LANEY & GRACE

LOOK!

2005-06-28T21:37:00.000-06:00

TWO KIDS!!

2005-06-28T21:07:00.000-06:00

I think its finally sinking in... I am the mother of two children. Most of their waking hours I am soley responsible for keeping them alive. Its a lot to swallow sometimes. Right after Grace was born I often thought to myself how EASY being a mommy to two little girls was. That is was so much easier than people had made it seem. And that was true. For a little while. My life now consists of running in a thousand directions, trying to prevent disaster at every second. Don't get me wrong, I am having a blast. I wouldn't want to do anything else in the entire world. Its just different than it used to be. Laney is now 3 1/2.. going on 16. She is full of sass and attitude, which I know she got from me, as much as I hate to admit it. Its like God's little joke on me..if I had only known THEN that someday I would be a mother to a little girl that at age 3 you can already see the fire in her eyes.. I may have been a bit easier on my own mother. (By the way, Sorry Mom!) Grace is almost 15 months, and the polar opposite of Delaney. She is super lovey, easy going and happy. Until I leave the room, or set her down. I guess she has become a bit spoiled. I carried her(and continue to) a lot, and cuddled her a lot, I guess becasue she is my baby.. but its backfiring on me a little now. For the most part the girls are nice to eachother, but there is a screaming and crying fit from one of them about every 10 minutes that they are alone together. I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I think in about a year things will be MUCH easier, they will play together and I will finally be able to take a breather.(or atleast a shower by myself) I have recently found myself wondering how on God's great earth do people have 3 or more children..and WHY! With all the chaos put aside, the girls are amazing. Growing and learning more everyday. Laney goes to 2 different programs during the week for a few hours in the morning. One is a nature program, where they learn about bugs and plants and things, and the other is through the Parks & Rec and they get to do all kinds of fun stuff. Last week she got to ride the Gondola up the mountian, and tomorrow she gets to ride a horse! She is having a BLAST! It also happens to be at the same time that Gracie is napping, so I have to say that lately I have been able to get that private shower that I used to only dream about or was able to take at 10pm after the house calmed down and John was in bed. He's doing great, working and spending every free moment he has with us, which is awesome, and has been great for all of us. He's a good dad. Great dad. When I was younger I would always dream of this amazing husband who also turned out to be an amazing dad. And I found him. :) I promise to add more soon..
-s

2005-04-27T12:31:00.000-06:00

Ballerina Grace!

2005-04-27T12:26:00.000-06:00

Look at the cake!

2005-04-27T12:12:00.000-06:00

Birthday Princess!

2005-04-26T19:19:00.000-06:00

Laney and Ford at Preschool Graduation!

2005-04-26T19:18:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday Gracie!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRACE!

2005-04-26T17:48:00.000-06:00

Gracie turned 1 year old on 4/16! Can you believe it?! She was so cute, just poking at the cake at first, then once she got a taste of the sugar, started shoveling it in her mouth. It was great. On Friday night, 4/15, we had a SUSHI party ! It was to celebrate Grace's birthday, but their were no kiddos and Grace made a brief appearance around midnight. It was kind of a party for John and I, you know, surviving the first year as parents of 2. It was a blast!

On Monday, 4/18, Gracie had her 1-year check-up. She is such a little peanut! She is barely 18lbs, which is like the 8th percentile I think. Laney was 26 lbs at her 1-year check-up! Can you believe that! Regardless of how small she is, she is perfectly healthy..She did have to get 4 shots! So she was pretty grumpy, because of the shots, and later that evening Laney pushed her and Grace split open her forehead! Our pediatrician is so awesome, it was 7pm, but instead of having us go to the ER, he met us at his office. He was able to fix it with liquid stitches, because it was such a clean split. The poor baby looked like a boxer!

Fast forward.. Wednesday John and I took Grace with us to Denver, because we were going to see U2!! It was literally the longest 24 hours of my life I think. It started with us totally getting lost on the way to our hotel, and once we got there it wasn't worth the money at all. The picture on the website looked much better, but whatever. Denver was also experiencing an insane hail/ thunder storm, which made driving in a city that you don't know well all the better. Oh yeah, and Gracie was screaming, THE WHOLE TIME. As it turned out, Gracie wasn't up to par, so I went to the show with some friends and John stayed behind with the baby..How great is he?? The concert was awesome, I was with my friend Julia's brother John, and we had amazing seats ( or standing room) that were like 20 feet away from the stage catwalk. Bono is amazing, the whole experience was really cool. It is hard to believe that there were 60,000 people in the Pepsi center that night, plus another 60,000 to follow the next night. (U2 sold out both nights in Denver) We came home Thursday morning, but before we made it back to Steamboat, we stopped in a little town about an hour outside of Denver called Idaho Springs. We locked the keys in the car with the baby in the car! We were both freaking out! But luckily all it took to save us was a quick call to the State Trooper, and he came and unlocked the door with a Jimmy. Kind of scary to see how fast someone can do that. The whole ordeal from start to finish lasted about 8 minutes. When I went to pick up Laney from her sleepover with Ford, Grace climbed up the stairs, then fell down them all! There was blood again, plus a huge swollen FAT lip! Gracie looked like she has been in a fight, and had lost. BADLY. Perfect ending to a day of ridiculous events.

This is how crazy we were.. We decided to go back to Denver Friday for the weekend. John scored tickets to an exclusive Counting Crows show that was put on by The Gap, so we went back down there, I stayed with the girls at the hotel, he got to go enjoy his concert, then we spent the weekend doing kid stuff. The weather was perfect Saturday, so we took the girls to the zoo, and had so much fun! I forgot our camera, so we had to buy one of those disposable deals, so as soon as I get the pictures back, I will post a few. We came home late Sunday afternoon, and as it turned out, had an amazing time. We stayed at the Wyndham hotel that we usually do, which is great.

I will post a few pictures from the last month, and will update more often so my blogs don't go on FOREVER.

Take care everyone :)

Is it Spring yet??

2005-03-29T21:42:00.000-07:00

The weather here has been insane. We have had an incredibly MILD winter, and the past month has been full of beautiful warm, sunny days. So now that it is almost April, of course the snow starts to really fall. In 6 hours last night we got over a foot of snow! Its just crazy. Just when I start to think I can break out the flippies and start getting a tan, things take a turn for the worse. GO figure. Easter was great, Laney really got into it this year, decorating the eggs and everything. Grace had no idea what was going on, but was happy to be involved in Laney's chaotic search for goodies Sunday morning. She is really walking now, and has decided that she can also climb. She climbs onto chairs to got on top of tables. She is nuts. I have never seen a baby do this before. Laney was all about just walking, but Gracie knows there is more to it I think. Needless to say John and I have been having to keep an eye on our little monkey AT ALL TIMES.
Laney loves the color orange. I think we have been over this before. Today she got a new bed set, that included BRIGHT ORANGE SHEETS! She was so stoked! They are 400 thread count, which I can honestly say until our last wedding anniversary, we had never slept on sheets that great. (John got me 1000 thread count sheets for an anniversary gift last year, and trust me, THEY ARE AMAZING!) Her quilt has beautiful bugs all over, just like her room. Enjoy the pictures, and I will update again soon!

2005-03-29T21:40:00.001-07:00

Laney's new bed!

2005-03-29T21:40:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter!

CRAZY LIFE!

2005-03-24T07:59:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile, things around here have just been CRAZY. Gracie is all over the place, getting into everything all the time. Laney is busy with her social schedule, and and down time I have had I have been SLEEPING! Lets see what is going on.. Gracie is walking, which is just a trip to see such a little thing tooling around. She is also, dare I say it, SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT! I mean I put in her in HER CRIB at 7:30 or so, and don't hear or see her again until about 6am. Its AWESOME! She has been going strong with it for about 2 weeks now. John could possibly be happier than I am, because it means he gets his spot back in our bed. Laney is about to finish up this semester of preschool, with a graduation ceremony in about 2 weeks. She is going to try ballet the summer, I think she would be really great at it. John and I have been having fun, last weekend was The Rock Slope here in Steamboat. Its a 3-day concert series that is so much fun. This years line up was Sister Hazel, Better Than Ezra, Edwin McCain, Emerson Hart from Tonic and The Pat McGee Band. We had such a great time, and it was so fun to hear the music that I LOVED like 10 years ago. I will post a pic! The snow has started to fall again in Steamboat, just when we though Spring was on its way in. I am over the snow, I really am. This place reminds me of the North Pole sometimes.. until Summer arrives. Pray for sunshine.. :)

2005-03-15T08:33:00.000-07:00

Our little Irish Grace..

2005-02-25T10:41:00.001-07:00

Happy with her new ears!!

2005-02-25T10:41:00.000-07:00

Pretty Laney

2005-02-24T21:46:00.000-07:00

Birthday Cake!! Yummy!

GRACIE IS A TROOPER!

2005-02-24T21:29:00.000-07:00

Gracie's surgery went so well! She was such a trooper! It only took about 30 mintues and I was able to see her as soon as she woke up. The hardest part was when I had to hand her over to the anesthesiologist and watch as he carried her to the OR..I was a WRECK! I knew everything would be okay, but when its YOUR baby, its tough. The only time she really freaked out was when she woke up, and was really groggy and confused. But after about 10 minutes she was her smiling self, and you would never have known anything had just happened. She still hasn't started sleeping any better, actually worse if possible. But I can be a hard core mama now, and make her stay in her crib and cry it out, without any feelings(ok, maybe a few) of guilt. John and my friend Harper are throwing me a big birthday bash tomorrow night, which I can hardly wait for. My birthday was Tuesday, same day as Grace's surgery, so no celebrating went on. Laney did help John make me a yummy chocolate cake, and Monday I spent the day at a friends beauty school getting totally pampered. It was awesome. If I can offer a suggestion for beauty treatments..Check out your local beauty school! I got the following for $40 bucks!!
haircut
hair color
eyebrow wax
eyelash tint
2 hour facial! With a hand and foot massage!

Thank you so much to my friend Andrea, who totally made me feel like a princess. Her and another friend, Maria, are graduating from beauty school next week, so CONGRATS to them!!
I am off for some much needed zzz's, getting ready to party tomorrow night! I will post pictures of the party and report back how great it was. I wish you ALL could be there!!

2005-02-19T23:20:00.000-07:00

And she sleeps...

2005-02-19T23:19:00.000-07:00

Bath Fun!

The multi-kid bath

2005-02-19T23:09:00.001-07:00

Since Grace has been around, John and I usually split bath duties for the girls. He will bathe Laney in her bathroom, and I will bathe Gracie in ours. Up to this point I have just been a little to afraid of having them in one tub together. Tonight I decided it was time to take the plunge. You would think it would be easier-2 kids getting clean at the same time, you are saving time and water. It wasn't quite like that. The energy it takes to control them both in water is amazing. I felt like I couldn't blink or Laney may drown the baby. Gracie was trying to eat all the toys, as well as the water. But it turned out to be a good time for both of them. I am sure John thought I was losing my mind by the sounds that were coming out of the bathroom. I was yelling a little bit, mostly because I thought Laney was really going to drown Grace. She is such a great big sister, it just hasn't clicked in her little busy head that Gracie is a baby. I took a photo so you could see that they were both having a great time. It was me who was the basket case. Hope you all have a great weekend. :)
P.S. Your computer isn't acting funny, the water really is ORANGE. Laney has these bath tablets that she puts in the water to make it colorful.. Because God knows she doesn't own enough orange things, that the bath water has to be orange as well.
P.P.S Laney loves the color orange. Its almost an obsession.

2005-02-18T15:50:00.000-07:00

Gracie's in the pot!

2005-02-18T15:45:00.000-07:00

Laney..being Laney

Gracie's ears..My birthday

2005-02-18T15:22:00.000-07:00

So my birthday is Tuesday. I usually get crazy excited about my birthday, but this year not so much. Gracie is scheduled to have surgery that day. She has had several ear infections in her short little life, so her doctor decided the best thing to do was to put tubes in her ears. I know this is a very common procedure, and it will only take a few hours, but it is very scary to think about YOUR baby being put under general anesthesia. It just freaks me out a little bit. I am hoping that things will change for the better once its over. Grace is now 10 months old, and still doesn't sleep through the night, not even close actually. She usually sleeps pretty good, like 3 or so hours straight, when she first goes to sleep, then wakes up about every hour to hour and a half. Its been tough. I am tired. Really tired. More than newborn baby tired, because that doesn't last this long. It has been nearly a year of this, and I have to say as scared as I am for the surgery, I am looking forward to the results. A little baby shouldn't have to be in so much pain! Anyway, my birthday will be spent in a hospital and taking care of a sleepy baby, and that's okay. As long as she is better, I will be happy. John and Harper are throwing me a birthday party next Friday night, which will be a blast. I don't know anything about it, except what time to show up. Those two always seem to conspire together around this time of year. I will let you know how it goes. Please keep Gracie in your thoughts and prayers, and I will let you know when she is feeling better!

2005-02-11T22:08:00.000-07:00

Silly Laney..

2005-02-11T22:07:00.000-07:00

John & Gracie at 2am

2005-02-11T22:06:00.000-07:00

How cute is she!

Gracie wants to walk..Already!

2005-02-11T21:52:00.000-07:00

Its happening. Already. Gracie wants to walk. She has been standing alone for about a month now, but hadn't figured out how to move out of that. She has now. She has a little walker thing, and she is just jammin' with it now. She goes from Laney's room, which is the far end of the house, to the kitchen, the other end of the house in NO TIME. Our house isn't huge, but its big enough, and its quite a lot of ground for a little 10 month old to cover. The girls are getting cuter everyday...and bigger! Laney now breastfeeds her baby, as often as I nurse Grace. It's so funny. The other night she was in her room and told John and I that if you are a Mommy you have to have HUGE BOOBIES! And then we asked her if she was a mommy, and she said, "Yes, and I have huge boobies!" We laughed for atleast 10 minutes over that one. Its really great to see Laney and Grace interacting more with eachother. They can almost play together now, which is just amazing to me. It seems like I just had Grace, and it also seems like Laney was just a baby. Having a sister seems like the coolest thing. I really hope they grow up to be close. I was always a little jealous growing up of my friends that had sisters. I remember my friend Jennifer Giorgio and her big sister Hillary. Hillary is a few years older than us, and I always thought she was the coolest person ever. And how lucky was Jennifer to have her, to borrow her clothes and stuff. They fought a lot I'm sure, but I think that's typical. They now are super close. Its just one of those relationships that is really special. But I have also known sisters that couldn't be more different. Maybe its the way you are brought up. I don't know. Anyway, enjoy the pictures, and thanks for listening(or reading) my babble. Have a good weekend!

Dreamy Hayes!

2005-02-06T22:00:00.002-07:00

2005-02-06T22:00:00.001-07:00

Happy Grace

2005-02-06T22:00:00.000-07:00

Playtime!

FLIPBALL!

2005-02-06T21:42:00.000-07:00

Hi all.. Superbowl Sunday has come to an end, with another victory by those DAMN PATRIOTS! We had friends over for the game, and lots of food and beverage was consumed. Good times. All day Laney referred to the game as "flipball" and kept saying that we all needed to put on our helmets once 4:00 rolled around. Harper and Mark Louden came over, with their boys who are the same ages as the girls. Laney and Ford always have a blast together, the best of friends, but have started fighting a bit as well.. Never a dull moment between those two. This was the first time Grace and their baby, Hayes, really had a chance to crawl around together and interact. They are the cutest things! Some people John knew from a long time ago stopped by, they recently moved back to Steamboat from Santa Rosa, and just had a little baby girl 2 months ago. So cute! You forget how little they once were, and how fast they grow! Andy, Shelley and little baby Molly were so nice to come by, and I really hope we get to see more of them soon. As for John and I..We are exhausted after the weekend, like always, and we are both saying that we will clean up in 5 minutes, but neither will probably get to it tonight..Oh well.

2005-02-05T19:58:00.000-07:00

RED EYES!!

Henry's Condo

2005-02-05T19:55:00.000-07:00

Henry the Hamster

2005-02-05T17:34:00.000-07:00

John got Laney a new pet. She has named him Henry, and he is a hamster. I should let you know how this came about...

About a week ago Laney decided to feed her fish by herself. There are 3 gold fish she has had for over a year. She dumped the entire container of fish food in, which happened to be the Econ-size fish food, so you can only imagine. John started cleaning it up right away, but all the fish were very bloated and kind of buoyant..Needless to say, by morning the fish had passed. When we explained to Laney what had happened, her only response was: "Let's go get new ones!"
She now she tells random strangers that she "died" her fish..Not very emotional about it at all.

A few days after the massacre, we went to the pet store to get Laney a few new fish. I opted to let John and her go in alone, because Gracie was asleep in the car and I thought I would read a bit. That may have been the mistake..
When I looked up to see them exiting the store, Laney was holding a little brown box about as far out in front of her as she could get it. When they got in the car, I asked what it was, thinking it was a reptile of some sort. But it was worse, a rodent. I know some people just adore hamsters, and think they are cuddly and cute and what not, but the fact is that they are glorified mice, this one even has the red eyes to prove it.

We got home, and as John put together this "EXTREME" hamster house, I thought I would try to make friends with the little rat, now known as Henry, for Laney's sake. So while Henry was still in the box, I begin showing Laney how to pet him really gently, and out of nowhere the thing BITES me! I mean blood dripping on the floor bites me. Naturally Laney freaked out, thinking Henry was vicious, which I think he is, but I played it off and let her know that he was just scared and hungry, and he thought my finger was a steak or something. I vowed then that I would have NOTHING to do with this thing, and if it ever got out of its hamster condo, I was leaving until it was found and properly disposed of, and let John know that if I ever smelled it, I had nothing against letting it go outside in the snow.

Henry now is residing on the top of Laney's dresser. She swears that his constant running in his little wheel for 6 hours a night doesn't keep her up, which is good, I guess. This morning I awoke to her at 6am yelling my name. I went into her bedroom and she was standing on a chair, with Henry's cage wide open, telling me that Henry needed some food. I panicked! I thought the thing had escaped! But luckily Henry lay asleep in the corner, unamused by the events that were taking place. Thank God.

Check us out!

2005-02-05T01:15:00.000-07:00

WELCOME ALL!!

Welcome to our new site! This "blog" will keep you up to date on whats going on in our lives from day to day, as well as let you see pictures of the girls! Make sure to check back often..if any of you have entered the world of blogging, or have read others, you will soon find that it can be a bit addicting! Here are pics of the girls from a few days ago..

2005-02-05T00:55:00.000-07:00

Too Cute!