6 months...

I can't believe it's been 6 months since I updated this blog. Our life has been wild and busy, and there just hasn't been time. 

But I was asked to do a booth for the BYU Women's Conference Sharing Stations this year, and the topic was on journaling. I realized that I need to do better at writing things down. I take lots of pictures, but I don't write down what they're about. And what good is that going to do, if I'm the only one that knows what they're about. So I'm going to try to do better. 

Here's what we've been up to the last 6 months. 

Kyle started a new job! He's working for a start-up company called Jigabot, and is so excited about what they're doing! He's their main engineer, and I couldn't be prouder of what he's accomplished with them. He's so smart! Kyle is the best husband and daddy. In addition to work, he is the assistant ward clerk for our ward, and works so hard after church and one night a week handling financial stuff. It's been a great experience for all of us, and he enjoys it. He's also the best about helping me with the girls and chores around the house. We really love him.

Rachel has been busy busy busy. The photography business is booming (I'm totally booked through the end of September, yay!!) and I'm loving it. Although I'm definitely feeling like I'm spread a little thin right now, and I'm working on finding a way to balance everything. If you have any tips on keeping a house organized with two kids, a baby on the way, and a full time job, please send them my way! This pregnancy has been hard, I've been really sick and uncomfortable most of the time. Thank goodness for modern medicine and a husband who helps with everything! I am grateful that we're able to have kids, and try not to complain too much. :) I'm loving getting to know all the women in my ward and neighborhood better, teaching primary, and I loved participating in women's conference this year. 

Lucy is at such a fun age. She turned 4 in March and is getting so grown up and mature. She loves being in charge (lucky for her, Lylah just rolls with it.) She loves dance and we were surprised a few weeks ago when her teacher recommended that she try out for the competitive team for 4-6 year olds. It's a great compliment, but I think we'll wait at least another year before venturing into that. She also loves Kindermusik, and wants to play with her friends all the time. I'm grateful that she's the oldest, because she usually listens really well, and is so good to help me with things. She can't wait for our newest baby sister to arrive! 

Some of the funny things Lucy's been saying:

-Lucy: Dad, what is this.

Kyle: It's a toy helicopter.

Lucy: Oh, that's awkward.

-Lucy: Mom! I just saw a shooting star! 

Me: Awesome! You have to make a wish!

Lucy: A wish?

(I try to explain what a wish is...)

Lucy: Ok! Star light, star bright, I wish I saw a shooting star!

-In the middle of Lucy's bedtime prayer: "and please bless that me can't have creepiest dreams. Like creepiest animal dreams."

Lylah is a wild child. She is so cute and silly, and it's lucky for her that she is. She is giving me a run for my money! The terrible twos arrived with a bang! She has the funniest evil laugh that she does whenever she's being naughty (so pretty much all the time.) She loves princess dresses, playing with friends, trying to make Lucy mad, and Kneaders. 

And she says the funniest things! Some of her recents are: 

- (in a sing-song voice) "'Ere's my darling Don Don? 'Ere's my darling Don Don?!"

-"Ere's my daddy? He's my Hon. My pin-thess Hon. He's a nice boy, my Hon."

-"Mama, 'an I cut Lucy's hair? Please?"

-"Lucy's tiny, but I'm big. Lucy, you are TINY!! And I am BIG!!"

-"Neber, neber, neber! Lylah neber sleep! Neber! Lylah neber! Lylah neber sleep!"

-(After being shown a picture of a pug blowing out birthday candles) "Oh! It's a chicken!"

-(After getting a stuffed owl for her birthday) "Oh! It's a badger!"

-"Help me Mama! Help me! I'na color Mickey's bum-bum. I'na markers please?"

-(After asking Lylah what we should name the new baby) "Baby Doe-Doe (what she calls her cousin Joe-Joe). No, baby Naked. No, baby Underpants."

Our new baby girl is due July 11, so I'm 30 weeks along. We are so excited to meet her! Lucy will be a big help, and we're hoping we can keep Lylah from smothering the baby with too much love.

In January I did my annual Photo-a-Day Challenge. See it here. 

Dear Blog...

Dear Blog,

Today Lucy was a very bad baby. She woke up on the wrong side of the bed. She fell off of our bed. She made as much mess as possible before nap time. After her nap, she re-messed all the placed I had cleaned. She figured out how to open lids that twist. We very nearly avoided catastrophe when I found her painting her face with nail polish (which took 20 minutes of screaming and scrubbing to get off, but luckily none on the floor). She found and emptied all of my face make-up onto her own face. She dumped an entire package of chips on the floor, then stepped in them to make them tiny crumbs. She found a chocolate Easter bunny and happily ate half before I found her (umm, where has that been hiding the last 6 or 8 months. Gross!). Then, just before dad came home, Lucy was trying to retrieve an empty bottle of hair spray out of the garbage can, tripped, and blackened her right eye. After dinner, we had to take pictures at a wedding reception. Lucy was whiney for mom the whole time. On the way home, I looked back to discover the grand finale to the day. Lucy had kindly taken the poop from her diaper and rubbed it all over her face and arms. Can I say SICK?!?

Dad is currently bathing Lucy himself, so that I don't barf. I have a nice husband.

Oh, the glamourous life of a mom.

Sincerely,

Rachel

Sooo....

Yeah, it's been a long time since I updated this blog. Sorry about that.

It's because we're going to have another one of these:

And I have been sicker than a dog.

Yup! We're expecting baby number 2! I'm 17 weeks along, due March 25! We're super excited!

We find out if it's a boy or a girl the end of this month. We're guessing boy, because I've been so much sicker this time. Anyone else have a guess?

Nursery

Yup! Lucy started nursery last sunday! I can't believe she's already old enough. Neither can she. As long as mom was with her, Lucy did great. As soon as mom left to go help dad with the Sunbeam class, Lucy flipped out. They'd bring her back to me. She'd settle down. And then we'd head back.

After the first time I left her, we came back in and her nursery teacher said she was super impressed by how well Lucy could talk. Huh? She talks a lot, but not in English. Or so I thought. Apparently, after Lucy realized I had left, she started bawling. When they asked her what was wrong, she yelled "I WANT MY MOM!!" What the?! She's been holding out on me.

Hopefully it gets better. I've heard the first month or so is a little hard on the little guys.

A few other funny things from the first two hour nursery block:

-Kyle came in to see if I could come back and help him. When he closed the door, Lucy started crying for "DAD!". Then all of the other kids in the nursery started crying for their dads. Classic.

-Lucy was the only friend who sang during singing time. Only she liked to sing loud solos at the end, after the song was finished.

-Lucy refused to color with only 1 crayon. She wanted more. The kid next to her colored her picture.

-Lucy doesn't like animal crackers or goldfish. But she nicely shared hers and another boy's with one of the other girls.

-Lucy is getting "thank you". She said thank you to her teachers every time we left the room.

Family prayer

If you're getting tired of hearing about Lucy, then stop reading now.

Still here? Okay. Lucy is getting so big-I can't believe all the things she's doing these days. She's become a huge trouble maker, and you can always tell she's doing something naughty if you say her name and she looks at you with the most guilty expression on her face and then hurries and folds her arms (umm, okay?). She doesn't like dirty diapers. So she takes them off herself. When I ask her if we can put a clean one on, she says "NO!" and runs away. I think it's time to try potty training. She's the biggest chatter box. Only she doesn't speak English most of the time, which is unfortunate. When she's done eating, she signs "finished" and says "allllll dud!". It means "all done". It's cute.

One funny thing she did tonight (I can't stop laughing when I think about it!):

We were ready for family prayers. Lucy came and sat on my lap on folded her arms. Then Kyle started praying. Apparently she had better things to do, because once he started she slowly stood up, kept her arms folded, and quietly sang her "sneaky song" (which we sing when we sneak up on dad and he says "boo!") and she tiptoed away. Kyle grabbed her and kept talking, but I had a hard time focusing after that. She's a smart little one. And apparently she likes her own theme song music. :)

Last one: Lucy's been having a hard time with morning naps lately. She still needs them, but I think it might have to do with my internship and her being sent to grandma's every other day all summer.

Anyway, she was in her bed, not having a rest the other day. Finally I went in to try to lay her down again. What I saw was amazing! Lucy had artfully draped all of her blankets around the edges of her bed. It was so decorative and she was so proud. Instead of trying to go back to sleep, she got her picture taken and got to get up and play. She might be an interior designer someday.

(And don't worry, when we moved here I arranged all of our furniture so that it could have optimal lighting for pictures like this one. I'm a little bit pathetic that way.)

Okay, moving past that obnoxiously grumpy last post. Here are some recent funnies from Lucy:

Lucy got to name the new cat my parents got. She named it "Mow". As in "Lucy, what does a kitty say?", "mow". She has consistently called him that for several months now. Lucy couldn't imagine anything funnier than Mow. She picks him up and carries him around. Picks him up and tosses him in his water bowl. Throws blankets on him. And throws things down the stairs so that he will go get them. It's hilarious to Lucy. Poor Mow.

This photo pretty much describes their relationship:

Lucy is afraid of people coming to the door. There is not a particular reason why. But when anyone knocks or rings the doorbell, Lucy starts screaming and running in circles with the most terrified look on her face. It usually takes me a minute to open the door. I have to compose myself, because it makes me laugh so hard.

Today, I was asking Lucy if she was a baby. She said no. I asked if she was a big girl, again "no". I asked her if she was several other things and she kept saying "no". Finally, she told me she was a kitty. Then she sat there for a second thinking. Then she corrected herself. "Bampa kieee". Apparently, my child is a Grandpa Kitty. Lovely.

It's late, and that's all I can think of right now.

Whew!

My goodness. The last two weeks have probably been some of the hardest I've ever had.

I've been busy with school, and with an internship thats practically taken over my life. I have to go 2-3 times a week. It wouldn't be so bad, but it's at least a 1 hour drive each way. So it takes up basically my whole day when I go. I'm tired and feel so guilty about leaving Lucy with her grandmas so much. They've been so nice about it, but it's not their job to be her mommy and it makes me feel bad. Poor little thing has been so clingy when I am home that she doesn't even want to nap because she's afraid I'm going to leave.

To top it all off, I've been insanely busy with photography. I can't even begin to express how grateful we are for it all! I love doing it and feel like I've progressed so much in my personal knowledge! I feel like I'm becoming successful, and it's taken a long time to get to this point. But I've had 4-5 shoots a week (all in the evenings after I get home from my internship. Poor neglected family!). Gah! I have to learn how to say no. The shoots themselves only take about 2 hours, but then there are hours and hours after of editing, which I have not really had time for. So I'm getting behind, and then I get stressed.

I've also had a bunch of projects and papers due for school in the last 2 weeks. It's killing me. Kyle's been a saint. He is the best hubby ever. I couldn't have done any of this without him!

Can I just say I'm glad that today was my last official day of the internship?! Yup. I sure am.

Sorry to be grumpy. Happy post next time. I promise!

Slow Cookers

Ever since we got married, I have loved my Crock Pot. I usually use it at least once a week. Well, since I started my internship, we've moved up to slow cooker dinners 3 times a week. And I'm so into it that I really just want to cook with it on the other 2 days too! If you're not a crock pot fan, you really need to give it a try. What could be better than being gone all day, then walking into your house smelling delicious and a home cooked meal ready to eat. Yum.

Anyway, I only had maybe 6 good slow cooker recipes before. But that's just not enough these days. So, I found this fantastic blog:

A Year of Slow Cooking

She used her Crock Pot every day for a year (in 2008) and blogged the whole thing. She still posts new recipes regularly. And she has category tabs on everything! It's wonderful. Try it.

Some of the ones I've tried this week are:

Slow Cooker Green Pepper Chicken

Crock Pot Tamale Pie

Barbecued Chicken and Cornbread

And tonight I'm going to try the Slow Cooker Puffy Pizza. Hope it works!

Busy busy busy!

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last posted on this blog. Opps. Our lives have become insanely busy! Kyle's working hard and loving his job. We're so grateful he has one.

Lucy is busy as ever. She runs, not walks, everywhere she goes. She's trying to give up signing (which makes me so mad. She knows probably 45 or 50 signs now, but refuses to do them!), because she thinks she can talk now. And talk she does. Just not in english. Oh dear.

I've become super busy with my photography, and I'm loving it! I've been averaging 3-4 shoots a week, and sometimes even more. We're so excited that things are going so well with that. I'm also super busy with school. I am 2 weeks into a 10 week internship. It's really fun to be able to dress up and get out of the house. I love being able to talk to adults (not just my 1 year old). But I really miss being able to stay home with my baby all day. Luckily I only have to be gone 8 hours a week and I have a wonderful mom and mother-in-law who are helping out. But I still feel a little guilty making someone else watch her for so much time each week. Anyway, kind of mixed feelings on that. :)

Anyway, those are the basic reasons why I haven't posted in a while. But we're super happy and loving life!

Totally unrelated, but here are some cute pictures of Lucy from recently.

Playing guitar with Uncle Mark.

Being cute. :)

Both her Grandma's recently got kitties. Lucy adores kitties. Poor kitties.

Another post.

I've been wanting to post something for a while now, but just couldn't think of anything interesting enough to post about. Then I realized, who needs interesting? I doubt anyone reads this anyway, so it's more of a journal for me than anything else. (:

Well, I probably shouldn't, but I take great pride in the fact that Lucy will let me do anything with her hair. If I tell her something is "sooo pretty!!" then she loves it! Some of the recent hairstyles include:

One pony shooting out the top with a big bow:

Down with her bangs out and a headband:

Scrunch curls (from the back):

(and the front):

Straight down:

Two piggies on top:

Two piggies on the side:

She has her hair blow-dried, pulled, yanked, etc. And last night for the first time (we had family pictures taken) I actually curled her hair with a curling iron! She never fusses or cries. She loves to have pretty hairs!