New Year???

As I sit here on this last day of 2012 I can’t help but to be thankful.  I have a nice warm house to sit in, I have a full belly, I have 2 beautiful daughters sound asleep at 8:00pm with no complaints, a wonderful husband out working hard for our family,I have had the opportunity to see the love a community come together for friends in amazing ways, and have seem miracles come when people put their prayers heaven ward together.  What more could a girl ask for? 

This year has been an interesting year and I am thankful for all the challenges and blessings we have been faced with.  I am thankful to know that I have a Heavenly Father that loves me and is aware of my needs and wants.  Yes he challenges me but those challenges are there to make me stronger and ready to receive the blessings waiting for me.  Yes I struggle with this and get mad and try to find blame yet in the end I always come back to the fact that I have never been left to struggle with out help.  It comes in many ways sometimes very surprising ways yet it comes. 

Many times a year I get asked what I want, whether it is for a birthday, anniversary, mother’s day, Christmas, or just cause and I always struggle to find something I want.  I think in reality I have everything I want sure there are things that would be nice to have, or would make life more enjoyable or easier but they never really make it on my want list.  I have everything I want except one thing and I know that will come with time.  That one thing I want is more time with my husband.  He is my best friend and I miss him so much when he is gone.  I sometimes feel silly that I miss him as much as I do when he has only been gone for an hour or so. My heart goes out to those women that have to be away from their spouse for long periods of time for whatever reason. I am so thankful for him and the love he shows me and the girls.  He works so hard and never complains just smiles and says “its another day in Paradise” .  He is always there to comfort me and ease my burdens as much as he can.  I have truly been blessed with a wonderful man. 

I am going to miss the year 2012 yet am so excited for what 2013 is going to bring to our lives.  We have many goals and are working hard toward those goals.  I don’t set new years resolutions because I think it is really a way to set yourself up to fail and feel bad so I set goals and those goals have many small goals that will lead up to a big goal yet I feel good about things even if I only get one small goal finished at least I finished it. 

Here is to 2013 and the amazing things that can happen in the next 12 months! 

Update

Baylee Fall 2012 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Baylee has been a very busy little lady the last couple of months.  She did some speech intervention at a local preschool which helped but she still has some issues we are going to continue to work with a speech therapist for.  She has started ballet again and is loving it. This year they are really focusing on technique and all the different positions for a ballerina.  She has really grown up and it makes me a little sad to know that she is getting very independent.  She has some chore charts that she has to work on every day and it amazes me how well she has done with this.  She will start working on her chores before I am even up some mornings.  She knows if she wants to do something that unless her chores are done my answer will be no.  I love that she is learning responsibility.  She is still full of imagination and loves to pretend she is some character from one of her favorite movies.  She is always dancing around the house and singing songs from those movies.  She has been a little extra cuddly lately and I think it has to do with the fact that she knows she is growing up and isn’t going to be my little girl forever so she wants to enjoy being held.  She is always eating and you can’t seem to fill her up.  She will finish a meal and within 10 mins is starving for more.  I am just glad that she usually wants healthy snacks and not junk.  She amazes me everyday with all the new things she has learned or can do.  I love how often she will turn to me and say “mom I love you”.  I am so glad that Baylee is my daughter and that I get to hear those words on a daily basis.  Right now she is eagerly awaiting the arrival of Christmas and is sad in the morning when it is not yet Christmas.  She keeps telling me she is going to spend the night at Grandma’s and can’t wait.  She has a list a mile long that she wants from the Easter Bunny but only a few things from Santa!  I am excited with her and can’t wait for Santa’s arrival

Abigail Fall 2012 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Abigail Is a very sweet little lady.  She is always ready for a cuddle and to give kisses.  Not very often do you find a smile on her face but when you do get lucky enough to see one it fills her whole face.  She loves music and loves to go to the library for music and movement. The last few weeks she has seemed to have gone from a baby to a toddler over night. She walks around the house like she is a big girl and can do anything. She loves to watch shows with her big sister and dances the same way Baylee is.  She loves to carry her monkey or a baby around every where she goes and will even insist on taking it to bed with her.  She will hold the baby all night long.  She is not afraid to let you know that she is not happy with something you did or did not let her do.  She loves to torment her big sister. When she finds Daddy asleep on the couch she will stand by the couch and watch him sleep with a big grin on her face.  She loves to say bye and will say it over and over until Jon walks out the door then she starts to blow him kisses. We recently transitioned her from a bottle to a sippy cup and that went way better then I ever imagined it would.  She was very stubborn for about 3 days then she slowly gave in and now she loves her sippy.  Some of her favorite songs right now are :”I am bringing home a baby bumble bee”,”monkeys jumping on a bed”, and “If you are happy and you know it”.  She loves to sit on our bench to get her shoes on but flips out and starts screaming when you try to put the coat on her.  She loves to be outside playing and will tries to go for a walk around the block by herself and when you go to get her she runs away squealing. She loves to pretend like she is a little puppy dog and has her tongue hanging out panting a large portion of the time, she will even walk up to you and lick you once in awhile.  She has become a good little eater thankfully.  It is still hard to find things she likes but if you do happen to offer her something she is in the mood for she will eat a ton of it.  She wants to be done with naps so she screams and screams when you put her in bed but it only takes about 2 mins of being in bed before she is sound asleep.  She will take a good 2 1/2 to 3 hour nap.  I am always amazed by this sweet little girl and the little things in her personality that will all of the sudden shine through.  She is a joy in our home and we are thankful that she is our little girl.

Svedin Fall 2012 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Jon has been working a lot this last year with his 2 jobs and trying to get his teaching certificate. When he is not at work he is either studying, helping me with the girls and house stuff, or off doing some sort of service for someone.  He never complains about how hard he has to work in fact he will listen to me and comfort me as I complain about how hard things are and how much I miss him.  He is such a great guy.  I have been keeping busy taking the girls to their different activities and working out a routine here at home.  I was so sick of having to clean the same mess over and over and never have time to get to all the other cleaning that needed to be done.  I started a chore chart with Baylee and it has worked wonders for our family.  Most of the time Baylee and I are done with our daily chores by 10 and then we play with Abigail until nap time then it is play time for Baylee and mommy.  It has been so nice to be able to relax at night knowing the dishes are done and the toys are picked up.  I start my day off on a great note because the house really isn’t a huge mess. Baylee has gotten really great at looking at her chore chart and just doing her chores.  I have been busy filling out a bunch of paper work for a new adventure in our life's that I will fill you in on at a later time when there is more to tell but we are excited.  I am excited for Christmas this year. We get to go to my parents house which always reminds me of when I was little and the excitement in the air around Christmas.  Baylee and I have taken our time decorating for Christmas so that we don’t have holiday cheer burn out.  My paparazzi business has really picked up this last month with the holidays coming. It has been nice to see it work and I love how the stuff just sells itself.  I love to share it with people because of the great price.  I never thought I would love a home party based business like this.  I always thought people who did it was nuts! I guess now I am one of those nuts.  Jon is a great support and spends some of his spare time making boards for my displays and also going and doing events with me when he can.  I love how much he supports me in this adventure and that he is not afraid to be goofy with it.  This past year has flown by so fast.  I am glad that I get to share it all with my wonderful family, I am so thankful for the family that my heavenly father has blessed me with and feel like the luckiest woman in the world.  I can’t wait for what life has in store for us this next year and all the years to follow.

Baylee Serenity Svedin

What can I say about this sweet little girl.  We love her so much.  She changed her daddy and my life when she joined our family 4 1/2 years ago.  It seems like it was not that long ago that I held her for the first time and fell in love.  There is something about Baylee that just makes a person fall in love with her.  She has a smile that makes strangers walk across a room full of people just to say hi to her. 

Baylee is such a caring person and worries so bad when she sees someone who is hurt or sad.  When Abi is fussing Baylee is the first one there trying to make her happy by giving her a toy or singing her favorite song. 

Jon and Baylee have an awesome relationship.  She is her dad’s little buddy and loves to be doing what ever he is.  She gets so excited when he gets home from work. When Jon is at work she holds my phone most of the day for when her daddy will call her.  One of the last things she thinks about before she falls to sleep is her daddy coming to give her a kiss.  She always wants me to remind him so he wont forget. I love that they have such a friendship and I hope it continues through out her life.

Baylee has a great imagination and on most days you will find her dancing around the house like a princess or acting our her current favorite Barbie movie.  You might even find her outside on an animal rescue with Diego from Go Diego Go.  Recently she has started watching my favorite cartoon as a child She-Ra.  I love that she watches it and loves it enough to act out the different episodes.  She loves it enough that she wants to be She-Ra for halloween.  I am so excited to make this costume for her.  I can’t wait for the end of the month. 

I am so Thankful for Baylee’s birthmom who was so unselfish and loved Baylee enough to let us adopt her.  We are so thankful to have Baylee in our lifes!  I could not imagine what my life would be like without her beautiful smile and amazing personality. 

Happy Birthday my Big 5 year old.  We sure do love you!!!

 

Jonathan Rex Svedin

When trying to think of a way to celebrate this wonderful man on his birthday I got to thinking of how much he loves his friends and family.  He is the type of person that would do whatever he can for those he loves.  When I ask Jon about his childhood or his favorite memories he always tells me what a bad memory he has so this year on his birthday I would love to have all of his friends and family remind him of all the great times in his life that his bad memory may have forgotten.  So if you would please leave a comment below with your favorite memory of Jon to help make his day I will make sure that he reads them all.  If you would then pass this link on to others who may know him so they can share their memories I would be very thankful.  Let’s make this a day to celebrate Jon! 

I've been thinking

Lately I just keep thinking about how I clean the same mess over and over yet the house never seems to get cleaner.  I know that having kids plays into this but yet the mess is not always the kids mess.  I know that organization is the biggest problem in my house.  Not everything has a place.  I set a goal when we moved in to make sure everything had a place when it got unpacked but seemed to have failed miserably at this.  So things get shifted from one spot to the next and it drives me nuts but I just don't seem to know what to do about it.  I have read many books, and blog post on organization and think oh I can do that it wouldn't be that hard but when it comes right down to it I never get it done.  I will get started and then get distracted by one of my children or the hubby and then never end up getting back to it so that makes an even bigger mess to face the next time I try.  I often wonder if I just missed this line in heaven.  Did I not get the organization gene or is this something that is developed over time.  And if that is the case how in the world do you do it??  How can I teach my sweet girls so that they don't have to deal with this issue when they are older.  How do I who fail miserably in house keeping teach my girls to do better?  We have tried having Baylee do chores and she was great at it but once again mother falls short and stops having her do her chores and we are back at stage one of chores once again.  Is there any tricks to this that I am missing?  What age do I start.  Abi just stares blankly at me as I try to teach her to pick her toys up and put them away.  In fact she does the opposite and spreads them right back out as I put them away.  I will go to other people's homes and think "how in the world do they do it?"  I would like to just follow a few of my dear friends around all day every day for a week and just watch there daily routines and their cleaning habits and see if I can learn something. Not sure they would like that and I don't really have the time with 2 kids at home but hey if any of you dear friends are willing I think I could arrange a sitter for the week so I could observe you in your daily duties.(just putting it out there :) ) I just want my home to be nice for my hard working man and my family.  I guess I will just keep trying different things and keep cleaning the same mess over and over and maybe one day all the pieces will come together and I will get this figured out. Maybe one day I will have the house the people walk into and think WOW!!! A girl can dream right??

What has been going on

It has been awhile since I have really updated on what has been going on with our family so this post is going to be that.
Jon
Jon has been a very busy man.  He started a new job with the DI and a program on line to get his teaching certificate all while still working at Applebee's.  He is only home for a few hours a day and during that time manages to fix anything that I need fixed, play with his girls, give me some much needed attention, work on the yard, and study.  He is always so positive about things even when he has no time for himself.  He has lost about 90lbs this year and is looking great!  I am so proud of him for sticking to it. 

Caylee
I have been very busy keeping up with my 2 girls.  They both keep me on my toes.  I spend most of my day cleaning up the mess that Abi strews around the house and trying to figure out where Baylee ran off to.  I have started selling Paparazzi jewelry and love it!  The stuff is so great because it sells itself.  I just have to get it in front of people and they fall in love with it and with the fact that it is only $5.  I also love that I can be as busy as I choose or as slow as I need.  I have not kept real busy because I feel that it is so important for me to be home with the girls since Jon is working so much. I love being able to stay home and be with my girls and am so thankful for Jon working so hard so that I can be. 

Baylee
Baylee has been so busy this year.  She played soccer and loved it! has had Ballet all year and loved being able to learn new dances.  We spent a lot of time at the library doing music and movement and mini monet(art class).  She has been my big helper with Abi as well.  On mother’s day she surprised us by losing her first tooth.  This came as a shock because we all thought she was too young but sure enough there was another tooth ready to grow in.  She went to her first dentist appointment and ended up having to see another dentist and an ENT.  The ENT said she needed to have a hearing test so we went to yet another doctor and had that checked.  Well her hearing was being affected by fluid behind her ear drums which meant that she needed tubes put in plus her adenoids and tonsils needed to come out so she had surgery at the end of last month and has spent the last 2 weeks trying to recover.  She is fully recovered and so excited that she can eat chips without it hurting her throat and she can also now ride her bike again.  Today she pulled her 2nd tooth out and is now laying in bed waiting and waiting for the tooth fairy.  Her imagination is so great and you will find her talking to her friends and dancing around being some princess.  She is wonderful with her little sister and a great big help when it comes to doing chores around the house. Some of her favorites are doing dishes, vacuuming, and scrubbing toilets. 

Abi
Abigail has grown so much!  She is changing so much that Jon and I will look at her baby baby pictures and say “that doesn’t even look like her”  She crawls all over the house trying to keep up with Baylee.  Pulls her self up to a standing position as much as possible, keeps mom buys so she can crawl up the stairs and throws her toys all over the house.  She is such a happy little girl and will play in the toy room by herself for along time.  She loves to be able to play with the big girl toys and hates when Baylee takes them from her.  She has her big sister wrapped tightly around her finger and only has to make a small noise to get Baylee to feed her whatever it is that Baylee is eating or to give her a toy.  She is a great sleeper and will take 2 naps a day and sleep all night!  She is trying to cut her naps down to 1 but gets super cranky without that 2nd nap.  She just got her 3rd tooth and thinks that she can eat all the big girl stuff since she got it.  She has a major sweet tooth and would only eat junk food if we let her.  She loves her bottle and blanket, you can find her most of the time cuddled on the floor with her blanket and drinking her bottle (usually it is empty but that doesn’t stop her)  She gets a huge grin on her face when her daddy gets home and usually wont go down for her second nap for mom because she wants daddy to put her down instead.  She babbles away in the car while we drive and loves to be tickled.  She will hold her foot out for you to tickle then pull it away when you do then when you stop she holds it out for you to tickle again.  She loves to take a bath but hates to go swimming.  She is such a joy to have around. 

4th of July

4th of July VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

This year for the 4th of July Jon and I decided we were going to have fun and not end up giving up what we want to do just to do something that someone else wants us to do.  A lot of times we will have a plan of what we want in mind but who ever we are planning on doing it with has another idea in mind and we end up being the ones who give up our own wants.  This is not always a bad thing but it can get frustrating at times. So this year we took charge of our 4th and had a blast.  We wanted Baylee to get to see a parade again since the last one she went to scared the heck out of her because of some stupid guy thinking he was funny.  Anyway that is another story another time.  We got up and headed down to get a good spot for the Melba parade.  We had a lot of fun watching the girls enjoy this parade.  Baylee had just had surgery a week before and her hearing was so much better that she had to keep covering her ears because everything was so much louder to her.  She stood and waved and got tons and tons of candy! Abi loved it so much as well that she would not go to sleep. 
After the parade we headed home and just relaxed as a family for a little bit and tried to let the girls relax so we could go to the fireworks later without having super cranky girls.  Baylee did not nap and Abi only took one short one. 
We had dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Svedin and then loaded up in the truck to go get a spot for the fireworks.  Baylee loves fireworks but we knew it would hurt her ears so we didn’t want to be super close plus we had heard that about 10,000 people go to these fireworks and it can take about 2 hours to get out of town when they are over so we parked along a road outside of town to watch them.  We were not alone in this thinking by the time the fireworks started there were cars parked for miles on every road around this place!  We put a few blankets in the back of the truck and just hung out playing games and taking pictures (on jon’s phone sorry I don’t have them to post) When the fireworks started(about 10:30) the girls got so excited.  Abi stood up to the edge of the truck and just smiled and squealed while baylee danced around the truck singing very loudly christmas songs.  When we got home after 11 neither of the girls where asleep and neither really wanted to but mom and Dad where tired and made them go to bed.  It was a great day just spent together doing what we wanted and loving time together as a family. 

What Summer is all About!

This summer has been full of fun for Baylee.  Every day seems to be full of friends and water 2 of Baylee’s favorite things.  I can’t seem to keep her home for more then a few hours. If she is not off riding her bike to the neighbors they are here knocking on my door to see if Baylee can come and play.  I am so glad that we moved to this house and have great neighbors with wonderful kids for my children to play with.  It is great to watch them ride little trikes around like it is a trike derby, or run through the sprinklers.  They run and hug each other the second they see each other and that is all Baylee can seem to talk about until her head hits the pillow at the end of the day.  This is really what summer is all about!!


Abi got in on some of the fun too.  While the sprinkler was going for the kids to run through Abi crawled to the door to watch and was squealing right along with the rest of the girls but soon her squeals turned to cries and when I went to see what was going on I found that the sprinkler had been turned so that it was spraying in the house.  Abi does not like to be sprayed with water and was not thrilled that her fun had been ruined.


After getting wet she moved her fun into the play room where she was free to play with whatever she wanted with out her big sister getting in the way.  One of her favorite toys is Baylee’s little keep board with a microphone she will sing at the top of her voice into the mic and giggle after.

Ballet Recital

Baylee has had a blast with her Ballet class this year.  I am so glad the we have been blessed to have found a teacher that is so great with her.  She loves her Miss Stacie and looks forward to class every week.  They have been working on learning the skills for this dance all year and Baylee has practice and practice at home.  I hope you all enjoy this as much as I did.  Just click on the link below to see how talented my little Ballerina really is!

Little Lady Bug Dance

Being a mommy is hard...

But so worth it! There are times where I think "what did I get myself into"  and then there are those moments where I can't believe how lucky I am!  This last week I have been reminded of the wonderful moments of motherhood.  These reminders came in a way that surprised me.  Some of my favorite moments with my children this week have not taken place during the daylight hours but rather during those sleepless nights. 

The first moment was with my Sweet Baylee(I can't say enough times how much I love this girl).  Baylee is our little sleep talker ok maybe I shouldn't say little but huge sleep talker.  Every night you can here her in her room sound asleep having a conversation with who knows who.  Randomly she will yell out in her sleep.  Most of the time I can tell when she is sleep talking or if she is needing me but occasionally she will yell out and sound so scared that I get up to check on her only to find her asleep.  The other night she yelled out and I thought oh she is still asleep but she continues to cry so I got up to check on her. When I entered her room she patted a spot on her bed and said "mommy I need you for a min." Not very often will I lay next to her in bed but this night I felt it was so important for her.  As I laid next to her she rubbed my face with the biggest smile on her face and went to sleep.  Well last night once again she yelled out and I got up to check on her she looked asleep so I leaned in to kiss her forehead and cover her back up when she wrapped her little arms around me and pulled me into a hug and whispered "mommy I saw him" When asked who she said "Heavenly Father".  I asked her why this scared her and she said because I was sleeping.  Then she hugged me tight and said she loved me.  Those little moments that I get to see Baylee in her most sweetest forms, where we are not arguing over her doing something she has been asked to do, or her dancing all over the place she wont even pause for a hug are the rewards of having to sometimes get up several times a night with my little sleep talker.  It makes being tired worth it.

Last night I also had a moment with Abigail.  Abi is our sleeper, she has been a great sleeper from the start and I am so thankful for that.  I am not good with the loss of sleep.  Abi is also not a baby that enjoys to be cuddled, she wants to be left to play and explore the world.  When she is tired she gets angry if you try to hold her and put her to sleep she would rather you lay her in her crib and let her just go to sleep.  I am thankful for this but at moments I would love to just cuddle her.  Well the past couples days she has not been sleeping well and only wants to be cuddled so I know she is not feeling well. The only way to get her to stop fussing is to hold her.  She then will go to sleep for about 20 mins. before having to start the process all over again.  Last night after having to get up with her for about the 15th time I was tired, cranky and really just wanted to get some sleep I was in her dark room holding her when she reached up and felt my face and then grabbed a hold of my finger and fell asleep.  As I watched her sleeping in my arms I was filled with the warmth of love.  How could I not love getting up during the night to enjoy this moment that I would not get other wise. 

These little moments that happen in the middle of the night when everyone else is asleep are the moments that make being a mom worth it!  How could I not feel so lucky when I am the only one who will ever get to enjoy those moments with my girls.  No one else gets to feel that love that passes between me and my girls in the dark of the night when I go to comfort a bad dream or help when they are not feeling well.  I love being a mommy and am so thankful to all those who have made that possible for me. 

Movie Time

Baylee doesn’t always want to watch or do what Jon and I are doing so we occasionally will let her watch a movie in our room.  On this particular day we wanted to watch a movie but she wanted to watch her movie on the big tv not mommy and daddy’s tv.  It took some convincing and some cleverness to get her to finally agree to watch a movie in our room.  I told her if she watched a movie in our room she could build a fort on the bed with pillows.  She agreed to this and asked Daddy to help her.

This is what happens when a man gets involved in a simple fort building project!

But the smile on that sweet face made it all worth it!!  Baylee and Daddy are the best of buds!  Thanks Jon for being such and awesome daddy for our girls and not doing anything half way!

Oh Christmas Time, Oh Christmas Time

This Christmas has been a very busy one.  Usually I feel like time is dragging for the Big day to get here but this year it came and came fast.  Luckily Jon and I had decided that it was going to be a simple Christmas this year and were done and ready with gifts way ahead of time.  We got to spend lots of time with Daddy the week before Christmas due to a change in some work hours which was the best gift to me ever!!!!  We love having Daddy home.  On Christmas Eve Jon had to work at the Bee’s during the day so Baylee, Abi and I just hung out at home relaxing.  I figured it was best to let little Abi get as many good naps at home because I knew life was going to be crazy the next few days!  Once Daddy got home we loaded up and headed over to Grandma Tam’s house to visit with Kirt and his family.  Then we all loaded up and headed to Lori’s for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of hoagies sandwiches (homemade hoagie rolls!!) and salads and chips.  It was all very yummy!  After dinner we did our white elephant gift exchange and the gift of the year was a playboy bunny blanket that my nephew picked and loved and would not let go of the whole rest of the night!  Every year Grandma Tam makes jammies for the kids so they have matching ones.  Baylee asks to wears hers almost every night!  If that one is washing then she wants her princess ones that Grandma Karen gave her. Kirt took a picture of all the grandkids in their new jammies and I will try to get a copy for you all to see. 

Baylee was the first up in our house Christmas morning but it was her regular wake up time.  She was very excited so we sent daddy down to check to see if Santa had come then her and I headed down the stairs.  She was very excited to see that Santa had brought more presents!

I didn’t want Abi to miss out on the unwrapping of gifts so I went up and woke her up.  Luckily for us she wakes up very happy and does well even when we wake her up.  The first gift that was opened(Baylee opened all gifts unless it was to daddy or me) was to Abi and it was the Tutu that I had made for her.  She grabbed it and proceeded to chew on it the rest of the morning!



Well since Christmas was on a Sunday as soon as gift unwrapping was done we started the process of getting ready for church, luckily Santa had gotten the girls very pretty dresses for Christmas so there was no fight about what to wear this morning(Baylee has a different opinion then me on what is cute for church)

My mom made the girls the cutest Tepee and Baylee had to have it set up right away and played in it while I got ready for church.

We headed to Grandma Tam’s church and then out to her house for dinner.  we spent the next day at Grandma Tam’s house playing games,  It was a whirl wind but we loved every min. of it!