And We're HOME!

And with a sigh of exhaustion, I say that it's so nice to be home. I'm telling you, heaven is when both children are sound asleep in a hotel room (which is far from easy!).

We spent the past week in Disneyland, we had a great time! Kylie and Matthew were on the go non-stop. Tower of Terror, aka the elevator ride, picture to come (which is hilarious). Kacey and I just moved from bench to bench, watching the people and munching on Disney treats.
Kacey was less than thrilled with Eeyore, which blows my mind... her whole bedroom is Winnie the Pooh. This was adorable in person...

More pictures later :)

Baby #3

And it's official, we have baby #3. We had our appointment yesterday, strong heartbeat. My due date is September 21st. So Kacey will have just turned 2 on September 5th... with a little luck, we will have her potty trained by this summer (fingers crossed!).

We took the girls to the appointment so they could hear the heartbeat and see the baby. Kacey didn't quite understand, but she was thrilled with the lollipop the nurse gave her. Kylie could not figure out why we were looking at a tv and not in my tummy. She goes, "no, the baby's in Mommy's tummy." She's been cute about it. She wants a girl, just ask her and she'll tell you. She looks through my belly button (like it's a port hole) and says that she can see the baby. And she'll try to tickle the baby by ticking my belly button.

Pregnancy checklist:

Cravings.... check! Nausea... UGH, double check! Tired all the time.... check! Looks like everything's right on target like my other pregnancies... too bad this was poor planning... I've already done the third trimester through the Las Vegas summer and it's terrible, what was I thinking to do it again!!!!! :)

And a little nervous about having three children. With two, Matthew and I can divide and conquer. With three, we're outnumbered... and let's face it, Kylie's getting smarter than us by the minute! And how do I cross the street with them? Three kids, all 4 years old and under... our house is going to be lots of fun!!!!!!!!

Maggie Moo's

What am I going to do with you Goof!?!

So, we thought we were in the clear. She'd been seizure free for about 15 months, the doctor suggested we wean her off her medicine (which is damaging her liver). So everything was great, until about 9 am this morning.

She had one seizure, and thankfully I knew what I was doing. Not like last time where I freaked out and was frantic, which didn't help the situation at all. She shakes really bad, loses her vision, and can't move her body. It's hard to watch, but I talked her down from it. I was hoping we were done. Not 5 minutes later, she went into another one. So at that moment, I called my mom to come over... Matthew called the Vet to let them know I was on my way. Two more seizures later and we're finally in the car... 2 more seizures on the drive.... they knew it was me as I walked into the Vet and they hooked her up right then and there.

She'll need to be on Phenobaribital the rest of her life, one pill every 12 hours. It will eventually cause her to go into liver failure, but her brain won't survive the clusters of seizures if we don't do it. Catch 22. The doctor said he's seen dogs on the meds for 2-4 years before the liver gets too bad. There's really no other choices.

She might come home tonight, maybe tomorrow, the doctor wants to monitor her. Poor thing, this dog has been through it all!

My Cinderella

I'm really big into teaching Kylie age appropriate chores, for two reasons... one- she learns that a magic fairy doesn't effortlessly clean up after her (I'm still teaching my husband that one, but Kylie's a quick learner) and two- it makes my life a whole lot easier. But to be honest, she loves helping out. I don't even have to reward her with a lollipop or anything afterwards, she's so happy to be Mommy's little helper. Today, we mopped the tile which is a daunting task because about 75% of my first floor is tile.
We loaded the washing machine...
... for 3 separate loads of laundry. She can vacuum too.

And while she was doing her part, I was able to clean all the bathrooms.

I think the cleaning bug hit our house today. There's something really nice about knowing your kitchen sink is spotless and shiny!

President Hinckley

I was at the fireside, when Matthew texted me saying that President Hinckley had passed away. My first thought was disbelief, but I realized my husband wouldn't have texted it if it wasn't true. Moments later, it was announced. The young women took it pretty hard, and I found myself with tears coming down my face. Like them, he's the only Prophet that I've known since being baptized a member of this church.

After the initial, "but it can't be..." thoughts. I thought of his wife's death almost 4 years ago and how wonderful for them to be together again. My husband and I were talking, and he said that's it's strange to know that the actual, most powerful man in the world had died. And sadly, many don't know of him... and that can parallel to the Savior also. Many don't know Him, and it is sad.

As with many others, the beloved President Hinckely will always hold a special place in my heart. Front page of the Las Vegas Review Journal, described his life as a testament to service and someone with a true love for others. I will always remember that moment, as I sat with the thousands, waiting for General Conference to begin. And the beautiful silence that overtook the room as he walked in. Everyone in amazement of the WONDERFUL man we were all in the presence of. He lifted his cane as if to wave hello. I'll miss his voice this coming April.

But, as we have record of the experiences of the pioneers... After the Prophet Joseph had been murdered, the Saints looked to Brigham Young. And they heard it, as if it were Joseph Smith's voice and words, coming out through Brigham Young. I look forward to this conference and feeling my testimony grow, similar to that of the pioneers, as I hear the words of guidance and love coming out of the mouth of our next Prophet.

Ky....eeeeeeeeeeeee

(ps.. picture is from a few weeks ago, my Christmas stuff has been put away!)

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This past week Kacey has learned how to say "Kylie," although it sounds more like Ky (pause) eeeeeeee. It's so precious coming out of her sweet little voice, and I give her a lot of credit... Kylie is a hard word to say especially for a 16 month old. I guess she hears us say it so often, that it comes natural. Although, it's a little less cute when it's about 3 AM... and Kacey's in her crib, "Ky eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, Ky eeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Luckily, they are in separate bedrooms. I could not imagine what would happen if they weren't!

Mt. Charleston

Yesterday, we went back up the mountain to play in the snow. This time, we were armed with a 2-person sled!

Daddy felt badly that he and Kylie were having all the fun. So he put Kacey in Kylie's lap. (Yes, Kylie is snugged somewhere in the middle)...

Not a big hit with the little one.

More Pictures...

See all better. She prefers to watch and sit on Mommy's lap and take pictures.

These two are my favorite (above). Matthew was SO tired, he could hardly move. So Kylie's like, "Forget you, I can do it all by myself."

Mission: ORGANIZATION

Let The New Year's Resolutions Begin!

I'm going to do something a little different, instead of telling you our resolutions...... we'll share the ones that we actually accomplish! :)


RESOLUTION: More organization so we can find things quicker.

Big thanks to the Pace family, between Jana's vinyl lettering (did you see the new theme tiles we gave to the YW, so gorgeous) and Adam's carpentry... I don't know what we'd do without you guys. Adam made and put up our laundry shelves. The picture doesn't do it justice. It's so awesome for storage.

We still need to do an overhaul in the toy room, garage cabinets... and let's face it, I use one whole bedroom (Maggie's bedroom) for storage... so that's next on the list. But I feel very motivated looking at my laundry shelves.

Redskins Game

The Redskins game was on this afternoon, my husband was so happy. The girls were content playing in the toy room and watching Cinderella. He sat down with his warm cheesy dip (that he saves for special occasions), scoops, and a mountain dew... just in pure bliss.

All of a sudden, I hear, "uuh, no, umm, wait, hey, uuh, careful, no, wait. NICOLE!"

This is what I came to... so naturally, instead of helping him out so he could enjoy a few moments... I go get the camera! Welcome to fatherhood, nothing is yours anymore!!! (hehe)

Is it really Jan. 3rd already?

No pictures today. Kacey went to her 15 month check up Monday, and we are all still recovering. (Loved the pediatrician by the way, thanks Missy)

Kacey is in the 10th percentile for her weight. Is that crazy!? I double checked it, because I thought for sure it was a mistake... but it's right. She's in the 25th for her height, so the doctor said he wasn't too concerned. But let it be known that this child eats and eats and eats. She doesn't look too skinny, does she to you??? Of course then we have Kylie, who's in the 90th percentile for her height and the 25th for her weight... oh to be tall and thin, I'm hoping those Amy Hansen genes are coming through on my husband's side.

Kacey got 3 shots. She doesn't take shots well. Kylie was always cake with shots. No temperature, not fussy... no problems. Kacey is definitely a different child... 3 days later and she's still all mushy. She sat on Matthew's lap all day Tuesday just to be cuddled. And don't ask about how she's not sleeping. Her shot pricks are black and blue too, one thigh even seems swollen... (I'm going to watch that.)

HOWEVER, Kylie also got her flu shot that morning. It wasn't planned, but the doctor looked at her and suggested we just do it. She says to him, "No, we're here for Kacey's checkup. Not me." Well 2 screaming kids and 4 shots later, we were on our way home. I had to laugh though, Kylie sat on the table first and got her shot in her arm... and screamed her head off. Then Kylie moved aside to the chairs and Kacey laid on the table, she was screaming before anything even started. She was must have just known it was going to be bad.

Sunday Morning

We had time again this morning for pictures before we were off to church... I figure if I take the time and effort to always dress them the same, I need to get it on camera.

Matthew would like me to note that he didn't interrupt our flow. (see previous Sunday Morning post, if you don't get it)

Kylie looking at the camera.

Kacey looking at the camera.

What joy when we can get one picture of everybody looking at the camera! :)


Last Sunday of 9 am church!!! Yipppeee! Our new ward time is 11 am, which means no more setting the alarm to get 3 females dressed and fed and out the door. (Don't get me wrong, Kacey will be miserable by like 12:30 when she hasn't had lunch or a nap... but you take the good with the bad.)

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone! I hope your day was filled with as much joy (and crazy things that kids say) as ours was! After we were done opening presents, which wasn't until about 11 am... Kylie looks around and goes, "Okay, let's do it again. I want to open the presents!"

So we were up at 7:15 am, after quite a long night. Kylie knew Santa was coming... we left out cookies and milk, but she wanted to wait up for him (despite all the coaxing we did to convince her otherwise). Finally, Santa called us and told us he was going to come in our house, but Kylie was not asleep in her bed. So he couldn't come... but he would come back, if she went to bed. That did it! :)

It really was a wonderful Christmas! I was looking forward to it, because of all our fun traditions (eating Chinese on Christmas Eve for example, a little unorthodox... but we really look forward to it). BUT ALSO because it's our first Christmas (of many more to come) in our new house... now we don't have as many pictures as I'd like, but that's okay because we did a lot with the dvd camera. After recording about 25 minutes, we'd only opened 3 gifts... this is how the morning went :) We went this afternoon to see the Alvin and the Chipmunks Movie, which was super fun. Dinner was supposed to be ham, german potatoes, pumpkin bread, and all the fixings. Too bad we were way too full to make it, because of all the movie food we ate. So we're saving it for Friday night when we have the missionaries over for dinner.

Okay, so let's face it.... 'tis the season for giving. And I hate the commercialism of the holiday. I really think it needs to be balanced, and the Christmas Season must include some sort of "good will toward men" other than just the typical "this is what I want for Christmas." So without going completely into my Young Women's lesson on Sunday. Our "good will toward men" experience will remain somewhat personal, but do know it happened and it was great.

NOW, for the top two favorite presents:

Kacey~ a little corded rotary toy phone and a toy animal train that moves on its own

Kylie~ a princess set with dresses, shoes and accessories (by 9 am, she was on her second dress)

and a toy dvd player that plays all the Princesses music.

This was a joint fave, the Aquadoodle... too bad they only want to play with it, when the other one is playing with it. It's caused a few fights and tears already :)

Matthew~ gps navigation system and a docking thingy for his IPOD

Me~ an assortment of perfumes (because I want a new fragrance but I'm undecided) and the nap I had in the afternoon :) ... no, and the JC Penney package of pretty new Sunday clothes that didn't make it in time for Christmas.

Merry Christmas to all... and to all a goodnight!

Kylie and Riley, All Smiley

We had Riley Mecham come over yesterday to play with us!

We made sugar cookies...They were so cute together!It was really sweet to watch- they took turns and shared the cookie cutters. Riley even took off her necklace to let Kylie wear it for a little while.

Riley... Kylie can't wait until you come back over to play again!!! :)

Preschool Christmas Show

Kylie's Preschool put on a little Christmas program for the parents today. It was so adorable. The kids all sang the Christmas songs they'd been learning.

I walked in with Kacey, and Kylie's casual... "Hi Mommy." You know, all the Mommies were walking in. Matthew was about 4 minutes behind me, he comes in the door. "HHHHHHHHIIIIIII DADDDDDDDDDYYYYYYYYYYYYY!............my Daddy's here, that's my Daddy."

You can tell who rates.

They even had props (seriously, how awesome is Tate?!). They had jingle bells, a Santa hat, and a Rudolph nose that lit up!

So, publicly I apologize to Kylie. We had a bad morning, she was insistent on wearing her Christmas dress today. I wouldn't let her, they were going to have their Christmas Party and I just knew she'd spill or do something to ruin it... I know, I'm a bad mom. Kylie refused to let the issue go. An hour later (mind you, she was up at 6 am... so slightly cranky), she's downstairs on the couch in tears... Matthew's trying to bribe her to get back upstairs to brush her teeth and do her hair... I think we settled on 5 chocolate pieces so she'd wear what I picked out. (I know how terrible this sounds) so all in all really rough morning. Then I get to Preschool, and Riley is wearing a Christmas dress. So instantly, I walk in and I feel badly. Maybe they both talked about wearing a dress, maybe someone said they were going to dress up or look extra nice, who knows. But I realized she had her heart set on a dress prior to this morning... and all I saw was this morning's tantrum and I wouldn't budge. And honestly, if she ruined the dress... it's not like she doesn't have a few others. SO, I feel terrible :(

Sunday Morning

Pretty girls before leaving for church... I love how they love eachother. They totally suit eachother in their roles too. Kacey looks to Kylie for guidance and help and Kylie offers Kacey that loving "I'll take care of you" sisterly support. Don't get me wrong, they can make eachother mad... but it's never for long. Maybe here I could say that I love being a mommy to 2 little girls because I'm shaping little mothers to essentially change the world... but I'm gonna say that I love being mommy to 2 little girls because I find humor in watching my husband suffer for his sanity as he tries to survive in a house full of females.

a bunch...

So we had our Ward Christmas Pary last night~~ super fun (great job Kata!)... Feliz Navidad! We had yummy enchiladas, salsas, and churros. The kids put on a Nativity skit, and Kylie got to be a shepard. Then, Santa came to visit... Kylie ran, so no pictures of that. Although the other kids looked very happy to see him! :)

She did a pretty good, "CHEESE!"
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This is from a bit ago. December 5th is St. Nicholas Day, and it's German tradition to put out a shoe before you go to bed that night. If you're good, you get something... if not, you know to shape up before Christmas.

This is our before picture...

And this is our after picture...

The wagon is really cool~ we go to the mailbox in it. It has a door, drink holders, a cubby space for storage, and seatbelts (thank heavens~ because one of them sits and one pulls, and it can be a bad thing waiting to happen)

Matthew surprised me while I was running errands. He left work and I guess was thinking I was home, but I wasn't. So he left them on the counter for me as a fun surprise. (Now the obvious question~which his dad even said~ "what did you do wrong?" And his response, "he was just being a wonderful husband and buying me flowers.")