Happy Easter

I had a rough night last night, William thought it would be "fun" to stay awake from 11pm until almost 3 am! This afternoon I noticed 2 more teeth broke through the gums (between yesterday and today) and now he is offically WALKING!!!! Help me please, I have 2 wild kids!!! Today I kept myself extremely caffinated just to function! It was a very rough day, Nathalie was cranky and pressing my nerves all.day.long. William was clingy and I really just wanted to go lay in bed all.day.long but of course that didn't happen! We went to my Mom and Dad's house (minus Sam b/c he was working) and by the end of the day I upset my Mom, I had two screaming kids and I was ready to rip my hair out! I have horrible knots in my neck and shoulders (I'm guessing stress related?) and I do have egg dying pics from today, but am much too lazy to post, but will do so later! We have a busy week this week as friends arrive tomorrow from out of town! Padre game tomorrow night for Nathalie and Mama! Sea World on Wed and the Wild Animal Park on Thursday, so if you don't hear anything from us this week thats why! Lets just hope I get some sleep tonight! Its 1130 and I'm hoping William is down until at least 3 or 4 maybe longer, wouldnt that be great!

11 months old

Dear William;

I can't believe that you are 11 months old today, and that in one short month you will be a year old! You now have 6 teeth and love to eat anything we let you get your hands on! Over the past couple of days you have begun walking! Its amazing and sad all in one, I can't believe how fast my baby is growing up! You still love to snuggle with both your Mama and Dada, and we cherish every minute of it as we know there will come a point when you wont want our hugs and kisses all the time! You have really begun to enjoy playing with your big sister Nathalie, and she loves to play with you too! Once in a while we have to watch you, because you tend to use her head as a handle, and pull her hair in order to stand up! William Richard, it amazes me how fast the past 11 months have flown by, you are our gift and we cherish you! love ya Mom!

long weekend.overtired.

and yet here I am posting a blog? What am I thinking? who knows?! Yesterday I had to work all day, and came home to overtired kids and hubby! The minute I walked in the door I had kids attacking me and husband escaping to the computer for a few minutes of much needed alone time! See William is having a hard week, and putting him down hasn't been much of an option! So after the handoff Sam looked at me and said, I just need a few minutes (which I completely understand!) He reemerged from the bedroom and said Nathalie, want a bath? He got both kids into the bath at which point they both started whining for me, Nathalie began crying that she was scared (mind you this kid loves the bath) so I went in washed her up wrapped her up in her towel and held her (she never lets me hold her) uh oh I thought she's not feeling well! After about 30 minutes I said hey honey lets put on your jammies and your night time pull up! OK mama I'm tired (she never admits to being tired) off to bed she went without the slightest complaint! less than 5 minutes passed and she opens her door and says mommy i poopoed, it was the yuckiest thing I've ever seen like water out of her but! this was the begining of the night, this occured all night long, between her and nursing William I think I slept about 2 hours last night! This morning she seemed to be doing better, until I decided to go to the store to get her some probiotics, she threw up everywere in the store, instantly saying "i'm sorry mama" I told her everything was ok and that I understood she didnt feel well, we made our purchases and left! She only threw up one more time (thank goodness) and took a 2 hour nap, without me asking her to nap, she got up on my mom's couch and fell asleep on her own! So as for tonight, Sam is sleeping in Nathalie's room with her and I am in our room with William! Hopefully, it'll go better than last night, as I get to go to work again tomorrow morning!

Supply and Demand

So I recently have seen online several variatons of the Mom and baby Supply and Demand T-shirts! And I think they are fantastic! but 58 dollars for a matching set is a little bit (ok a lot bit) out of my budget! So I thought to myself, Hey I could totally make those for William and I, because even though I am not the craftiest person, even I can turn on the iron occasionally! So I did and it cost me 9.99 vs. 58 dollars, woo hoo, here is the finished result! I can't wait for us to wear them! I know I'm a dork, but I'm proud of my dorkiness through and through!

kids say the darndest things....

Nathalie has reached an age (she'll be 3 in May) where she says the cutest appropriate and not so appropriate things. Over the past week a few of the things she's said that I thought I'd share with all of you follow in this post!

1) one day last week I was frustrated because I had both hands full and was talking to Sam on the phone, so I said in a somewhat frustrated tone (although it wasn't directed at him) "i've really gotta go now bye" and Nathalie's response, "mama is daddy being a jerk?" um no where did she get that from uh oh?!

2) Today she was flushing the toilet after going pee (as she still does not poop on the toilet :( ) and she said "bye bye pee pee, tell your mama hi" I asked "what Nathalie" she replied, "the pee pee is going home to see its mama" oh I see of course it is!

3) William was fussing and she said "mom William wants boob" gee kid thanks for pointing out the obvious, I replied " I know that William wants milk honey", she said "mom I cant like boob milk, I just like the milk thats in the fridge" okay that makes since, she continued and said "mom dad doesnt like boob milk either." Indeed I have a pretty smart kid lol!

look at William

an adorable picture that my sister shot today when she came by to visit, you can see how big he's getting! He is saying Hello to his Dantie in this picture, I loved it so much that I thought I'd share it with all of you!

video montage!

a video montage I made today!

http://www.onetruemedia.com/my_shared?z=170262d12c05300ab45e81&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

school

It has been decided that I will go back to school! Either this Summer or Fall depending on class scheduling! I have my BA in English Literature from SDSU, and the semester before I graduated I decided that I thought I no longer wanted to be a teacher! After about a semester of substitute teaching, I decided I would further my education, to pursue becoming a pharmacist! I took several science and math classes over the course of about 2 years, I then became pregnant with Nathalie! When Nathalie was an infant I took one night class and it was hard, then I became pregnant with William! Well, now that I am done having kids (remember Sam had a vasectomy) I really want to go back to school! I have 3 full year long classes left to take as prerequisites for pharmacy school, and two labs! Calculus, Biology and Organic Chemistry! And then there's pharmacy school which takes 3 to 4 years, but at the end of it I'll Be Dr. Erika Long, and will make upwards of 95k a year! So as I am about to embark on this adventure I will fight to remain an attached mother 2 my two beautiful children, a loving wife to my dh, a sensitive daughter, sister and friend!

my daughter the ham!

Nathalie singing the ABC's for Dantie
http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a121/scarika/?action=view&current=MOV00998.flv

update on Nathalie's adventures in Potty Learning!

ok so I'm kinda afraid to post on this topic, especially since the last time I did, I totally jinxed it! However; Nathalie is mostly Learned! Last week I decided to give it another shot and it was amazing, she even wears underwear in public! we still have a ways to go, as she is not night trained, and is somewhat afraid (ok very afraid) of pooping on the toilet!but its progress and i'm okay with that!

William eating a plum

baby steps (gasp)

William has been taking a step here or there for about a month now. Today Nana came by to watch Nathalie for me for about an hour and William took 4 steps to her! It was so cute and amazing, and it made Nana feel SOOO important! I can't believe my baby is on the verge of toddlerhood!

Nathalie as a Momma?!

Nathalie: come here William you want some milk from my boobie?

Me: Honey, only mommies booby has milk for William

Nathalie: Oh, When I have a baby will my boobies have milk?


I love it!

What I did last night/this morning

Ever since I found out I was pregnant with William 19 months ago, and I realized that my kids would share the same birth month, I dreamed of designing a tatto to tribute both of my offspring. My kids are Tarus' (the bull) and my "angels". Last night I got my tattoo, in the middle of my upper back. This is my 2nd tattoo but so much more meaningful (and painful) than the first, but worth every second of pain. It took about 3 hours and as soon as I walked in the door at 345 this am, I got to nurse William lol.....I love my kids and here is the extra proof! It is red and Shiny because Nichole took this picture immeadiatly after completion, once it heals up in a couple weeks, we'll take a real pic to show you all!

10 months old!

Dear William;
You are now 10 months old, and I cannot believe it! This month you have had many new developments. Your top 2 teeth broke through the gum yesterday, which means in a months time you should have 4 teeth showing! You now stand up without assistance, and take a few steps here and there; however, you prefer to crawl because its faster! You climb on everything, we have to watch you constantly! Your sister runs from you and says "mom the monster is coming!" lol. Your favorite game is peek-a-boo and you will pull any object you can find up over your face and then pull it down waiting for one of us to say "peek-a-boo" to you, and then you laugh and laugh! Its so hard for me to believe that in just 2 months you will be a year old! I love you dear son!
love your mom!

beautiful day!

Today is such a beautiful day! Nathalie crawled into our bed shortly after midnight last night, and Sam said, "come on honey, lets go into your room". Nathalie said, "No, Dadda, you go in my room I'll stay here and sleep with Mama and William" and so it went! I love those times though, because Nathalie almost always sleeps in later when in bed next to her brother and I, and this was no exception, the three of us slept until about 8 am! Once we drug ourselves out of bed we ate some cereal, got dressed and walked up to java mama! We met a friend up their to go to their Little one's Yoga class. Both kids really benefited from the walk and Nathalie loved the Yoga class that she participated in today! It was amazing, it was only E and Nathalie, so just the 2 kids, I couldn't believe it! After yoga and a brief bit of playing, as it became overwhelmingly crowded, we walked over to my sister's salon for Nathalie to get a bang trim, and then made the walk back home. William took a nice nap in the stroller on the way back! So Nathalie enjoyed this time even more, because it was one on one time with mommy, even with brother an arms reach away! I am waiting to get my used WAHM mei tai in the mail, and can't wait, because I know if William would have been napping in that he wouldn't have woken up when we got home! It's now 2 o'clock and I have to work at 6 tonight so I have some time to clean up a bit around here, or just be lazy, I'm thinking that the latter sounds like a much better option!

new toy

what did we buy our kids now? right thats what your thinking I know it.... NO my friends its what we bought ourselves....A NEW COMPUTER...I am so excited I am so excited oh wait did I just say that twice sorry oops! Anyways, the most exciting part is that I AM FINALLY ABLE TO UPLOAD PICTURES AGAIN! So now my friends you will be inundated with pictures woo hoo I know your excited....and just to spice up this post here are some Pictures of Nathalie and William from todays trip to the zoo. Oh and a couple more things...The last picture is of Dylan (Nathalies buddy) and Nathalie....and I will go back and update old posts with pictures but not right now, as I must go cook dinner....(er I mean heat up already made dinner...details details).

redemption

so the flu carrying child mentioned in the previous post passed on her germies (no big surprise) and as the flu seems to be leaving our house William seems to be the only one who didn't suffer (woo hoo). 2 days ago was when I hit the worst of this bug and dh totally redeemed himself in several ways but the two most important are 1) He left work to come care for the kids so I could attach myself to the toilet and sleep (not simutanouesly)...and 2) as I was attached to the toilet he says to me "William is so lucky to have you as a mama, its because your still nursing him that hes not sick like all of us" AWWWW I am appreciated!

you should probably get comfortable...warning whining post ahead

I havent posted in 2 weeks. Life is just getting away from me! I'd like to say I have been busy accomplishing things, but thats not reality. I'm stressed out, a little depressed and have been caring for a vomiting and diahrea producing almost 3 year old since Friday! I have been getting horrible headaches lately, complaining about everything imaginable and completely unmotivated to do anything! For about 7 of the last 14 days I think I've remained in pajamas the entire day, the other 7 only dressing myself in order to go to work! I haven't gone grocery shopping in over 2 weeks and we are eating very creative meals as a result ( minus the aforementioned ill almost 3 yr old) . I'm tired all the time, lacking motivation and dizzy with regret. I often (recently) have felt anger towards my husband, for not being more helpful with the kids, when we are both home together. I often feel like I am a single mother yet I'm not and I don't want to be! I confronted my husband regarding these issues last night and he has been kissing my ass ever since, which is not what I'm after either! I explained to him, as I now will to all you that I become frustrated that on the days he works his 8 hours, when he comes home he expects me to make dinner, bathe the kids etc, explaining that he is so tired from his day at work, on the days I work 8 hours he expects the same! Don't get me wrong I love my family and my life, but sometimes I too need a small break granted my work is not (physically) as hard as his (and yes I am reminded of this often)....I truly love my dh despite all of this and hope you all dont think I don't; however, over these past couple weeks I have reached a breaking point, slowly sinking into a black oblivion, I feel like I'm treading water and fighting to catch my breath... I struggle to make everyone else happy and realize I really need to make myself happy first! Alright well thank you all for listening to me vent!

9 in 9 out

William is 9 months old. And this day has found me both happy and sad. I can't believe that my baby has been out in this world for the same length of time that he was inside of me!

Dear William;

9 months old already? Momma can hardly believe it! You are an amazing little boy with piercing blue eyes and a soft side for your mama. You have begun experiencing separation anxiety, and want me or dad in your site at all times! I am so happy that you love us so much, a lot of people I know wonder why, but to me it assures us of just how much you love and depend on us! I love you little tank!