Going Home

So as most of you know, my hubby is in the Army.  We are stationed in Missouri, and we recently bought a home here.  (which is amazing I might add)  Well, we have less than a year and a half left here, and werent really sure where we were going to go after this.  I for one will not stay here.  My home may be awesome, but it ends there.  I dont appreciate my life being threatened all summer (fall, winter, spring) by tornadoes.  And I could never get over that.  

Being from California (yup, California, the state that elected a freaking movie star as its Governator, I mean governor)  we were sure we didnt want to move back there.  We tossed around Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, and Washington, but we dont fit there.  We fit in our original little ranch town in Northern California.  we fit near our friends and our family.  Near all the recreation (the camping, the lake, the mountains!) Near my Team Roping family!!  We are meant to be right where we started!  And I am so thankful we know now, before its too late.  

Now I am looking for homes there, and planning on the ropings, spring musicals at my old elementary school, and football games.  My hubby isnt thrilled (california has the dumbest gun laws) but if youre picking a state on the gun laws, youre an idiot.  I want my girls to know their family!  I want to be near them too!!  My horses are there, and essentially, our lives are there.  We need to be there too!!

So we came to a decision, that once his contract is up, were going home.  And I couldn't be more thrilled with that choice ♥

Its Christmas Time Again

So its Christmas time again!!  Who is super excited??!!!  ME!  I love Christmas, and Thanksgiving, and New Years!  November, December, and January are my favorite months.  I love the snow and the smells, the colors and warmth of a fire.  I love all of it.  

We have a family tradition (all three years of it ) of putting up our tree on Thanksgiving night, and this year was no different.  We went to our local grocery store and got ourselves a real Christmas tree!  We have had a fake one for the last few years (were in Missouri, we cant just go cut one down!)  So we got it and put it up!  Surprisingly, the girls havent messed with it too much, and I am sure it helps that I only decorated the top half, and put a few of the bulbs on the floor, so they wouldnt want to reach for the ones on the tree.  

So here is our Christmas tree!  I hope it helps all of you get into the Christmas spirit!!!!

LOSE IT!

Okay, this is kind of a personal, embarassing post for me, but I feel like I have to do it!  (this is my blog right)  Okay so.  Every year on January 1st I make a "new years resolution" as almost all of us do, to lose weight.  And every year, usually by my birthday (January 11th) I quit the diet/exercise gig for food! 

Ever since I got out of high school and out on my (well, actually our) own, and once Nick joined the Army, I packed on the pounds like it was going out of style.  I gained nearly 60 pounds in the year and 2 months between getting married, and getting pregnant.  During my TWIN pregnancy I gained an additional 50 pounds and took my girls to full term!!  Then, after losing all the baby weight, I gained back all but 15 pounds of it. 

This means I gained a total of 95 pounds since the day I got married.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? 

So heres what I did.  At my highest non pregnancy weight of my life, I was feeling depressed, enormous, and ready to set an example. So On October 1, 2011  I took a personal oath to myself and for my family, that I was going to lose weight and become a good, healthy role model for my two daughters, who will surely face some daunting body issues growing up.  (It doesnt help that they have the worst mix of a gene pool for fatness)

So I have been working out, cutting calories, and charting everything.  My amazing hubby even got me a wii!!  so now I use that for 95% of my workouts!!  I hate video games, but I must say this one is amazing!!  So far I have lost 20.2lbs, and I have about 100lbs to go.  I have a goal of the 11th of every month, to have lost 10 lbs.  (so 10lbs a month)  Seems extreme, I know, but I know I can do it!!

I am working on a weight loss page, so check for that!!  You can find tips there, and follow my before and after pictures!!  And if anyone is in the same position as I am, email me !!  we can do it together!!

  

 

Twilight, oh yeah!

Yup, I am a fan of TWILIGHT (the books first, then the movies)

And...

I am going to see it tonight with the hubby!!!!!

Im so excited :)

BRING ON THE YUMMY-NESS!

Questions, Questions

"How do you do it?!"

That question not only baffles me, but almost makes me want to say "umm, I just do, because there is no other choice"  I assume I feel this way because I have been asked this question so frequently.  However, its a total loaded question, and there really isnt one answer.

People...BE SPECIFIC!

Ask me how I get them into the car at the same time, or what I do when the shopping cart at walmart is only ment for one child.  Dont just say "how do you do it?!" and expect anything more than, "I just do!"  If I came up to you in the grocery store, and saw that you were wearing "work attire"  and asked you "Wow!  you must have a stressful job!  how in the world do you do it?!"  you would think I was crazy, and wonder why I was asking someone I didnt know, how they managed to keep their life all on track.

I feel like having children really opens up a platform for conversation.  Frankly, its not a conversation I want to have.  Yes, I love discussing my children, but when you ask me something like "breast or bottle?"  I kinda want to punch you in the face. 

Some people are very well meaning, and think my girls are soooo cute, and really dont know how to get a good look at them unless they strike up a conversation, and to them, I just say, "arent they cute!"  But when the mother of one wearing a nursing cover feeding her baby (ALL FOR IT!!!  WISH I WAS ABLE TO BREAST FEED LONGER) comes up and asks me if I breast fed my children, I know she wants to make herself look like a good, caring mother, and me look like the piece of crap mom who gives her child the dreaded formula *GASP*!!!

I do try to be nice, after all, most folks are just striking up a conversation, but I hope theyre not offended when they tell me "better you than me!"  and I quickly reply "Yeah, thank God!  You're a rude man/woman with no filter, I would never trust you with my children.  Thanks for playing, move along now."

The Great Milk Debate

What do you think of when you see this?

 or this?

Maybe youre thinking "cows milk all the way"  or maybe "Soy is full of hormones"  or maybe "soy!  because cows milk is full of hormones!"

obviously, the list of possibilities is ridiculously long.  I am going to tell you my take on this (as it has been quite the debate on my birth board on babycenter)

Before the thought of cows or soy milk came along, I planned to breast feed my twin daughters exclusively.  Well, a plan is just that.  It only worked for about 3 months, and my milk dried up.  I did everything I could with no luck.  At ALL!  So I had to use formula, oh the dreaded formula :)  I actually learned to love it, because it kept my girls healthy.  However, we quickly learned that our sweet, sweet babies had a major lactose allergy.  This led to SOY formula.  it was a God send!  seriously yall!!  it was awesome.  They were happy, no more spitting up, no more upset tummies, happy, happy little girls.

Until the girls were 11 1/2 months old, and WIC told me to begin integration of whole milk in with their formula, to do a gradual switch.  Like an idiot, I listened, even though I knew the previous experience with milk based formula ended in awful diarrhea and rashes so bad we visited the doctor 4 yes, 4 times to get it cleared up.    So I did that and the next day, BAM awful rashes and diarrhea (I am so stupid, and never again will I go against my intincts as a mother)  So soy milk it is.  

As soon as I switched the girls to fully soy milk (On their 1st birthday :) all was right in the world.  They loved it, I love that they have no ill effects from it, and this is how it will remain.  Some might ask, "WHAT ABOUT THE HORMONES IN SOY??!!"  to which I will reply...

"Are you kidding me?  Unless you raise that dairy cow, feed it hay, grass, and grain, and you milk the cow and give that to your kid, you got some major hormone issues in your milk too"

Everyone is different, and everyone is entitled to their opinions (maybe they should blog about it :)!!!!)  but if you child is getting the nutrition they need, and are happy, functioning members of society, who cares what they drink?!  

Thats About it for this subject :)  So drink up, and raise a glass of milk (or soy milk!) to happy, healthy families!

Toddlers & TV

There is (and has been) a huge debate of allowing your baby or toddler to watch tv.  Is it okay, maybe in moderation, not at all....the list goes on and on.  Well, be prepared!  Im going to give you my take on it, the good, the bad, and the horrible motherly.....

I have a phobia of silence.  Okay, maybe not silence per say, but being able to hear things (that may or may not be completely in my head)  that are scary.  I have been this way all my life, and I am sure it will continue.  I'm over it, I have accepted it, and I am a fully functioning human being.  Well, I always need sound on...I don't care what it is, but sound is good.  So, we turn on the TV.

Now, now, now, before you get mad at me, listen here.  If the girls are awake, we only have things playing like Miss Spiders Sunny Patch Friends, Baby Einstein, or some other happy baby/toddler DVD.  Also, we do not have cable or satellite, so its only DVDs.  I choose them.  

So when the girls get up, I give them a sippy of water, plop them in front of some good old TV, and make them breakfast.  It keeps their attention for....maybe a minute.  No literally, its on so much that they don't even pay attention to it.  Its not a good distraction tool for me.  They really aren't interested in it!!  I might be worried if they sat in front of it in a daze and never got up, but they literally don't care.  Well, they do like to turn it off, and they LOVE the remote control, but other than that, I am not in any way worried about them becoming TV addicts.

My mom HATES it.  She hates background tv noise.  she would much rather play music, but that really doesn't cut it for me.  (that's whats nice about it being my house!)  She sees that the girls don't care, so shes cool with it being on for me.  Usually we aren't in the living room anyway.  We love to hang out in their room (there's no toys in there, but they love it!)

So for the toddlers and tv debate, I am all for it.  As long as your toddler isn't glued to it obsessed.  Kids now a days are all about technology, but they need to go for a run in the park too!!  I feel like we have a good balance in our home.  I feel like were real, and we know in a perfect world, our children wouldn't know what the TV was for, and they would be saying 100+ words by now, but we don't!  So for those of you who worry that maybe you're doing the wrong thing by having the tv on, don't sweat it.  Just make sure they aren't fixed on it, and neither are you!  I couldn't live without background noise, I would go nuts!  

That's my little schpeel  for the day, I am off to....watch some TV!  

30 Days Of Thanks

So, obviously I missed the memo, but im starting late, shoot me :)

I am thankful to have two of the most amazing, beautiful, caring, sweet, adorable, smart, happy little girls in the entire world.  They make every day worth living!  I am so thankful to be able to stay at home with them every day, and watch every little thing they do!!

Winding Roads

Puts these little girls to sleep. 

We dont have a Target in our town (or the next, or the next...)  so we have to drive 50 miles down some of the curvy-its roads in all of Missouri.  So when we planned a trip to Target, we knew the ride there and the ride back would be rather quiet, and I was right!

On the way up there, the girls were out 5 minutes into the 1 hour car ride.  (It helps that we left at nap time)  after our (totally worth it!!) two hour target trip, I fed them lunch and headed home.  This is what I saw when I went to take them in the house 

Laramie

Rylie

See?!!!  Adorable!!!  Naps have been a little challenging since their 1st birthday, so it was nice to see them take two naps that day :)  And because I can only ever get a cute picture with Rylie, here it is :)

Sick Little Munchkins

These were taken a few weeks ago, during the girls very first cold.  They were so sad and pathetic :(  Anyway, this was after a little medicine, they were feeling much better, and Laramie decided to attack her sister.  The following, adorable sequence followed :)

Cutest. Babies. EVER.

Okay, obviously everyone believes they have the cutest baby ever (and its the truth!  we all do!!)  But seriously, take a look.  

(Rylie is in the purple-ish top, Laramie is in the pink-ish top)

See what I mean?  Its stupid cute!!  I have no idea how I get anything done with these two!!  Well, I dont really haha!!  As you can see from these pictures, I was clipping coupons, and was, uh, interrupted by babies who decided to take all the expired ones from my coupon binder and run wild with them.  It was so adorable!  Who needs to clip coupons really!!  

PS~  I LOVE their hair in the cute two piggy tails :)  it really makes them irresistible!!

Bigger, not Cleaner

Keeping up on our new home isn't as easy as I thought it would be. Sure, bigger space means less clutter, but it sure doesn't mean less mess. My life has always been messy. I was the kid who hid everything under the bed,and considered that "cleaning my room" through the years, and once I was married at 18 years old, I had high hopes for myself that once we had our own home, that's when I would suddenly keep a perfect, beautiful house.....WRONG!

After we got married we lived with my parents until Nick went to basic training. Honestly, our bed took up most of the bedroom, so a mess wasn't really an issue at that point. We got our own house just before the holiday season and it was easy to keep clean! Maybe it was the size, or the lack of anything an established home would have, or the fact that 1. I wasn't pregnant with twins and 2. We had no children to spill their go go squeeze all over the carpet.

So I told you that to tell you this. Having more space, does NOT mean less mess! Not when you have two toddlers running around destroying everything in sight (though I must admit, they are so cute in the process!) I honestly feel like investing in a steam cleaner will pay for itself in a matter of month. I would love to be super organized, and know how to organize everything in its respectful place, and I try, but cheese and sprinkles its hard to keep up on!

Really I guess at the end of the day, the home doesn't make the family, the family makes the home. I am so proud of us and so proud of being homeowners at 21 years old, and we still have so much room to grow, maybe someday I will have everything figured out, maybe not!

How do you find the balance between family and keeping up with the daily grind?

Happy Birthday, MUNCHKINS!

It was Thursday, November 4, 2010.  I was awake, getting in the shower, trying to prepare myself for the day ahead.  In a matter of hours, I would be holding two babies....

At 8:23am Rylie Leona was born weighing 6lbs 8oz.  One minute later, at 8:24am, Laramie Beth was born, weighing 5lbs 12oz.

That was one year ago.  

Now, Rylie and Laramie are both over 20lbs, walking, dancing, talking, and being the absolute center of my existance.  They bring their daddy and I so, so much happiness!!  They will blow you a kiss, or wave "bye, bye"  they sleep all night, in their own cribs, and it is so amazing to say we have made it here, and happily at that!!  So since we live a million (okay, slight exaggeration, 2200) miles away from our friends and family back home, we did a little shin dig with us and a few friends.  My mom did fly in on the 2nd, and will be here for a month!!!!!!!!!!!(can you tell that I am 13-year-old girl excited?)  So, here are the pictures from the birthday extravaganza (I will be adding a few videos in the coming days being that this was a three day birthday extravaganza!)

You gotta spend it to earn it

Or ya know, something like that.  I have been writing this blog for over a year now, and I have no followers.  HOW SAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  No seriously, I ramble to myself on here.   So, my new plan is to advertise on my 4 favorite blogs :)  So, if this is how you got here, welcome!