tubes and isabela

you would never know that this little sweetheart had tubes put in this morning.

aside from a little crankiness after she woke up, she's been doing great.

this whole thing has been a bit weird for me.  we were there at 6:15, in surgery at 7:00, done by 7:04, woke up by 7:07, and we were out the door for home by 7:30.  fast fast fast.  they were super nice.  but it was so fast you almost don't even get to think.

normally, i worry incessantly about stuff like this.  all the 'what if''s and thinking things through too deeply.  i didn't this time.  not really, anyways.  i just prayed that it was the right choice.  that things would go smoothly. and this would be a health fix for all the issues that have been going on with her.  i feel at peace with our decision to go through with it.

she's a little angel.  oh, and we made it through the night without eating!  she did, i mean.  she's been waking to eat often in the night lately and i'm too tired to put up much of a fight.  well, that's done.  now that i know i'm strong enough to fight through, it's all over for that.  no more night eating.  i think that will help things out too.  for both of us. don't judge.  you do what you can to get them to sleep when you're so tired.  whether you know it's for the best or not.

my love day.

we had a 'love'ly day yesterday.  our night wasn't the night i had planned, with daddy getting home later than expected.  but we rallied and had a great time.   homemade heart shaped pizzas were on the menu.  these are the kids.  so cute.  little faces.  (the picture just won't stay rotated.  grr.  sorry.)

 such a love language of this boy.  well, these boys.  andre just couldn't hardly wait to wrestle his daddy when supper was over.  i don't get it.  but through all the grunts, and hits, and take downs, there's a manly understanding that 'this-is-love'.  oh boys....

there's been an ongoing joke in our house since phillippe and i went on the first trip with his work 3 years ago.  they stayed at my mom and dad's and one night for supper, she told them they were going to have rocks and socks for supper.  they got the biggest kick out of that and it has been an almost daily joke around here.  'mom, what's for supper?'  

'oh, i was thinking some rocks.  and maybe some socks.'

'nooooooo!'

so when phillippe and i found chocolate rocks at walmart a few months ago, we knew we had to do something with them.  we decided to give them to the kids for their valentines goodie.  we put them in a target dollar bin bucket with a pair of $1 socks from there, too.  rocks and socks.  i love it!  we gave them the bucket and they loved the socks, and just looked at the bag of rocks.  phillippe said, 'what?  i'm still hungry.  i think i'll eat one of these.'  the kids just looked at him like 'daddddd.'  then, he ate it.  they were in such shock that daddy just ate a rock.  it was so funny.  they were like "What!?!?  DADDY!!  YOU CAN"T EAT ROCKKKKKSSSSSS!!!!!!"  

we're such jokesters.  

 

after the kids went to bed, phillippe and i watched 'couples retreat'.  and made out.  

it was such a low key night and i love that.  we such simple folk.  we don't need no fancy celebrashon.  we just happy bean round each othr.  

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thought i'd share some pictures from my phone.  i've gotten into the habit of using my phone camera, so instead of leaving them on there to just sit, i've decided to just post them on her.  if you follow other blogs, this is becoming a thing to do.  'instafriday'.  'photo dump'.  i'm just doing it.  not linking to them.  but it is a good idea to put them somewhere.  there's a thing you can do that will turn your iphone pics into magnets.  what a great idea!!

 we finally got rid of that darn entertainment center.  hurray!  this is the dresser we now use.  i can't wait to get some paint on it this spring.  we're going to store the 'devices' in the top drawers...make them into shelves....and the kids toys are in the other drawers.  love the storage, and it doesn't take up near as much room.  that coffee table is a sore spot for me.  i love that it brings the kids together in the living room.  but i hate that it just collects stuff.  why is there toothpaste on there??

 andre.  clifford.

 he wanted to snuggle on the couch and tell me all about animals.  i think that's just adorable.

 and thanks to my phone, i could enjoy the moment and capture it without getting up to get the camera.  love that.

 he came up with superhero bowling.

 she's just cute.

 editing.

 making his valentines.

 at the waterpark.

 this girly has been up all night lately.  i don't know why.  i am just so tired.  she is getting tubes put in tomorrow.  i don't know if i mentioned that on here or not.  but she is.  it's feels so surreal.  i'm not really worried about it.  it's just a strange feeling.  i hope it makes her sleep better.  cuz i am not able to take many more sleepless nights.

 batcave.  it is always out.  always being played with.  i had no idea when he got this for christmas 2 years ago that it would be this big of a thing in his life.  it's his go-to toy.

coffee while i wait for gabs. 

isa....you stop that right now.  crawling.  pulling herself up to stuff.  

my lunch date with gabs.  

 more of my lunch date with gabs.
andre's before and after hair shot.  i just like him in longer hair.  i can't help it.  must be a thing with me.  when i fell in love with phillippe he had long hair...like down to his mid cheek.  {swoon.  so dreamy.}
me, in my i-can't-see-up-close glasses.

i'm still in my pj's.  it's time to go get gabi.  do you think anyone will notice me in my red and tan striped pants??  prob not, right.  i don't really feel like changing......

another great one!

oooooo.  i'm just gushing over the family time.  i love some good ole fashion family time.


family time makes the world go 'round.


i wish it did.  i think everyone would be a little better off if they just spent some real quality time with their loved ones.  don't you?  we had a great weekend, again.  i'm getting really used to this.  and i'm okay with that.  bring it weekend-quality-family-time.  bring it on.

a daddy and his girls.  it's a love i understand, from their perspective.  but he is just smitten with them.  
future courters beware.  this is one protective father.  

this bug is movin and grovin and getting around like a pro.  this house still isn't officially baby proof.  i have my work cut out for me, cuz she is into everything.  but she's cute.  so i don't care.  

this boy.  i love building him up.   the simple statement 'andre, you are so strong!  look at you!' goes a long way with that kid.  

her faces crack us up. 

we went to a newish water-park in des moines at a hotel for my nephew's birthday.  i won't share the part where they were super impatient and didn't want to wait for the food or cake before they went swimming.  i'll just tell you about how much fun they had.  it's a great place and we'll be going back for sure.  wish i would have thought about going this winter...although it's been such a mild one.  it would be fun to make a whole weekend out of it.  kids did great!  even isabela.  who got her first dip in the pool.  

oh and she claps when you say yeah.  it's so fun and cute.  this girl is getting too big too fast.  pulling herself up.  cruising.  clapping.  saying hi, dada, mama, more, and maybe no....we're not sure about that one.  she's eating more 'human' food as i like to call it, less baby food.  feeding herself.  ahg.  when does it stop seeming to go so fast?  tell me it's soon.  i need a pause button sometimes.  where did my tiny baby go!?

big sister duties come so naturally to gabriela.  it's such a joy to watch her tend to isablea.  some day the dynamic will change from 'motherly' to 'friends'.  that will be a sweet day.  

andre is so funny.  he is just so unsure of so many things.  it takes him a while to warm up to many things.  including the water.  i think he had his fears covered with the arm floaties and the ring.  in 1 foot of water.  

and she is just not scared of anything.   well, hardly anything.  

do your kids watch tom and jerry?  we just switched cable providers so now we have all the cool channels and one shows old tom and jerry shows.  they can't get enough.  they LOVE them.  




yes, andre got a hair cut.  i really liked it at first.  now i don't.  it's not long enough.  he just looks more like 'him' with longer hair.  we'll let it grow out a little before chopping it again.  poor dude doesn't like it either.  he thinks he looks like a kid in his class that has a mohawk.  

at any given moment in our home, you will find my oldest child crafting.  in some form.  it's an outlet for her.  and i'll continue to support her.  it's such a simple way to express yourself.  i love that she is just crazy about it.  

well.  this post was supposed to go out yesterday and i had some post about love ready for today.  i have 3 ready to go out, but can't seem to get them finished.  grumble.  anywho.   like it really matters when they get posted, as long as they do.  

our valentines day plans are simple.  heart shaped homemade pizzas, homemade chocolate covered strawberries, these cupcakes(that are rockin, by the way), and some good old fashion snuggles.  that's it.  but it's just enough to be special without going nuts-o.  i like that my kids don't need a ton of fanciness to make something feel special.  a little effort and attention is all they need.  i got to have lunch with gabs at school today.  that was great.  she was super excited.  i love valentines day for school kids.  what a fun day.  to feel so 'liked' by your classmates.  at least at this age.  school parties were always the highlight for me.  so much fun!  


so happy love day to all you out there who read this.  i hope you are blessed with an abundance of that gushy feeling today and everyday.  

diet update. again.

i know you're not all sitting around wondering how i'm doing with my diet, but i need to keep myself accountable here.  for me.

i'm down a total of 10 pounds now.  i dropped the 6 pounds quickly, and the last 4 have slowly come off over the last 3 weeks.  i'm 3 pounds from my goal, but it's hard to not want to keep going and going.  i'm a whole 20 pounds heavier than i was when i got married.  !  that's such a large number to me.  but like my dad told me, "you did have 3 kids, too, ya know."  true, dad.  thanks for making me feel better about it.  (that wasn't sarcastic.  it really did make me feel better.)

i haven't started exercising yet.  that is to come.  soon.  starting in march.  it will be nice to get that going.  but right now, i just don't want to.

i start my day with 2 pieces of whole grain toast with a very tiny layer of peanut butter.  i don't like peanut butter really.  i love almond butter.  have you ever had that stuff?

 so good. and so good for you.  and so expensive.  so, to get my morning protein, i eat the pb.  maybe i'll splurge someday and get the good stuff.  i usually cut up a couple of strawberries and put that on top of the toast.  i just have to have carbs in the morning.  have to.  i got this idea from pinterest.  not too fancy, but i would have never thought to do it before.

i have a special k snack somewhere in the morning.  you know the special k snacks....yum.  

i have a salad for lunch with a morning star farm chick patty.  being a vegetarian, i have to get that protein from somewhere.  i'm so glad these products are out there for people like me.  

snack in the afternoon is string cheese or special k snack.  

supper is either a salad or veggies and something.  that's a little harder for me, cuz i want to eat what everyone else is eating.  but i make due with what i'm allowed to have.  the weekends have been a little more come-what-may.  i eat a few snacks, but don't over do it.  

basically, i've just cut out almost all sugar, a lot of carbs, and fat.  i'm doing pretty good.  i'm surprising myself with how disciplined i've been.  i'm a snacker by nature, so this is a challenge for me.  i've chewed so much gum my tmj has flared up again.  another thing is that i hate water.  so that's hard for me, too.  but it's nice to see the number on the scale continue to go down.  cuz no matter how much that isn't supposed to matter----it does a lot to me.  

oh, and i do have a skinny cow ice cream sandie at night.  i do it for the fiber  see?  it even has it listed on the box.  in color.  that's gotta mean something.

  i hate the name of those delicious treats.  i don't know if it's supposed to be an insult or encouraging.  but i don't care.  i eat them.  one a night.  it's my treat.  and you can't take that away from me.  ever.

call me a cow and skinny both at the same time.  i'll only hear skinny and keep on eating.  

so there.  that's my diet update.  what i miss the most isn't what i thought it would be.  yes, i miss snacking on candy, and cookies, and stuff.  but i don't miss mt dew.  (gasp!)  i thought it would be killer.  but seriously helps having another go to drink during the day.  thank you, mellow yellow zero.  {i would be there spokes person tomorrow if they'd ask me. just sayin...}  what i really miss is the comfort food.  hearty, carb-y, make-you-so-full-you-want-to-sleep comfort food.  that's what i miss the most.  ya learn something new about yourself every day.....