Why?

I just payed some hospital bills and I am more stressed out now than I was before I started! How is that possible??

.............

I am not a fan of today. Today is the day Dale has to head back to work after his 3 month paternity leave. He is still in school for 3 more weeks so that means that I wont see him from 7 in the morning until 10:30 at night!

Its the first day and it could not be more horrible! The girls woke up early so I didn't get hardly any sleep, Mak wont stay asleep which means that I am confined to the couch feeding her and Riley wont listen to anything I say!

I feel bad for her because she wont ever see her daddy! His schedule is like this Tuesday through Friday! I seriously am crying thinking about all this! I don't know how many times I have already done this to myself today! I have some separation issues.....

This would be so much easier with Dale here! He can get Mak to sleep and stay asleep and I cant. He was always so good at getting Riley lunch on time and I cant do that because Makenna is always eating or NOT sleeping. Riley is getting NO attention because i am to busy catering to the always needing to be held Makenna.

I don't think this arrangement is going to work out for anybody here! I am so close to just telling Dale to forget his job and just go to school all day! At least he will be able to be home in the afternoons and I would get some sort of sanity during the day!

This is just the first day........

What makes me happy......

I LOVE sitting here at the computer holding Makenna and just listening to her coo like crazy!!!!!! It is the most adorable thing ever!

Also watching Riley Bug Play with her over loved stuffed piggy. Putting him in the swing swinging him with her hands giving him a bink and loving him up like he is her baby!

Also....Having to type this with one hand!

I am glad I get to stay at home!!!

Mak Attack!

I realized that I haven't done an update about Mak! I need to do it for myself before I forget it all!

Mak is THE CHUNK! She FEEDS all day! I said it...... She doesn't just eat, she feeds...Its a constant! People don't really believe me that almost all the time if she is awake she is eating! She might be happy for 20 minutes after eating a 4oz bottle but that could be the longest she goes with out having a bottle in her mouth! I think ONCE we got a good hour out of her....ONCE!

With that being said, her thighs are to die for! I could eat them all day! Roll after roll! And of course her cheeks are amazing as well! I kiss those non stop!

At her first doctors appointment after she was born her doctor called her his Miracle baby because she had gained all off the weight she lost after birth plus quite a bit more! At her check up appointments She has been in the 75th percentile for weight, and height. At her last appointment she weighed Just over 12lbs! We were so excited! With Riley we didn't see that weight for a while! Mak at just 11 weeks old weighs HALF of what Riley weighs!

Mak is quite the high maintenance baby! Riley was so different. Riley loved to be left alone she could have cared less if someone was holding her. I could get everything done that I needed. I would just put her in her bouncer and talk to her while I did my "jobs." Mak is the COMPLETE opposite! She loves and needs to be held ALL THE TIME! We really can get nothing done! Unless she is sleeping but even then we have to watch her amazingly close because Riley is a hawk and will attack at the first sign of being alone! She hates that Mak has to sleep and will do anything to stop it! The only way we can get Mak to not be held and be happy is if we lay her on the floor on her back with a boppy under her head while we hover over her and talk to her! She loves it! She gets so happy she gives us the biggest smiles and will talk like crazy! Well, to Dale at least! She doesn't talk to me all that much but I do get lots of smiles! She could talk forever to Dale! She is SUCH a Daddy's little girl!

She is sleeping through the night now! AMAZING! She falls asleep for good at about 10:30 every night and then will wake up at around 8 every morning! Sometimes we have to get up with her at 6 feed her a couple ounces and she will fall right back to sleep! During the day is a different story! She will sleep for a few hours at a time if she is in her swing but during the day she WILL NOT sleep in her bed! If we get her drowsy we can put her in the swing and she will fall asleep pretty quickly with it rocking her. If we even try to get her to sleep ourselves then put her in the bed she will wake up 5 minutes later! We really don't try that any more.

Since Makennas first tries at rolling over she does it every few days! Last night she rolled over three times in a row and after that didn't want to do it anymore! She is figuring out her hands pretty well and has started to reach for things! She grabbed one of her rattles out of my hand the other day and brought it to her mouth! It is very exciting! I forgot about all the little things that were so exciting to watch happen with Riley! All the little things that seem just so little are huge for a baby and are so exciting to watch her learn how to do!

Riley loves her Mak! Riley loves now that Mak will smile at her if she can just handle to not kiss her for 2 seconds and just talk to her from a comfortable distance! She gets so excited! Riley has boundary issues and Mak does not like it when Riley gets in her face but if she stays back both girls are really happy!

We love Makenna and the role she plays in our life and we couldn't be happier!

Trick or Treat!!

We had a lot of fun this Halloween! We had a lot to do an unfortunately didn't get to do all of it but we got all the really fun stuff done!! The day before Halloween we went to Jamie's house to get the girls pictures in their Halloween costumes. Riley was all cheese!! When Jamie takes pictures she will not stop smiling for her!! She was happy to do all we wanted her to do! Even Mak was really cooperative! We got some amazing smiles out of her!

Every time Riley puts on her costume she has to say "Super hero to the rescue!!" and put her arm up in the air like she was flying! I could have heard that all day. (and I pretty much did!) She wanted to wear her costume everyday from the day we bought it! When we went to the store to buy her Snow White costume we had it all picked out and then Riley saw the wonder woman costume and there was no looking back! I couldn't have been more happy!! And neither could she!

When we went to go get pictures taken Brittany brought Cayden and Addie along and we got the CUTEST pictures of them!!

Cayden was such a big help and was brave enough to hold Mak to get a cute group shot!!

These two girls get along so well and are SOO cute together!! They love each other to death!

They are the funniest group of kids! The second Dale said "Make funny faces!" they knew EXACTLY what to do!! They are the cutest group of superheroes EVER!!

Then there is our Makenna... She has the BEST smiles I have ever seen!!!!! every time i see this smile i giggle a little! I just cant help it! She was the cutest kitty there was this Halloween and for all Halloweens to come!

The night of Halloween we went to Mom and Dad Whipple's ward trunk or treat! Its always a lot of fun. We make sure we go every year! This year they had a huge bouncy gym blow up slide! (I really cant think of what they are called!) For the first little bit Dad Whipple was stuck by the slide while he watched Riley slide over and over and over! We were able to pull her away for a bit but then it was right back to the slide! It was not fun when we had to leave but she was fine once we were able to go trick or treating!

Dale let me have fun again this year and we got all dressed up as pirates!

Aren't we so cute?!?! Ha ha

We cut the trick or treating a little this year and pretty much just went to the houses of people we knew so we didn't end up walking 5 miles but Riley still got LOADS of candy which Dale and I are really enjoying ;) It was really fun to have Riley really understand what was going on and to have as much fun dressing up as we did! I cant wait until Mak understands everything and can walk around with Riley and have fun doing everything!

Roll on!

Baby Mak Rolled over TWICE today with no help!! Her strong thick legs are being put to use for something other than kicking my ribs!!! Ha ha It could be a fluke and she might not do it again for another little while who knows.......but we sure are excited about it!

Halloween- According to Riley

So Riley has decided Un-decided then decided again! I think this All Hallows Eve Roller Coaster Ride is (almost) through!

So the last post clearly states what everyone was supposed to be for Halloween according to Riley. But of course a three year old that had made up her mind was too good to be true.

As for now Riley has decided for good what we are all to dress up as.

Dale and I will now BOTH be pirates! I was really looking forward to seeing Dale in a Big green bag of felt with an eye on it! But I am also glad I dont have to spend the money on all that felt!

It has been decided that Mak will be a kitty! I am SOOOOO Excited to see her cute little face painted up with whiskers and a black nose and cute little kitty ears!

Riley has decided that she will be Snow White! I am Happy she finally picked her princess of choice! (secretly I was hoping that I could show her the picture of Wonder woman enough that she would want to be her! I would have loved that!) Part of this decisions comes from the fact that I told her we could get her dress form Target! She (soooo like her mother) has a very unhealthy obsession with this store! Whatever it is, as long as it comes from target, is gold to her!

Poor Dale

I am so excited for Halloween! I cant wait to start putting all of these things together!

Decided

So Dale and I had it all figured out what we were going to be for Halloween. Then we received a Party City catalog in the mail. While I was browsing through it simply to see how ridiculously expensive certain Halloween costumes can be, Riley caught me! She started looking through it and decided that SHE was going to decide what everyone was going to dress up as! She has even figured out what two of her cousins are going to be!!

So it has been decided! (sort-of)

Riley will Be a Disney princess.... Right now it keeps bouncing between Snow White and Sleeping Beauty! I am hoping it will end on Snow white because I can picture her hair with its new short cut all up in curls with an adorable red ribbon in it!

Makenna at one point was a lamb then she was a kitty and now it is back to lamb. I personally wish it was a kitty I can picture her cute nose all painted up with whiskers and a cute little Kitty whiskers!

Riley has definitely decided that Dale will be a monster! She doesn't really care what kind so Dale suggested he be MIKE WAZOWSKI!! (you really do have to shout it for the full effect!) Dale is all for having fun for Halloween and I LOVE it!! I can picture him now! AWESOME!

It has been decided that I be a Pirate! I am actually pretty excited about that!! I can get some fun boots and tights and carry around a sword all night!

As for her cousins... Riley has decided that Cayden will be a Panda. (although this is probably the last thing he wants to be) And Addie will be a Piggy!

I guess I didn't think about Riley being able to choose her OWN outfit. I figured next year would start that but she is having fun with it and wont stop talking about every ones costumes! I love it! I have a new found love for Halloween!

I liked Halloween as a kid but mostly for just the candy. Now that I have Kids of my own I really want my kids to grow to love it for the fun of dressing up and the creepy fun decorations!

I am glad I can still have fun with it! (But next year I am going to throw away the party city catalog before Riley can even think of looking at it!)

Halloween....

If you can remember last year. We had a lot of fun! And Dale is letting me torture him again this year! I am having a lot of fun trying to think of Halloween ideas for this year but nothing fits quite as perfectly as the Flintstones did last year....... So after some thought this is what I have come up with that actually works for our family! I CANT decide......Input needed! ha ha


1.) Dale: Mr. Pac Man
Cajsa: Mrs Pac Man
Riley: Inky (Blue ghost)
Makenna: Pinky (Pink Ghost)
This was my original but I have found a few other soo fun ones!

2.) Pirates and Parrots. Parents are the pirates.... Girls are the parrots!
Cant you just picture adorable Little Mak dressed as a parrot? Riley would have so much pretending to be a bird all night! lol

3.) Hot dog vendors: Dale and I
Hot dogs: Riley and Mak
We can deck the stroller out to look like a hot dog cart... Again Cant you picture the girls as hot dogs!

4.) This one we could do with the pirate and parrot..... Dale could be the pirate and Mak could be the parrot I could be a flower and Riley could be the Bumble bee!

These are our faves but Dale and I have really hard times making up our minds!!!!

Just a thought.......

The "terrible twos" were N.O.T.H.I.N.G compared to this!

I had a calm and pretty well mannered 2 year old! I thought I was soooo lucky!

Then birthday number 3 came and I realized that she was just waiting for the worst possible time to explode!

Begger

So do you remember the story about a little girl who's life is too hard to bear that she has to beg for food wherever we go, and actually gets it??

She is back to her old tricks!!

On Monday we went to go watch Dale play softball with his friend and Riley was getting restless so I decided to go get her a treat. Good choice for a girl who is already restless right?? I know GREAT parenting skills I have! Anyway, we head to the concession stand and she chooses a Ring Pop! While trying to decide she wins over the girls running the place and left them with a smile!

A little later on I was trying my best to figure out what Makenna wanted (she was being a little difficult but luckily I had help!) and I lost track of Riley for a minute! Next thing I know Riley is running back from the concession stand with a Air Head! I Look to the girls running it thinking maybe they were helping someone else and she heisted a piece of candy without their knowledge... NOT Riley!! No that girl has a technique all her own!! They were staring after her with huge smiles on their faces. Obviously They had been struck by the amazing powers of Riley!

I grabbed my wallet and prepared to pay them for the dollar or so that the thing might have cost but no she didn't want it!

Riley is pretty sneaky!

Then the other night Dale took us to Mesa Frozen Yogurt and while we were sitting there eating our yummy treats Riley decided that sharing wasn't enough for her! So she walked up to the girl at the counter and asked for her own "Ice Cream Cone." I told Riley that she was fine and she could share but of course the girl wouldn't let that happen! She handed Riley her own little tester cup full of vanilla frozen yogurt! Riley was the happiest little girl!

You know, I really cant blame them for giving her things! It might have something to do with this............


But I guess we may never know!

Trouble

My Sister Jamie took these BEAUTIFUL pictures of Makenna this weekend! I LOVE LOVE LOVE them! We are SURE to be in trouble with this one!

These Cheeks!!


These eyes!














Ummmmmm..............




Better make that DOUBLE!!!!

Please!

PLEASE GO HERE!

MORE TO COME!!!!

Arent those cheeks amazing!

Check out the post below this one for the cutest stinkin picture of The Bug too!

I am DYING!

Jamie........ You Are AWESOME!

Age Complex

For some reason the past year or so I have had the mindset that I am somehow older than I actually am. I am pretty sure that its been this way since Riley turned 2 maybe for a little while before that.

Dale and I were talking about this last night we both FEEL older than we are. Not in the physical sense but mentally I think we both think of ourselves as 35. Not that there is anything wrong or even remotely old about that age, I know plenty of people 35 and older that seem just as young as they did 10-12 years ago. But because we are 22 and 25 and think we are that much older than we are, by the time we are actually 35 how old will we feel then?

I hear of things to do and I think " Wait, what am I thinking I cant do those things! I have a family and responsibilities. I cant go do those things that other people my age are doing!" Then I have to remind myself that I AM only 22 and although I realize that being a mother means it takes longer to do things, that you have to take a few more steps to get out of the house and go somewhere, it doesn't mean I cant do them. It doesn't mean I am old.

Maybe this is pointless rambling maybe no matter how many times I try to convince myself I am still only 22 I will always feel older and that I cant do certain things any more. I don't really know!

Let me count the ways.....

1. I LOVE Makennas smiles! They are no weak smiles either...they come complete with wrinkled nose and gums galore! ADORABLE!

2. I LOVE when said smiles are accompanied by an adorable hefty baby chuckle! (You would think those would contradict themselves.... you haven't heard this laugh! Its amazing!)

3. I LOVE to kiss those amazingly soft fluffy cheeks! (hands, toes, belly, and those full pouty delicious lips! YUMM!)

4. I LOVE to watch The Bug LOVE her little sister! The way she always wants to kiss her and love her! Riley ADORES her!

5. I (secretly) LOVE to watch the ways Riley tries to get more attention. She is pretty crafty!

6. I LOVE that Makenna eats ALL THE TIME!! (this is seriously not an exaggeration....she doesn't stop!)

I don't love that I cant nurse (especially when I had it figured out, pain free and all!) because my milk supply cant keep up with her eating needs or that she even REJECTS me when I do try to nurse because its not coming fast enough and there is not enough to make her happy.

But I LOVE it because she growing! She is becoming quite the chunk! I LOVE me some chunk! ;)

7. I LOVE that she already realizes the calming power of her Daddy!

I don't love struggling to get her to sleep but I do love that she instantly feels calm around him and that her favorite spot to sleep is on Dales chest!

I am pretty sure that Dale loves it just as much as she does!

8. I LOVE watching Dale with his girls! He handles it all with a calm I cant even begin to understand!

The screaming and the crying and the indecisive nature of our little one hardly gets to him! (the screaming and the crying mostly belongs to Riley)

9. I LOVE that Makenna wants to be held all the time! Riley was, and is, amazingly independent and has been from the second she was born. I love that about her but sometimes its nice to feel needed!

10. I love that Riley and Makenna have opposite personalities! It will make for an interesting life!

11. I LOVE that Dale has the next 3 months off of work and can come home from school and relieve some pressure from my mornings!

12. I LOVE that dale is so understanding and that when he comes home and realizes I am so terribly worn out and I need a break he will shoulder the responsibility of the 2 girls for a couple hours and let me take a nap!

He is AMAZING!

I could think of a million more things to add to this list but I will stop! I love my little family so much and its so fun to watch the different roles the girls play and how Dale and I are learning to juggle all of our new little responsibilities! It has been pretty rough trying to figure it out but secretly I have enjoyed almost every second of it!