Happy February 2012!

I am happy to say that the first day of my 14 Days of Valentines has gone over very well with my husband! He was totally shocked this morning when I had the Zebra cakes in the car waiting for him when he left for work!

 When he came inside for lunch, he gave me a huge grin and asked, "When did you put these in the car?!" YES! Haha! I told him I snuck them outside at 5:30 this morning and put them on the steering wheel. To which he responded, "I didn't even feel you get out of bed... that worries me!" HA! I wouldn't dream of sneaking out! But it gave us a good laugh! I am very excited for the next 13 days!

I have been looking for an idea for a Valentine to send to my parents, my in-laws, and my grandparents. I found a cute idea for these Thumbprint Valentines and made it my own! Here is what I came up with!

The girls just LOVED to stamp their thumbs! It got a little messy, but I'm glad I found washable stamp pads for cheap cheap at the dollar store! Caity now wants to stamp her thumb print on everything! I think I've unleashed a monster!

I have some more fun ideas for the Valentine gifts for my nephews and niece. I am way excited! The girls have been super good helpers when it comes to coloring cards and pictures for birthdays and holidays! Rosalie loves coloring so much that she colored her Dora table! The whole thing. After I cleaned it up, I was upset because I should have snapped a picture. But I'm positive this will happen again someday! Ha! God bless whoever came up with washable crayons.

Vivian has officially started teething. I really don't miss this part of having babies, but she is handling it well, all things considered. We had some trouble with her last night, but we were finally able to get her to calm down. I am so thankful that I have a husband and that he is willing to calm a screaming baby. Vivian had me in tears by the time he came and took her from me so that we could both calm down. It's hard when babies can't tell you what's wrong... but I think I'd be creeped out if my baby came out of the womb talking to me. I'll take the crying for now! She's right on track though. Caitlin and Rosalie also started teething around 4 months and their first tooth appeared around 7 to 8 months. 3 months of cranky teething before a tooth even comes in! Being a baby is tough stuff. Good thing Vivian has an awesome Mom! ;)

Caitlin and Rosalie are going through a screaming phase... all the yelling around the house is probably to blame. But now that the damage is done, Charles and I are working super hard on reversing the habit and teaching the girls that if something is wrong, you come to Mommy or Daddy and not scream. I guess I didn't realize just how much our kids pick up around us. I've been watching what I say around Caity. We'll say stuff like, "This song is stupid" or "I don't give a crap" and I don't want Caity and Rosie picking those words up. So we are doing a whole lot of editing and spelling out words.

All in all, parenting is fun! I keeps us on our toes!

Use Your Words!

Things have been kinda crazy around our house lately! We've been keeping up with our New Year's Resolutions and I'm already seeing the differences in our girls! If we are running late or sit down to a meal, they will remind us that it's "Scripture and prayer time" or "Mommy, bless the food!"! I love our girls! They keep us on our toes.

Caitlin and Rosalie playing nicely on the couch!

We have been working on the ABCs with Caitlin and within 2 days, she was walking around the house singing the entire song on her own! Not to mention the fact that Rosalie is now trying to sing hers too! But she mostly just says, "A, B, A, B, A, B.... " It's SUPER cute! Rosalie just LOVES Caitlin and wants to do everything she's doing! From singing her ABC's to going potty on the potty chair! I love these two girls!

Caitlin reading to Rosalie!

It's been a lot of fun watching Vivian grow so quickly! She's a tank! She breastfeeds A LOT and I'm doing very well with keeping up with her. Although some days I really feel like I'm going to have the life sucked out of me... literally. Breastfeeding really is a joy, but it is not for the faint of heart. There have been many times in the past 2 1/2 years that I've wanted to stop... but then I think about all that goes into bottles, boiling water, and measuring formula, my head starts to ache. I have what Vivian needs on tap, so why give it up? My plate is already full so adding bottles, formula, and more would make me go insane. For reals! She's plumping up real fast!

Webcam photo of Vivian teething on my finger!

Tummy time!

Vivan LOVES her aunts!

You will hear us say, "Use your words!" quite a bit around our house. It is quite common. So common that Caitlin now says it to Rosalie. We usually say this when our girls are fussing at us and not telling us what is wrong or what they want. It is quite irritating when something happens and all we hear is constant whining and fussing. It gets to me fast and I have to work hard on not losing my temper and yelling. So I say nicely, "Use your words. Tell me what's wrong." This works about 50% of the time. Caitlin and Rosalie are in a stage where if one has a toy, the other wants it. If Caity has a book that Rosalie wants, Rosie will scream at the top of her lungs. *Grrrrr....* And if Rosalie has something Caity wants, she will push Rosalie down and take whatever it is away from her. Which leads to more screaming. *Grrrrrr....*  So we have been encouraging our girls to use their words and tell us what happened or what's going on.

Parenting is hard.

No matter what, though, we love our girls and it shows. Caitlin and Rosalie are very sweet to Vivian and they both share. Once in a while... :) But that's fine with me! We are trying to teach our girls that we love each other very much and part of loving each other means that we don't hit, take things away, or yell at each other. They are learning. Slowly. But they are learning!

Caitlin and Rosalie nicely eating breakfast together!

Rosalie and Caitlin eating their Goldfish while watching Dora!

I'm not sure Charles and I were quite aware of what we were "signing up for" when we became parents, but we've had the exact same amount of time parenting as the other. We aren't experts, but we we have found out the hard way that teaching with patience and love is the most effective way. I hate to admit it, but we did, and sometimes still do, yell at Caitlin and Rosalie. Yelling to get their attention, to discipline them, etc. I don't like the yelling. We use to only yell at Caitlin when she did something really bad. But then that morphed into yelling at every thing. We've slipped down the slope and now we're trying to get out of this hole. I know that the Lord understands us and our lives, but I know for a fact that I never learned a thing when I was getting yelled at. The things I learned the best were taught to me with love and patience. Charles and I made a promise to each other to do better about acting instead of reacting when our girls do something wrong. We saw a quote the other day that made us realize just how bad things were getting with our yelling.

I want my girls to remember that they were taught in a home of love, respect, and reverence. A reverence to the Lord. Our homes should be a place where the Spirit can be felt. And when we're yelling at our girls, I know the Spirit leaves. I hate that. It's amazing the difference that is in our home already since we've stopped yelling so much. We slip every now and then, but we are working on it! The Lord is going to have to help us with this one!

There are many people that I know and love who are struggling with hardships right now and I pray for them daily. It has made me realize just how much I have to be thankful for. I never take a day for granted. Every single day is a blessing. I am grateful for the time the Lord has given me with my girls and I can only pray that he allows me to have many, many more years here with them.

Count your blessings. Name them one by one.

New Mom? Mom Already? Watch This.

This was posted onto my facebook wall by my sister-in-law and I thought it was brilliant!

IMPORTANT! 5 words Babies Use (Baby Language)



After I had watched this, I realized that even though it's taken me 3 babies to realize the words, I've known them all along! Too cool!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Since the start of the new year, our family has done great with our new years resolutions! I am very proud of us all, considering we are almost 2 weeks into 2012! Last Saturday we celebrated Charles' 28th birthday! His birthday was last Sunday, the 8th, but we decided to make the party a Saturday thing because we generally like to use our Sundays as a day of rest. It took me a week to plan Charles' Star Wars party and you can read about the prep work and how I made the food here!

But for the fun of it, I'm going to re-post some pictures on here along with some you haven't seen yet!

Darth Vader display with birthday sign!

Dessert table with the Chewbacca, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia cake pops!

My niece ate the first cake pop of the night! She bit Han's hair off!

Rosalie taking a bit of Luke's hair!

Caitlin eating Han's face!

Vivian's Godmother, Karmen, using her awesome Jedi skill of "Sleep" on her! See! It works!

Charles opening his cards and gifts! This card had a subscription to the Ensign magazine!
(Thanks T & Greg!)

Chalrles with his awesome Yoda card from Mike and Karmen! The Lightsaber lights up!

I had Charles hold Vivian while I cleaned up. He was playing Skyrim... Vivan fell asleep!
LOVE this!

We had an awesome turn out for the party! And we decided to do another low-key party for his 29th birthday with different cake pops (Yoda, Ewok, etc.), but for his 30th, we are going all out and having a costume party! I'm excited to plan it for him! I love that my hubby is a Star Wars buff!

Our girls are growing up too fast! Vivian is 3 months already! Time flies so fast! She's getting so big! She's already in size 3 diapers! Rosalie is 20 months and is in size 4 diapers! Oh wow! Here are some fun pictures of the three of our little ladies!

Using the toy tote as a boat!

Rosalie talking to Vivian!

Rosalie's CHEESE face!

Happy 3 Months to my Chubbers, Vivian!

Normal weekday morning watching Sesame street while eating snacks!

I am always thanking God for the daughters he has blessed me with! They are so, so smart and so darn beautiful! I look at them and see endless potential and I want the best for my girls! I am so, so glad that Charles and I are sealed to them for time and all eternity. I know that families can be together forever, and I am so thankful for that! I really can't imagine my life without my girls. I hope I never have to. But whatever the Lord has in store for me, come what may. I am so grateful for my husband and that he works so that I can stay home with my girls and raise them. We've officially known each other for a little over 5 years now. And the past 5 years have been a piece of heaven for me.

I cannot wait to see what the next 5, 10, 15, 50+ years have in store for Charles, me, and our girls!

Small Steps, Big Results

The past few days I have been working on a few small cleaning projects around the house and it's amazing to me the difference I already see in my house! After a few weeks of feeling overwhelmed during the holiday season, I decided that waiting to clean until EVERYTHING is a mess in my house was NOT the best idea. I decided that making a cleaning schedule would be the best route to keep my sanity and house in order! I felt a little childish making a schedule, but I've already seen the outcome! I feel so much better! It's only been 3 days! I haven't had an anxiety attack in a few days! I almost had one today, but talking to Charles helped me to pull through it! I'm hoping that all these small things will help take the HUGE stress of trying to juggle my children, house work, church callings, remodel work, projects, cooking, and relaxing time.

Most days I feel extremely overwhelmed, but for the most part, I am fine. I think I start feeling overwhelmed when my house is messy. My living room doubles as my daughters' play room. Simply putting the toys away makes a 200% difference in my mood! I didn't realize just how much it was weighing down on me until I finally hit a breaking point and had an anxiety attack right before Christmas. It was terribly scary. Charles didn't know what to do, I couldn't control my body, and Caitlin was scared for me. She kept asking me if I was alright and telling me to "breathe". (She's not even 3 years old yet!) Once I regained myself, she sat with me and kept hugging me and kissing my cheeks. It's amazing how I birthed her, raised her (so far), and she takes care of me! I just love her so much. I'm counting my blessings!

I hope to keep up with the progress in my house! With the remodel upstairs, everything that was up there is now shoved into places downstairs. I hate seeing all the clutter and not being able to find anything... but I know that someday SOON my house will be in normal order again! I am way, way excited! I am tired of the clutter. It's getting to me. It's getting to Charles. I am so, so glad that he can take another week or so off this Spring to finish things up. I'm ready to paint! I'm ready to unpack! I'm ready shave half of the stress out of my life!

As of right now, I'm looking at paint colors and ideas for the girls' room, my art studio, and the master bedroom! It gives me a small bit of relief to let go and let my mind get creative! This is why I love pinterest SO much! So many good ideas!


Here's to a new year of small steps and BIG results! Wish us luck!

Here's some scriptures that have helped me through the past few weeks:

Isaiah 41:10 -Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

Philippians 4:13 - I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

And this Hymn has helped me, too.

I Need Thee Every Hour
I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord;
No tender voice like Thine can peace afford.

I need Thee, O I need Thee;
Every hour I need Thee;
O bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee.

I need Thee every hour, stay Thou nearby;
Temptations lose their power when Thou art nigh.

I need Thee, O I need Thee;
Every hour I need Thee;
O bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee.

I need Thee every hour, in joy or pain;
Come quickly and abide, or life is in vain.

I need Thee, O I need Thee;
Every hour I need Thee;
O bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee.

I need Thee every hour; teach me Thy will;
And Thy rich promises in me fulfill.

I need Thee, O I need Thee;
Every hour I need Thee;
O bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee.

I need Thee every hour, most Holy One;
O make me Thine indeed, Thou blessed Son

I need Thee, O I need Thee;
Every hour I need Thee;
O bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee.

Righteous Resolutions

Charles and I have thought a lot about our resolutions for 2012 for ourselves and for our family. We have prayed about them and decided to share our goals with the world and see if we can keep our resolutions or not! We decided to make righteous resolutions for our family and ourselves because Elder M. Russell Ballard said:

"I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals in our life and learn how to master the technique of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential. When you learn to master the principle of setting a goal, you will then be able to make a great difference in the results you attain in this life.

I would suggest that if you want to have success in the goal-setting process, you learn to write your goals down. I would even put them in a prominent place—on your mirror or on the refrigerator door."
*Quote from Go for It! - New Era - March 2004

So, here they are! In a prominent place, my BLOG!

Austin Family Goals - 2012

1. Read from the Book of Mormon every single day
2. Read the entire Book of Mormon as a family
3. Have FHE each Monday, no excuses
4. Family prayer each morning and night, on our knees.
5. Be full tithe payers for the entire year.
6. Pay off some debt. This is one way, finances information, and One for the Money: Guide to Family Finances, by Marvin J. Ashton, Revised Nov. 2006
7. Go to the temple 4 times. It's a lot to go every month with 3 kiddos! So we decided that once a quarter we'd attend the temple!
8. Spend time each night as a family for an hour or so.

Some of our other goals that are more temporal than spiritual are these:

1. Get healthy! - Changing the way we eat, the foods we eat, managing portion control, and cutting down on the sweets (Carie) and pop (Charles).
2. Get fit! - Carie is going to go to Zumba on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week while running on Tuesday and Thursday. Charles is going to start lifting (M, W, F) and running (T, Th).
3. Get the remodel done upstairs - Girls' room and art studio are almost done, our bedroom still needs a lot of work. Getting all these rooms done will enable us to start on the downstairs in 2013!
4. Plant our garden - We have been slack about it for the past two years, times are getting tough, food is getting more expensive, so we need to get a-planting!
5. Start using more coupons! - We are taking some coupon classes and watching some DVDs on it!
6. Make the change to Cloth Diapers - We will save over $800 this year when we buy cloth! It will be expensive to purchase all the things needed, but with our income tax money, we will be able to invest in saving money for the rest of our parenting/diapering years with all our current and future children!

This list is not absolutely everything we want for our goals for the year, but they are the ones we feel are the best to share and inspire others! We are looking forward to a wonderful 2012 and all that it has in store for us as individuals and as a family!
 

Happy New Year!

Kid Interviews 2012

I saw this on a friend's blog, and I thought it would be fun to do this with my children each new year, on the first of the year! I want to see how the answers change as my darling kids grow! I will put exactly what each girl says or does after each question! Let the good times roll!

Caitlin as Captain America - December 2011

1. Who is your mom? Mommy
2. What does she do? Love me.
3. Who is your daddy? Right there!
4. What does he do? He go to work.
5. What is your favorite color? I want to color!
6. What do you want to do when you grow up? *sings* Tall, tall, tall!
7. What is your favorite breakfast? Cereal!
8. What is your favorite lunch? Hot dogs!
9. What is your favorite dinner? I wanna eat!
10. What is your favorite snack? Can I have some pretzels, please?
11. What food do you not like? *Caitlin just smiles and laughs!*
12. What is your favorite animal? Really big Tiger!
13.Where do you want to live when you grow up? *points to her bedroom* Over there!
14. What do mom and dad do when you go to bed? Stay up with no nap.
15. What does daddy say? "Seesley" (Seriously)
16. What does mommy say? *shouts* "I LUBB YOU!" (I LOVE YOU!)
17. What is your favorite song? *sings* Jingle bells, Jingle bells, all the way!
18. What is your favorite movie? Dora!
19. What is your favorite ice cream? Can I have an ice cream cone, please?
20. Where is your favorite place to eat? Picnic table! (On the back deck!)
21. Who is your favorite person? Mommy
22. Who is your best friend? Rosie
23.What is your favorite book? This one! *picks up Goodnight Moon*
24. Who are your brothers/sisters? Rosie and Bibian! (how she pronounces Vivian!)
25. Where did they come from? *She pointed to my belly*
26. What is your favorite thing to do? Take a bath!
27. What is your favorite toy? This one! *picks up a puzzle!*

Rosalie - December 2011

1. Who is your mom? Momma!
2. What does she do? *giggles*
3. Who is your daddy? Da!
4. What does he do? *points to door*
5. What is your favorite color? Ra! (red)
6. What do you want to do when you grow up? *smiles at me!*
7. What is your favorite breakfast? Ceeee! Ceeee! (Cereal)
8. What is your favorite lunch? Num nums!
9. What is your favorite dinner? *runs into the other room...*
10. What is your favorite snack? Pleeeeeeeease!
11. What food do you not like? No-no!
12. What is your favorite animal? *growls like a bear and/or tiger*
13.Where do you want to live when you grow up? *points to ceiling*
14. What do mom and dad do when you go to bed? *starts snoring (LOL!)*
15. What does daddy say? Da!
16. What does mommy say? Mamma!
17. What is your favorite song? *sings* Bitsy, bitsy, bitsy, bitsy! (Itsy Bitsy Spider)
18. What is your favorite movie? Dor! (Dora)
19. What is your favorite ice cream? Pleeeeeeeease!
20. Where is your favorite place to eat? Yeah!
21. Who is your favorite person? *shouts* CHEESE!
22. Who is your best friend? *giggles*
23.What is your favorite book? *grabs the book Elmo Loves You*
24. Who are your brothers/sisters? *makes kissing noise and kisses Vivian*
25. Where did they come from? *Still kissing Vivian!*
26. What is your favorite thing to do? Yeah! *nods her head!*
27. What is your favorite toy? *picks up play food*

Vivian - December 2011

Vivian can't answer hers... but this picture should say, "I'M CUTE!"

Random Rosie

My niece just posted this picture of Rosalie! I just had to share!

Busy December!

I realized I haven't really posted a post about our family this month! So here is one!

Our December has been crazy busy! We've had a lot of errands and stuff going on, it makes things fly by, but I am so eager to slow down and enjoy my time! Vivian is growing so fast! I can't believe how big she is getting already! She had her 2 month check up and weighed 12 lbs 15 oz and was 23 inches long! Hooray for breastmilk! I just love that little girl!

Vivian's 2 Month photo

 Caitlin is singing more songs now! She sings "Jingle Bells", "I am a Child of God", and the theme song to The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That! She cracks me up! She is so, so smart for her age! (She will be 3 in March) Caity is almost potty trained! She knows when she needs to go, so we're working on her telling me, in time, so that I can take her to the potty seat. It's kind of hard to do when I'm breastfeeding Vivi, but now that she's getting bigger, I can move around and keep her latched on! Caity went poopy in the potty today and everyone in our house did a happy dance! I am so proud of my sweet baby girl!

Caity at a Christmas party holding her sugar cookie!

 Rosalie is talking more! This makes me happy because up until now, she would scream at the top of her lungs instead of using her words. I know that she is only 18 months, but man oh man is that a tough phase for parents. It literally tests my patience and hearing every 5 minutes while she is awake. So now that she can say, "Owwie here" or "I bonk my head", I am becoming less on the edge! She had her 18 month check up and weighed in at 26 lbs and was 34 inches long! My growing girl! She is looking more and more like me as she gets older! This is not a terrible thing!

This is me!

This is Rosie!

Granted, in the photo I am about 3 or so, but our eyes are totally the same! I see it everyday! I just love this little girl!

We made our gingerbread houses earlier this month! They weren't made from real gingerbread... I guess the politically correct term would be "Graham Cracker Houses", but in my honest opinion, there is no greater sweet snack than eating graham crackers with some vanilla frosting on them! (My mouth is watering just thinking about it...) Now that is a childhood memory worth remembering! Charles and I helped the girls with their houses, but soon found that Rosalie just wanted to eat the candy! Caity actually decorated her house! She was so precise and meticulous to get everything just right! This is one more reason I know she is my child! I am the same way! The houses turned out so well! I was so proud of my Caity Bell! Here are some photos from that night!

Caitlin putting candy on her house!

Rosalie on a sugar high!

Rosalie when the sugar headache kicked in!

Caitlin's Masterpiece!

We had our Christmas photos taken by a family friend, and she did a fantastic job! I will post more photos from the shoot soon! I haven't quite gotten them all edited just yet! It's been super crazy around here!
Christmas crept up on us quickly, but our girls were more than ready to open their presents!  On Christmas Eve, we traveled to my Mom's house in the morning to open presents and start making our family meal! The girls scored big on presents!

Caitlin's Princess Chair

Rosalie's Pixie Chair

 We had a blast hanging out all day! After our meal, almost everyone fell asleep, so Megan, my Mom and Dad, and I played a game of Phase 10! It was awesome! My oldest brother finally showed up around 7 and opened his presents, then it was time to go home and get the girls tucked in for bed!

Christmas morning was exciting for the girls! They knew we had to go to church first and then they were going to be able to open presents when we go home! Getting them out the door was easy! I gave a talk at church about my myself, my conversion story, and how the gospel has changed my expectations and goals in life. It was a very powerful and spiritual experience for me to open up and tell everyone about my not-so-happy childhood. Granted, I did have a lot of wonderful experiences as a child, but I don't remember them very well. We headed home after the first hour of church and opened presents! Here are some pics of the girls in action!

Books for Rosalie!

Puzzles for Caitlin!

More books!

Rosalie pushing her Shopping Cart around!

Caitlin slicing her play food!

About an hour after presents, we put the girls down for nap. They fell asleep fast! Probably because of all the excitement from the day! It gave me the chance to finish up the food for supper and hang out with my hubby!

When they woke up, we got them ready and put Vivian in her first Christmas outfit! Here she is:

We got to my in-law's house and was immediately surrounded by presents and goodies for us all! It was quite a sight! We got down to business fast! Here are more pictures of the excitement!

Rosalie's Peek-a-Boo baby doll!

Caitlin's "LOL" Rollover Dog - She spent most of the night afraid of it!

Charle's "D.A.D.D." Sweatshirt!

Vivian fell asleep on Grandma!

Charles and I got a lot of amazing gifts! We both got clothes, a hot pink portable DVD player, a case for the DVD player, and the Charlie Brown Holiday Movie collection. Charles got a Darth Vader candy jar, a Star Wars: Year by Year book, a Final Fantasy 7 sword key chain, and some miscellaneous items! I got the latest 3 books in the House of Night series, purse organizer, manicure set, and some miscellaneous items!

We have been truly blessed this holiday season! Our family and friends have shown us great kindness and love! Let us all remember that Jesus is the reason for the season. The CHRIST in CHRISTmas! Merry Christmas!

Christmas Photo Sneek Peek!

We had our Christmas photos taken today at Karmen's house! Here are some of the photos that were taken! I'm working on editing and fixing the rest of the photos! But here are some that I've done!

 

Caitlin

Rosalie

Vivian

I will post more once I'm finished with them! :) I'm way excited to send out our Christmas cards this year!