The bean jar

For a while I noticed Mason acting up and being a grouch whenever I asked him to do anything.  That plus 2 year old tantrums were driving me batty.  I decided that I needed to take a different approach to handling things with Mason so we would both be happy.  Thus the bean jar was born.  Every time he did something good, nice, cooperative, did what I asked, play with Lily etc he got some beans in his jar.  When he filled it up, he got to go the the store and pick out a toy.  Overall it worked really well, he acted better but I think that mostly had to do with my praising his good behavior instead of punishing his bad behavior. 

On the way to the store to get a new toy!!!

 He chose a little tube of sea creatures... and was not happy that I tried to take a picture of the jar and toys!

This only ended up working a couple of jar fulls but I am glad that it helped our crabby situation for a bit :)

my life lately

I love have my two children and am grateful for them everyday!  Though life is certainly getting more interesting as the two red heads get bigger... see:

Mason wants to sit on the chair... see the scowl of anger?

The scowl in return from Lily, and then....

WHACK!!!  she got him straight across the face!  

She is a naughty little bugger, though sometimes Mason deserves this type of behavior because he steals toys etc.  Where did she learn this from???  Mason never really hit, and doesn't hit now, weird!

Seriously, don't mess with her :)

PS, do you like that I am that mom who takes the picture instead of stopping the fight, oops!

Danny is funny

If you watch the video below of Lily with her birthday cupcake you will notice we were outside. Well I am special and left the camera outside that night, and it rained :( (sorry mom and dad!)

I was (and still) so mad at myself. On facebook someone suggested we put it in a bag of rice to help suck out any water. Guess what it worked!!!! and here is the video to prove it.

Bonus for you Danny is funny and wonderful :)

Lily's birthday cupcake video :)

My favorite parts:
Danny singing
Me saying "oh I need to take pictures!" haha
The sound of my camera clicking a zillion times
Mason continually asking for a cupcake
Mason saying the cupcake is black
Mason spinning in circles most of the time!
And of course Lily making a huge mess of the cupcake :)

Lily walking

Lily can now walk better than this. Infact she is walking 80-90% of the time! My favorite is that she will try to walk (run?) really fast with her arms in the air :)

Lily's birthday cupcake

Lily got a nice low key family celebration for her birthday on Tuesday (June 22).  In the morning we gave her a big purple ball and I decorated some block letters of her name to hang up in her room.  Mason was NOT happy that she got the ball and not him!  Hahaha, it was pretty sad and funny especially when he demanded we go to the store and buy him a ball too!  Ya right kid... :)

After Danny got home from work we went outside to have birthday cupcakes.  It was so much fun watching her demolish the cake (Mason hardly touched his on his 1st birthday)

Examining the cupcake

Mmmmmmmmmm!

She liked it for a minute, but since it was right after dinner she didn't eat very much. 

But she did like to play with it!

I love this cute little "zone out" watching Mason play face

And then she gets attention!!! haha, love it

I am 1!

We gave her another cupcake so I could take more pictures :)

And she of course demolished it!

Look at all the frosting mom!

The cake got everywhere!

Happy Birthday baby girl!!!

Lily's birth story

Note:  this is long so skip by if you would like.  My blog is my journal so I want to make sure Lily's birth is recorded!

I can't believe it has been 1 year since I had Lily and I never wrote down her birth story, so better late than never and before I forget important details.

Lily was born on her due date, June 22nd and I am not sure the exact statistics but I believe only 2% of babies are born on their due date.  That is pretty great right?  Well I felt like she was a week overdue because Mason came a week early.  It was a mean little mind game going on in my head (also a few weeks earlier my doctor was pretty sure I was going to have her early and I got my hopes up!)

I also thought it would be great if she came on June 19th.  My birthday is April 19th, Mason's birthday is October 19th so I thought it be great way to remember birthdays.  But our little miss didn't come that day.  The next day, Saturday June 20th, I was having small contractions here and there.  Nothing to get excited about because I remember what the real contractions felt like.  And I certainly didn't want to get sent home from the hospital like I did when I was in labor with Mason.  That evening I called my friend Anjanette, who was going to watch Mason while we were at the hospital, and told her I was having contractions on and off all day so be ready just in case.

Nope, she wasn't coming.  The contractions stopped I prepared my primary lesson for the next day and went to bed.  On Sunday June 21st I went to church and taught my class.  And when I look back on that day I can't believe I went to church. I felt HORRIBLE.  I was having contractions all during my lesson and I had to stop teaching a couple of times!  But they weren't regular, and like I said before I did not like being sent home when I was in labor with Mason.  I was so tired and basically felt like crap all day.  We came home I tried to take a nap but was so uncomfortable.  The contractions grew stronger and more regular and I thought HOORAY!  I called Anjanette to warn her.  Contractions 8 minutes apart and getting closer, be ready!

At 8:30pm or so My. Contractions. Stopped.  I was not happy, I felt defeated, hormonal, tired, mad and DONE.  Danny and I went to bed around 10:00pm.  Again no contractions for the last couple of hours, and I feel asleep so surely I was not in labor!

Then a really strong contraction woke me up, which was scary and cool.  Kinda like in the movies.  Then shortly after another really strong contraction and BAM!  my water broke.  I looked at the clock and it was 12:01 am.  Having my water break was a weird and cool sensation.  And it didn't even make a mess in my bed which is nice (unlike the way TV displays it!)  I was so excited that I jumped out of bed told Danny to get the bags together while I hurried and took a shower. 

The contractions were getting serious in the shower so I hurried and got out and ready.  We called my doctor who said to come quick because 1. things move faster when your water breaks (for most) 2. things move faster with your second (for most).  I called Anjanette and we were out the door by 1:00am.

At the hospital we got checked in and in our room quickly which was nice until the nurse sat and asked a bazillion questions.  I am not sure how long it took (at least a 1/2 hour or more), but I finally asked if she could check me because I wanted an epidural!  She did and I was at a 5, hooray!  I got the an IV and waited, painfully, for the anesthesiologist.  I don't remember too many details until finally at 3:00 the anesthesiologist came and I got the needle :)  I quickly felt better and was excited that I may get some sleep like I did when I was in labor with Mason.  The nurse left and I closed my eyes for 15 or 20 minutes. 

I woke up because I started feeling the contractions again!  WHAT!?!  I used my nurse button and asked if we could boost the epi because I was feeling lots (not all the way I am sure)  she told me that she was calling my doctor because she didn't trust me, haha.  I kept feeling the contractions, my nurse said it was because I was so progressing fast (side note, she did NOT check me before I got the epidural and I am glad because I think I may have been too far along!)

My OB got to the hospital fast and in 3 contractions Lily Mae Newman was born at 3:52 am!  All 9lbs 3.5 oz of her :)  In retrospect I am glad the epidural didn't work because I was able to feel through the contractions and after she was here I felt SO GOOD.  It was the strangest most wonderful feeling.  This feeling made me realize how crappy I had felt the last couple of days.  I didn't feel this way after having Mason, and I wonder if that is because of the epidural.

I remember Danny and I thinking there was no way he hair was red, but we were wrong.  She also looked so much like Mason that I said, hey I know you :) 

It was a wonderful experience and so much smoother than having Mason.  I think because I knew what to expect and my body knew what to do.  I also felt really great during postpartum (I had more after birth pains with Mason than Lily, weird!) and I didn't really have to use the drugs the OB gave me.

What a wonderful day that I will remember forever!  I love you baby girl :)

Dear Lily

My dear Lily, you turn 1 today and I can't believe how time has flown.  It seems like just yesterday we were bringing you home from the hospital and snuggling with you night and day.  I have loved watching you grow this last year.  You are very content and happy most of the time, you love to be outside, explore new places and get dirty! 

Your personality is coming out more and more, and I am noticing a mischievous side to you...if you are doing something naughty you are nice and quiet, and when I come to fix/clean or take you away from the situation you try and crawl away fast and laugh the whole time.

You love to climb up and in everything.  You will take everything out of cupboards so you can sit in them, empty out boxes and try to climb in and the stairs!, you LOVE the climb the stairs and you can even climb over the coffee table (our make shift gate) to get the them!

Ralph really likes it when you eat because you are great sharer.  You will drop food down to him or feed him when he stands next to your high chair.  You like to eat too which is nice, but when you are done you shake your head and wipe all the food to the floor as fast as you can!

You love to dance, play patty cake and chase your brother around the house.  You give the greatest hugs, kisses and snuggles.  You love to wave bye bye to dada before he goes to work and you go to bed.  Right now you can say "hi" "uh oh" "mama" "dada"  "nana" (banana) and you have 7 teeth, 4 on top, 3 on bottom.

You like to alternate crawling and walking, but are walking more and more everyday.  Infact you are trying to run and skip walking all together.  Sometimes you will stand up and shake your arms back and forth, it is so cute.  Mason and I think you are trying to fly like a birdie!  

You are so much fun and make me smile everyday!!! 

Here are some pictures of you from the last year:

First night home from the hospital

1 month

2 months and soooo squishy!

3 months

4 months

5 months and sitting like a big girl!

 6 months

7 months and super drooly!!!

8 months

9 months, your first pig tails... and you love the binky!

10 months, you crawl so funny :)

11 months

Yay you are 1 year old now :)

I love you so much miss Lily!  Happy Birthday :)

Love mama

so here is your present...

I fully intended to print one of these pictures for you to take to work, oops I ran out of time!  So which one do you want?

I got this idea from my friend Shauna.  Lily did a great job, Mason was a little tricky but finally joined in when he saw all the attention Lily was getting.  I wanted to accessorize more with pants, belts and shoes... but I will take what I can get with these two crazy people!

Happy Fathers Day Danny!  Your kids want to be just like you :)

Dad

Since I have so terrible at updating this blog, I thought I would put a whole bunch of pictures of Danny and the kids from the last couple of months.  To say that Danny is a wonderful dad is an understatement, he changes diapers, soothes crying babies, runs around like a crazy person lets Mason and Lily literally jump all over him.  He is so much fun and the kids are so lucky to have him in their lives!

Happy Father's Day Danny we love you!

And Happy Fathers Day to my wonderful dad who has taught me so much.  And to my Father in law, who has accepted my craziness into the Newman family :)