Happy Mothers Day!!!

I am so thankful for this day and the opportunity it gives us to remember that motherhood is one of those special gifts that make life fun...  So HaPPy MoTherS DaY!!!

Mommy Brain----

If you’ve left the crayons to melt in the car,

And forgotten just where the car keys are,

There’s a perfectly good way to explain:

You see, you’ve come down with “Mommy Brain”.

When you’re not sure where the past eight hours went,

Or whether the phone bill check’s been sent,

If you’ve left the laundry drying in the rain,

It’s just — you guessed it — Mommy Brain.

If you find yourself chatting for hours on end

About diaper prices with your cyber friends,

You’ve just caught a particularly virulent strain

Of that affliction known as Mommy Brain.

If you’ve left your bags at the grocery store,

Or completely forgot what you went there for,

If you called the cat by your baby’s name,

You can bet that Mommy Brain’s to blame.

If you know the words to “Goodnight Moon” by heart,

If you study your sleeping babe like a work of art,

If you’re always surprised by how time is flying,

And the thought of that first birthday starts you crying...

It’s unavoidable girls, and I feel your pain.

For I, too, suffer from Mommy Brain.

And yet, my Mommy Heart is sure:

I hope they never find a cure!

By Carlotta Eike Stankiewicz

Copyright © 1998

Energy, Belly, Garden

I am so thankful to be getting my energy back. it is nice to be able to come home after work and still have the energy to cook and clean and keep up with SaraH. It also helps me sleep better at night knowing that the dishes are done and floors are clean. SaraH has even taken notice and loves to help. She now will take out her little trash of diapers and her bathroom trash. (YAY!! 2 Trash cans that i don't have to bend over to empty!!) She also enjoys helping me vacuum...

I think her favorite is bumping into me and saying "Hey! I'm working here." and I don't mind at all. I'm just happy she as an interest in and enjoys helping out.

As I am coming up on soon to be 6 months pregnant...

(In the photo with me is Sarah Gardner. There is a 3 month difference between us.)

...my belly is starting to get more in the way. Such as bending over is becoming harder to do. (thankful SaraH has been very helpful in picking things up for me.) And now a days when giving hugs you will more than likely run into and or bump my un-squish able belly. ( don't get me wrong i find it a little funny. especially when the one being hugged gives me a funny look... as if to say hey your belly didn't squish like i was expecting it to.) we are looking forward to May 7th in hopes of finding out if we will blessed with another girl or if  we are entering unknown waters with a boy. I am also expecting my weight to level out to maybe gain a little. With SaraH I lost 15lb in the first 5 mo and at 6 mo was little to no change 7 mo GAINED a little over 7 lb. With this one I have lost a little over 30 lb. (: (Look i lost the baby weight from SaraH) :)

Seeing how SaraHs first response to having a baby was "no thank you, I'm fine." we have been working on trying to explain that there is a baby in my belly and what will happen when the baby comes out and where the baby will sleep and such. So after all our efforts SaraH has changed her mind. She now will tell me/ remind me of 2 things- first the baby is hers and  second she had it first. (we have since cleared up the matter of who has it first but also letting her know that mommy will share) :) the other day she was asking if the baby can eat different foods so i explained to her that mommy will feed the baby for a while first. she then took the baby out of my belly button and held it up for it to eat when i asked her what she was doing she looked at me like i was crazy and said "baby hungry" after the baby finished she put it back in my belly. she then too something out of her belly and held it up to herself so i asked what she was doing and she told me she had puppies in her belly and that they were hungry. :) Toddlers are a good source of humor!

I enjoy working in my Garden it is a great stress reliever. with that said there are some things that i don't like so much about my garden... like the fire ants, centipede grass, and poisonous spiders those would be the 3 top things. I don't mind weeding but hate to weed while red ants are attacking.  ugh! so the 7 dust has been laid and it has done its job so hopefully they will not be back... Just yesterday we planted things in the garden and are now waiting for our hard work to pay off or at least we are hoping it will anyway.  

oh how time flys

Let’s see since my last post in dec. SaraH has turned 2! She has been Very good at being a 2 yr old too. :)


Joe and Anna’s family has come down for a visit and Sarah Loved playing with her cousins Jerome and Evan and helping with baby Sophia. She now thinks that every baby she sees is baby Sophia. :)


It seems as if it were yesterday I took the test and found out I was pregnant and am now realizing that I am half way done with my pregnancy. Most days I don't even feel pregnant so to say the least I am still in shock that baby number 2 is on its way.... When we first asked SaraH if she wanted a little brother or sister she responded " No thank you, I'm fine." she has now come around to telling me just about every time she hugs or kisses the baby that "MY baby, I had it first" :) I just smile and let her know mommy gets the baby for the first 9 months THEN mommy will share the baby" :) we are looking forward to Friday when we hope to find out what we are having....


Easter was fun this year Sarah enjoyed Easter egg hunting (or Easter egg hide n seek) so much that she started to hide and find the eggs on her ... she also got the soccer ball that she has been talking about and wanting for some time now.


We are now looking forward to June when we take our family camping trip...

SaraH swinging like a super hero...

Oct. - Nov. Update

(above) To the right is my birthday cake. Lila and SaraH couldn't wait to dig in. :) It was very yummy.  Sarah Gradner and her daughter Lila and Anna Scott all came into town to help us celabrate my birthday. And to the left is us at the state fair. This was SaraHs first time to the fair.    She also had her first pony ride and first elephant ear.

Above are 2 cakes that I made. I got to learn a little about teenage mutant ninga turtles. And for the princess castle i got to learn how to work with gum paste. ( I thought the flowers turned out nice)  To the Left is Grandma and Grandpa Elkins with SaraH dressed up as a little lady bug. :) She was SO very cute. Below are 2 pictures from when SaraH and i went up north for Aunt Anna's baby shower. She had so much fun playing with Mikayla and Steven. Sadly right before leaving she came down with a fever. Thankfully it was nothing contagouse.

To the left is SaraH thinking inside the box. i had to take the picture when she started going hummmm....

Below is SaraH and Grandpa French putting together SaraHs new bunk bed.

Above Grandma French and SaraH are outting together SaraH's first ginger bread house. Now whenever she looks at it she tells us all about her and grandma decorated it.

To the Left is SaraH's Style... She loves wearing Hats and on this day she picked out a nice one...

Below is when Grandma, SaraH and I went to paint pottery. She always has so much fun when we go.


Now that you are pretty much caught up.... We are looking forward to not only Christmas but also SaraH's 2nd Brithday. :)

End of summer pics...

Above is a picture of the volcano cake I made. :) I am happy with the results. And Alex was surprised.

We  ended our summer with a birthday Luau (for our friend) SaraH enjoyed hanging out, looking cool, and cake (or as she says "cuk cake")

Phones

Lately our phones have been less than.... Lets say helpful. They randomly turn off... They sometimes don't ring... I would call Matt 3/4 times and he would have 1 missed call... At the end of the day I would be so frustrated that sadly I would take it out on the wrong things/people. SO a decision was made!! NEW PHONES. :) We then went on the hunt... Which network? Which phone? What do we want our phones to do? The list goes on....... (what a headache) But after all is said and done questions were asked and answered.... And then decisions were made... A smaller plan (amazingly we were only using 200 of the 10000 min of our old plan) And a new phone a blackberry for both of us (thank goodness for sales) I'm not sure I 100% love it yet but I am still trying to figure out how to use it..... I was told that I will love it in the end and that I won't be able to go back to a regular phone....( I must say that so far I am really enjoying it...)

SaraH LOVES the phone change... (she got our old phones..{they can't make any calls}) She has carried them around all day... She has also been trying to trade phones with us as NOW she also wants the cool new phones...

Change of subject :

I made this Volcano cake... It was 14 in. tall (the valcano part was) and the base was 18 in. by 24 in. (the valcano base was only 11 in. in diameter) IT WAS A BIG CAKE! It was so much fun to make. In the end I used 9 cake mixes 40 eggs and about 4 lb. of frosting (it was a big cake) there were some first with this cake... It was my first time carving a cake, and make a cake erupt. This cake was a surprise for my friends little boy (who is not really all that little) when he saw it for the first time he was SHOCKED!! I would post a pic BUT I can't find my camera....so maybe later...