Christmas is less than 2 weeks away.  I can't wait, but that is only because we are going to Dallas to visit my family.  The kids are really excited and I can't wait to see everyone.  I hate that we only see them 2-3 times a year, but that is what happens when you live 500 miles away.

Kirsten has made me so proud this year.  She was nominated and selected as student of the year for her school.  Last week she went to the school board office to be interviewed and do a written assignment.  This interview was to pick the Student of the year for the whole district.  If she is selected as Student of the year for our district then she will compete at the state level for the state student of the year.  I couldn't be prouder.

Anthony has made so many improvements as well.  We are working with him more at home.  I have also been workign with the school to help him get control of his behavior.  He is a honor roll student and does great in school but he likes to do what he wants to when he wants to.  We have seen a drastic improvement over the past month.  He is now starting to talk more about why he is mad or upset.  Before he would just close up and not talk to anyone.  We would have to wait until he was ready to talk or wait until he calmed down.

Vivian is doing more everyday.  She is starting to be vocal.  She tripped over a toy the other day and said "oww".  It was so adorable.  She also says oh when she trips or falls down.  She will also make you do what she wants.  If I am at the computer and she wants my attention she will pull my hand away from the mouse and pull it torward her or try to climb on my lap.  Her favorite word is mom.  She will say it over and over and over even after I acknowledge her saying it.  Sometimes it is followed by a bunch of jibberish and I just respond telling her I understand or that is interesting.  She has also started calling the dogs, but not by their names instead she says dog dog or that is what it sounds like. She understand so much and if you ask her questions like do you want milk or do you want to go night night she will either go to the refrigerator or go to her room.  She is just doing so much that is hard to write about it all.

I am really enjoying being a stay at home mom.  I have been able to do so much more and be a lot more involved in everything the kids are doing.  I would never be able to do all of the things I do know if I was still working 9 hours a day in an office.

Wow I can't believe my oldest is 11.  Yesterday was her birthday.  While she was at school I thought about everything that we have went through in the past 11 years.  Mostly I was remembering the day she was born and how I felt.  I remember asking my mom as I held this fragile hour old baby "can I do this?"  I was so scared while holding her.  Sure I had held babies before but they were always nieces and my nephew.  I never held a baby that I would be responsible for and every thing I did fromthat moment on would be for that child.  All my mom told me is "you will be fine you are goingto be a great mother".  I knew she was right and she taught me well.  I couldn't have a better person to look to for advice.  She raised 3 children on her own.  To this day I admire everythign she did and every sacrifice she made for her children.  I hope she knew how important and how much she meant to me.

I want to share the wonderful news about Kirsten.  She is the Student of the Year for her school.  Next week she will got the school board and compete against all of the other Students of the year for the elementary schools to be Student of the Year for the whole district.  I am so proud her accomplishments and how much she has grown since this time last year.

In just a few short weeks my baby boy, Anthony, will be 9.  So I will be going through all of these emotions again.  He has been my challenging child.  The girls have been so easy.  Kirsten and Vivian were both great as infants.  They never cried and they wer very happy babies.  Anthony on the other hand gave me problems from pregnancy until now.  He is a handful.  He had colic as a baby and we are still dealing with the terrible twos just in a different way.  Who ever said boys are different than girls was absolutely correct.  He has challenged me at every thing from sleeping habits, potty training and school.  I will say in the past 6 months he has been a better child and things are getting better everyday.  We went from fighting every night at bedtime to him getting in bed and staying in bed as well as going to sleep.  He is my night owl and loves to sleep in so school mornings are SOOOO much fun.

It has been too long

I can't believe I haven't posted anything in over a month.  I was doing good and then time just slipped away.  I can't believe it is November.  It is the time of year that goes by so fast.  Just a few days ago we were getting dressed up and taking the kids out trick or treating.  Now we are in November and I am trying to figure out what to buy every one for Christmas.  Before I know it 2010 will be here.

The kids had a blast on Halloween although they were a little disappointed when they got home from school Friday.  This is the first year they have not had a Halloween party at school.  I guess that is one of the differences between public and private school.  I was so happy Halloween was on Saturday this year.  We were able to enjoy the day and not worry about school the next day.  So I am sure you are wondering what did the kids dress up as this year.  Vivian was a very adorable pink monster.  Kirsten was a girl Pirate and Anthony was the Scream character from the movie. 

Kirsten is growing up way too fast.  She told me this would be her last year dressing up.   She will be 11 in Dec and last year she figured out the whole Santa thing, but she promised she would keep it a secret.  It will be something between her and me until Anthony figures it out.  When that happens hopefully they will both keep their mouths shut until Vivian can figure it out on her own.  I am not looking forward to the next year in Kirsten's life.  She is getting to age where things start to change and the attitude has begun.  If she is Miss Attitude now I don't know what I am going to do when she enters "womanhood".  I must prepare myself for Kirsten going through the change and how to help her cope with everything that will be happening.

On Thursday, Vivian started "talking".  Sure she has been saying mama, dada, bye and night night.  She also undertands just about everything we say to her.  But on Thursday she just started babbling and it is non-stop.  All day long while she is playing or sitting down she is "talking"  I will have to capture it on video.  It is so cute.  I always respond with "really that is interesting" or "tell me more about it".  She is starting to figure so many things out.  She is now trying to reach for the door knobs.  She will look under the door if the door is closed.  Since we have her on a schedule she will le tme know if I am not doing something.  Yesterday at lunchtime she went into the kitchen and started trying to open the pantry and when that failed she started pushing her high chair around.  She was like hey mom can you hear what I am doing....that is because I am hungry.  It the pantry door is open, she is in there getting something out.  She knows how to open the containers I keep her food/snacks in.  Man that kid can eat all day.  It doesn't matter if she ate 30 minutes ago if you offer her something she will eat it.  Don't expect to be able to eat any type of fruit in front of her.  I mean didn't you know every piece of fruit I buy belongs to her and you better give her some.

Now Anthony.....what can I say he is a boy.  He is very excited about the holidays, but mainly because basketball starts the first weekend in Jan. Then right after basketball, baseball season starts. We need to keep him active or he gets into trouble.  I am thinking of putting him into Karate or Tae Kwan Do.  I have been told either one of those will help him to learn self control and discipline. 

I will come back here and add the Halloween pictures once I get them off the camera.

A Year Already

It is hard to believe this time last year I was in the hospital holding a 1 day old baby.  Yesterday was Vivian's 1st birthday.  The past year has went by so fast.  Every one of her firsts have been wonderful and sad at the same time.  She will be our last baby so we will never see that first smile, first laugh or the first step again.  We still have many events ahead of us, but we must remember to cherish each day and celebrate each milestone. 

Vivian has been walking since Sept 11 and soon she will be talking.  She is starting to repeat sounds over and over.  Some sound like words and some are just sounds.  I actually enjoy listening to her babble, but once she starts talking I am sure I will miss the days when she just giggled and laughed.

I took the kids to get pictures over the weekend, but Vivian decided right when i was time to take pictures that she only wanted to be held by mommy.  That's right we were one of those people with a crying baby that did not want to take pictures.  We were able to get a few good ones and when I say a few I mean 3-4 out about 15 pictures.  On Monday Vivian and I went to the park while Kirsten and Anthony were at school.  I took a few pictures of her there since it was the first sunny day in a few weeks.  I think I actually got some pretty good ones.  I think it is really funny that I can rarely get a picturee of her smiling.  Instead most of her pictures she has the same look on her face, but it is so adorable.

Here are some pictures of our Vivian the day before her 1st birthday.

Bargains

I decided to go to Toys R Us today to buy some Christmas gifts.  Since I am no longer working, I need to buy gifts a little at a time.  Yesterday I got a coupon from Fisher-Price for $20 off $100 purchase.  Since one of the items I wanted to get Vivian was $80, I decided to take advantage of the coupon.  I also had some coupons: 15% off one item, $5 of a  Playskool purchase of $25, and a $5 R Us coupon.  The Playskool toys and Fisher-Price are on sale for 30% off.  Since the toys were on sale I was unable to use the $20 coupon.  I am so proud of my savings that I had to share my purchases and savings. 

Toy                                          Reg. Price                My Price

Playskool Cow Blockimals          $4.99                       $2.75
Playskool Pig Blockimals            $4.99                       $2.75
Playskool Busy Gears                 $18.99                     $10.43
Playskool Busy Garden               $17.99                     $5.50
Laugh Learn Phone                   $17.99                     $12.10
Laugh Learn Learning Home     $79.99                      $45.77
Bop & Rock Lion                       $19.99                      $13.45
Fisher-Price Diapers                 $5.99                        $0.00

Total Savings $60.18

And here they are.

Tired?! This is a word that every mom knows and understands, but usually it is due to lack of sleep from a waking baby. Not me.....can you say insomnia? All of my kids are in bed by 8 pm and they don't get up until I wake them in the morning. Kirsten and Anthony get up at 6:15 am and they are on the bus at 6:45 am then I crawl back in bed and try to sleep until Vivian gets up around 8:00 am, but sometimes I just lay there. So why am I not able to fall asleep until after 12 am. Yes it is nice to have a few hours of quiet at night, but I would prefer a good 8 hours of sleep.

What do I do during these late night hours? Nothing, absolutely nothing. I could get some things done like Vivian's 1st year scrapbook that I haven't started but I prefer to lay on the couch or in bed and do one of the following: read a book/magazine, get online or watch TV. I can't wait for the new shows to start. I have set up my TiVo to record all the shows and then I will have something to watch instead of the "o so real" Lifetime movies or movies I have seen already.

I have decided to start a blog to write about my life as a stay at home mom.

My baby girl, Vivian, took her first steps last Friday. Time sure does go by so fast. I can't believe she will be turning 1 in 2 weeks.

Where has this year went? We have been through so many changes in the last year. It is just amazing how things change in such a short time. At this time last year, I was nearing the end of my pregnancy. Now I sit here and look at this little girl playing on the floor and I think about how much my life has changed. Over the past year we have welcomed another daughter, welcomed a new niece, I got laid off and as a result I became a stay at home mom. It was a blessing in disguise. I lost my job the same time the kids were getting out of school for the summer. It was so nice to be able to spend time together as a family without the interuptions of work or school.