rinsed out of my hair

~Quality time can happen with JUST me and my toddler

~Quality time can happen with my baby, because toddler is receiving her own time with mommy and won't throw a fit when mommy holds baby.

~Happiest baby ever because she is NOT sleep deprived

~Happiest Mommy ever because she is LESS sleep deprived then last week

~Toddler has not showed any signs of jealousy since my magical swing arrived. (I'm thinking because she is getting more time with Mommy to read books or cuddle)

~Mommy even has time to herself to read, clean, do laundry..... BLOG!!

Bianca is still receiving her fair share of Mommy time, it is the time I would have normally spent trying to rock her to go to sleep or just holding her so she will sleep that now gets spent on Olivia. Wanna hear the best part about my new love??? It only cost me $30.00!! I love Craigslist! I also love my BF Kaitlyn who helps me to negotiate such good deals (I am kind of a pansy about bargaining).