Priority Challenge

I am not too sure what we did last week. It was just another one of those weeks where work, Hannah and getting the house picked up took over. We did have a family night out to the park. That was a blast for Jacob to see Hannah playing at the jungle gym. She loved to crawl through the tunnels, and go down the slide. She finally likes to go on the swings now too. I love watching her explore. She loves to test out everything, she is quite adventurous.

Halloween in tomorrow, and I feel like such a bum. I only watched the last ten mins of Peanuts last night, the pumpkins are not carved, and I still am not sure what to be. I hadn't thought about dressing up, but I think it would be fun to be something. We are going to be serving the community giving out full size candy bars, and hot cocoa. We have done it every year since we moved down here. I really enjoy the fellowship, and it is nice to be out but not have any agenda. Oh well, I guess it will all work out, and if not..... its only Halloween.

I discovered how much I love vinegar today. I bought the jumbo tub of it. I don't really care for the smell, but it is amazing at cleaning. Our dish washer has been leaving a nasty film on all our dishes. I have used vinegar to clean the dishwasher before so I thought I would try it out on some of the dishes too. And let me tell you.... AMAZING. It was like magic, it took all the film off and made my glass sparkle like now. I am convinced that I will not be buying any more cleaners, aside from bleach and vinegar. I am already not a fan of chemicals, especially around Hannah. You never know how much your body absorbs when taking a shower, or breathing it in. So yay for Vinegar.

Today I also got to be a "Single Mom". And as much fun as I have with Hannah, she is so exhausting. We went to Target, a Birthday Party, went to work and then to church all today. I love her so much and really do cherish all the time that I have with her, but I do love when Jacob gets home from work, or church and spends time with her. He plays with her so well and is awesome at bath time. It is so nice for me to take those little breaks too. Being a mom can be very exhausting, and I could easily get burnt out. I sometimes feel so bad about the amount of time that I am with her, but not playing with her. She is very independent and plays very well by herself. And I do have to work, try to keep up on the house, maintain friendships too, and I do sometimes feel that I do have quality time with her. I am very thankful that I do get to at least work from home, and that I am not putting her in a daycare.

All of that being said, I think that I am going to challenge my self to Prioritize and Organize what is really important in my life. I know that I can check up on facebook about 100 times a day, but I can't stop and read a quick book to Hannah. (we just got a library card, and LOVE it) So I think that this next week, I will make the things that I really want invested in my life a Priority, and everything else can just flow around, or be cut out. Here is what I am thinking.....

1. Time in the word.- spending time with the Lord daily- in prayer, the word, and just inviting his presence

2. Jacob- poor guy- by the time he gets home from work and we eat and put Hannah off to bed, we are in robot mode :( so I guess to break free from the daily routines

3. Hannah- to spend quality time together- just taking a little bit of time out of the routine and read a book, go for a walk, do something together everyday

4. Work- I have to work- but I can get up early- or stay up late- when everyone is sleeping and get the majority of my work done

5. Friends- Sorry friends, but you are #5- getting out with other mommies is very important

Things I need less of:

Facebook- I check it ALL day long- maybe I need to move the app from my phone

TV- I don't watch a lot, but when I get lazy, it sucks me in

Housework- it doesn't have to be perfect

I guess what it all comes down to is spending my time with the ones that I love and not to stress about the work, and what everyone else is doing too.

Wish me Luck!

Rain Rain Rain

So this last week and half we have had an abundance of rain and cold chilly weather. I have been enjoying this change so much. Hannah and I have just kinda laid low and I have just enjoyed spending quality time with my little munchkin. The only down side to this weather is lack of exercise and lots of spontaneous baking.....so what was the downside, oh the 4 extra pounds I put on. Oh well, I know when we get moving again I will make better choices and they will come off, hopefully.

We had fun playing dress up and just taking some random pictures. We would start to watch movies, she didn't have much of an attention span. And played, and read books, she can understand so much. We have so much fun together. I can't believe that my baby is almost one! What an amazing year. I feel so blessed to be her mommy and I thank God everyday for her.

Jacob and Hannah sported there USC gear to cheer them on last weeks game. She lovers her Daddy so much. I love the way that she just looks at him. He can make her laugh so hard.

Her little personality is growing and changing every day. She climbed into her Hippo walker, and sat in it. A couple of days later, she was just kicking back putting her feet up in it.

And nothing is off limits now, she is such a climber. I think she was building a fort, or a tower to get up on the couch. She will just play all day long, even I don't even play with her. I can't believe how much she understands. She loves playing with her baby doll and knocking down a tower that I build with her stacking cups. She is so much fun, she sparkles a little bit of color in my day, just like her daddy does. I cherish all these fleeting moments with her, until next time.

Hello Fall...

I am so thankful for the Fall. I love this season, especially because I get to share it with my lil Hannah. I can't believe that she is almost one.

She has been learning to use a spoon and feed herself.

She is very independent. She loves to do things herself. And she is such a ham, she loves to pose for the camera.

We got to share in BFF day with Rebecca and Natalie on Monday. We went to Disneyland. It was warm, but fun. It was our first trip without daddy, we missed him, but he had to work. Hannah only lasted two rides, but they were fun. That is the joy of having a pass, I can't image trying to go all day with her.

Awww Mom's Group. This last week it was at the Pumpkin Patch in Irvine. And after all this time we finally got a good pic of together, Lauren I am going to miss you dearly! What a great time of fellowship and time with Hannah. I loved it. Hannah on the other hand, she is afraid of pumpkins.....I love that she is her own little person.

She road the fake horse.

We looked by the "mine" and watched the waterfall.

Watch me Grow.... it took us about 15min to get her to stand by this, just over 2ft tall.

I love this! Such a gift.

I am so glad that I got to have such a great week with all the great mommies. I really do feel so blessed to have so many great people to spend time with during the week. I count my blessings daily, a perfect season to reflect on the things that I am thankful for.

here there and in between

This last week and a half has been filled with such ups and downs.....take today for example, I wanted to get caught up on the house, and work. I set my alarm for 5am to get up before my lil Hannah so I can spend quaility time with her today, but did she let me....NO. She set her alarm for 4am, after trying for about an hour to put her back to sleep, I gave up and let her play for about an hour.

She finally gave up and crashed. Note: it took three attempts to lay her down before she went back to sleep in her bed.

This last week has been so draining for me. Last Thursday Hannah got the stomach flu.... NO FUN! She woke up at 11:30pm vomiting. She didn't stop until almost 3:30am. Poor thing! It was the saddest thing ever. I felt terrible for her. I am proud of myself looking back, I didn't panic, I just reacted. It completely wiped her out for the last 5 days. She is finally on the up and up. It was really draining because Jacob got it too. To a certain extent, it was almost worst having him sick than Hannah. When I would put Hannah down for a nap or to bed, she would sleep, in her bed, all night. Jacob on the other hand, didn't, and he was next to me, and noisy.

Taking care of two sickies was no fun. But I am very thankful that I didn't' get sick.

I have also been on such an emotional roller coaster ride. My dearest friend of the last 18months or so Lauren, is moving to AZ. This is the saddest thing ever for me. It has taken me 5 years of living down here in RSM to find a friend as close and Lauren. We have shared so many great memories I am just not ready to let her go. I know that it is for the best, she and her family will have such a great opportunity out there. I just love her so much, it makes my heart so sad. There are so very few friends out there that I connect with on this level that there are no words. She brought me lunch and visited me regularly when I was on bedrest with Hannah. We would walk the lake all the time during pregnancy and after. The 4hour mall trips where we would spend almost the entire time, the the nursing lounge or eating yummy brownies ;) Or just sitting around and doing absolutely nothing together. Lauren my friend, you are such a great mommy and wife and friend.... I LOVE you and will miss you daily.

On the other hand, I have a dear friend Jennie Adkins that is moving back to Ca. I am super excited for that. We had so much fun going out the NV to visit a week ago. It was Hannah's first road trip.

The drive out was horrible.... so much traffic. We ended up stopping and getting a hotel. We got up early and hit the road again. I love desert sunrises.

Once we got out there, it was great. Great time hanging out and the babies played great together too!

The drive home was pretty much the same as the drive out there.... lots of traffic!

Hannah did great on the drive home too!

This is Hannah just being cute with her sippy. Thank you Aunt Becky! You have given so much to my lil Hannah, we think of you daily.

Well, its a new day. I love the rain, and my lil one just woke up. Time to start it all over again. Lord give me strength for this day. Until next time.