Chunks.

I have a few stories to tell, as well as an update on Sloanie's stats from her six month appointment. (Oh, how different my babies are!)

Holynd's big-girl bed came to my door last week. Matt quickly put it together and Holynd immediately loved it. She jumped on it, got excited when she realized it was going in her room and then, finally, fell asleep in it.

I lost it. I bawled. I couldn't believe it! How dare she!? First, she decides to try and potty-train and now this! Sleeping in a toddler bed.



I went to bed that night distraught. To me, Holynd was still a baby. I guess, to be honest, I still carry a little bit of guilt over the sibling thing. Would Holynd have grown up as fast if Sloanie had been a little more patient? That night, I was awoken by a tiny voice, "Mommy awake?" I sat up and saw my little Holl-e-wood standing next to our bed. I asked her what was wrong and she just smiled. I reached over and helped her climb into our bed. In my mind, I knew I was breaking every parenting-rule in the book. I knew she would make this a habit if I let her into our bed. But, OH HOW I NEEDED THAT! We snoozed for about an hour and finally she grew restless and Matt carried her to her room. She then requested to be put down in her crib. Now that the beds newness has worn off, she's struggling a little with the transition and I like to think that she's just giving me a little bit more time to adjust. :)

I do have pictures pertaining to one Christmas story. A little background first. 99 percent of the time, I pick out my own presents. I hate surprises. I hate the teasing, the mystery, I HATE IT! So, when Matt came home with a surprise present, I wasn't extremely thrilled. After he had wrapped the present, I immediately started shaking it and taking guesses at what it was. It was a big box with lots of different shapes in it. It didn't take me long to figure out that it was lotions and body washes from BBW. Matt admitted defeat at trying to surprise me and nothing more was said. Christmas morning rolled around and I opened my "surprise". But lo and behold, there was a mysterious little box in the middle of the big box. For a split-second I thought, UGH BATH SALTS! I HATE BATHS! But a semi-familiar jewelry store name was on the top. I gasped! WHAT IS THIS?!!??! Matt was beaming. I had mentioned once, maybe twice in our marriage about wanting a band for my wedding ring. Well, this Christmas my husband delivered.



I beautiful band to go with my wedding ring. I love it. For those of you who don't know, I didn't pick out my wedding ring. The only thing I really told Matt was, diamond solitaire, nothing tacky. I've always loved my ring because Matt picked it out entirely by himself and now my entire wedding set was put together by him. :)

And last, but not least, oh Sloanie... My little chunks.


Sloanie has taken a liking to sitting up by herself lately. She's also eating (and loving!) baby food. Well, she loves orange baby food-Squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, peaches.... She does NOT love green baby food. She's also been sleeping through the night, which has been a welcomed treat for her dad and I. At her doctor's appointment yesterday, Sloanie was praised for growing like crazy and totally showing her older sister up. (We're keeping our fingers crossed that Holynd is still on the charts at her 2 year check-up.) Sloanie, however, is getting cozy in the very top percentiles in all categories.

They may look alike, but they are COMPLETELY different.

In semi-weirdness news, Holynd is all the sudden talking about herself in third-person. Yeah, she's become one of THOSE people. Today she told me, "Mommy, Sloanie take Holynd's baby. Tell her, No, no, Sloanie!" and then later that day, "Mommy, Holynd not wantie soup. Holynd wantie yogurt".

I am in love...

Today, I am in love. I am in love with CJane's January 5th Guest Post. (I am in love with Matt too. But you all already knew that.) You must read it. This woman put all my feelings into words. It's am amazing post. It must be read!

Bear with me while I put my "economic" two-cents worth of lecturing on this subject. Diet/worktout programs that are often known as "fad" programs run business models. These business models mimick the exact models that ALL businesses use. They want you to use the product and KEEP USING the product. How do they get you to keep using the program? By making you keep thinking that you NEED TO BE BETTER, THAT YOU ARE NEVER GOING TO LOOK/BE GOOD ENOUGH.

This is part of my New Year's Resolution this year. Respect your body. If you are involved in a program that acknowledges that you are HUMAN, that you will never LOOK THE WAY SOCIETY WANTS YOU TO, but encourages living a healthier lifestyle-GOOD FOR YOU! If you are involved in a program that keeps telling you that you don't look the way you should, that you should loose more, exercise more, eat even less, WALK AWAY! You're more likely to make good healthy decision when you're NOT constantly being told that you're inadequate. Be healthy, don't be beaten down. Our nutritional decisions shouldn't be weighed with guilt. Make conscious decisions! Ex: Will I feel energized and satisifed after I eat that, not, How will I be judged if I eat this?

Everyone should love their bodies.

When I was in high school, I loved the way I looked. But unfortunately, that body couldn't sustain a pregnancy, couldn't nurse a baby, couldn't survive on a mommy's inconsistent diet, didn't have hips wide enough to carry a child for hours on end... That's why it changed. I'm happy with the changes.

Happy Birl-h-day!

Note to self: Never let Matt take the pictures of Christmas on his phone. You will never be able to post them on the blog.

We had a great New Years! This was the first New Years, since Matt and I have been married, where I actually made it to midnight! We were so excited to find out that Matt was only going to work three days last week and stay home with us for a long holiday. We went to breakfast, shopped, planned birthday parties and took naps. It was great!

New Years Day, Holynd had her official "unofficial" birthday party. She requested a Buzz Lightyear party with ice cream cake. We had originally ordered the cake from Maggie Moo's, but after a few hiccups, we ended up at Cold Stone (which turned out to be the most delicious hiccup). I was so excited when Cold Stone was willing to personalize Holynd's cake at the last minute. So excited, in fact, that I didn't notice that the girl forgot to cross the "t" in "birthday". In the end, Holynd ended up celebrating her Birl-h-day!



We decided that Holynd needed a few things for this birthday. Number 1: A potty and Number 2: a big girl bed. The big girl bed has not arrived at my door yet, but the potty was unwrapped on her birthday. This potty is THE POTTY for 2 year old girls. It has princesses and a bejeweled-flusher that plays "magic wand sounds" when "flushed". By Sunday night, Holynd was sitting in our living room on the potty, stark naked, eating leftover ice cream cake. (Oh parenting, you get weirder everyday!)


Holynd's friend Kadee, Kadee's mom, her kunkles, G-Ma & G-Pa and Aunt Twitch were all in attendance. Holynd was lucky enough to get to celebrate her birthday all month long- The Petersons celebrate their "monthly" birthdays on second Sundays. We had quite the on-going celebration. I'm fairly certain that my little diva thinks that Christmas is a huge celebration just for her.



We also found out this weekend that Matt is awesome. Well, we knew he was AWESOME. But he go even more awesome. He started a new job, worked constantly and somehow still ended up on the Dean's List. (I love you, husband. Are you blushing? Check! I bet you are! If you weren't, you probably are by now because of this on-going blushing side note. And, maybe because of the overflowing awesome-usage).

Life seems so wonderful right now. 2011 has started out very differently then 2010 did, but I'm sure a lot of people feel that way. We made a few New Year's Resolutions... even though I'm really skeptical about them. But for the sake of tradition, here are my blog-worthy resolutions.

1. Return Netflix DVD's in a more timely manner.
2. Keep on boycotting facebook. Not because I'm against it, just because it seems like a lot of work!
3. Stop watching the news (except for stock market updates, of course!). It's depressing and who need that?!
4. Let Matt take me on a few trips even though I hate travelling and can't figure out why people want to do it. But, for my husband, I will set aside my confusion and travel with him.
5. Learn to love my post-baby body. It's not ever going back to what it was. It's been through two wars. It deserves some respect.
6. Roll my eyes more. Instead of thinking that I immediately need to join the crowd with it's new workout plans, diets, parenting strategies, schedule habits etc, etc ETC, ETC, ETC! I will just roll my eyes. Just because it worked for some people, doesn't mean it has to work for me. And, no, I'm not wrong just because I don't do things that way you do. You're wrong for thinking I need to.

WOW! Did that get a little angry at the end?

:)

How old are you!?

Today is a very special day at our house. Very special. Today is the day Holl-e-wood decided to make her appearance into the world. The world hasn't been the same since. In honor of her birthday, Holynd got to eat her toast on the couch, while playing with her sticker book. She also got to stick stickers in her hair and all over the furniture (and Sloanie). Later on today, Holynd will get to lunch with her dad and then she'll shop for her first big-girl bed.

Holynd is now two. She turned the world upside-down the minute she was born. Her outgoing personality can be seen and heard from miles away.

She loves: her grandparents, her sister, her kuncles, her aunts, coke (which is really sprite that we just tell her is coke), stickers, Yo Gabba Gabba, counting, singing, dancing, coloring on everything, saying prayers, going to nursery, talking A LOT, being the center of attention, showing off, going shopping, wearing shoes, getting dressed up, going to lunch, visiting her dad at work, rice, fries, apple juice, hair bows, throwing tantrums while grocery shopping, Buzz Lightyear, princesses, purses, tomatoes, grapes and much more. She's sweet, loud, a little obnoxious, smart and very loving.

She is my little college-baby. She went to college through my entire pregnancy and then watched me do homework everyday until her first birthday. She still gets upset every time I get my laptop out.

She also needs a haircut.

Just a Few....

WOW! Can you believe how fast the Christmas season is going by?! I'm loving every minute of it, especially since Holynd and Sloane are so much fun. Here are just a few things we've been up to.


Holynd loves "BUCKS!" she calls them. Money. She likes to dance around yelling, "Mine bucks!" I can't tell you how happy I am to just listen to her and her growing vocabulary. Another few of her favorite phrases, "Going to Walmart!", "Santa's home?", "Ugly bum!", "Ew! Nasty!", "Com'on in Kadee!", "Come in and eat Daddy!", "Go Jazz!", etc. etc. She can also count to 8... sort of-it usually goes something like this, "1,2,1,2,1,2,3,3,3,3,4,5,5,6,5,6,5,6,7,8,7,8,7,8.....so on and so on. She also loves to tell you, "Ready? Ready? Ready? Set! Go!!!!!" and then races you until she decides it's time to start the race over, "Ready? Ready? Set! Go!!!" She always wins too.


Matt and I were also lucky enough to go here and watch the Utes win against BYU. :)



Holynd has always loved Sloane, but recently, Sloane has really started to love Holynd back. Sloane is always constantly looking for her sister. She wants to be able to follow Holynd around so bad! It's only a matter of time before Holynd will have a constant companion. I'm not sure how long Holynd will enjoy it, but we'll see.


One of the things Sloanie has been up to is discovering her love for the University of Utah.

Oh! We did decorate our tree. This was before it was finished. We decided to add purple to our tree this year. Matt says that purple isn't a Christmas color, but that didn't stop us! Out with tradition we say! Out!

Hello again little Sloanie! You are so cute in your little walker. This is Sloane's only way of being able to follow her sister around.

I'm getting sad to think that, in a few days, I'll have to introduce Sloane to "solid" food. :( We will begin to cut away at the nursing ties. I think Sloane will put up a fight, but secretly, I don't really care too much. She's my little balonie and I want her to stay small forever. It will be kinda nice to be able to get back to the temple, since Sloanie can't go more then a couple of hours without her mommy. It'll also be nice to go out with Matt and not have to watch the clock. I'll probably secretly cry when she does start to like food. I'll bawl when she's ready to ween.

We're almost done Christmas shopping. My girls are actually pretty decent shoppers. They like to ride in "The Snot" and go to the mall, especially when we're shopping for them! I can't wait for Christmas morning!