Randomness

First off, I blurbed my blog (printed it into a book). I love it! I'm hoping Tay and Corinne will read it one day and have a clear picture of what their early childhood was like. It's such a great way to keep up my end of genealogy. No one will ever have to do much digging to find out who I was or what I was thinking. So on that note, I've been thinking about how I should be blogging on what's happening across the nation....and on our street.

We live in a brand new home. I love it. I had to pinch myself repeatedly when we moved in. It was new, big, and ours!!! However, we bought it knowing that our property taxes were high and that we'd need a kick back from our loan company every four months to pay those taxes. "No problem," we thought, " we get a kick back every couple of months with the loan we were lucky enough to get, and we'll just put it straight to our taxes. We have it made!"....Fast forward almost 2 years, and the economic crisis that everyone is worried about has actually hit close to home. To put it simply, our loan depends on the value of our home and the homes around us. If all of our values drop, the loan is no longer available. Sure, we can get another loan...but without the kick back that we depend on for our taxes. So what to do? We have four, yes FOUR, foreclosures on our street. Luckily, we're not in that position and will never be. We have a lot of options that we're exploring, so no need to hold a telethon in our honor just yet. But it puts a strain on things. Luckily, we both have great jobs and I'm still able to stay home with the kids all but two days during the week. I wouldn't give that up for anything. So we'll just have to wait it out. For the first time in my adult life, I ran to the TV when President Obama was giving his address last night. He talks a good talk, so we'll just have to see if he can walk the walk. I like him. Don't get me wrong. I feel hopeful when I hear him speak to our country. He's a passionate speaker and someone who has instilled that passion in it's citizens this last year. He's a politician, so who knows what's going on behind the scenes, but I really hope that he'll pull us out of this mess. I'd been debating on whether or not to blog on this topic. After all, it's embarrassing to admit we haven't exactly "moved on up" like George and Weezy the way we had hoped to by now. No one could have predicted the way the economy would turn. I've seen it touch our life, and every member of my family. Some of which are business owners who have felt the worst effects of all of this. But I still feel blessed to have a healthy family, and a husband who will always provide and take care of us. We are extremely blessed.

Totally off topic, we had a lovely Valentine's Day. My Grandpa came from Vegas to visit Corinne for the first time and we sat around with the fam and had a great dinner. Corinne is getting so big. I swear, I nurse her normally and she barely has any bottles but this kid's growing like a weed. Wes is the best at getting her to smile and we're slowly, very slowly, trying to get her to sleep more at night. Taylor's doing her part to ease the financial burden of two kids by FINALLY getting potty trained. She's been awesome at it and we're only using diapers at nap time and bed time. Hallelujah!!!! She's been rewarded handsomely with treats and a recent visit to Chuck E. Cheese with Grandpa. Every kid has their currency. I'm still adjusting to life with two kids. I think I've been doing pretty good though. We go on our outings to the library, the park, and the mall with little drama. I wake up every morning a little less terrified than the morning before. We haven't made it back to church though. We have a nine 'o clock session and a six week old baby. You do the math. We have every intention of going this week.=) Our family is the best, and has been a tremendous help. I don't know how we'd survive without them.

Corinne, 5 weeks

My Granpda, Tay and Corinne's Great Grandpa Celebrating Grandpa's birthday on VDay

Taylor quote to wrap up:

(Taylor running away from Daddy)
Daddy: Taylor Jessica!!
Taylor: Daddy Jessica!!!

Apparently she doesn't know that Jessica is only HER middle name. LOL.

One Month Update

A buffet of topics that have been swimming around in my sleep deprived mind...

THE GIRLS- Corinne will be a month tomorrow. In some ways the time has just flown by. It feels like I was just in the hospital holding her for the first time. In other ways, it feels like she's been here forever. I can't say we've settled into any kind of routine yet with two girls to look after. Some days are easy and I think I have it all figured out, and some days are hard (mainly due to sleep deprivation, my arch nemesis). Like last week, I had almost 24 hours alone with both girls. We did a few errands, went to the library, and I actually got them to sleep at the same time. I considered that day a roaring success. But then there are days that I feel like I'm sleep walking and feel tremendously guilty that both girls at least once during the day, got the short end of the stick. If I'm nursing Corinne and Tay wants to play. Or if I'm playing with Tay, and Corinne needs to be held but is placed on the floor, all but ignored. AHHHH! It gets easier and easier, and I try to ignore the feelings of complete inadequacy that I feel from time to time. Tay, for the most part, has been wonderful. For some reason though, she's been acting up around company but is an angel when it's just the immediate family. Weird. My friend appropriately calls this the "Button Pushing Age." I'd have to agree with that. We're still trying to figure out how to discipline. Time outs? Spankings =(? We're testing the waters. The first born feels like a guinea pig of sorts.

THE TWILIGHT SERIES- I finished the Twilight series. No offense to Wes, but my Gosh I'd love to have a vampire boyfriend after reading these books. LOL. They lived up to the hype and I'm really depressed that I've finished them. I think I might actually read them again before I move on to something else. I'm afraid to see the movie, because I get the feeling that there's no way it could live up to the books.

FRIENDS- I need some gal pals to hang out with. I'm feeling a little isolated in the house with this cruddy weather. I've had little to no success in the friend department lately. It's kind of a bummer. I blame the computer. I'm on face book and blogger where I correspond with my friends everyday, but I never actually see anyone.

DR'S APT.- Tay went to her 2 year check up last week (a few months late.) I have to say it was pretty darn funny. Tay was crying when they weighed her, for heaven's sake. She then proceeded to blab to the Dr. saying, "I don't want you to take my diaper off," and telling him what color the stethoscope was. He said language was a sign of intelligence and that she seemed pretty intelligent for her age. I wasn't surprised, the proud mommy that I am. She talks SO much. Just the other day she told me that she didn't want to wash her hands when I asked her to after lunch. She said, "Mommy, I just want to sit down and relax." I thought that was pretty funny. The Dr. also commented that at age 2 they have a rough idea of how tall a toddler will grow to be. According to him, she could be 6 ft. 2 in.!!!!!!! My mom and I just gasped at that. WNBA, here we come. Wes is banking on a scholarship.

Tays first hair cut