What's my motivation?

Brynne 2, Landon 3 1/2
Double Trouble

I'm feeling really lazy today. Maybe because it's Friday? Maybe because I have a busy weekend ahead? I dunno. I have no motivation. None. I have so much laundry to do, I can't even see the floor of the laundry room anymore. There are no fewer than 6 dirty sippy cups sitting in the sink, begging to be washed. I have to go to the bank, and the grocery store. Those errands just are not fun with the toddlers in tow. I am so sick of this cold weather. I know it is contributing to my laziness. It takes twice as long to get the kids, and myself, dressed in the morning. I have to find twice as many clothes just to keep us all layered up and warm. I don't feel like doing anything besides laying in bed and watching TV all day. I'm not really afforded that luxury however, so somehow, somewhere I'd better find my motivation. I'm hosting a house full of people on Sunday for my sister's "co-ed" baby shower. I have a few last minute things I need to finish for the party. And a lot of last minute cleaning to do. I guess I'd better get off this laptop and start sorting my whites and colors.

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!!

Brynne's 2nd birthday party!

Now that we have managed to get over the pukes around here, I have a lot to catch up on. Most importantly being the few pictures that I do have from Brynne's 2nd birthday party. Like I said before, poor little girl got sick in the middle of her party. This Mama spent a lot of time, cleaning, cuddling, and just making sure that she was ok. Pictures were the last thing on my mind.

The party started out great!

Brynne was so excited and was happy to see all of our friends and family~

Brynne and Pop Pop~

looking at these pics now I can see that by this time she had started to not feel well.

I'm sure the fact that she was sucking on a juice box didn't help the stomach flu~

My great family.

Mom, Matthew, Me, Dad, Amy (and baby Ryder!!)

OK, this was after the pukes had started and after she'd had a bath...yes, in the middle of her birthday party. Poor, sweet girl looks so sick/sad here. Talk about breaking Mama's heart. Let's just say I moved her away from the cake just in the nick of time!

Trying to get a decent picture with our birthday girl. She was so miserable.

A few hours later, after the guests had left and Brynne had napped, she somehow found enough energy to open a few of her gifts. She was as excited as a sweet girl with the flu can be.

Landon was a big help to Brynna and took extra good care of his sick sister on her birthday!

Yep, baby girl opened her presents on a towel, with a bowl sitting just out of the shot. Not fun!

She opened one or two, took a break to get sick again, rest a few minutes, and open another one or two. We went on like this until each gift was unwrapped.

So excited about her new doggy toy! This was the biggest smile we saw all night.

Poor baby girl. This picture makes me so sad.

No birthday cake or cupcakes for this 2 year old Princess!!

Nope, this birthday girl celebrated her 2nd birthday with a popscicle.

And even that didn't go so well.

My heart was breaking for my girl on her big day. Brynne was SO excited for this party. Mostly because Landon had been talking it up for weeks. She was so happy to see all of the Minnie Mouse party stuff in the store, and helped me pick out everything. She was SO happy when the bounce house arrived and she giggled and watched out the window as the guys set it up. She couldn't wait for her 'fwens' to come over and sing 'Happeee Birdaay' to her.

We will definitely make up for it next year, and make sure Brynne's 3rd birthday party is a FUN celebration for our sweet girl. I know the day was way worse for me than it was for anybody else. But can I just say that we have the best friends and family. Everyone was so understanding and so concerned about Brynne. Thank you so much to everybody who made this very stressful day, even the tiniest bit easier.

Brynne we LOVE you so much! SO sorry your big day was spent in such an ugly way! Next year will be much better for our sweet baby girl!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Next up, stats from Brynne's 2 year well visit!

Because everybody loves an update!

I am happy to finally report that the kids are healthy again! After a full week of the pukes I am SO relieved that we are again germ free...well, as germ free as a house with 2 toddlers can be.

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Brynne has her 2 year well visit with the ped tomorrow and I am so excited to see how much she has grown! She is always at the very bottom of the curve for her height and weight, but lately she seems to be, I dunno...bigger!? At least I thought so, until we were at Subway getting lunch this afternoon. The lady behind the counter asked me if she was 18 months old yet. I said yes, she's actually two. Silence. Yep, I get it. I know she is small. Whatever.

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So I am still shredding. I started on January 13th, and 12 days into this I have only missed 2 workouts. That's pretty good considering the week we had around here! I have yet to move onto level two, and some days feel like I will never get there. I am proud of my consistency though, and am seeing some changes in my body already. My legs are definitely looking more toned. I have lost a tiny bit around my waist, and have lost 4 lbs. already. S0 far so good.

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With the crazy storms that Southern CA saw this past week we got 7" of snow. Have I mentioned that I.Hate.Snow? It is slowing melting off and we are dealing with the runoff now. Water drips off the roof all day long, it is muddy and nasty outside, and our front lawn looks like a swamp straight out of Louisiana. Not to mention we are expecting another storm tomorrow night. Lovely. I can't wait for Spring!

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My nephew is due to make his grand entrance into this world in just 3 weeks! I am getting SO excited and have started to get nervous every time the phone rings and it is my sister! I have horrible baby fever right now, and my hubby is hoping that the arrival of both my sister's baby and her best friends baby, a month later, will cure my wants! Ya, we'll see...

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Hope you all are having a lovely Monday. I will be back tomorrow to post after Brynne's Dr. Appt.

Auntie, Brynne, Mama

I still can't believe she is two!!

What I DO know

What I don't know:

is how many times I have cried this week...

is how many times my 2 year old threw up on her birthday...

is how many loads of laundry I have done this week...

is how many days it took for Landon to catch what Brynne had...

is how many miles we drove making trips to the hospital and trips to the Pediatrician...

is how many doses of Tylenol I have given in the last 6 days...

is how many times Landon cried, simply because he didn't feel well...

is how many times my husband and I argued due to stress and no sleep...

is how many times I prayed to God to please, please make my kids feel better...

is how many times I prayed to God for just one hour of sleep...

is how many times I felt sick because I was so worried about our babies kids...

is how many times I told Brynne to STOP WHINING before I'd

feel bad and remember she is sick...

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What I do know:

is that today was our first puke free day since Sunday...

is that today Landon smiled for the first time in a few days...

is that Brynne ate this morning for the first time in 5 days...

is that I took a 3 hour nap and felt so much better...

is that I am SO grateful that as of yet Travis and I are healthy still...

is that the kids felt well enough to go out in the snow for a few minutes this evening...

is that this was without a doubt the hardest week of my life...

is that I hope to not set foot in another hospital until I am there to see my beautiful sister deliver my new nephew next month...

is that I am SO glad we are almost through with this horrible week...

is that being a mother is a wonderful, exhausting, challenging, rewarding, HARD job, but never have I loved my babies more and been so worried about them...

Hoping Knowing tomorrow will be a better day!

Poor Birthday Girl

I'd honestly like to forget the last 24 hours, but in reality this blog is a journal of our life. With that not only comes the good stuff, but also the bad stuff too.

Today is Brynne's second birthday, and instead of posting fun pictures of my smiling girl at her birthday party, I am posting these. They are from Friday night when we took her to Disneyland to start her birthday weekend off right!

Yesterday was her birthday party, and about an hour into it she started throwing up and has been really sick ever since. It breaks my heart because she was SO excited to have a bounce house and so happy to have a Minnie Mouse party with all her friends. She helped me pick out all of the decorations. And even picked out her own cake.

She didn't get to enjoy the party or play with her friends. She spent almost the whole day in bed, throwing up every 1/2 hour.
This little guy had a BLAST at Brynne's party though.
Landon had so much fun bouncing, eating cupcakes,
and spending time with his buddies, and our family.

Everybody tells me she won't remember it and it is not a big deal. But to me, it is a big deal. So much planning and shopping, and decorating, and so much excitement all for Brynna and she missed it. I know she won't remember it, but I will.

I am so thankful we got to spend Friday night at Disneyland and we had such a great time. Brynne was so happy to be there and was VERY excited to see Minnie in the parade.

She looks crazy in this picture because she was SO tired, it was pretty late and she was running on pure adrenaline. She had a really fun time though!

I was thinking that we are so lucky she didn't get sick at Disneyland, like on Daddy's lap, while riding Dumbo! LOL

Watching the fireworks

Brynne barely made it to the fireworks!

She was almost asleep when they finally started the show!

Happy Birthday Brynne 2010!

Such a beautiful, sweet, happy, loving, kind, sensitive, tender hearted, playful, nice, PERFECT baby girl for our family!

I KNOW this will be such a fun year for Brynne! She has already started showing signs of becoming more independent and often chooses to stay indoors and play with her babies while Landon runs around outside. She LOVES to watch me do my makeup and loves to sit still while I paint her toenails. She stares at the nail polish and says "pwiddy" over and over. It always makes me smile. She sure is becoming a Daddy's girl and talks about Travis all day long.We are SO blessed to have Brynne as our daughter. I am such a lucky wife and Mama.

Happy 2nd Birthday Brynne Noelle <3

(post to follow with the few birthday party pics I do have)

She's a BIG girl now!

Just 2 days before her 2nd birthday Brynne went from this:

to this:

Coincidentally, I went from this:
to this:
Rough day!

Thoughts for Thursday

I am feeling sore, and lazy this morning. So, my thoughts for Thursday post will include some of my current favorite products.

I started this 2 days ago:

I LOVE the workout, and the DVD keeps me interested so I feel like it is something that I can stick with. I also have muscles in my chest and butt that are sore that I didn't even know I had. I am going to do it for 30 days straight, and see what happens! I highly recommend it for anyone who needs a good workout DVD. It is quick, easy to follow, and definitely a good workout!

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Ok, I am SO excited to talk about this:

I am normally what some would call a "shampoo snob." I am very picky with my hair products, and don't mind spending the extra money for a good quality shampoo/conditioner. I have been hearing a lot about the Suave professionals line lately, and decided to just give it a try. I am SO glad I did! I am using the sleek shampoo and conditioner, which has been great for my naturally wavy/frizzy hair. The shampoo was less than $2.00 and the conditioner was $2.50, on sale at Target last week. I noticed a change in my hair right away. It is softer, more easily managed, and definitely more shiny! 4 separate people have noticed the change in my hair, and I am LOVING this product! This is for sure not the same Suave product I used back in 6th grade! Try it, if you absolutely hate it, you have only wasted $5.00!

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I am so in love with Rimmel's Glam Eyes Mascara right now! I literally have 8-10 different tubes of mascara in my make-up drawer. And this one is the best one I have used in a looong time. I picked it up at Target (shocking right?!) a few months ago because of the cute packaging. The black and pink combo caught my eye, and I am so glad it did. LOVE this!

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Last but not least I want to tell you about Hefty's Zoo Pals disposable cups and lids. My kids are forever leaving their sippy cups laying around the house and the yard. I found these a few months ago and can't get enough of them!! They are sold in a pack of 12-14 and have cute animal designs great for a boy or a girl. I think I paid about $2.25 per pack, which I say is a GREAT price. Once their drink is gone, we toss the cup, no clean up! I even keep a few of them in the car. Most fast food places sell kids' meals with drinks that are too big for my toddlers. Lately I just split the kids meal drink into 2 of these cups and it is the perfect amount for the kids. The cups are the perfect size for toddlers and make a spill far less likely! So far I can only find these at Target, and the only downside is that they are only sold in a pack of 12. I'm hoping Costco carries these soon, in a huge pack!


*To satisfy the FCC I have to tell you that I did not receive any compensation in reviewing/recommending these products. These are all my own opinions about products that I DO use and pay for on my own*