Busy Busy Busy!!

We sure have been busy these last couple weeks.  I wish I could say it will slow down soon, but no chance of that. This is literally the 3rd time I have started this post!  Max started crawling a couple weeks ago and made me realize that while my home is child-proof it isn't very baby-proof.  He also got his first tooth!

We have been busy re-organizing our place yet again!  Both kids have grown out of many of the clothes in their drawers so it was time to put them into storage to make room for their current size clothing.  Whew!  What a job that was. 

Lizzie started preschool.  It's two other moms and myself on a rotation of teaching lessons twice a week.  She loves it but she think it's called "pretty school" :). 

I recently applied to a teaching credential program and have been busy gathering the necessary documents for that, plus substitute teaching about twice a week.  I even have a couple of jewelry shows lined up for the end of this month!  As much as I would have loved it, I am glad I decided to turn down the offer to help coach cross-country this season. 

Todd's football team started league so we are in the middle of football season, which is ALWAYS a busy time for the whole family.  We are 2-0 for regular season so far (a lot better than our pre-season record of 0-4)  Everyday before football he has stayed steadily busy with work at the apartments too.  Oh and he applied to Chabot to take a full load during the Spring semester.

I'm sure I am forgetting a few more things that have added to the chaos that is our lives, but we love it all.  I am just grateful for family and for the fact that we are able to do most of these activities together!!  We have managed to squeeze in some fun family outings which I will be posting shortly!

GLEE!!!

The new season of Glee begins exactly one week from today!!!

I don't even know where to start.  Our family is OBSESSED with the Fox tv show, "Glee".  I think it is the best thing on tv in a LONG time.  For those of you who haven't yet seen an episode, you are seriously missing out.  It is so fun to watch and even though I am a horrible singer, we absolutely LOVE singing along to all the songs from the last few seasons at home and in the car.  We each have our favorite songs.  Yes they are all cover songs, but just listen for yourself and you'll agree the Glee version sounds so much better for the most part. 

They have had guest appearances from Kristin Chenoweth & Idina Menzel of the original "Wicked" cast, who are absolutely amazing! The new season will have even more guest appearances by other talented singers as well. The lead actress Lea Michele, who plays Rachel on Glee is incredibly talented.  To quote my sister-in-law Jana, "I would kill to have her voice, not literally, but you know what I mean." The whole cast comes together really beautifully.  I was updating my playlist (see below) and found that they had a ton of glee songs which I now added.  So please, enjoy!!

FINALLY!

After nearly a year we finally have Internet!  I know I could have posted on my blog from other people's computers but I either would forget my camera to add pictures or alright alright no more excuses.....I will try to be a better blogger now.  Before, I just felt pathetic for having a blog that I never posted on, but after reuniting with many relatives who live very far away, a new feeling emerged.  GUILT! 

After my sister's wedding we had a big family BBQ.  The subject of blogs came up (not from me of course, I'm not that stupid).  All of sudden it was mentioned by one of my favorite people that it makes her sad that I never post anything because she never knows what we're up to/how we're doing/what my kids look like these days.  Everyone at the table chimed in with similar sentiments and I felt my cheeks getting hot. 

If keeping up with my blog for myself isn't motivation enough, then I will consider all of my friends & family members who actually care and even look forward to seeing my blog (and are immediately disappointed when they view it and see I haven't posted anything since February...it's September)

My goal will be to post something at least once or twice a week, depending on how cool our lives are at the moment.  I will also take special requests from anyone (within reason) in order to keep things flowing.  A special thank you to those who continue to check my blog every month or so in hopes I finally posted something.  It gives me hope for myself : )

Love you all!

The Flower Girl

My sister is getting married in July and Lizzie is going to be the flower girl.  This was taken a few months back when we went dress shopping.  She was so funny. She kept doing all these poses in the mirror (no one told her to either) and the funniest part was we could not get the dress off of her.  She refused to take it off and ran from anyone who dared to try.  Only 2 years old and already a diva?  Boy do I have my work cut out for me!

Our Baby is Here!!!

Maximus Jacob Beck arrived January 31, 2010 at 1:16pm. He weighed in at 8lb 14oz, 20 in long. I have to thank all who prayed I'd have a smooth delivery because I totally did!  I had been having contractions since Thursday night, but the real hard ones started coming Saturday night while I was at a crab feed.  I knew he was finally on his way.  I tried to labor at home as much as possible and while Todd and Lizzie slept, my contractions were getting stronger and stronger!  I didn't sleep a wink all night and we leftfor the hospital at 8 in the morning.  Dropped Liz off at the Becks' and were checked in at the hospital by 8:30am.  I was already at a 5, but the contractions weren't getting any closer.  We waited and waited, I was at a 9 to 10 around 12:30.  The nurses were awesome and held off on having me push for as long as possible so I wouldn't have to push very long. They gave me pitocin and FINALLY they were coming every 2-3 minutes.  10 minutes of pushing and he was here!! There were 2 knots in the umbilical cord and he was all blue.  We had no clue, but it was a good thing we moved it along because if they had gotten any tighter, he would have been cut off from oxygen. All the nurses kept calling him "miracle baby".  We are all doing well and now I am just getting used to having a boy!! Very different.  Liz is LOVING the big sister gig and is doing awesome with the whole adjustment.  Here are some pictures we took at the hospital...more recent ones to come!

My Baby Shower (#1)

I feel so blessed to have married into such a wonderful family.  They have always made me feel so welcome and not only that, but when I am with them I really feel like a PART of their family.  I could literally go on and on about how awesome they all are, but today I just want to say how grateful I am for my sister-in-law, Kristin.  I am so happy to have her in my life, she has been there for me so many times and in so many ways.  For those of you who don't know her, she is an amazing and talented woman.  She never ceases to amaze me with the amount of creativity that seems to just flow out from her.  She threw me a baby shower on Jan. 9th and it was awesome.  Unfortunately, we weren't able to get all the pictures we wanted, but it looked great.  We did get some pictures of the cake, which Kristin made.  She actually makes the most beautiful and delicious cakes ever.  It was a lot of fun to have so many friends and family members in the same room!  9 days left until this baby is due (unless he comes sooner) and Kristin is going to be there when I deliver.  I will be very grateful to have her there. Thank you so much Kristin for all that you do for me!!  I love you! 

Here are some pics from the shower:

A House of Order : )

So I finally got hit with the "nesting" instinct. I was really starting to think it wasn't going to come this pregnancy.  I am so glad it did because our place was in need of some serious organization.  I now feel comfortable enough to leave ALL doors open when we have company haha.  (usually I'm hiding the messier parts of our home) 

I highly reccommend doing this for anyone who feels like they are cluttered.  It might sound funny but it has made me such a happier person.  There is a place for everything and now I just have to keep up with it!  I'm not writing this to brag about my little acccomplishment, but just thought I'd share something that has brought me a really good feeling of happiness and peace.  It's amazing how much more stressed and negative I was when my home was out of order.  Very therapeutic stuff here : )