Time is flying by...

I can't believe how big my kids are getting! I've been horrible about keeping my blog updated because soo much has been happening lately! Nothing too exciting, just life....

Jax had his 9 month check up not too long ago and he weighed 21lbs 6oz and was 29.5 inches long! Peyton only weighs 25.4lbs! He's catching up pretty fast! They are soo much fun! I love spending every day with them... It's very cool how Peyton's mind is developing to where she's having her own ideas and I love having conversations with her because the things she says are completely out there and it's hilarious! The other night we were having subway for dinner and she told me, "Mama, I don't want Subway! Maybe we can have old McDonald's instead!" I told her, "oh really? Because I thought that Old McDonald had a farm, not a restaurant!" lol. Her favorite color right now is red. She loves to play hide and seek and she is soo good at it! Just yesterday we were playing and after about 5 minutes of really not being able to find her I had to ask Derek to show me where she was because I started to freak out just a little bit! She likes to play Candyland too, but tries to cheat when I'm not looking! Her favorite movie is snow white which is no surprise because that was my favorite when I was little. Jax is actually crawling! No more army crawl, finally! He's pretty good about being on his feet too and I'm sure he'll be walking soon! He's pretty crazy and loves to play! He's starting to get a little attitude too! Isn't he too young for that? I'm sad that they are already getting older! I'm trying everyday to create special memories that they can take with them through life, even small ones. I don't know if I've already said this in a previous post, but having kids is definitely a way to relive your childhood and get excited about little things like old Disney movies, or playing outside, or bubbles, coloring and blocks!

Ashley, Audge and I worked at the cafe together. That was back before we had kids, but it does not seem like that long ago! Brody is Ashley's son and Mia is her daughter. Peyton loves playing with them! We all met up at the park the other day when Audge was watching Mya and Sophia. The kids love their play dates with each other and so do we.

Mia just turned 1! So Ash brought some cupcakes and the kids devoured them! It's so surreal that I can remember the days of not having any kids like it was yesterday, but our oldest kids are going to be 3 this year! I wouldn't mind if time decided to slow down just a little!

If Peyton had it her way she would be swinging in the baby swing until adulthood! She could care less about the big girl swings and complained the whole time that she wanted in the baby one. I'm surprised Audge was even able to get a smile out of her for this picture. Once we switched her over to the baby swing she didn't want to get out!

Jax was also having a blast in the baby swing! I wish this picture was a video because you would die if you heard how hard he was laughing when i was pushing him in this. He was soo excited!

Of course I'm going to end this post with Kinsley! She's now 5 months old! Where the heck did the last 5 months go??? She's getting big and I think that being her aunt is the awesomest coolest thing ever! She is soo freakin' cute! Everyone says that playing with other people's kids is great because at the end of the day you can send them home to their parents. Well, I wouldn't mind keeping her!

Easter

I love my kids! If you haven't figured that out by now. They are soo amazing! We had such a fun Easter with them. This was Jax's first Easter! I can't believe he's almost 9 months old! This last week he's been pulling himself to standing using anything he can. It's insane!

They loved all the little toys we got them! It's funny how very little can do soo much for them. Seeing the excitement on their little faces is the best feeling.

They're so funny lately. The other day Jax was whining and Peyton went over to him and was patting his cheeks as she said, "uh oh, is it baba time, brother?" She's such a good big sister.

Don't let Jax fool you. He's been quite the little instigator these days. It seems like whenever I come upon a mess he's the one that started it and Peyton just joined in.

We spent Easter morning at home and then headed to Oroville. We had lunch at Derek's Aunt and Uncle's with his side of the family. They hid eggs and Petyon got to have her own little egg hunt, which she loved! I'm very grateful that in a sense Derek's family is a lot like mine. They are all very close and love to get together.

Some would call it spoiled, but I think my kids are very loved by Derek's family and mine. There's something about having kids that makes you realize how lucky you are to have so many amazing people in your life that care so much about you.

I'm so proud of our little family! It's still unbelievable to me how fast Derek and I went from 2 to 4!

Pictured above are the kids Uncle Jay and his girlfriend Alina. They are so much fun and the kids love playing with them.

Alina just finished all of her hours at beauty school and now all she has to do before she's certified is pass the state test which she is taking next month. I'm very proud of her and Jay who is taking a welding course in Chico and is almost finished with that. I'm hoping once they're all done they don't decide to venture too far from home. Family get togethers wouldn't be the same.

Jax just wants to be walking! He will be soon and I'll be in trouble. He's already a handful now. How did this time come so quickly?

I have to brag again that I have the sweetest most cutest niece ever! After Peyton's egg hunt we went to my parents house and had dinner with them. Audrea, Kinsley, David, Janeane and Brad were there. Sarah had to work. We spent some time watching the kids roll around and play together. It's funny how entertained we are by the kids. What did we ever do before we had them? In a perfect world my kids would be very well behaved all the time, but get real it doesn't happen that way, especially on days that we are rushing them around everywhere. Yesterday though they were very good! I was actually impressed. Even when we were leaving my parent's Peyton yelled to them, "Thanks for having us!" She sounded soo sweet! I think they got a kick out of it too...

4 Years & Counting!

April 14th was our four year anniversary! I can not believe we've been married that long. I remember our wedding like it was yesterday. My husband is such an awesome guy. I don't know how I got so lucky to end up with someone like him. He's everything I always wanted and more. He's definitely perfect for me! :)

 A lot has happened in the past four years. They were, by far, the best years of my life up till now. We have two beautiful kids to show from it, how much better could it get? We've been there for each other through ups and downs. He puts up with me better than anyone else could.

You learn a lot about someone in four years and everything I've learned makes me love him even more. He knows how to make me feel so special. He doesn't let me get away with things that I shouldn't and he's the first to put me in my place when I need it!

We still love to get away and spend time together. He works hard so we can have the things that we need and want. I couldn't imagine a better father for my kids. He makes me laugh every day and is my best friend. I can't wait to see what the future has in store for us and I'm so excited to go through it with him by my side! I am so in love with him and the best part is that it just keeps getting better by the day! I never knew it could be like this...

Tahoe!!!

Janeane's birthday is today! To celebrate it we went to Tahoe last weekend and stayed at her mother-in-law's condo. We had so much fun! Peyton was so excited to see the snow! Derek and I love getting away for a few days, but we've never gone anywhere with my sister's and their families. We loved it! 

The view was beautiful! It was so pretty there. Somehow snow makes everything pretty.

I love this picture of Damon and Peyton. Peyton was his trial child before Kinsley came along because him and Audge always had her when I was still working. It's fun having family that loves each other and each other's children like they were their own.

Damon has an identical twin so we always tease Audrea that she's going to have twins somewhere along the line. I think this is pretty much what it would look like. The condo was right across the street from the casino so us girls decided to leave the kids with the guys and go have a little fun. By this time Sarah and her boyfriend Jeff were there. They had to come a day later because Sarah had work. It didn't take long until all four of us sisters were sitting at a black jack table. It was the highlight of the whole weekend. We made some friends and had a BLAST. Did we win? No, we lost every cent. The thought even crossed all of our minds to go back and get more money from the men and if the kids hadn't come on this trip we probably would have.

But they were across the street with the guys and we had our fun. It was time to go make sure they were behaving. We went to dinner after that and then Damon and Derek took their turn at the tables. Derek's been telling me that he wanted to learn how to play craps. Damon taught him and he actually did pretty well so by the time they came back that night they were both beaming. You could tell they had a great time. The weekend flew by so fast, but it was great to get to go. I think we all needed a little time away to relax and just have a good time.  

Kids Update...

Since my last few posts have been about my sisters I decided to catch you up on my family. Peyton is getting so smart. She knows so much for a two year old. She can count to twenty in English and Spanish, she can spell her name, she knows her birthday, and so much more! Jax is army crawling and getting pretty fast at it. He can get across the room in no time. If only he could figure out how to keep his belly off the floor. I took the pictures above when we went to Costco the other day. I was so excited because it was the first time they got to ride side by side in a cart. They did so well too until Peyton slapped Jax across the face because he was whining. She never hits so that was a shock to me.

We've been spending some time on the house. Weird, I know, but Derek and I have actually been looking forward to these little projects. We lived in apartments for almost four years and we used to talk about how we missed the little things about living in a house, even things like painting and mowing the lawn. Our projects this month included painting the dinning room, installing a new ceiling fan in the living room, yard work and just today shampooing carpets. I'm proud of how much we've accomplished in the past few weeks.

We were forced to take another trip to the Dr.. Peyton developed a very gross rash on her hands. The doctor said it's just a reaction to the virus she had and should only last a week.

Jax is soo fun, but can also be a little dare devil.

He actually fell head first out of this walker not to long ago. I almost had a heart attack. I was in the kitchen and he was in the living room. He was reaching over the side trying to get one of Peyton's toys that was on the floor. Then he stepped his foot on the side bars and pushed himself out. I saw the whole thing going down and felt like I was running in slow motion towards him, but it happened to fast and before I knew it he was on the floor screaming. It took a few moments to calm him down and check to make sure he was ok, but it definitely freaked me out.

We've been taking advantage of the nice weather we've been having. Audge and Damon got this swing set from a friend of theirs for Peyton and Jax. It was their Christmas present, but they haven't been able to play on it because it's been cold and raining. Peyton loves it. She could swing for hours.

We're staying busy. The kids are getting big and we're just enjoying our little family.

sad news...

I'm not even really sure how to even begin this blog. Usually I have soo many things to say I just have to figure out how I want to say them, but not now... I figure maybe if I just ramble on about it for a little while the right words would eventually come so bare with me. I debated on whether or not I should even blog about what I'm going to put in this post, but after careful consideration I decided to just go with it. Considering I treat my blog as if it were a journal of events taking place in my life and this is one that I won't forget I felt that I needed to include it. As I said in my last post I love my sisters soo soo much and everything they go through in life affects me as well. I feel so connected to them. This is why my heart totally broke three days ago when I got the text from Janeane that told me her unborn baby didn't have a heartbeat and had stopped growing five weeks ago. It's been three days and the feeling is returning even now as I'm typing this post. I can't imagine sitting there watching someone give you an ultrasound being so excited to see how big your baby has grown and then hearing the words, "I can't find a heartbeat". That was my worst fear during both my pregnancies and she had to live it. It just sucks all the way around. It's sad that my sister and her husband even had to go through this when there are people out there that are choosing to abort their babies and they would have done anything to keep theirs. Yesterday they put her under and took the baby out. How empty she must have felt waking up knowing it was over. She did everything she could to have a healthy baby and all of her blood work came back looking great. They told her it wasn't anything she did that these things just happen. They also told her they happen way more often than you would think, but knowing how common it is doesn't make it feel any better. She's doing ok though. Obviously she's sad and bummed that they won't be bringing a baby home in October, but she's holding it together so well and her let's get through it and move on attitude is completely inspiring. There are worse things that could have happened and this was what God had in store, it's just hard to accept it. I know they will get the baby they've been wanting so bad and when they do it will be such a great day and their love for that baby will be that much more special.

Inspired by Audge...

The other day Audge put up a status on her facebook about how much she loved having sisters! This is what got my wheels turning and pretty much inspired this post. Since I'm always blogging about my kids I thought this might be something a little different for a change, but will somehow probably eventually come right back to my children. Everything seems to do that these days. To start off I just want to say I love my family so much and I think about how lucky I am every day to have such an amazing support system. My sisters especially are soo amazing! Throughout this post are just a few of my favorite moments captured with them.

Growing up in a house with three sisters and two brothers wasn't always perfect. We definitely had our bad moments. Oh the fights we would have. I remember feeling like I hated my sisters on soo many occasions over stupid things. I couldn't wait to start my own life. Now, they're an even bigger part of my life and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I love how close we've become through the years. I've said it before that family is everything to me and they're what make it even more special. I'm not saying there isn't drama between us because there can be from time to time, but that's pretty much expected. I always tell Derek that it's comforting to know that anything we go through in life we'll have each other to go through it with. The same thing stands for my sisters and I. I'm very excited when I think about the future of our family.

They've already helped me through so much and know me sometimes better than I know myself, which isn't always such a great thing. They're very wise and have gone through a lot of the same things I have. It's weird sometimes how much we think alike and how our reactions to a lot of things have been the same. They hold up expectations of me that I'm greatful for because I try just a little harder knowing that they'll be right there to call me out on anything and that(i feel) has made me a better person, and a better mother. They're a little comical relief when I need it and no matter what I do I know they will always have my back.

This is where this post comes back to my children. Having them obviously was amazing! Having my sisters with me through all of it is even more amazing. It's great that they're just minutes away if I need them. I'm fortunate that they're still around and haven't moved to a different state or somewhere far.

It's so special to me how much they love my kids. Peyton and Jax light up when they come around. They have taught them so much and I know they are a big reason why my kids are so sweet. I could not imagine life or my family without them. It would be so boring.



Yes it's true, grocery shopping rejuvenated me... is that sad?

As I posted before I've been stuck at home with my kids for over two weeks now. The only times we've gone out of the house was for our trips to the Dr.. Well, the other day Derek didn't have to work till the evening so I saw my chance to escape, and I took it. You could only imagine after 2 or 3 weeks of no grocery shopping how bare our cupboards were so I kinda didn't have a choice of where I would go. Plus I thought it would be different because I'm so used to lugging 2 kids to the store with me. Derek was outside working on the lawn so I figured he could use an audience...

They seemed to be having a lot of fun out there since it was pretty much the first nice day we've had the whole time we've been stuck at home. I got them all set up and loaded their little trays with snacks. They were happy! I couldn't help feeling guilty though about how excited I was to get away and they were stuck at home for another day sick. Of course that only lasted a minute because once I hit the highway I had the radio blasting, the windows down and I was singing at the top of my lungs! Needless to say I took my time in the store making sure I hit almost every aisle. I forgot how it felt to shop alone and take as much time as I wanted. Walking through the door at home was funny because Peyton acted like I had been gone forever. Derek carried Jax over and he was just laughing at me for no reason. I think he was just really excited too so that's how it came out. It's amazing how one trip to the grocery store could recharge my batteries and I could go on tending to them and their needs.  

Luckily both of them are feeling so much better. Peyton's tract infection is gone and Jax's pink eyes look like they're way better. They both started playing, eating and drinking regularly. They still have a cough, but it's getting better. I feel like we're almost all healed up, but I still want to give it a couple more days before I expose them to anyone else. Jax is army crawling all over the place. He's also baby chattering, saying "bababa" it's soo funny. In the picture above you can tell how big he's getting. He can hold himself up pretty well it's insane! He loves to get into everything and he's always wanting to play with what his sister has. Peyton is talking up a storm and she's pretty funny. She helps me take such good care of Jax and always tells him, "It's ok brother!" every time he cries. They've been all about playing with each other because there has been no one else to play with. This made it very difficult for me to keep Peyton from catching Jax's pink eye, but I think I'm safe now! We just have to wait out the next couple of days until we can reconnect with the rest of the world!

Give us the drugs...

This picture was originally inspired by two prescription drugs for Peyton and Jax, but as I was cleaning off the kitchen counter I suddenly realized how much medications we've been depending on in our house the past few days. It's quite ridiculous because I started out with two and kept adding one more and then another until the counter was clean and I finally came up with this. I threw in the Lysol because I've been using that nonstop as well, and just to clarify (even though it should go without saying) the Tylenol pm, cough drops and benadryl pills are what Derek and I have taken and have not been given to the kids.

My little princess has been through so much the last week. First RSV and now the doctor confirmed yesterday that she has a UTI. I'm pretty sure it developed because of the lack of fluid intake over the past week. I'm now pushing fluids more than ever with her. We're also giving her a prescribed med twice a day for a week. Her doctor wanted to send out for a urine culture as well to make sure it's nothing more. The results should be in by tomorrow and we'll go from there. Hopefully that's all it is.

The Dr. also confirmed that Jax has pink eye. We now have a prescribed ointment that we've been putting on his eye. It doesn't seem to bother him a whole lot, but I think it has already spread to his other eye so I've been putting it on both. I'm trying to keep Peyton away from him as much as I can, but like she gave him the RSV virus I'm pretty sure he's going to return the favor by giving her pink eye, but I'm still doing everything I can to prevent it. I've tried to focus on the positive, but there isn't a whole lot. Not to mention I'm starting to come down with a cold. This is the hardest thing I've had to go through the whole time I've been a mom. It's definitely draining and stressful. Not only are my kids and I sick, but my niece Kinsley has bronchiolitis bad. Audge is taking her back to the doctor today because she isn't getting any better and now has a fever. She's only 11 weeks old and still so little so there is major cause for concern with her. That's not all. To add to all that my dad had to go to the emergency room yesterday because he broke the bone in his left pointer finger.

What else can I say about all of this? I guess worse things could happen. When talking to Audge we've mentioned to each other that we almost have to laugh because it's just crazy that it's been one thing after the other with our family the past week. Hopefully by next week our kids will be better and my posts will be uplifting again...