2013 Review

January

I picked my word and verse for the year.

I described a very embarrassing moment that happened during church.

I stepped out of my comfort zone so that Jillian could experience new things.

I did a list of things that describe the real me.

A photo update helped me end the month.

{Taken on 1/28/13}

February

February didn't start off super great, but Jillian was still being cute.

I expressed my thoughts about being a traditionalist in terms of the church.

I talked about a time my dad embarrassed me as a young teen.

Ended the month with another photo dump.

{Taken on 2/4/13}

March

Jillian took her first steps.

I ran in my first 5K.

Phil and I went on our first date of the year.

I did a weight loss update.

I turned 27 :)
The day after my birthday, I had a little secret that I revealed a month later.

Jillian participated in her first Easter Egg Hunt.

Phil and I went on our second date, but I didn't blog about it until April.

{Taken on 3/10/13}

April

I blogged about our second date of the year.

The three of us flew to Minnesota to see my folks.

I ran a second 5K with Phil and my dad.

I blogged about date #3 for the year.

Phil and I had a little 'splaining to do.

I recapped the rest of the month using phone photos, and did my first bébé deux update.

{Taken on 4/6/13}

May

We got to see, and finally meet, some good friends of ours.
Jillian started throwing tantrums.

We celebrated Mother's Day for the last time as a family of three.
Bad weather caused us to lose power during a string of severe storms.

Phil had his 29th birthday the same day as a horrible tornado.

Phil and I celebrated 5 years of marriage :)

I decided that I needed a new life mantra that my mother suggested.

{Taken on 5/12/13}

June

I reflected on the meaning of the word "irreplaceable."

The three (four) of us traveled to Chicago via train for a weekend with my parents. Recaps here and here.

Jillian turned 18 months old, which made her closer to 2 years old than I wanted to admit.

We celebrated Father's Day quietly.

I confessed how exhausted I was feeling because of Jillian's continued battle with allergies.
I starting feeling baby movements.

Google Reader went away, so I switched to Bloglovin'.

{Taken on 6/7/13}

July

I talked about some of my pregnancy projects.

I did another post about old wives' tales to guess bébé deux's gender. 

We had an ultrasound, revealed the gender to our immediate family, and announced bébé's name.

I hit the halfway point of my pregnancy while on a mission trip.

My Wordless Wednesday post was an ode to my mother on her birthday.

{Taken 7/10/13}

August

I had to start the trend of random posts because pregnancy brain officially took over.

I picked the brains of several mamas.

Pregnancy definitely had room for embarrassment.

Chicken Roll Ups were on the menu for dinner thanks to Pinterest.
I revealed my first completed pregnancy project: a redecorated laundry room.

In celebration of being nearly a decade separated from high school, I wrote a letter to my 17 year old self.

{Taken 8/10/13}

September

We spent Labor Day Weekend in Branson for 24 hours and spent lots of time in the car.

I did a photo review of August.

Jillian started her Listening for Littles class.

I did a vlog about my glucose test results and how September was not going well.

Jillian turned 21 months and I wanted to remember what she was like.

Another pregnancy project reveal: coffee and tea bar.

My mom came for a short visit while Phil was out of town.

{Taken 9/5/13}

October

I talked in fragments.
David and I had a wonderful baby shower thrown by two good friends of mine.

Jillian got treated to ice cream after getting her flu shot.

Pressure of all kinds in my life.

Jillian's class went to a pumpkin patch.
I blogged about our fourth, and fifth, dates of the year.

Phil's mom and I took Jillian to the aquarium.

Jillian dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood for Halloween

{Taken on 10/31/13}

November

I shared a letter I wrote to my son.
I posted some maternity pictures.
We finally finished preparing for David's arrival and waited patiently.
I posted about all my freeze ahead meals I made.
After some time, we finally finished the big painting project.
I expressed my personal feelings about fitting in when your child has unilateral hearing loss.
Phil and I went on our sixth, (and final), date of the year.

We had a small Thanksgiving at home with my parents.

{Taken on 11/28/13}

December

We welcomed David to our family.
I wrote the long version of David's birth story since it was quite the day.
We had a big snow storm.
We said goodbye to my mom after she stayed to help.
Phil's grandma, (his last living grandparent), passed away.

Jillian turned two, and we had a small family party to celebrate.

Phil wrote a special entry for Jillian's birthday.

I talked about surviving my first public outing alone with two babies to care for.

We celebrated our first holiday as a family of four: Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!

{Taken on 12/25/13}

2013 To-Do List Update

I kept the post with my 2013 To-Do List updated throughout the year. If you'd like to see, just go here. I did want to make a few notes on some of these.

3) Find a dentist and go in for an exam -
I did find a dentist and had an appointment set up for 12/19. It has been far too long since I've seen the dentist, but figured it was time after 2 pregnancies and having insurance. Well, unfortunately, Phil's company was going to be switching providers for dental insurance. I was told it would be done well before December, but it still hasn't happened. The current insurance we have is out of network, and we don't have the money to pay out of pocket for this visit. So, I have a dentist, but will have to wait until the new insurance is in effect to make an appointment. When will that be? I was told in early 2014, which means it'll be late summer ;)

4) Find an eye doctor and go in for an exam -
Due to my eye emergency in January, I have an eye doctor picked out. In fact, Phil even visited for his annual appointment in August. Well, I kept forgetting to scheduling an appointment with them, but it worked out. I think they considered my emergency exam an annual, so now I'll just schedule it next month :)

7) Fix attic ladder -
This was actually on my baby deux to-do list as well. There were some disagreements about how exactly we should go about fixing this. I have since relinquished my control opinion and will just wait until Phil and his dad figure out how to do it. Hopefully it'll get done in 2014 so I can utilize the storage space. We shall see...

Overall, I feel like I was pretty successful in my list. And the things that didn't get done are not a big deal :) I will be revising what we consider a date for 2014 because we kind of had to find loop-holes to make a few of our dates count! HAHA

I will have a new list of to-dos for 2014. Do you have any plans/resolutions/to-dos for 2014 already?

Christmas Day {2013}

After we were all set for Christmas morning, Phil and I exchanged one small gift. We both got movies we wanted :) Phil decided to stay up and watch his movie while we waited for David's next feeding. In the middle of the movie, my phone made a sound...

{Christmas is happening?! Oh thank goodness there's an alarm for that ;)}

We actually got a decent amount of sleep, even with newborn feedings thrown in. We got out of bed and moved David into the living room a little after 7:30 am.

{He was clearly very excited about his first Christmas!}

After we were sure Jillian was up and awake, we got her out of bed. I have a video of her walking from her room to the living room, but I haven't uploaded it yet. She was clearly very excited about her "red car" :)

{Poor girl is still in shock, and maybe a little sleepy}

{After she high-fived the car's eyes, she decided it also needed a big hug!}

{Then, she started to climb in the wrong side}

{Daddy showed her how to open the door and climb in safely ;)}

{Pure childhood joy!}

{That is also very much an expression I've seen on many childhood photos of Phil}

{Go daddy go!}

We looked in our stockings to see what Santa brought us. We all got some good things!
A tradition my family has is now a tradition we do with our little family. After the stockings have been checked, we read the Christmas story according to Luke. It is important to us that we are mindful of the ultimate gift we celebrate Christmas day, and enjoy all year round :)

{Everyone listening to the story from the bible}

Once the story is read, and we talk about Jesus, it's time to open gifts! We were still waiting on Phil's family to come over, so we improvised by eating breakfast and playing with our stocking toys.

{Jillian loved David's Gloworm, even though she already has one for herself}

{In fact, she played with all of his toys throughout the day. Good thing he doesn't care right now!}

Just like for Jillian's first Christmas, I had to take pictures of David in my family Christmas sack! HAHA It's not a real sack, but my babies are small enough that it looks like it ;) This is something my brother wore on his first Christmas in 1983. I would have too, but being a March baby meant I didn't fit into it. So far, all my babies fit just fine :)

{My sweet boy looking like a stylish monk}

And comparing my kids in the same family sack: {It's a tie! They're both cute ;)}

{Left: Jillian 2011, Right: David 2013}

Phil had a bow tie from his baby days that he wants to take pictures of David in too!

{Looking classy there Mister David!}

Finally, I wanted a few picture of his Christmas outfit I picked out :)

{Are ya done yet ma? I'm getting tired of all this!}

{Santa butt :)}

{Jillian had a reindeer butt for her special outfit (or OOTD) in 2011}

As Phil made some pancakes for breakfast, I turned around to see this...

{Jillian putting David's bow tie on his head like a hair bow! HAHA}

{Christmas pancakes, and some lemon drop water*}

{*When my throat hurts, I sometimes put lemon juice and honey in hot water and call it lemon drop water. It really helps!}

{What's Christmas breakfast without Super Why on Netflix?}

Shortly after finishing breakfast, Phil's family got to our house. We asked his mom to take our family photo before we changed clothes. With a two year old, it obviously went smoothly ;)

{This photo will remind me of the chaotic blessing that is my current season in life ;)}

It's amazing what 365 days will do to ya, if that includes having another baby!

{Top: 2012, Bottom: 2013}

We got Jillian dressed in her Christmas outfit, then Phil and I got dressed ourselves.

{Jillian finished her episode of Super Why, and David got some Aunt Jessica snuggles :)}

Jillian decided she wanted to hang out in her red car for most of the morning. It was pretty cute!

{Watching everyone open their gifts}

I passed out presents so I don't have any action shots. It was all that exciting anyways ;)
We were lucky enough to Skype with my parents and brother so we could see them too! We "exchanged gifts" by opening our gifts on our side of the computer. It's not the same, but it's better than just a phone call!

{The Christmas 2013 Aftermath}

We are blessed to have quite the cook in our family! Jessica, (Phil's sister-in-law), made a beef tenderloin for our Christmas dinner. It was very delicious, and even Jillian ate more meat than anything else on her plate! {She would cry out "More meat!" as soon as she finished}

{Uncle Mike trying to get Jillian in trouble by running over Papa Jim!}

{Uncle Mike is always doing something... HAHA}

{David was overcome with excitement and slept most of the afternoon}

{All in all, I think he had a great first Christmas that he'll never remember, but we will never forget :)}

After we cleaned up, Jillian took a nap, and the grownups played a game of Apples to Apples. Once the game was over, it was time for the family to head home.

We had a great day, and I'm so thankful for my wonderful family that I was born and married into!

It's hard to think that this was Jillian's third Christmas with us! {And boy has she changed!}

{Left: 2011, Center: 2012, Right: 2013}

{And yes, that is the only non-blurry picture I have of her this year. 2 year olds are hard to convince to look at the camera with a a smile :)}

Merry Christmas to all y'all! And a happy, and healthy, new year!

Christmas Eve {2013}

Our Christmas Eve was fairly low-key this year. Without knowing David's arrival day until he showed, we didn't know how old he would be on Christmas Day. We decided to stay home. Luckily, this is a year we would spend Christmas with Phil's folks. Since they only live about 2 hours away, they came down after lunch time with Phil's brother and his wife!

The day started with me running a few errands on my own. I had some last minute groceries items, Jillian's 2 Year pictures from JCPenny, and a few supplies to finish up Christmas gifts for the grandparents. It was kind of nice driving, and running inside a store without having to wrangle a toddler at the same time! Plus, traffic was pretty light and easy until about 10:30 am.

{Mr. David needed some snuggles while Jillian took a short nap}

{Phil helping me stuff our Christmas cards!}

{They should go out tomorrow, or Saturday} 

After a quick lunch, we drove down to Norman to see some friends of ours! They had kind of an open house party, and we were able to hang out for a little over an hour :) I think we'll get to see them again before they head home to Colorado late next week.
On the way home, we stopped at another grocery store to see if they had turnovers. Unfortunately, they didn't either :(

 {Jilly and I waiting for Daddy in the car while David slept}

Once we were home, Phil's folks and his brother/brother's wife got to the house. We hung out for a bit, then tried to go to dinner at 5. Well, the place we picked closed at 5, so we consulted the internet and finally found a place that would be open! 

After a relatively quick meal, we headed to church for an awesome service :) It was technically our first Christmas Eve service there because we were in Minnesota for Christmas last year. We definitely enjoyed it!

We went home, got Jillian ready for bed, and just relaxed.

{Phil reading The Polar Express to Jillian before bed}

{Not pictured is Jillian picking her nose shortly after I took this picture ;)} 

{After Jillian went to bed, the men put their great minds together to assemble Jillian's big gift}

{I won't lie, it was pretty entertaining to watch them "work" HAHA} 

{Our tree ready to go, with a glimpse of our favorite gift this year :)} 

And for something fun, this is a comparison photo of Jillian and David in the same onesie my friend Carrie bought in Ireland back in 2011!

{Left: Jillian, Right: David}

I Survived My First Outing with Two

This morning, Jillian had her 2 year well appointment at the doctor. She is doing great, {still on the small side, but that's ok :)}, and she only got 1 shot. Except for the flu shot, she won't need another shot until she's 4! YAY! Knowing it wouldn't take long and David would sleep through most of it, I decided to go by myself.

I think you know where I'm going with this...

In all honesty, it went ok overall. Jillian did great with the doctor. She high-fived him, and was impressive with all the talking she did. The only crying occurred after she was injected with her shot. David was asleep, and I navigated pretty well :)

The issues I ran into:
1) Even with Phil helping me get organized and mostly ready before he left for work, I ran a little later than I hoped to. This would not have been a problem if I had found a parking spot easily. Unfortunately, after driving around 3 separate lots, I finally broke down and did valet so I wouldn't be super late to the appointment. Using valet caused problem number...

2) I didn't have any cash whatsoever to tip valet with. Phil told me it would be ok if I didn't tip them, but I felt too guilty. Not only is it the holidays, but the valets were very helpful and patient while I got all the kids out of the car. I felt they deserved a tip!

3) I'm not familiar with the building enough to know where an ATM would be so I could tip. After wandering around a bit, I finally asked a volunteer. Another elevator ride and a stroll down a very long hallway finally brought us to an ATM. The walk would not have been so bad if I could have used my double stroller. Unfortunately...

4) The double stroller we picked, and received as a gift, does not actually work for our infant seat. I did all this research and apparently didn't realize this would be an issue. Mostly because, the company didn't outright say it would not work with our specific seat. With that in mind, I had to use the single stroller with Jillian walking beside me...

5) Have you learned anything from my posts about my daughter? She does ok, but getting her to go at a steady pace in the direction you want to go is as easy as herding cats made out of jell-o using a feather.

6) Once I got to the ATM, I could only withdraw $20. Because of this, I had to stop in a Starbucks cafe inside the hospital to get change made. {Honestly, that second part was not such a bad thing ;)}

Like I said, if I look at from a general perspective, it was actually a good and successful trip. It was stressful at the time, but I mostly kept my cool and we all made it home safe and sound :) I guess there is hope for me as a mom of two after all! {Phil says "It can't get any worse!" Thanks for the support honey :)}

{Jillian with her cookies, and mama with her coffee :)}

{Sweet David sleeping sounding} 

{Once we were home, Jillian wanted to watch Yo Gabba Gabba. After getting a shot, I felt she deserved it!} 

{I let David play with the activity mat for the first time today} 

{Oh hi, little tomato!}

{He was obviously quite impressed ;)} 

And a bonus picture from yesterday...

{Sweet boy and a mama who doesn't match. This is another reason why I don't go out in public often HAHA}