TIRED

Mike's parents arrived from Louisiana today. They are staying with us through Christmas. Everyone was super excited to see Nana and Grandpa. Phillip was a little hesitant at first, but warmed up and performed the rest of the evening! Olivia gave them a piano concert and had some bedtime snuggle time with Nana.

I'm very thankful that my kids have grandparents that love them! My kids are the only grandchildren on both sides of the family. That spells S-P-O-I-L-E-D! Phillip sees my parents everyday, Olivia sees them a few times a week. We don't get to see Mike's family as much, but the kids love them just as much!

Mike's parents have already bought the kids' Christmas presents. Olivia got a new quilt, sheets, shams, throw pillow, curtains, and bed skirt. It's super cute, I can't wait for her to see it! Phillip got a GIANT toy box, which I am sure will be full by Christmas day.

We bought Phillip a toddler bed today. He LOVES it! He went to bed right away in it and fell fast asleep. Too good to be true, right? If you said yes, you are correct. He woke up 45 minutes later, crying hysterically. He then tried to climb into my bed. I found him hanging onto the sheet sobbing. He fell right back asleep though, so I'm optimistic that it's going to work out.

I am really bad about letting him sleep with us when he wakes up at night. I did the same with Olivia and she was almost 5 when she finally quit crawling into our bed at night. Occasionally, she still has relapses. The night we brought Phillip home from the hospital was one of them. Coincidence? I don't think so!

I am exhausted and about to turn in. If Phillip gets in my bed, I guess I can sleep in his :)

Pictures from the Parade

This girl LOVES coffee, thanks to her Aunt Bethany!

Snug in the stroller...for now...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Ah, the Christmas spirit is flowing freely in the Bell household. Tonight, we took the kids to the Christmas parade in "town". We live in a tiny little suburb, so the next city over is considered "town". It's still a relatively small city, but it's a lot bigger that the tiny hamlet we live in.

We had a delicious (seriously) dinner at Subway and then headed downtown for the parade. We were early so we stopped in a local coffee shop on the town square for hot chocolate (for me) and coffee for Mike & Olivia. Olivia, of course, got decaf. She loves the taste of coffee, too funny.

The kids both loved the parade. I had Phillip swaddled in blankets in his stroller, but that didn't last for long. He wanted to stand beside us and wave at the floats. He refused to keep his mittens on, so I'm sure we looked like very negligent parents.

Phillp is really coming out of his shell. He loves to wave and say "hi" to everyone he sees. He is developing a great vocabulary, this morning he told his sister to "hush".

Speaking of sister, I am really having a hard time with her. I guess it's just growing pains, but it seems like every conversation we have ends with yelling and tears (on her end). She is very emotional and quick tempered right now, I have a feeling that puberty is right around the corner. I just keep loving her and hoping that we wind up with a functional mother/daughter relationship when it's all said and done.

My in-laws will be here Wednesday. They are staying until after Christmas. This is the first time in 10 years of marriage and 14 years of togetherness that they have been here at Christmas. Mike is super excited. I am a little worried. I love them and all, but I am just nervous about having to adjust all my traditions. That's what marriage is, I guess.

They did get the kids some great presents. My MIL is super about that. She just calls me up and tells me to order them what they want and she will pay for it. Olivia has a whole new bedroom collection coming, a new quilt, curtains, sheets, bedskirt, etc. Phillip is getting a big toybox.

Mike's parents are getting older, they are 72 & 77. His father has Parkinson's disease. I know my kids won't have them around forever, so we are going to cherish this Christmas.

That's all for now, I got all of 3 hours of sleep last night, so I think I'm going to crash!

Thankfulness

Ahh, the Sunday after Thanksgiving. I am tired and bloated. It has been a wonderful weekend, filled with family and fun. We had a tiny little Thanksgiving dinner Thursday with my parents. The rest of the entire family was out of town, so it was just us. We fixed WAY TOO MUCH food and ate until we moaned. At one point, Mike looked at me and said, "Is this what it feels like to be pregnant?" Yeah, sure, just like it...for NINE months!

Friday, I lounged around the house with the kids. It was glorious, leftovers and all. Mike had to work that night, so we just lounged. Olivia spent the night with Mom & Dad. It was a lazy day.

I worked some Saturday, we were shorthanded at the store. It was fine. Nothing exciting.

Today, was some great church and more laziness at home. We cooked another turkey (HA), so we would have leftovers this week.

So, since I last blogged, Phillip & Olivia have both had birthdays. My brother did an amazing photo shoot of the kids for Phillip's one year pictures. I am including some of those in this blog for my three readers :)

My laptop is finally fixed (AGAIN). This laptop is a lemon. I am breaking down and ordering a new computer for Christmas. Merry Christmas MAMA! I hope to blog more, I need an outlet.

This is a very disjointed, random post, so I will just leave the pictures. Tata!

I am fat

Well, there it is. I'm not chubby, I'm not pleasantly plump, I am fat. I am 80 lbs overweight, or at least over the weight I want to be. 80 lbs. That's crazy. I weigh exactly what I did this time last year. I was 8 months pregnant. Yikes. Tuesday, Mike, Mom, Dad, and myself are starting Weight Watchers. Dad wants to lose 100 lbs, Mom wants to lose 20 lbs, Mike wants to lose 40 lbs, and I was to lose...80 lbs, of course. However, if I lose 80 lbs, I may lose 10 more just so people tell me that I'm looking TOO SKINNY! How great would that be? So, it's out here in interweb world, I have to do it...right?

Seriously though, I will do this. I am 31 years old. I have many, many years ahead of me (I hope). I want to spend them healthy and active, not fat and tired. I want my children to be proud of me, not embarrassed by me. I want to be the pretty girl my husband married, not the fat, grumpy woman who ate her :)

Wish me luck...

All Because Two People Fell In Love...

Thirteen years ago tomorrow, I went on my last first date :) It was an unlikely pairing, an eighteen year old girl, a thirty two year old man. Some would say it was scandelous. But, I knew, before we ever went on that date, that this was the ONE.

Let's start in April 1996. On April 2, when I was all of 18 years and 15 days old, and still in high school, I met two men who would both change my life. One for the better, one for much worse. I was introduced to these men by my friend and boss, Randy. We were leaving work one night and he said, "Hey, I met these guys last night, you should meet them, they're great." So, we poked our heads into a partially constructed restaurant next to the store we worked at and said hi. The two men were Mike (future husband) and Chris (future nightmare). Well, we started talking to them and I stayed and talked for over 2 hours. Mike was hilarious. Chris was, well, he was hot. Mike was good looking, but seemed very OLD to me. Chris was 26 and looked all of 20. When it was time for me to go, I told them I would see them again, I was sure.

Fast forward to the next night. My BF Chanda and I, along with her little sister, stopped by my place of employment to pick up something I left earlier. I saw Chris and Mike leaving, so I pulled up and said hello. They said that they were headed to Los Portales (a local Mexican eatery), would we like to go. Well, of course, we did. So, we had a great time talking to these guys and when we left, we all agreed that Chris was really into me.

Sometime during the next week, Chris asked me out. Thus began a three week relationship that had A LOT of drama, some of the worst decisions I have ever made, and a broken heart. The broken heart was due to the bad decisions, not the idiot. Anyway, that relationship was over quickly, and while it was, by far, the worst of my life, I got something priceless out of it. My friendship with Mike. Though Chris and I were over, Mike and I had become fast friends, bonding over our superiority complexes and other things we had in common.

Well, over the next couple of months, the friendship grew. We saw each other daily and had a great time when we were together. I was falling, and fast. In my mind, I kept telling myself that this would never work. We were 14 years apart, he just thought of me as a little sister, etc. Well, on June 16, I called him and bit the bullet. I told him that I was romantically interested in him and would like to go out sometime. I was met with *SILENCE*. Then, he regained his composure and said that he would love to, how about lunch that Wednesday, his day off.

Well, I'm pretty sure I didn't sleep the next three nights, I had never been so excited. My friends thought I was nuts. Here I had fallen head over heels for this OLD guy, who was cute and funny, but OLD. Anyway, he picked me up for lunch on Wednesday and we headed for the Garden Plaza Hotel. SCANDELOUS! Kidding, kidding, we ate at the restaurant there. One of my good friends worked there and I wanted a witness to the date. You know, to tell us if we looked cute together, if we had chemistry, etc.

Well, we talked comfortably throughout the meal. Of course, we were great friends already, so the conversation flowed easily. Towards the end of the meal, I casually placed my hand towards the center of the table. He, just as casually, placed his close to mine, and within seconds, our fingertips touched. I am not exageratting here, I felt a spark. I had never felt like I did the moment we touched. My whole arm was warm. We left soon after that and he put his arm around me on the way to the truck. My knees went weak. That had never happened. Even though I was only 18, I had dated quite a bit. This weak knees thing was very new. All the way back to my job, we held hands. He had a stick shift and shifted with his left hand :)

Once we got to work, I shyly sat on my side of the truck as we parked. He turned off the engine and turned towards me. We locked eyes for a few seconds and then he said "Come here you". In one swift move, he pulled me towards him and kissed me. The earth stood still. I saw fireworks, wedding bells, baby blankets, and rocking chairs all at the same time. I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I was kissing my husband. After a few minutes of kissing, I had to tear myself away and head back to work. I floated through the rest of the afternoon. Sometime around 3 p.m., he called me babbling about picnics and walks on the beach. Basically, he was telling me he was smitten. I agreed and told him I could not wait to see him again. I promised to call him that night.

That night, when I called him, he sounded different. Using a very well rehearsed speech, he told me that he understood that I was very young and that I had a life to live. He totally understood if I wanted to date other people and live a little. He would wait for me and would not be dating. He was ready to commit to me, but expected nothing in return. I listened to his speech and then told him that I had no intention of ever seeing anyone else. He was the one for me.

Less than two weeks later, he showed up at my job, told me to sit down, and then told me that he was head over heels, without a doubt, in love with me.

Two weeks after that, all hell broke loose when my parents discovered that the guy I was dating was 32.

Three years after that he proposed to me in a candlelit room, choking back tears, making my dreams come true.

A few months later, we were married.

A few months later, we welcomed with much joy and tears our first baby.

Eight years after that we welcomed our second baby.

Today, 13 years after our first date, I still see fireworks, wedding bells, baby blankets, and rocking chairs when we kiss. I look across the dinner table and see the man I fell in love with. The man who cried when he proposed, makes me laugh every single day, and makes all my dreams come true. Whether he is rocking our babies or mowing the grass, I fall in love with him more every day.

Even though our relationship seemed unlikely and certaintly doomed, I can say with all seriousness, that our marriage is incredible. Mike is truly my best friend and we enjoy each other so much. Here's to many more years!!

Well, almost 9 months later...

My beautiful babies, I am so blessed
One of Phillip's 6 month pictures, too funny!

So much for using this blog to keep up with the kids' milestones. It's been a wonderful 9 months. Baby Phillip has meshed into our family without a hitch. Olivia loves him, rarely gets jealous. Phillip is the happiest, sweetest, most easy going baby I have ever met. People are constantly commenting on his sweet nature. Here is a wrap up of the last 9 months.

Phillip: Well, he started out little, but did not stay that way. By late October, Phillip is a butterball. A very content baby, he sleeps when we do, except he wakes to eat. OFTEN. But, he goes right back to sleep, so no big deal. Phillip is holding his head up well by two weeks old. He is rolling over by three months and sitting with a little support at four months. By five months, he's sitting unassisted and the Bumpo seat is not longer needed. By the time he is seven months old, Phillip is crawling like a pro. He said his first word, Mama, at around 6 months. Mama is by far his favorite person. He loves Dada and Sister, but Mama is #1. By 9 months, Phillip has a lot of words. He can say: Mama, Dada, Paw-Paw, bye, hi, dog (og), cat (at), up (a personal favorite of his), and go (gah). He has four teeth that he cut in one day during his 8th month. Pulling up is a favorite activity, he began doing this at around 7 months. He pulls up and cruises everywhere. At 9 months, he frequently stands unassisted for a few seconds, then falls. I am in no hurry for him to walk. Overall, he is an absolute joy and I LOVE that we spend every minute together. The red hair and blue eyes were quite the surprise, but now I can't imagine him any other way.

Olivia: Olivia continues to grow taller and leaner. She is a beautiful girl who is growing into her arms and legs. Third grade is over. We are leaving the private school that we were at for two years and trying public school again. Olivia was so tired of that school and she gets to start middle school in August. She is super excited. Olivia took placement test for public school and scored college level on her reading and upper fifth grade level on her math. She is still considered highly gifted, which is no surprise. What does surprise us is what a sweet, compassionate person she has become. She is very mature now and almost all traces of my "baby girl" are gone. She still enjoys being babied and can be found many evenings with all 4'9" inches curled up in my lap. I adore her and cannot get enough of her charm and wit. She has developed quite the interest in boys and it's killing her daddy. She has become very fashion conscious and has great taste. We love shopping together. I cannot wait to see what kind of lady she grows into. She loves God very much and enjoys all church activities. She even helps me with the bulletins on Sunday.

Well, that sums up the last 9 months, sorta. I am loving everyday with my babies. I thank God for giving them to me. We are so blessed.