Its a...

A girl! We are so excited. No gender diappointment here. Her name won't be revealed until birth. So happy that Elliana will have a sister. Everyone needs a sister.

There is always, always something to be thankful for...

1.) Little girls. As some of you know, we found out that we are expecting another little girl! We cannot wait.

2.) Sisters. I think everyone should have a sister!

3.) Siblings. Siblings are so important. They are built in best friends. They're there for you no matter what, or how bad you messed up.

4.) Girls weekend with my baby girl. I love when it is just the two of us over the weekend. Hubs went on a "guys trip" this weekend, so it was just E and I all weekend.

5.) Supportive family. Our families are great. 

I'm coming out...

Less than a year ago, my husband called me extremely concerned because his co-worker had been filling his head with vaccines causing harm. I understood his concerns as a new father. After all, when you become a parent, your whole life is consumed by those children. What is best for them? Whats not? Do I breast feed? Formula feed? Circumcise? Vaccinate? Everything is a debate in today's society; everyone has differed opinions. I'd say one of the most popular debates now-a-days is whether or not to vaccinate. Today I read an article by JJ Keith called "I'm coming out". You can read the article by clicking on the title. Everyone is so concerned about what vaccinating will or will not do to their own child. As am I. Our minds are filled with theories that they causes autism and other disorders. That it is more harmful to your child, then it is helpful. Which for some children it may be. But like JJ Keith said in her article, because you don't vaccinate your child, you are putting every other child at risk. Diseases that these vaccines are made to prevent are popping up all over the place. Because more and more children aren't vaccinated, it makes vaccines less and less effective. So while you are sitting there thinking of just your child and how they can harm your child, imagine what not vaccinating does. It not only harms your child, but puts every child that your child is around at risk.

I am not writing this to tell you to vaccinate, however I am sharing this article with you to open up your mind a little bit. Everything is either going to cause cancer, kill you, or make you sick. Walking down the street you run the risk of being injured or killed. My point is, no matter what, you cant do anything to completely guaranteed tomorrow. Your cards were dealt way before you could figure them out. God doesn't give you more than you can handle, you just have to accept that.

I just wanted to share with you some statistic about the rate of parents vaccinating their children in Colorado alone. Colorado is where my family and I were born and raised. According the Denver Post, in 2011 Colorado ranked second for have the most vaccination refusals. This puts those of us in Colorado that do vaccinate themselves and their children at risk. There should be at least 80% of children vaccinated in order for them to be effective. According to this website, only 71% of Colorado's population is vaccinated. This is concerning.

Do your research. 

Bump-date

18 weeks with #2

Baby is the size of… a bell pepper!

Total weight gain/loss: It fluctuates a lot. I am between 0 to +2lbs

Maternity clothes: Still mostly just maternity work pants.

Stretch marks? Not anymore than I had with Elliana. I hope I don’t get anymore.

Sleep: Still loving sleep. 

Best moment this week: FINALLY telling everyone at work.

Movement: Nothing yet, still waiting but we found out that my placenta is anterior so it could be awhile.

Food cravings: Candy apples!

Gender: …. <3

Symptoms: I don’t really have many, other than the growing belly. I am definitely more round this week.

Labor Signs: None. Thank goodness!

Belly Button in or out? Half in, half out.

Wedding rings on or off? On

What I miss: beer still. C mentioned something so true over vacation.

What I am looking forward to: anatomy scan and telling everyone what we are having!

Weekly Wisdom: You feel better when you look better J

I will edit with picture as soon as I take one!

Two years ago today...

Two years ago today, I married my best friend, my soul mate, the father of my babies, my everything. The last two years have been the most amazing and challenging years of my life, but they sure were the best days as well. He has blessed me in so many ways. We have been through so much in the five years we have been together and I wouldn't want to spend it with anyone else.

I cant imagine spending my life with anyone other than him. He makes me laugh daily, smile constantly and never seizes to amaze me. Of course, some days he drives me absolutely crazy, but that is his job ;) I cant wait to see what the future holds for us.

PS- Next year I promise to not be pregnant! Two out of two anniversaries is enough!


Photography credit to Kyle Howard with Photography Evolved. He did amazing!


We are back from vacation!!

We are back from vacation! Boy, did we have fun! It was so fun. I only have a few pictures to share right now, but as soon as I have them all uploaded I will post them to kind-of outline our vacation! E did amazing, I might add. She did not throw one fit, or feel sad that we were not at home. She loved every bit of it.

On Friday afternoon, we left our house and headed to the airport. The traffic was ridiculous, so it ended up taking an hour and half when it should of only took 45 minutes tops! That was definitely the most annoying part of the trip. Once we got to the airport we went through security and headed to our gate after we grabbed a quick bite. We had originally had a direct flight to Miami, but then it got cancelled and changed to a flight with a lay over in Los Angeles, CA. Which made no sense. So what would've been a 4.5 hour flight turned into one two hour flight and one 6.5 hour flight. It went smoothly, other than the fact that LAX has literally no good food by the gates. It was annoying and my pregnant self was starving. E slept the whole way from LA to Miami pretty much. I only got an hour or two of sleep. C said he didn't sleep at all because he could get comfortable with holding E. We were definitely tired when we got to Miami and boarded the ship. Our week consisted of lots of sleep, playing and eating. On Sunday, we were in the Bahamas. Half moon cay to be exact. It was beautiful. We spent the day at the beach. The sand was so soft and the water was blue as could be. Here is a few pictures I captured while we were there.



The following day, was a ship day. Although E couldn't go in the pool on the ship, we still had fun. We mostly relaxed and caught up on sleep. We did some exploring of the ship. If you've never been on a cruise, I highly suggest it. There is a little shopping area, tons of bars, a casino, shows, and lots and lots of food! On Tuesday, we were in St. Thomas. This place was probably the prettiest of the four places we visited. While there we did a tour where they took us to Megan's Beach, which is a top rated beach in the world, as well as downtown to shop. I only have one photo, at this moment, from there. It is of my parents!

There were hills of beautiful houses and structures, looking down on the clear blue water. So in love with the views here. From St. Thomas, we went to Puerto Rico. We visited the El Yunque Rain forest, as well as got a tour of downtown where we stopped at one of the forts. We would definitely love to visit San Juan, Puerto Rico again. Our final destination was Grand Turk, G&C. The beach wasn't very family friendly here so we went to the pool at Margarita ville. Hubby loved that because they had a swim up bar. E and I just loved it because it was so HOT and HUMID. I hate humidity. After Grand Turk, we had another sea day before docking in Miami. Before our flight home on Saturday we visited the Everglades. We road on an air boat (just like in swamp people haha). We saw a ton of gators! It was so fun. They even did a show there with about 4 or 5 gators. They were so friendly and smart. Don't get me wrong. I would never go near one, but it was fun to see the guy interact with them. It was a fun thing to fill our time before heading home.

We had a blast! I was so ready to see my puppies though! More to come in pictures!



There is always, always something to be thankful for...

1.) Vacation! We are back and had a blast. I will post all about it in a seperate post.

2.) Technology. It is amazing how much we can learn from ultrasounds, fetal dopplers, and cell phones ;-P

3.) Life. I am loving my life right now!

4.) Family. It was so nice being able to spend a whole week with everyone.

5.) Football! GOO BRONCOS!!!

Bump Update



16 weeks with #2

Baby is the size of… an avocado!

Total weight gain/loss: It fluctuates a lot. I am between -3 and 0 as far as weight gain.

Maternity clothes: Still mostly just maternity work pants. I did pack some maternity shorts for vacation, but only because I like the color ;)

Stretch marks? Not anymore than I had with Elliana. I hope I don’t get anymore.

Sleep: Still loving sleep.  

Best moment this week: Friday <3

Movement: Nothing yet, still waiting.  

Food cravings: Nothing in particular. Although, I am loving Pho. Good news is I am getting back my appetite. I'm not sure if that is good or bad for my weight gain. I definitely want to try to gain no more than 30lbs this time.  

Gender: We do not know yet!

Symptoms: I don’t really have many, other than the growing belly.

Labor Signs: None.

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

What I miss: Welp, C decided to get a red beer at dinner the other night. MMM it looked so good!

What I am looking forward to: Vacation and finding out what we are having.

Weekly Wisdom: Drink lots of water. It helps with energy level. Also, always bring water with you because the moment you don’t you will be more parched than a beached whale.



Baby E is 11 months old!

Age: 11 Months

Stats: These are rough estimates, we don't go back to the doctor until after her first birthday. She is about 29 inches tall and 18.2 pounds.

Clothes: She is starting to wear more 12 month things, but she still fits in most 9 month clothes. If it is long pants, then for sure 12 months.

Favorite foods: Peaches, cheese, pickles, green beans and broccoli.

Favorite words: Say shes "dada", "hi" and recently started saying "mama". She communicates with her hands most. She does the shaking finger to say "bad bad", and wakes "hi" and "bye". It is so cute, when she waves her hand is waving towards her.  I think she does it like that because that is how she sees everyone waving at her.

Favorite activities: Bath time, playing, walking everywhere, reading books, dancing and listening to music.

Least favorite activities: The only thing she really doesn't like to do is get her diaper changed and get dressed. She would much rather hang out naked.

Momma's Proud Moment: She finally said "Mama". Ive been waiting forever! haha!



There's always, always something to be thankful for..

Vacation is in 4 days!

Weekends with my baby girl and husband!

My uncle, who is nice enough to watch my pups while we are gone.

My daughter awesome personality

This little baby in my belly

Don't Judge Me!

I came across a blog post by a woman named Michelle, and it really puts judging parents into perspective. You can read her post by clinking here! So often, Mom's (& I guess dad's may do this too!) are judging others parenting. I know I do. I am astonished by parents who give their infants bottles and solids as they are driving down the street. Or the parent who has not read up on car seat safety, to the slightest. Those things, I guess are justifiable but like Michelle says, we all have our own agendas and priorities.

I know that it is important to me, that my children feel love and compassion but at the same time they know manners and discipline. Oh, discipline... we need discipline to allow our children to function in society. Nothing drives me more crazy than when parents think they are doing their children a favor by not disciplining them... but then again, that's on my agenda not theirs.

I am a mom who works full time, and still feels she is doing a good job parenting my daughter. I get a lot of flack because I choose to work; when in reality, if I didn't want to, then I don't have to. I like the balance it gives me. I work four ten hour days and I have three wonderful days with my precious little girl.

One day last month, my child was sick, runny nose and all... Well I had made the decision to go to Jamba Juice to get us a smoothie and to get out of the house. It was a nice day, and we were over being couped up in bed trying to fight this cold. Well, we got out smoothie and went to sit at a table outside in the strip mall. Next to us was an older woman, and I could just feel her judging me. Yes, my child has snot running down her face, and she looks like a mess but let me tell you this. I pick my battles, either we can sit there relaxing and enjoying ourselves or I can wiped her nose for millionth time that day and she will start crying because it hurts. So I let my little snot nose girl sit there and hang out instead of bothering her, yet again, by wiping her nose. Don't judge me!

Another thing on my agenda that I know isn't on others, is the time I take to get ready for the day, as well as the amount of time I spend having fun without my daughter. These tie together because they both deal with work. Every morning I get up and get ready for work in about 15-20 minutes. My hair is usually in a messy bun and I do not have any make-up on. I am perfectly okay with this, I sit at a desk all day and quite frankly, I am not trying to impress anyone. Some other woman at my work get up and spend hours in the bathroom every morning. I just cannot justify doing that because I would much rather sleep. Again, beauty is not my top priority, which is a-okay. Along these lines, I work with a variety of different people in the work place. Some have children, some don't, some are married, some are not. My life style varies from each and everyone of them. When I get off work at the end of the day, I expect to spend my time with my daughter. Not working, going out, or doing anything without her. It is rare that you will find me outside of work without my daughter on my hip. The 40 hours I put in at work, is enough for the amount I get paid and is all that I am expected to do. I don't like to party or go out and do"adult" things, because I would honestly rather play on the floor with my daughter. Does wanting "adult time" make you a bad parent? Absolutely not. We just have different agenda. People think we are crazy because in four days we are taking a 7-day Eastern Caribbean Cruise, and *gasp* we are taking our 11 month old with us! I think it is great, and I cannot wait to spend all that time with her.

I am not sure what the point of this post is about, but I wanted to share Michelle's post, and post my perspective on it. I definitely will try and remember what she said before point blank, judging other parents decisions. To each their own. 

Vacation is coming!

We are super excited for vacation! I have been waiting and waiting for it since we booked in February. We are taking a Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Sept 14th. We actually leave on the 13th. We are so excited we will be visiting Miami, St. Thomas, The Bahamas, Grand Turk, and Puerto Rico. None of us have been to any of these places. Elliana will be going with us, so we plan to do a lot of playing and some relaxing. On our last cruise, it was just C and I and we were spent by the end of it because we did SOO much. We still want to do a lot but probably not as much this time. I just had to share my excitement. 8 days until we leave! Woot! Our flight will be tedious part [i hope]. We booked our flight out of Denver to fly over night. We felt that this would be the best option for traveling with a 11 month old. It was supposed to be a direct flight from Denver to Miami.... Well about a month after we booked they changed our flight. We now leave at 7:40PM from Denver with a lay over in LA, CA, and finally arrive in Miami at 6:30AM the next day. That makes total sense right? NOT! But it is what we are doing because we dont want to pay the stupid fees the set for changing our flight. It shall be interesting. I will definitely let you all know how it goes. For now we are as prepared as we could be. We have our Chicco lightweight umbrella stroller, iPad, and will bring lots of toys and books to keep her entertained. Wish us luck...

We've got some exciting news....

Yup, it is true. Come February, Elliana is going to be a BIG SISTER! Ever since we started planning to have children, we knew that we wanted them close in age. We feel so blessed that god was on board with our plan as well.



15 weeks with #2

Total weight gain/loss: -3lbs. Although, I did make it down to pre-pregnancy weight with Elliana, I am hoping to not gain as much this time. I am, however, not trying to lose weight either.

Maternity clothes: Sometimes, even though its not really necessary at this point. I am mostly just wearing maternity work pants, because they are more comfy ;)

Stretch marks? Not anymore than I had with Elliana. I am pretty small still.

Sleep: Is amazing! Besides the time I get to spend with my little girl, it’s the best part of the day.

Best moment this week: Knowing that we are going on vacation at the end of NEXT week! Not pregnancy related, but trust me, I need vacation.

Movement: Nope, nothing yet. I'm not expecting it for a while longer.

Food cravings: Nothing. I do not have an appetite at all.

Gender: We do not know yet!

Symptoms: I don’t really have many, other than the growing belly.

Labor Signs: None.

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

What I miss: nothing yet. I know I’ll want a beer soon.

What I am looking forward to: Vacation and finding out what we are having.

Weekly Wisdom: Enjoy the time you have while being a mommy of just one.

Funny Things in the Life of Elle

It is quite possible that I am the only one that thinks the following things are just hilarious. My [almost] one year old does the darnedest things. Some of the things she has done lately that have cracked me up are..

• Last night while we were getting ready for bath time, I decided it was time to get the potty C and I have bought for Elle out. We sat her on it and told her to pee before she gets in the bath. She did not want to sit down on that thing, and started crying. So we let her get up, well.... next thing we know she is peeing on the bathroom floor. It was too funny!

• Elle likes to throw fits now when she doesn't get what she wants. But her new thing is when she is "fake" crying she covers her mouth, and act so overly dramatic. It is so cute and too funny that I cannot help but laugh.

She is just the light of my life, I cannot get enough of her. I just love her so much, it is ridiculous.