Maybe I need a new goal

Maybe blogging everyday isn't my thing. I WANT to. Just forget. I have been crazy busy watching kids, getting things ready for Leighton's birthday party and working out! UGH I bought a new swim suit and have been dying to look good in it. I haven't felt comfortable in swim wear since.... well probably since I was a kid and didn't know to be self conscious.

I have someone making us cupcakes for the party (thanks Gladys!!) and we finally got shopping done today! For some reason or another I happened to not watch any kids today so me, my sister and the girls went shopping! We FINALLY got to use the girl's gift cards they got for Christmas. Got Ireland an early birthday present because there was a killer deal at Toys R Us. I got Daniel's Father's day presents-new clothes from Jos A Bank and Leighton some birthday gifts, me a swim suit cover so I am not running around the whole time in just a swim suit, and a new work out shirt. It was a very busy day but glad I got paid (from 3 of the parents of kids I watch) yesterday!

Tonight Daniel and I met up with my good friend Matt and his step daughter Brittany who are in town from Phoenix and we went to dinner at the Gateway. It was so good to see him and meet Brittany. They were asking us when we are planning another trip to Phoenix and so we are thinking maybe October. We haven't been since Ireland was 8 months old. I am ready to go right now :)

Oh I need to get my Tahoe pics up. Guess I will go work on that....

so I skipped yesterday....

In my defense I didn't skip blogging yesterday I was just too busy then I forgot :) who wants to blog at midnight? That is when I would have been able to.

Here is the post I was going to do. I need to get better pics and I have a bunch on my camera. My camera is brand new (to me, it was Daniel's but he got a new, required one for a photography class) and I have NO idea how to get pics onto my computer.

anyway...

ONCE UPON A TIME.....

a little baby named Ireland was born. She had tons of blonde hair. All that hair fell out and took it's time growing back. It was weird looking and bald on the sides and around the back at the bottom. It was completely straight and eventually got curly in the back. Ireland's mommy HATED her hair because it was insanely pin straight on the top, curly in the back and had to put it in a headband to keep it off her face. Then as she grew her mommy disliked Ireland's poor hair more and more and more. It was crazy curly in the back and the top was so straight it was longer and hung over the curls. Her mommy had to pull it up every. single. day. No headbands, no cute styles. Just a pony tail with a ridiculously huge part because she had to pull up all that straight hair. One day Ireland's auntie Mekell was in Hair School and asked Ireland to come get a trim. Ireland got her straight hair chopped off and it instantly curled right up. YES!!!! It was DARLING!! That's all we needed to do?? As long as we keep the huge top section trimmed Ireland has this thick, gorgeous head of curls that mommy is so so so so so in love with!!

sorry for the blurry camera phone pictures but besides the top one, these are all wake up in the morning after going to bed with wet hair from a bath:

So after 2 years of life Ireland's mommy not only likes her hair (finally) she LOVES IT! Ireland can get out of the bath, literally shake her head around and it air- dries and it looks amazing. I never ever use product.

The other day Ireland's auntie used a flat iron to straighten Ireland's hair. She looked beautiful with her cute, straight hair. Mommy cried a little. She thinks Ireland looks too big. The curls make her look younger and mommy likes that! :) I will update later with a back view. Here is the front:
Isn't she just darling!!

And that is the story of our princess and her hair

So much for a post a day huh??

well I made it 2 days of a blog post a day. Hmmm. That's pretty awesome of me. It's not like anyone reads it anyhow and is like why wont she write? ha ha ha. Well I like to keep track of things we do and all day I think "Oh I could blog this or that" and then I go to bed each night and once again totally forgot. Maybe my sister can help remind me. She reads my blog. thanks sis :)

Let's see... I am planning Leighton's birthday party for Saturday... totally looks like a warm sunny saturday. yes!!! we were hoping!! I got a new swim suit too. Yeah I figured since I have been working out really hard and trying to be fit and healthy I probably wouldn't want to show up in my old, stretched out maternity swim suit. I still need to figure out where to get some inexpensive, fun cupcakes for the party. I need a bunch. I really DON'T want to make any. Anyone like to bake and can make some super cute?? I also still need to go pick out a toy or two for her to open. Got her some cute outfits though. Oh I also need Lei to start walking more. stat. She CAN walk. pretty well now... she just chooses not to :( which normally is fine but I would like her to not be crawling up and down the cement as much and tearing up her knees at her party.) It makes me sad. She got a DARLING new party/birthday girl/swim suit for her party too! ahhh I can't wait. She will look so stinkin cute. If only she had hair for a little pony tail. Miss Ireland had pig tails at age 9 months. ha ha. Oh well.

Things I need to catch up on:

post about our trip to Lake Tahoe a couple weeks ago

pictures, pictures, pictures

I have tons of videos too. Leighton is a ham and loves to show off.

hmm I can't think of anything else so now for some pictures:

Ireland drew this in sacrament. She said it is a tree

cute vinyl Ireland got as a gift for her room

this is just to show some of the random stuff she pushes around in her stroller

I wrote Ireland's name and asked her to try below. Everything on the bottom she did. She is pretty good at writing the letter I

at a friend's bday party at Chuck E cheese

that's all for now :)

Leighton walking

She was super irritated because she was so tired and didn't want to stand or walk. So I only had her walk a few steps then she went to bed. She can walk up to 11 steps at a time but that is as far as she got because I bribe her with things to take steps and she reaches the thing I have before we can get more steps. The cute thing is this is the same nightgown Ireland wore in the video of her walking! here is cute Ireland's video. Ireland was 10 months old

She is getting so big! She will be ONE at the end of the month!!

fun at the park!

I did a post about this park before but we haven't been there at all this season until tonight. The girls had a blast!! Here are a ton of pics from today!

She wouldn't actually go in the water. When the sprinklers turned off, she ran in. When they came back on, she most certainly ran right back out. ha ha

Leighton also wanted to play but farther back

this is the reaction you get when you tell a 2 year old it's time to go

wet clothes + wood chips = fancy bum

the girls are like me. we can sit in lots of water but don't like sprays of water

when I asked for a kiss...

trying to get her to go play

we had our dinner/ picnic at the park! So fun!

the end. who is proud of me? Day one of blogging everyday... success!!!

Why not?

So I always want to blog. I always have pictures, ideas, stories and also as I have said numerous times, this is my journal but also the only way most family and distant friends can keep up with us and see the things we do and how the girls are. I suck at blogging. I do it less and less and then try to cram everything I want to say into one and I forget all the things I had planned.

NEW GOAL.

I am going to *try* to blog every day. Whether it be a full out story, pictures, news... whatever. That is my goal. Please don't expect anything exciting. I may ramble a lot ( Oh wait I do that already!) ha ha and I may vent a lot. Whatever though right?? I hope to keep this up and just be able to look back and see what we did all day! ha ha

Here we go!

Oh there is a cute video of Leighton laughing I wanted to post but can't find it on youtube. In my vent post I forgot to say some more things about Lei: she ALWAYS covers her mouth when she coughs (real or fake cough)! she can take up to 5 steps with no help, otherwise she cruises around the house holding one of our fingers, some of the things she says: momma, mom, dadda, dad, thank you, Amen, dog, she can say and sign: all done, thank you, eat, more. She loves to blow spit bubbles, she says no, no and shakes her head and finger at you, LOVES the bath, she points to everything and asks a dat? If she hears any music she is dancing and singing, she loves to climb on everyone and is a total momma's girl, she can sign night night and says it too when ever she is tired, she sleeps really well, she pats her chest and says tay tuh (Leighton). When you ask her a question she nods and says yeah, when you ask her how old she is (and whisper one) she holds up one finger, she can blow, she hates her teeth being brushed, but loves massages. She will let me massage her back for a long time and that is the only way to get her back to bed when she is sick.

that's all I can think of for now. She is the funnest little bugger!! We sure can't get enough of her!! She will turn one on the 24th of June. yay!!

well we will see how tomorrow's blogging comes along

:)

My vent post. It is LONG over due and I kept putting it off and decided it is time to get it off my chest!

Where to even begin??

OK so my little Leighton is not a tiny thing. Well known fact. She is deliciously round all over, cheeks that never end, the most adorable rolls on every body part you see and she is BEAUTIFUL.

Here is the sad part: some people look at her and they see just a fat baby. That's it. Forgetting for a moment that she is a baby, a tiny human, a CHILD OF GOD, that she is small and helpless.

Does that matter to some?? NOPE. Some people have the most ignorant comments about her size, it literally makes me sick.

Please don't get me wrong, even I make comments on her chub, but I LOVE IT and I LOVE HER. There is a HUGE difference in HOW you tell me how chubby she is. The comments like: "oh she is so chubby, I love it!" or " I love those huge cheeks" or she has the chubbiest legs, it is so cute" things like that are fine, cute and welcome.

Now let's review the not so nice comments from friends, family and strangers: ha ha I won't even put them on here. No way, not for my baby to see. She deserves better than that.

I was even at a baby shower and someone from across the way looks at her and made a loud comment and every head turns to look at me. I was embarrassed so my usual natural reaction is to... not defend her but to say dumb things like " I know." or "she is huh?" It is not so much the comments that describe her size it is the comments that draw attention and embarrass me. It is the comments where people say I am hurting her, shame on me, she is suffering. This bugs me still that in a moment I am caught off guard and embarrassed . It's horrible and I have gotten better, I have gotten stronger. I am learning to... wait for it... learning to IGNORE. It's amazing how incredibly hard it is it to just ignore.

Here is what I know. Leighton is amazing. She is so funny and so spunky and has all kinds of personality blossoming. She knows so many words, she knows sign language, she goes out of her way to make you laugh and smile. She is a ham and knows how to get you to giggle. She still lets me hold her and snuggle, she eats very well- meaning healthy. She will eat any fruit and veggie I give her. Since 5 months old she has only eaten the amount of food that is recommended for her age. I had 3 different recourses and I followed those almost exactly. She has never gotten much more than she should. I cannot explain her adorable extra weight. I can't. Her pediatrician doesn't have a hint of concern. He adores her and thinks she is pretty awesome. When I expressed my concern for her he told me " why do you think they make different pant sizes? because every single person is different!" well said Dr. Lofgren. The only unexpected weight gain I know of is in the hospital she barely ate. She wouldn't take food and in 4 days in the hospital she still gained almost 3 pounds. The reason is: the surgery to remove adenoids actually makes the kids GAIN weight. Also stress. Um.... that little girl went through more stress, pokes, tests and pain then I would ever imagine and she held strong, fought and was so tough. She came home and was on oxygen for 2 weeks and is completely better now!

She is a rockstar. A princess an angel. She is my everything. Leighton in my eyes is PERFECT.

Now look at her. What do you see now? See the twinkle in her eye? Her joy for life? Her love for her big sister? Her amazing attitude? It's all there. Maybe just look a little longer at those sweet cheeks!!