Colorado popsicle

Made with love

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Theo and I celebrated Valentine's Day last night since he is working tonight. I made him one of his favorite meals, curry chicken and rice and peas, we broke out our china, put the kids down a little early, and had a nice romantic dinner at home. It was nice. Then we watched part of Slumdog Millionaire. This morning we went to church together and now we are home and he's getting ready for work.

We took this family picture today. No outside photos for us today because it is FREEZING outside! I looked out the window and was deceived because it's all bright and sunny outside but when you step out of the door, the wind is blowing hard and making it bone chilling cold outside.

As I look at this picture of us, I am so thankful our children were made with love. Theo and I love each other more than anything and our children are a reflection of our love for each other. I love being a part of this family and am blessed everyday to have such a great husband and amazing children. Yes, there are moments when I would love nothing more than to take a cruise to a tropical island....ALONE :) but all in all at the end of the day, I have so much to be thankful for. I want to model love to our children everyday...not only love towards them but more importantly love towards Theo. When are children are grown, I want them to be able to look to their parents as a model of what love is and how husbands and wives are supposed to treat each other. I realize this is no easy task and I think Theo and I both struggle with this frequently. I am striving to put him first which is hard with a toddler and infant but I want Theo to know how much he matters to me. My relationship with our children is better when my relationship with Theo is at it's best. I am trying to love them all with a Christlike love because that is the best example of selfless, sacrificial, and unconditional love there is. Happy Valentine's Day!

(Also made with love is her jumper. I made this (with much help from mom) after Christmas. There is a matching hooded little coat too but she didn't have that on for the picture. I haven't sewed anything since mom left because I still need a lot of help before I can attempt anything on my own!)

Unsupervised

Five months old!

These have been some of the most fun and most challenging five months of my life. Every night as I put Olivia down in her crib, I smile, kiss her on her forehead and say a quick prayer thanking God for the wonderful children he has given me. Her personality is getting more and more fun. She is content to play on the floor on her blanket and kick her feet up, suck on her fingers, and "talk". At five months old, you:

-weigh about 13 and 1/2 pounds

-nurse about every 3-4 hours during the day

-have finally started sleeping 8-9 hour stretches at night and only wake up once to eat! I can not tell you how happy (and sane) this has made me! I feel like a new person. There is light at the end of the tunnel.

-love it when your brother laughs in your face because this makes you laugh too

-must be teething because you can not stop chewing on anything you can get your mouth on (like the high chair!

-can't go anywhere without someone commenting on how beautiful you are or your head full of hair, or you big bright blue eyes

-blew your first "raspberry" today

-squeal loudly when you are happy

-have fingernails that grow so fast I can't clip them enough

-are trying to sit up when you are propped up

-have started rolling over from your tummy to your back but not all the time (daddy still hasn't seen you roll yet)

-are so ticklish especially under your neck and your belly button

-love your teething toys, watching Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune

-are about to make your first trip on an airplane to Louisiana to meet some more of your family in four days!

-are such a happy baby. We can go anywhere doing anything and you are almost always such a good and happy girl (unless it's eating time)

-are still cranky some evenings but a lot less than before

-go to sleep so easily at night now and very rarely cry

-were so excited the Saints won the superbowl (ok....maybe I'm projecting!)

-have the biggest thighs but they are so cute I just want to kiss them all the time!

-adore your daddy and get the biggest grin on your face when he comes home and you have him completely wrapped around your slobbery finger!

-make your mommy and daddy so happy! We can not imagine our lives without you! You are the sweetest baby.

Misunderstanding

I guess when I told Olivia she would soon be sitting in her high chair to eat, she thought I meant she would soon be eating her high chair! She is literally gnawing on anything she can get her hands and mouth on. Carter didn't get any teeth until 8 months but it wouldn't surprise me if Olivia got some sooner (but then again, I thought the same thing about Carter!)

A sledding we will go

We have the best park in our neighborhood. It's not too big and has the right size equipment for Carter. Wednesday afternoon, we all headed down the street and played in our park. Theo brought Carter's sled and they had a blast sliding up and down the hill. It was a little too cold for Olivia so we headed back home and waited for the boys to show up. I know Carter really enjoyed having some daddy time!

On your mark



Get set



GOOOO!!



Alright, now let's do this again!








This is the view from our park:

Snow day: part one

As I blogged a couple of days ago, Monday was a beautiful snow day. Once the snow stopped actually falling, I took Carter outside to play in it. It was freezing but we had fun! The snow was so soft. I attempted to build a mini snowman but it ended up looking more like a mound of snow. Oh well :)