Constant Beginnings

Dearest Claire, Times have been tough lately. Moving from the only home that you've known has been a huge change for a little girl like you. I'd like to think that this change is what also stirred the change in you, but I am not so certain. You've been testing the boundaries, challenging me. Daddy and I have focused so much on building a relationship between the two of you, knowing that Mya would need me so much when she arrived, that I think our good intentions have backfired. You need me and want me, I know that, but when I begin to set limits or give you direction that you don't necessarily want, you resist. Nap time has become a battle. You actually hit me and kicked me. I was heartbroken. Last night it was bedtime, today it was putting on your boots. Each day is something new.  During these moments of conflict, you want so desperately for your Daddy to come in and rescue you. He wants nothing more than to make things well again. Thankfully, we've figured out y

My sister Lisa and I ordered some hats for our girls around Christmas and after a series of long, complicated issues/stories from the seller, we finally received them. Claire wouldn't model hers, but Mya was compliant for a couple of seconds. This has become the story of my life. Claire has entered a somewhat prissy stage and Mya is constantly on the go. Ugh. Anyway, the hats turned out quite cute. I can't wait to get a picture of all four girls in April. I am counting the days until I see my family again. I miss them so!!

This move has brought a major change in Mya. She has become this little independent thang. Mya plays by herself most of the time, crawls everywhere, and is overall, a pretty happy kid. It is such a strange change--not that she was a clingy thing before, but she stuck pretty close to Chris and I. Her favorite hangout in our new place is the bathtub. Given the smallest opportunity, Mya makes a fast dash for the tub. She bops up and down, just hoping that one fast bop will land her inside. Because of this fascination with baths and tubs in general, we keep the bathroom door closed most of the time. Anyway, speaking of baths...I had read on a blog or two about bath dropz. Thought I'd check them out now that we have a kid friendly bathtub. (Our house had a tub surround made of travertine and I was a bit worried about how paints would work on such a porus surface.) We bought some today (3.99 at Target) and they were a hit. They washed off easily, colored well and were lots of fun for bot

we had a bit of a storm pass through today. in fact, we discovered that if we had still lived in our old house that we would have been without electrictiy and therefore, heat. Yahoo! i've never been so happy about our big move until today. anyway, i had some time on my hands to design a new header. chris thinks i should really sell my services and perhaps i will, but right now it is strictly for fun.

We moved out of our house on Monday. The movers came with their big truck and hauled our furniture away. It was nice not having to organize the actual move or worry about what to do with our kiddos while we were lifting furniture out of the house. The kiddos and I drove around a bit, but it was a relatively quick process. Chris had carried much of the stuff down from the attic and upstairs to help reduce the time involved, which saved us money. It was still a bit expensive, but thankfully, this will be the only move for which we are footing the bill in the forseeable future. I managed to capture a couple of memorable photos.

I have been on vacation all week, although if this is what vacation is really like, I truly need a vacation from my vacation. It has not been restful or relaxing, but crazy busy. We've had appointments each day and packing/unpacking in every other free moment. Anyway, we decided to wrap the week with a little dinner at our new place with some great friends. It was fun. Dinner turned out well. I made spinach stuffed pork tenderloin with scalloped potatoes and green beans. Alison brought a delicious chocolate cream pie for dessert. It was yummy. Claire was absolutely delighted with her babies. That is how she refers to Henry and Lucy. They are "my baby Henry" or "my baby Lucy." Too cute. The babes had fun and it was nice having some adult interaction time too. We attempted to get a group photo of the kiddos before night's end. It was a challenge with four, but we managed to get a few good smiles.

ok, first a question. does weightloss due to illness count as actual weightloss? i am not sure, but i'll take what i can get at this point. we haven't abided by the eating or workout plan one bit this week, which makes week number 2 of falling off the wagon. with that being said, let me explain the earlier question. our kids were sick with the flu from last friday through monday. things looked up on tuesday, so off to daycare they went. flash forward to thursday night. claire woke up vomitting and continued to do so four times in three hours. it was awful. a skinny kid like that certainly cannot afford to lose any of the morsels she consumes. anyway, mya was the same story--vomitting two times thursday night. this has continued through saturday. i was lucky enough to catch a bit of their issues this time around. i started feeling sick on friday night and was pretty much tied to the bathroom all day yesterday. i was miserable. the sad thing is that misery isn't really an opt

mya had conquered crawling up one or two steps a few weeks ago; however, i was home sick with the girls on friday when i heard pounding on the steps. i ran over to the stairs only to find our one and only mya hammering away at the third step. she had nearly reached the landing. i watched and guided her up a few more then darted for my camera. it was quite the eventful scene as i had just asked claire on video how her tummy was feeling to which she responded, "my tummy not feel good." oh yeah, moments later, claire was sitting on the step, vomit dripping down the lower three steps and mya looked on from above. in true kara fashion, and my sick desire to capture all things gross, i captured a picture. my apologies to those with weak stomachs. it was quite the day. my poor little bubbies.

/ Dearest Mya-moo, Can it really be that you are 9 months already? Time has really escaped me. You have changed and grown so much in the past three months that it really is difficult for me to comprehend. You have become much more laid back, although you definitely have a firey personality. You DO NOT like to wait. I am certain you get that from me. I hate waiting too and when it comes to eating, you want it NOW. You are grabbing everything. You really would prefer to skip the baby food thing and jump right into whatever Claire is eating. Because of that desire and my laziness to prepare different meals, I have been feeding you much of what we eat. You've most recently enjoyed your first tasting of Chinese food. Yummo! You gobbled it down like nobody's business. Daddy and I just laughed and commented that you are definitely our kiddo. You love rice, cheese, yogurt, cereal puffs, bananas, peaches, sweet potatoes, and squash. Mixed vegetables, peas, baby cereal are not on your l

we've had a crazy week. we were approved for the 55+ community, so we signed the lease. the packing process is in full-swing. each night we've hurried home, whipped out the boxes and thrown stuff in. it is such a huge job. we've had many offers from incredible friends for help and assistance, but we're trying to take this opportunity to organize and throw some things at the same time. plus, i have an issue with accepting help as my friend, michelle so kindly pointed out. she's right. i do. anyway, we are moving along and making progress. needless to say, exercise hasn't happened. it was supposed to be our easy week, but not this easy. we will get back on the wagon when things slow down a bit more. claire and mya both came down with the flu yesterday--both vomitting and having 'other' issues. to top it off, we cleaned our house like never before because our home inspection was scheduled for that night. talk about timing. so, we had to maintain our clean h

alright, we've fallen off the wagon a bit. our life has been a bit chaotic with our house sale nearing finality, packing and both kiddos battling colds. needless to say, we've had difficulty sticking to the eating plan, enjoying take out and tasting sugary goodness on occasion. that being said, i actually gained .6 pounds, but lost 1.5 inches for a grand total of 12 inches lost. chris did not lose any inches and maintained his weight. it was a tough week even though we did do the workouts to a certain degree. did we "bring it?" not so much, but today is the beginning of a new week.