Petting Zoo

We had a traveling petting zoo in town this last week so Nick and I took the girls to check it out. When we arrived there was a sign warning us of all the possible ailments that we might encounter if we didn't wash our hands including death so you better believe I doused my family (excluding Alice) in purell! Thanks goodness I had some purell because the petting zoo didn't provide any which I thought was weird; most of them have bottles hanging on the fences. Oh and look carefully at the picture of Haley; there is a sign in the background that reads "do not feed fingers to the animals". I guess it's a common problem, people feeding the animals fingers, common enough to warrant a sign.

There is also a video of Haley feeding a donkey on our youtube site.

Alice is 1 month old!

As of Feb. 9th she is 1 month and as of yesterday she discovered her thumb fits perfectly into her mouth and she began using a pacifier instead of using me as a pacifier (yay!), we also decided that we're pretty sure she has colic, which just plain sucks but we bought some medicine last night to hopefully help with that.

Baby Alice is Here!

Birth story removed because after the percocet wore off I realized it was TMI!

39 Weeks Pregnant, Hawk Cactus, and My Big Kitchen

That's a lot to cram into one blog post don't you think? Let's start with the dead hawk, the most interesting thing we've come across recently. (Yep, there's not too much excitement around these parts.) We had ventured out to Yucca Valley to have dinner at Kimi Grill for miss Haley's 9th birthday but we got there too early so we decided to kill some time by driving around the neighborhoods looking at cute adobe style homes. Well, as we drove down one of the roads I thought I saw a hawk sitting in a cactus so I asked Nick to go back. As you can see from the photo, it is most definitely a dead hawk in a cactus. We have many theories for how it got there, one being that some weirdo put it there (probably the most likely) and another being that the hawk died while in flight and landed there.

Next up is my big kitchen, which I really love. The only problem with this kitchen is that it only has one light in it, which means we eat dinner with a cave like ambience because the light doesn't reach the dining area. We're thinking about buying a chandelier for the room but I know we'll only need it for this house so it seems like a waste of money.

Lastly, is my giant, 39 weeks pregnant belly. Alice can come any day now however I feel like she'll probably choose to stay in there longer than necessary like her sister did. I think I just need to face the fact that I was born with an incredibly comfortable uterus and my kids are only going to be removed by force, not choice. Oh well.

Haley's 9th Birthday

I've never seen a kid so excited to get a dictionary.

First Cheer Performance

I have a lot to blog about lately. It's probably because I am just so freaking excited! Myhusband is coming home soon! I will no longer go to bed at 8:30 pm just because I have nothing better to do because I will have my husband home to spend time with. It's going to be great. Not only is Nick coming home soon, but our baby is due in 7 weeks, or 1 1/2 months, that is right around the corner! I can't believe it. It feels like just yesterday I was a complete wreck, worrying constantly about the well being of this baby. I was so afraid I would miscarry again. Now I am able to comfortably spend my days with her practicing kickboxing, salsa, and yoga inside my body, reassuring me that she is doing great in there. We have so much to look forward to right now and I am thrilled.


Anyway, last night was Haleys fist cheerleading performance, she had a great time out there but I was really dissapointed in the coaches. I know Haley is only 8 and this isn't high school cheerleading but I expected a little more from the coaches. First of all, we have been through 3 or 4 coaches and we're only in week 3 of cheer. I really liked coach 3, she let the girls have a good time but at the same time she inforced some basic rules such as standing at attention after a cheer, remaining in position, and calling cheers loudly. These are important because if you're not standing at attention ready for the next cheer then you're going to be behind, and if you're not standing in your position the whole cheer formation looks sloppy plus you could end up getting kicked in the face or kicking someone else in the face by standing way too close to them, and lastly, if the cheers aren't called properly (i.e someone yells "name of cheer. Ready? Ok!") then how the heck are the girls supposed to know when to begin and what cheer they are doing?

Last night we had some random coaches that I had never seen before. These coaches did not make the girls stand at attention so half the time most of them were talking to each other instead of getting ready for the next cheer. Then the coaches neglected to get the girls back into position every once in a while so we had the 2nd row of girls 2 feet from the front row, and the back row was about 10 feet away from the 2nd row. And then instead of calling the cheers properly the coaches chose a cheer then told the girls "lets do...dynamite" and then let the girls just begin, they never said "ready?Ok!" and so most girls didn't know when to start cheering. Then they started letting the girls choose the cheers which is nice but the girls have 3 favorite cheers so they kept repeating the same cheers over and over again. It was an unorganized mess but at least Haley had a good time and she did a great job cheering. I am just annoyed because for one thing I'm a little bit of a perfectionist and for another thing Haley wants to get into cheerleading in high school so it's important that she has an idea of the basic rules of the sport. If this were basketball the coaches wouldn't allow the kids to run while holding the ball, they would be penalized, so why do they let the cheerleaders break all the rules?

Anyway, here are some photos of Haley having a great time last night. I brought a mug of hot chocolate for her and she loved drinking out of it, she said it made her feel like a high school girl, ooooh :)

Christmas Tree and Baby Belly

Today in an attempt to relieve boredom Haley and I ventured out to Home Depot and Wal-Mart in search of Christmas decorations. We stopped at home depot and picked up a holiday snoopy inflatable for the yard, a Christmas welcome mat (only $3, go get yourselves one) and then we headed to Wal-Mart. I had told Haley she could save her allowance for half the cost of a little 3ft tree and I would pay for the rest of it if she deserved it. Well last night I ended up having to bring her along to a photo session and she was just awesome so today she got her tree. She chose a pink tree skirt, pink glittery ornaments, and of course a pink topper. I think it's pretty cute and since we aren't putting the big tree up until Nick gets home she gets to keep all the presents under her tree for now.







So...that's my belly. After 32 weeks of carrying around this sweet baby girl that's how big it has gotten. People tell me daily that it's "tiny" which is nice I guess. I definitely do not see it but apparently the majority of society is shocked to find out I only have 8 weeks left before I deliver. By the way, you may have noticed that I am slouching, this is not how I normally stand. I just wanted to seperate the girls from the belly if you catch my drift. Here is what things look like when I stand up straight.



That's probably why people think I look "tiny", because there is hardly any belly definition since my girls think it's a race to see who sticks out the farthest, them or the belly. And no, in case you are wondering, I do not have any shame. It went out the window with my wasteline a few months ago. Oh and since we're on the subject of bellies here is a little conversation Haley and I had earlier today:

Me: The other day I was talking to a man and my belly just started dancing. The baby was doing the cha cha.
Haley: I thought you were an adult.
Me: What do you mean?
Haley: Adults don't say "belly" they say stomach
Me: But my stomach is an organ. The baby is not in my stomach. Technically I should call it my abdomen but I don't want to be technical.
Haley: Be technical. Abdomen. It's not your belly, your tummy, your tum tum, your food processor, it's your abdomen.