Then -n- Now

July 2007

June 2008

Open mouth kisses for Grandma!

Too Early

This is what getting up at 6:00am too many mornings in a row will do to you! She fell asleep at noon, her body was pushed to it's limits! I am a night owl, so her early mornings don't go over too well with me!

Playhouse

This is Paxton's latest hang out. He is obsessed with every controller, wire, and dvd in there! He fits so perfectly in there! Shutting the doors no longer keeps him out, because he can open them! At any given point of the day, I either have tupperware covering my kitchen floor, or wires and controllers covering my living room! Anyone want to come and baby-proof for me!?!?

Not Too Shabby

$10.00 for 26 items

I have always loved a good deal. It is something that runs deep in my blood. It gives me this excitement that Mike likes to laugh at. Whenever I come home and show him my deals, he politely listens and gives me a cute smile, he just doesn't get it!
Last week, Jamie and I decided to give couponing a try. For a while now, we've read about these girls who get amazing amounts on stuff for close to nothing! It takes effort, but feels worth the rewards!
Here is my first stash, for a total of $10.00! Not too bad for a new couponer! I won't go into details about how exactly it works, because it is a little on the confusing side, but if you're interested, I'll be glad to share!
I can't wait to see what prizes I can get for next week!

Success

Today was the last day for swim lessons. Lyric's improvement went beyond what I could have ever expected! The two weeks were like night and day. On Monday, I prepared myself for a challenging, cry filled time. She had a light switch on, and decided to enjoy it and practice what her teacher was showing her!

She will willingly dunked her face in the water! HUGE improvement! Part of the lessons were to have the kids dunk their heads to reach sinking sticks. Lyric would literally reach down as far as she could while keeping her head above the water. She would strain so hard so that her face would not have to go under!
Second week, she no longer clenched her teacher's skin to death while on the kick boards!
She was very proud of herself :)
At the last lesson today, they had them jump off the diving board. She was a little hesitant, but did great. She had her teacher help her with the first one, but then she did the second on her own.


Paxton endured two weeks of sitting in this little stroller, watching his sister and cousins! What a good little trooper. Doesn't he look thrilled!?!?

Farewell

So long, sayonara, hasta luego, adio, ciao, salut.........

I must bid you farewell this day. You have been an appendage on my body for the past 11 1/2 months. I have started and ended each day with you. I have added you into my "getting ready" routine. At times, I have felt like a slave to you, yet you were the one who allowed me to pump-n-run, when I needed an evening without the kids!

My husband has become familiar with your cow-like noises, and has gotten used to seeing his wife hooked up to you four times a day, seven days a week. You have traveled with me and have been used in many places, Disneyland, Arizona, relatives homes, and countless times in the car.

I would say that my relationship with you was a love-hate one. I loved the freedom you offered me, yet, many times I just wanted you to disappear! Once I committed myself to you, I knew there was no turning back. I have bittersweet feelings about our departure, but I know it is time. I have found a replacement and hope you will not have any hard feelings. Cows have promised me their commitment without having to give anything in return, well, besides some money at the store, but I have decided to take up this offer.

Until we meet again, good-bye.

Unexpected Visitor

On Saturday, I was rushing to get ready for the recital, when I heard the doorbell. I knew that it was Ryan, because it was the exact time my mom said he would be coming to pick up a ticket for the recital. I was only partially clothed, nothing was hanging out, so I was just going to open the door and slide the ticket through the security door. You can totally see out of the security door, but the person standing there can not see in at all.
So I opened the door, and instead of Ryan, it was a police! I was caught really off guard. He said they had received a 911 call from our address. I knew the only way that it possibly happened was from Paxton playing with the phone. A few minutes prior, he was hitting buttons on the phone. His latest is to hit the buttons and then press the orange button which turns it on speakerphone.
I stood there with the door open but the security door shut and started talking to him. He told me I needed to open the door, so I told him I needed to get properly dressed! I came back with the phone and showed him the redial on the phone. Paxton happened to have dialed 9116. I was really embarrassed. He kept questioning me. Is everything ok with you and your husband? Where is he? Who is here? I felt like I was being interrogated, but understood why. I apologized and he was on his way.
I think I will be a little more careful when Paxton has the phone now!

All That Jazz

This past Saturday, Lyric had her dance recital. Here are some pictures to tell the story.

On Friday, they had a dress rehearsal. I felt pretty confident that she would go on the stage without a hitch, but I didn't want to feel TOO confident because of my recent surprise with swim lessons! Anyways, she did great and wanted to do it again and again!



Saturday morning, I decided to put curlers in her hair. I had never done this and thought it would be fun to try. I borrowed them from Jamie and put them in. I was excited to have her hair cute and curly for the recital. The curling iron I had been using was too thick and didn't hold the curl very well in her hair. She thought it was pretty fun having them in!

Well, I sure learned a lesson. Never try something for the first time on the day of the performance! I literally almost started crying when I took the rollers out! Her hair was about two inches long! It wasn't the beautiful curls I was expecting! I had rolled the curlers all the way up to her scalp, where I should have only done them half way up! I had to hurry and try to fix it! It wasn't exactly how I wanted, but there was no time!
She was so exhausted on the way and took a little nap in the car. Her early mornings catch up to her by late afternoon.
She was SO excited to be able to perform and have all of the family watch. I was very impressed with her hip shaking abilities! The eleven little girls in her class did their dance to "Mr. Postman."

Cute cousins. They all three did such a good job on their dances. I think it is so fun that they all participate in dance. They were all excited to see each other's performance.
"Wait a minute Mr. Postman....." Lyric's posing to the first move of her dance.
Afterwards, we all went to dinner. Kristy even made it up to the recital! We had a really fun evening. I hope this is something Lyric keeps interest in. Out waitress asked if these two cuties were twins! This isn't the first time we've been asked that. It makes me laugh!

Determined

Ready....

set...
here I am!

Lyric's bed is Paxton's new favorite place to be. Every night, we put him up there with her while we are doing the bedtime routine. He just loves wrestling around with her pillows and blankets. He also likes playing on there with her during the day.

Tonight, he finally was able to get up there on his own. Typically, Lyric is ok with him up there, but watch out if she's not in the right mood! I haven't been too worried about Paxton, because he is really learning to hold his own, especially with her. He lets her know when she is pushing him too far. It's cute and funny to watch now, but I probably won't be saying that in a few months when the real fighting starts!

Swim Lessons

On Monday, Lyric started swim lessons. She has never taken them before, so I decided that this would be the summer to start them! I was so excited for her to start, and did not foresee any issues. Boy, was I wrong! Who knew that I would be that parent sitting watching their child scream like a possessed beast! I really did not anticipate Lyric having any problems! I sure learned to never feel too confident with anything, and to expect these sort of outcomes!

She and Lexi are in the same class. It is actually quite funny to watch, because if you didn't know they were cousins, you really would never be able to guess that they even knew each other! Lexi takes the lessons very seriously, and doesn't bat an eye at Lyric's hysteria.

Lyric has a fear of water on her face, so being in the pool doesn't exactly help. She is totally fine at my mom's pool. She'll jump in with her floating tube, but that is ok with her, because her face isn't going under!

I thought as each day passed, she would get better. Well, so far, that has not been the case. Yesterday was actually the worst so far! She cried the ENTIRE 30 minutes. She says, "I can't do it." I sit in the bleachers and give her thumbs up and try to stay positive, when in reality, I want to rip her out of the pool and take her home! Her other issue is with one of the teachers, he is a male. Lyric is not ok with this. She will emphatically say in a loud voice, "I don't want the boy to help me, I want the girl." I feel a little bad and a little embarrassed, but what can I do? She'll live through this experience, and hopefully come out stronger! I can only pray that next week goes better!

*These pictures were taken within the first five minutes of her first lesson, before she went into freak-out mode!

Not Quite

This past Saturday, we decided to go swimming. I knew the pool wouldn't be terribly warm, because the weather had cooled down a bit. I was just in the mood to be in the pool, which doesn't happen too often, so I wanted to take advantage of it! Lyric didn't mind the water temperature, but Paxton wasn't so fond of it. He was ok with Mike holding him for a minute, and that was it. Otherwise, he was totally content crawling along the very edge, making me nervous!

Sharing

Lyric has taken interest in Mike's Ipod. He has downloaded a few shows for her to watch on it. The other day she was nice enough to share with her brother. I'll take any form of sharing I can get right now!

My Night

Been in bed since 7:00...



going to bed???????????????

11 Months

His new Elmo toothbrush
Still loves to drink from the faucet
Silly
He tries to stand up while he is in the tubby, but has learned that the consequence isn't a good one, slipping onto the noggin!

Paxton is 11 months old today. I have to enjoy this last month before he turns one! Being my second, he seems so much younger at this point then Lyric did. I have heard that this happens with subsequent children.


Here are a few bits of info on him:

- He loves waving and saying "dada" when Mike walks out the door
- More often then not, he prefers Mike over me
- A few of his favorite foods: grapes, olives, black beans, blueberries, strawberries
- His sleep schedule: What is that?
- No walking yet, if he follows in his sister's footsteps, he still has another 4 1/2 months till he is walking!
- He doesn't allow himself to be pushed around as much, he has learned to stand up to his sister!
- Changing his diaper or dressing him takes an army to hold him down. He detests these two things more than anything in life!

Paxton's personality is shining through more each day. Today I told my mom that I didn't want him to get older and have me not like him anymore! Obviously, I was totally kidding. I just cherish the pure sweetness of babies! I love my Lyric to death, just getting older means attitudes, discipline, disobedience, battles, repetition in commands! It is all totally worth it, just draining in a totally different sense! Of course, the good and positive outweigh the negative!

He's Lucky

Helping himself to some grapes. (That is vaseline on his face, not snot!)
Paxton LOVES Mike's video game controllers. They can entertain him forever. He even knows how to hold them the right way!

This little boy is lucky that he is so darn cute, otherwise he'd be in trouble with me! Lately, he has felt this need to be up during mom and dad's "no kid time!" I put him to bed, and 45 minutes later he is up, as though he had just taken a short nap! I really enjoy my alone time in the evenings, so this new idea he has is not going over very well with me! Mike's miracle rocking doesn't even work! What was a 7:30 bedtime, is now 11:00! I guess he is just teaching me to not get too comfortable with any sort of a schedule! Please let this be a short phase!