Photo Dump

Here are some other random shots that I have taken over the last few weeks. My computer is shitting the bed, and I am not able to upload pics to it anymore for some reason. So I have to wait til the time is right to blog on BJ's computer. Hence my slacking lately!

More eating pics of Sissy...



Clara and I goofing around!


Cash and I made laundry soap a few weeks ago...



My quest for two smiling kids at the same time continues...



Clara joining us at the dinner table!




A picture for Aunt An! There is one floating around this blog of Cash in the same onesie :)



Baby feet getting ready for a bath...

Pre-School for Cash!

Cash started pre-school in the beginning of January. He goes two days a week for two hours. Not a ton, but enough for him to start to be independant. There are 11 little kids in Ms.Susie's class. He comes out with a huge smile on his face when I pick him up. They do lots of projects and sing songs. When I drop him off, he goes to the "toy room" and he could care less that I am leaving. Lately he has been crying for me in the middle of class, but Ms.Susie can usually distract him enough for him to stop. He says he misses me, but always says he had "sooo much fun." We recently went to the bowling alley on a field trip! Next month...Wal-Mart!

Rice cereal anyone?..

I went ahead and started Clara on rice cereal. I thought it may help get her sleeping longer stretches at night. No such luck...yet. She seems to like it, and is getting the hang of the spoon already. I just have given her it for dinner so far, but after her check-up, Dr.Henyon said that we should work up to 3 meals a day by the time she is 6 months old. I actually added some mashed banana to the cereal last night, and she slopped it up! I don't blame the girl, just rice cereal and breastmilk isn't that exciting!

Clara...4 Months

Clara is 4 months already!! She had her check-up on Thursday. She is growing like a weed and healthy as can be :) She is 14 lbs 1 oz and 24 1/4 inches long. Right in the middle of the growth charts. I am still exclusively nursing her, and it's proving to be good for growing girls! We did start rice cereal for dinner last week. I dilute it down pretty heavily with breastmilk so once she realized what it is she perks right up for more bites. It didn't take her long to start opening her mouth for more when she sees the spoon coming her way!
Clara is still an easy baby for me. She is mellow and as long as she is fed and clean, you don't hear much out of her. I wish she was sleeping for longer stretches at a time, but I know if I am just a tad more patient, she will get there. I usually give her dinner around 4:30/5:00 ish, and then she gets in the bath. After nursing again around 7ish, she is off to bed. Her longest stretch of sleep is from 7 til about 10 or 11. After that, she is usually up every 2 hrs til morningtime. Of course, she is able to take a lenghthy nappy in the morning! However, it allows me to get Cash and I ready and tidy up the house before she is up for the day.

I still feel like she doesn't get the kind of attention that I wish I could give her. I guess the old saying is true...the squeeky wheel gets the grease. In this case, the talking, louder kid in the house gets most of the attention. When she eats right before going to bed at night, she often falls asleep. I carry her to her room and stand with her for a minute. Feeling her breath close to me, and trying to hold on to her and remembering that in an instant she will grow so fast. Trying desperately to remember it all, and to keep in mind that during crazy days when I didn't get to do all I wanted to do, this is the life and the family that I have always wanted.

Happy 4 months to my baby girl.

Peace Out 2011

So I sit down to write the first blog of the year and wrap up another years past. I just poured myself a glass of pinot, a reward of sorts for surviving the day and peacefully tucking in two small kids for the night. Sometimes looking back upon the year that has slid by can seem like not much goes on from day to day.
But I figure a year that starts out with this....





...and ends with this, isn't really all that bad.







We *survived* another year in Butte, America. They call it that, not I ;) While the town itself has still not grown on me, since, well I will be honest...it's NOT Bozeman, some of the people I have met have. I would hate to admit outloud that I have begun to put down roots in this god-for-saken town, but to make my life run a bit smoother day to day I have tried and succeeded to meet some friends. A small group of other transplant, stay-at-home Moms and I now have eachother to lean on and bitch to about the weirdness of this town. We often get together for playdates throughout the week, and now have a monthly "mama needs a night out with other girls and a few or three cocktails"...to look forward to. And while none of these other girls is my family, (that I miss terribly on a daily basis and wish with all my might I could see them all more often) I feel some sort of bond with them.

Cash has grown tons in the last year. We watched a video of him from last year and laughed. We thought he talked to well!! It's so weird to have a full on conversation with the kid!! He is starting to say things like "wow, that's cool" or "hey mom watch this, it's so awesome!" Apparently he has learn the jive talk in the last year. His attitude has also grown plenty in the last few months! Terrible 2's aint got nothin' on terrible 3's....just sayin'! All in all I can't complain, he is a sweet boy and loves his baby sis to pieces. Cash's biggest accomplishment this year was being potty trained! Woot! Got him outta diapers with a few months break in time to have baby sissy come along.

BJ traveled at least once a week most of the year. He still really likes his job. Too bad it's in Butte is an often comment around here. Ok, from my mouth....not his...


It was the year of babies in this family. Welcoming our daughter and a new nephew were the highlight of the year. Signs that everything is changing and nothing ever stays the same, no matter how much it feels like nothing changes at all.

So with an almost empty glass of wine in my hand....

Cheers to you two thousand one-two!