Mother's love

I don't have much to say today except that recently I've been amazed at the love a mother can have. No matter how much my baby cries I still love him to pieces!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's just been one of those weeks.

It's amazing to me that only with my kids am I so forgiving and loving like that. Not even with Richard would I be so patient, but no matter how much my baby doesn't do what I want him to do, I love him to death, and desire to help him and do everything for him and comfort him. No matter how much my toddler is whining at me - I love him and hold him and kiss him

Interesting

Happiness

So I know I've said this before but it can't hurt to restate it -

1. I love morning hot coffee in the winter time

2. I love that I'm a stay at home mom right now and can stay in my pj's and enjoy the hot coffee

3. I love that I'm not working right now

4. I love that I have tons of flexibility b/c I'm not working

5. I love spending my days with my 2 boys at my home

6. I love that I'm not working, so that being a wife and mother is easier to accomplish :)

7. I love coffee

8. I love Richard

9. i think I enjoy having events to go to or plan for b/c I am at home, so going out is fun

10. I LOVE THAT I"M NOT WORKING RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

can you tell, I'm glad I don't have to work?????

every day I wake up, pack my husband's lunch, get the boys fed and sit down with my coffee sending my husband off to work, and think - "I cannot believe how lucky I am that I can stay at home with my boys in my own house". I don't even mind the laundry, cooking, grocery shopping, and cleaning that much. (don't get me wrong some days it is annoying to have to keep up with) but overall I appreciate doing it b/c I know how hard it is to get those things accomplished if you have a job too. :) I know I might not always be able to stay at home like this - but for now I will sit back and enjoy it

Late Anniversary

Many of you know our wedding was on Thanksgiving weekend (saturday, nov 25th). At the time we realized our anniversary would fall on Thanksgiving and around thanksgiving forever so we can never complain about that fact. But this year it actually fell on thanksgiving day. Everyone knows how busy that week can be especially if you travel to see family.

We had got a gift certificate from restaurants.com for a local place right around the corner from our house thinking we could use it the week of thanksgiving before our trip. Well that week was pretty hectic and richard worked a lot so it never actually worked out to go. Our anniversary came and went. We made it special between the two of us - but it was not a big deal at all (sorta sad for a person who loves to make big deals of special dates like that). But i was ok with it.

Since then we have been meaning to go for a few weeks and forget to get a babysitter or something like that. B/c it's right around the corner we never know who to ask or where to take the boys.

But tonight is the night!!!!! (richard had the day off of work b/c of the snow) and our dear dear friends graciously said yes to our VERY LAST MINUTE request for them to watch our boys (they don't live very far from us either) and we are going to use the gift certificate and celebrate our 4th anniversary tonight. :)

I'M PSYCHED!!!!!

Love you Richard with all my heart

Sunday Night Menu

Interested to find out what everyone else does for Sunday night dinner. :)

Growing up we only ever had popcorn with cheese and apple slices. hahahaha That's our meal, nothing else. We would all just eat popcorn. Richard used to eat a lot of frozen pizzas and he LOVES those totinos party pizzas. (Gross, disgusting). He is completely satisfied with a totinos party pizza and I am completely satisfied with only popcorn. (and by the way, none of that microwave stuff, pure unadulterated popcorn kernels cooked in hot oil with some melted butter and salt). So if you come to the Gardner's house on a Sunday evening you can be guaranteed that you will only be offered popcorn or Totinos party pizzas. hahahaha. And I have no intention of changing that. And if we are at a social event or something like that, when I get home I am not satisfied until I have my popcorn, no matter what else I ate that day. :)

So what does everyone else do on Sunday nights?

Am I all alone

Ok, before you get all judgemental on me let me just preface this whole post by saying, yes I know most of what I say here isn't true and I need to have patience . . .

Sometimes I get so frustrated with weight loss. Am I the only one that doesn't lose weight easily breastfeeding?????? sometimes I feel like I am the only one. It takes serious work for me to lose the weight. most of my friends just look skinnier than ever 2 months after delivering a baby, and are all psyched b/c nursing helps them be so skinny. Meanwhile I'm sitting here plump and heavy, excercising and "starving" myself seeing no results. UGH!!!!! (I don't literally starve myself b/c I know i need to eat to produce enough milk, it's hard for me to find the balance of what I actually do need and what I don't need)

Sometimes it's so weird to think the changes my body has gone through, and I wonder if I will ever be able to fit into those jeans again. It seems like I will never be able to pull them up.

I do know, it's all about calorie intake and calorie burning, and it takes time and hard work. "give yourself a year" everyone says. But I say to them - what am i supposed to wear during that year, and how can I look at midsection. hahahaha. I also know to eat healthy (which I do most of the time) I only drink water and black coffee.

Someone out there please tell me that breastfeeding doesn't help them either. :) that will make me feel better. :)

Guess I just felt like venting :)

Winter Activity

As many of you know - Carson has a ton of energy. This winter we decided to figure out a way to get it all out of him so he can relax. Pay close attention to the end and his response to my question. hahah - he is always making me laugh.

The holidays are over

Boy was this an interesting holiday season for me. I can't quite put my hand on it except for the fact that lots of things didn't happened as I had envisioned. As I posted earlier, our whole family was pretty sick right up to Christmas. Carson was still not himself for a few more days, and I felt like he didn't truly enjoy Christmas b/c he was pretty mellow, not eating, and grumpier than normal. Richard's parents came into town on Christmas eve. They do things differently than I did growing up which is completely fine with me - but didn't feel like Christmas to me. As our kids get older we will have to figure out what to do about our own traditions with our own family. But we did have a good breakfast at Melissa's house, then opened gifts in a crazy setting. :)

The next days were followed by every one else getting the stomach flu :( So sad and all our plans were ruined b/c of it. It's hard not to be annoyed or dissappointed b/c there is nothing you can do about getting sick. But it did put a damper on enjoying their trip out here. They came from so far and for a short time and who knows when it will happen again, and everyone had to be throwing up almost the whole time. :( (well I will say that I was thankful that our little family had it before all the company and holidays b/c it really is not fun to have it with a houseful of people). I felt so bad that they weren't at home, and that they had to be sick with my kids bothering them. I just felt bad about the whole thing. Melissa's kids and family was just as bad too. :( So sad.

But we tried to make the most of the time together. WE did get some shopping trips in (which is always fun) and we did enjoy a little discover center in the mall downtown Scranton. I'm sure the grandparents are still so thankful for the time they got to spend with their grandkids despite the sickness.

And we do know when the next time will be that we will be together again b/c Richard's sister, Becky, got engaged on Christmas eve, so we have a wedding to plan for. yeah for being back in Colorado.

Now the holidays are over - and real life sets in again. This next week will be filled with going through receipts from Christmas buying, and family being in town, and setting goals and budgets for this year. and getting my boys back on schedule and behaving again. hahahahaha

I'm excited to see what this year brings. It's neat to see how much happened in 2010 and to wonder what will happen in 2011. Where will we be at the end of the year? Kinda exciting. :)