I have issues

I think I'm losing my mind. Our house hasn't been this clean/organized in months yet I can still find at least 10 things to do at any given moment. As tired and slow as I am I can't get the urge to stop cleaning out of my system. This must be some kind of sickness. I think it is contagious too. I gave it to Bill but he only showed symptoms for a few hours. In that time though he managed to cook dinner and leave the kitchen looking exactly as it was when he first began. This has never happened before!

Also, I think I've reached a new level of tight wadness. I have always been a penny picker upper but now my child is too. Despite not having seen any improvement in our electric bill I can't stop turning lights off and now Micaela gets mad if I leave any light on when not in the room and tells me to turn it off because we are "wasting electricity". (a phrase she learned from her cheap mother) I hate doing anything without coupons and I love sharing my coupons with others because saving other people money makes me happy. I took one of those entertainment coupon books from my mom and I swear I look through it at least once a week. (She got it for free so I don't feel bad for taking it.) I still refuse to buy anything full price. I have a strong feeling that both of our vehicles will poop out on us before Bill graduates and so I'm trying to save for the day we need a new used car but know we still won't have enough money. I've also never had to purchase diapers while not having an income and so that freaks me out a lot. I started potty training Micaela at 5 months to save money but this next kid might have to start a little sooner.

Third, I'm a little nervous about baby #2. I keep thinking I won't stop comparing him/her to Micaela and will be annoyed that they aren't as good an eater as she is or that they won't learn as quickly as she has. Also, Micaela has become so needy over the last few weeks that she won't even go the the bathroom unless I'm in there with her. I can't keep doing that with a new baby, especially after my surgery which kept me from walking for weeks with Micaela. I know those fears are silly and I'm sure it will all work out but still I worry.

Okay well I think I got it all out of my system so this will more than likely be my last post for quite sometime. Wish me luck with being a mother of two in two weeks and 1 day!!!!

It's never too early to pick a book and start reading

Micaela never ceases to amaze us, especially in her learning abilities. I never understood how true it is that children's minds are sponges until seeing our little 3 year old learn everything her mother has been teaching her. Last year it was learning all 50 states and their capitals and now this year it is reading. Here is her progress to this point:

She's Three!!!

Micaela turned 3 on the Monday. For me that meant shedding tears of joy at the thought of having had this angel with me for another year and for Bill it meant cooking and party planning days in advance. We went through many ideas on where to have it and what to do but we finally came to the conclusion that it was going to be more cost effective to just do it at home. Bill came up with most if not all the the ideas for her party. We decided to do a princess theme party because Micaela loves getting dressed up in her Aurora dress and putting make up on. For the invitations we wrapped wooden skewers in ribbon and glued a star on top that said Princess (girls name) and had all the party information on the back. Our friend Amber was nice enough to write out the invitations for us since my handwriting is horrible. Bill then took Micaela around to each of her friends and delivered them. For the next several days we had our countdown to her birthday and answered several questions about why we couldn't do her party "right now."

On the morning of her birthday Bill bought Micaela a bean and cheese taco for breakfast, her favorite. For the rest of the morning we finished up all the last minute party plans. The girls all arrived in their princess attire and we read a quick a story about a princess and then proceeded with the makeovers. Each girl had a manicure/pedicure and then Amber did their makeup. My Dad was amazed at how still each girl sat as her makeup was being applied. (I think he doubted that a party at home would be as fun as a party at a pizza place)

After they each had their makeovers done we took pictures of each of the girls.

Then so that they could admire themselves the rest of the day, they each decorated a mirror with rhinestone stickers.

Next came the food! Bill made shrimp, cherry risotto, snickerdoodles, peppermint chocolate chip cookies, white chocolate cookies with raspberry sauce, a fruit tray, a veggie tray, and much more. I might have him do a seperate post just on all the food he made, and we even forgot to put some of it out.

The girls then played pin the lips on the frog, followed by presents. Lastly of course the cake!! As we ate cake we watched a video Bill made with photos and video of the last year. It was a perfect day for our princess. She enjoyed every minute of it.

The Power of Prayer

Several months ago Bill's Dad bought Micaela a beta fish. When they told her about it and asked her what she wanted to name it she quickly replied, "Nemo". I can't recall if she had even seen that movie in its entirety at that point, but regardless that was her name of choice. We are pretty good about feeding him regularly and his bowl gets cleaned for special occasions, such as her recent birthday. Bill's parents originally gave us a cup with a lid to put him in while cleaning the bowl but we broke that after the first time we used it ; so now we just use a plastic cup with no lid. (Can you see where this is going). As I was cleaning the bowl in the kitchen sink Micaela asked to hold the cup that Nemo was in and next thing I know he is sliding around near the drain. I managed to block the drain with his bowl and after about 3 failed attempts I finally got him back in the bowl. Loud screaming and crying followed after that as well as a timeout for myself. I must admit that I was traumatized by the thought of this poor fish going down the drain and equally as traumatized at the fact that I pulled off some strings from his "wing" while trying to save him. Micaela cried and kept asking if he was going to die. We told her he would be okay despite the fact that he just hovered in the top corner of his bowl the remainder of the evening. That night while saying prayers at bedtime Micaela interrupted Bill's prayer and asked him to pray for Nemo's wing. It was incredibly sweet but I was worried that we would wake up the next morning to a dead fish. I was wrong. He was swimming around as though nothing had happened with remnants of his wing still in the bottom of his bowl. It wasn't till yesterday that I realized that in the movie Nemo had a bad fin and now so does our Nemo. I'm so grateful for prayer and even more grateful for the faith of my daughter who knows that we have a loving Father in Heaven who hears and answers prayers.

Fall Dance Recital

Last month, Micaela completed her second dance class and we're so proud of her progress and accomplishment. It was amazing to see how much she wanted to practice her dance steps and technique during the week to prepare for her weekly class Here's our beautiful girl: