One week left

The last few months have been really busy it seems.  I haven't been as persistent in raising money for my March for Babies walk as I have been in the past.  But that doesn't mean that I feel any less strong about the cause.  My walk is next Saturday, May 5th and this year we are so excited to take Mikey along with us.  This means a lot to our family and we love that this has become an annual tradition.  I am still in need of donations (wink, wink) because I'm still far away from my goal.  A little goes a long way!  Whether or not we get many donations we will keep trying every year and we will keep walking because it is a cause that we believe in and that made a HUGE impact in our lives.  To donate to my team please go here !  If you want to find out more of what the March of Dimes, March for babies does go here.

Thank you everyone for supporting us and for your donations! 

A tag thing

I read this tag thing on a friends blog a little while ago and I've been wanting to do it myself. I thought it sounded fun and interesting.

Here are the rules:

1. post these rules. 

2. post a photo of yourself and 11 random things. 

3. answer the questions set for you in the original post. 

4. create 11 new questions and tag people to answer them. 

5. go to their blog and tell them they've been tagged. 

 11 things 

1.  I feel I am pretty patient with certain things and I don't need to have everything a certain way.  But the biggest pet peeve I have is when people do not change the toilet paper roll when all of the toilet is gone.  Why would you leave an empty roll?!?!?!  When I was in college I remember writing a paper about this pet peeve.  My teacher found a magazine clipping with a little giraffe holding a sign that read "Changing the toilet paper, does not cause brain damage."  She attached it to my paper when she gave it back.  Years later I found this awesome giraffe at quilted bear and it is in my bathroom today. 

2. I love taking baths.  I do this anytime I have a chance and can just soak for hours.  When I really get into it I will turn off the lights and have candles lit and turn on some Enya.  I would rather have a nice bath in my future home than a dishwasher.

3.   Love, Love, love 80's and early 90's music.  Brings back a lot of random and fun memories of my childhood and high school.

 4.I really enjoy end of the world movies.  And I really can't get enough of them.  I don't know why.  It's a little twisted I know.  

5.One of my top three food downfalls is cereal.  Mmmmmmm!  I've been known to have cereal for dinner several nights in a row.  And it is my downfall late at night.

6. I love to go out on walks and I love to be out and doing things.  Maybe that is due to being in an apartment for a few years but anytime I can get out I do.  I will even wake up at 5:30am (and my kids) to take Michael to work, just to have the car for the day.

 7. I would wear flip flops the whole year if I could.  I don't even care that my feet get filthy from wearing them all summer long.

8. I've been know to say "sorry" a lot.  I don't like this one at all.  And I'm constantly working on it.

9. I watch Harry Potter with my 3 year old daughter on a weekly basis and she will sit through the whole thing.  Her favorite character is Hagrid.

10. I have an obsession with Jurassic Park. I L-O-V-E love the show.  For my birthday a couple years ago Michael got me all three movies.  So romantic.  But let me be clear the first movie is my favorite.

 11. I have struggled my whole life with confidence, my insecurities and self-esteem.  But the one thing in my life that I confident in is that I am a good mother.  Don't get me wrong, I have A LOT to work on, but Heavenly Father has just given me this little gift of knowing that what I am doing as a mother is good and that he is happy with me in that area of my life.

Alyssa's Questions

1. Looking back, what time period or experience made you want to be better?

When my friend Jamie passed away, when my brother Eric passed away, and when Noelle was in the nicu.  They all made me want to be better in different ways.

2. If you had to choose a food to live on for the rest of your life....what would it be?

cereal and Dr. Pepper

3. 5 things you know you couldn't survive without!

(I have to copy my friend on this one, sorry)

1. my husband

2. my kids

3. the gospel

4. sunshine

5. water

4. You're best trait? I know it isn't easy to admit. But it's good for you!

I'm a good listener and empathetic.

5. If family or occupation were not a factor....where would you live if given the choice?

Near an ocean

6. What stood out to you very first about your husband that made you pick him? And if you are not married what is the most important quality you want to find in our future husband?

Michael didn't care about anything materialistic and he is very unselfish and loves the gospel. 

 

7. Favorite animal?

dogs

8. If given free time to yourself what would you do?

watch a movie or sleep

9. Role model?

My mom and dad are my heroes.

10. Would you rather be a tribute in the Hunger Games or know that you would have to defeat Voldemort on your own? And explain.... (hopefully you have read or are familiar with each)

defeat Voldemort.  I could bring myself to killing someone as nasty and horrible as Voldemort but no way would I be able to kill like they do in the Hunger Games.

11. Greatest passion in life?

My Family!! :)

My questions:

 Same as the previous 11 that I answered. 

And I'm tagging anyone who wants to do it!

 

 

first haircut

I love Mikey's red hair. It's definitely more red than Noelle's was. I want it to stay but I'm not sure if it will. Everyone always comments on it and it's rather thick for a baby. It was getting pretty long and I really kept putting it off because some crazy thought ran through my mind that if I cut it the red would be gone. But it was getting so long and I loved making it spikey all over or using some mousse and hairspray to make one awesome long spike, but the spikes were really tall and looking kind of funny. In a very cute way of course. So I finally got it cut this past Monday. A friend of mine did it who also cuts her husbands hair and little boy's. She did a great job and Mikey was really good too, probably cause I was sitting in front of him the whole time. Although he got restless at the end because I was trying to hold him still while my friend was finishing up. He looks like such a big boy with his new haircut.

Before

After

Quite the change! But he is so handsome :).

Our little athlete

So since Mikey was about 4 months old our pediatrician has told us that he is "pretty solid" or strong. His weight has been in the 90% or above for a while. I'm not surprised by this. Michael was just like this as a baby and after Noelle got out of her "preemie-ness" she gained weight like crazy it seemed. But she was never like our big "solid" Mikey :). Lately all Mikey wants to do is be on the ground and move. This has actually helped me keep the floors clear, mostly of small things that he could put in his mouth. As he rolls around he is finding big things that he can lift and pull on top of him. Not dangerous big things, but kid/baby big things. He doesn't even mind and seems to quite enjoy it. It just cracks me up every time I see him like this and I can't help but take a picture.

Lifting Noelle's baby stroller on top of him. Besides having it on top of him you will notice that he has also stuck it in his mouth, hahaha

Noelle's princess chair :)


This is Mikey using his music toy to do pull-ups. Seriously.

And this is just Mikey getting caught in one of Noelle's baskets as he's rolling around the bedroom floor.

Something I didn't mention in any other post is that Noelle and Mikey share a room now. We just have two bedrooms and the kids are actually in the master. I had some other friends in our apartment complex that did the same thing earlier and I have to admit I thought it was kind of crazy :). But low and behold thinking about it, it seemed like a really great idea. Mikey was in our room and in a pack-n-play and no one was sleeping as well as they should have been. A crib and a twin bed would not fit very comfortably in Noelle's little room, so it just seemed logical to make the switch. Now all of Noelle's toys fit in the room and they have a lot of space to play. Michael and I have had a way smaller room before and plus we now have a little extra storage space since we blocked off the bathroom area in the master. It took a week or so but they do so well in the room together. Mikey is sleeping through the night and so is Noelle. It's worked wonderfully for us.

Forgotten Photos

I decided to go through my phone camera roll and write a post about pictures that I wanted to put up but I never did. My phone camera is the same megapixels as our camera but it seems to have better pictures so I honestly use my phone more. Plus it really is more convenient and easier. I'm sure that will change when we update our camera. The only thing is that it is really annoying to get the pictures off my phone. I blame my lack of posts on that but really if I took the time it wouldn't be that big of a deal. Some pictures have a little story behind them. Others are just because I like them.

All clean after their baths

When we went and saw Beauty and the Beast with Noelle they had these guys out. So we got a picture of Noelle kissing Theodore

Noelle likes to take picture with her little brother

I don't think I've ever mentioned Noelle's fascination with the printer. She loves it and gives me the paper every time one comes out of the printer. So helpful.

Mikey would rather be rolling around on the ground over anything else, except maybe eating

We had a little Valentine get together with some friends. They sure had fun decorating cookies.

Starting him early. Thanks mom :). It's funny cause he knew exactly what to do with the can of diet coke.

We missed the other real snow day, so when this one came just recently Michael and Noelle had to take advantage of it and go play in it. This picture was taken inside our apartment, so you can see the lovely screen.

I often find Mikey laying in his bed in positions like these.

Just enjoying each others company

He rarely ever falls asleep anywhere but in his bed. So when he fell asleep on Grandpa's lap I was quite surprised.

We went to the Discovery Gateway in Salt Lake on their free day and had a blast. Mikey was such a good boy in his stroller all day.

Noelle in front of the mini house at the Discovery Gateway

Sometimes I let Noelle do makeup with me. She got a little carried away this time.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! We didn't do anything really festive. But we all dressed in green, had green pancakes and later after dinner had green ice cream. Maybe next year I'll be more creative.

Daddy with the kiddos

March for Babies Event

It's that time of year again! Our annual March for Babies walk is coming up on May 5th. We're again excited to be a part of this special event. And even more excited that Noelle is getting older and more aware of what this event means. Over this past year it's come up more and more that she was born early and we've showed her her NICU book a few times. She will see pictures of herself in the hospital at just a few days or weeks old and she'll tell me that it's her. What a joy Noelle is in our lives! And I love how this has become a tradition for our family. It will continue to be and it's a way of us to show appreciation to this wonderful organization for helping us in a time of need. And it's a way of showing Noelle how much we love her and are glad that she is a part of our world.

I'm hoping to get a few more ideas of ways to collect donations for this event but for now we have our Family March for Babies website, where you can donate. It's found here !! All those that have donated in the past please know that we are so appreciative of your generosity and thoughts on Noelle's and our family's behalf. It means more than you know!

Here is a look at how our Noelle has grown and touched our lives since she was born:

First time I got to hold her in the NICU

little little girl

Coming home from the NICU-5 weeks after she was born

feeding herself without knowing it

Blessing day

day of minor surgery (getting hemangioma removed)

happy girl in her helmet

just happy

happy 1st birthday

so excited to be walking

at family pictures

18 months

happy 2nd birthday

March for Babies walk 2011

Jessie the cowgirl for Halloween 2011

my big 3 year old

holding baby brother

pictures

We finally had some professional pictures taken of Noelle and Mikey. Thanks to my mom for suggesting it. I didn't want to only because I didn't want to deal with all that goes on with picture taking without Michael. However having my mom there made it much much easier. We got them done right after Noelle's dentist appointment which could have been bad. But it wasn't and they turned out so cute. They are about a month old however. And we're going to do some family photos in the late spring sometime.

Sometimes I ask Noelle "Who are my sweethearts?" and she'll say "Noelle and Mikey!"
She's right!

Don't you just love the drool on Mikey's shirt?

Noelle and her silly smile sometimes :)

It's nice to have some recent pictures of my adorable kiddos. They look so much like each other. And they sure do love each other too!